Ah Mr Holt- we've been expecting you...

[winchester_royal]

In 2005 Holt first won the Sports Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards, and subsequently won this award again at the British Press Awards 2006.

[Alan Partridge]

Oliver Holt touches small children....This may not be factually true but that hasn't stopped him previously

[winchester_royal]

For those who can't remember his first article:

SO READING'S season is a fairy tale is it? Excuse me for a second while I decide whether to giggle or gag.

Okay, that wasn't too hard. I'll gag. Because I don't see any fairy story at Reading. I don't see romance, either.

I'll be honest. I don't like the club. I don't like what it stands for.

That starts at the top with a self-satisfied poster boy of conspicuous consumption and Tory donor, chairman John Madejski.

I don't think you should ever, ever trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle, or a bloke who is complicit in having a stadium named after him. What a joke that is.

No doubt the board begged and pleaded with him to allow them to recognise his outstanding contribution to Berkshire life. No doubt it was absolutely none of his doing. But I don't care how much money he's poured into the club.

Name a stadium after Tom Finney or Stanley Matthews or Bobby Moore. Name it after Alex Ferguson, Paul Gascoigne or Bill Shankly. But not after a guy who made his money from a magazine flogging used cars.

Perhaps Madejski simply couldn't call to mind a famous Reading player. Come to think of it, neither can I.

But even Doug Ellis drew the line after naming a stand at Villa Park in his honour. He couldn't quite muster the hubris to go the whole hog and adopt the - entire ground.

But not Madejski. He's got all sorts in his name. Some Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts, too, apparently. Whatever they are.

I read an interview with him in The Independent last year. The reporter noted that a copy of the Rich List, in which Madejski figures prominently, was placed on a table nearby. Gag, gag, gag.

It's not just the chairman, though. I know times are changing fast but I could have sworn that fairy tales didn't used to feature skull fractures and concussions.

I don't care whether Reading finish sixth. You know what, even if they overtake Chelsea and Man United, romp the title and win the FA Cup as well, my abiding memory of their debut Premiership season will always be Stephen Hunt kneeing Petr Cech in the head.

That's their bequest to this campaign. The first team to disable two opposition keepers in the same game. Let's think of a name for the fairy tale that unfolded that day, shall we.

Snow White and the Seven Stretchers. Beast and the Beast. Barbie in It's a Knockout. Then, of course, Reading played the poor little underdog card, proclaimed their innocence and escaped scot-free. Gag, gag, gag.

[Silver Fox]

I'm with 1960 here. There our literally COUNTLESS cases of refs making blatant mistakes. See: Cisse's sending off against Chelsea last year. Pretty obvious Pizzaro dived. I wonder what Holt has to say about that?

That's staright cheating though so allowed by Holt. However, what about the phantom penalty given for Chelsea at anfield last year? Possibly the closest thing I can think of to our incident, nothing happened, nobody appealed for a penalty but Rob Styles (maybe) gave one anyway and I really don't remember calls for the Chelsea players to return their "stolen present" at the time

[Coley Park Mark]

Having had a while to think about the incident...

Initially I felt we should have let them walk one in, however the more I think about it, the more I'm persuaded that we did exactly the right thing. One of the criticisms that Holt and his ilk have levelled at Reading is that we had shown complete disregard for the "Respect" agenda. However, the ref gave it as a goal, we didn't take advantage of an injured player etc, the official made a mistake. To then have deliberately conceded a goal would have shown complete disrespect for the officials, as Coppell has said; "The ref is right even when he's wrong".

[FiNeRaIn]

Anyone with a brain knows that was morally wrong.

What's your opinion though?

If you are going to be witty or insulting, at least make it worth while. I've seen your contributions to footballing debate, thankfully you don't post too much. Stick to AE. Toodles.

[earleyroyal]

Having had a while to think about the incident...

Initially I felt we should have let them walk one in, however the more I think about it, the more I'm persuaded that we did exactly the right thing. One of the criticisms that Holt and his ilk have levelled at Reading is that we had shown complete disregard for the "Respect" agenda. However, the ref gave it as a goal, we didn't take advantage of an injured player etc, the official made a mistake. To then have deliberately conceded a goal would have shown complete disrespect for the officials, as Coppell has said; "The ref is right even when he's wrong".

Thank you. Finally someone points this out. All the idiots complaining about Reading undermining the Respect initiative by, er, not undermining the referee are not worthy of having an opinion, which is why they're found on 606 on the BBC site.

[RoyalBlue]

Those amongst us taking the moral high ground on this one and professing their shame/embarrassment are starting to really pee me off!

Where were their confessions, guilt, shame etc. in the past when we have been awarded goals that were offside, penalties that weren't etc. etc.?

"Ah", I hear them say, "this is different, because it was a goal that wasn't and that's much more serious."

And so we have degrees of morality and fair play - you can accept mistakes in your favour from the officials as long as it's only a little bit and/or not too obvious - how very convenient!

As for asking who accepts a present knowing it's stolen - how about Marlon King?

[Terminal Boardom]

In many ways Oliver Holt is like SDR. He thrived on getting peoples back's up and winding up everyone with his negative rubbish. In the end everyone just got bored of SDR and didn't bite then he dissapeared.

O.H. knows we don't like him and I wouldn't be surprised that he prowls around on this forum w@nking over his pathetic attempts to wind us up. Why would he write an article almost a week late?? I'll tell you why, because he's got nothing else to write about, and he uses Reading as a space filler. The sooner people just ignore the idiot the sooner he won't bother harping on about Reading this and Reading that. Gesh it's so boring now.

Do you really think that OH gets his rocks off by winding us up? Quite frankly, be responding to his drivel plays entirely into his grubby little hands. Rise above it.

[Terminal Boardom]

One of my memories of last year was when Liverpool played Everton. Carragher twice rugby-tackled Lescott to the ground in the area, the second time as he was in the act of shooting. The fool Clatenberg gave nothing. A clear refereeing mistake. Did Carragher or the Liverpool team in general come clean to the ref? Yes, sorry It was a penalty ref. You've gotta give it.
In the same game Kuyt launched a chest-high two-footed assault on Neville (?) Yellow card. Obviously another refereeing mistake, so Holt would expect Kuyt to own up and tell the ref it was a red card.

Just two incidents from one game. Hundreds before and since. So why suddenly is this the game when the players should come clean?

This has been running through my mind since Saturday. The vast majority of injustices is where an official fails to see the ball across the goal-line (Spurs at Old Trafford when Roy Carroll pulled it back) or the penalty decisions above. Heck, I remember Ollie scoring at Swansea in the cup in 1980 and it wasn't given. These incidents get played over millions of times on TV, and take up vast amounts of column inches.

What makes Saturday so unusual was that a goal was given when one had not been scored.

[79Royal]

Was it just me, or did anyone else not have a clue what the gal was given for? I thought it was given because Bikey's header had gone over the line and the keeper clawed it back out.

The situation was handled so badly by Attwell, I don't think anyone had a clue what was going on.

What really annoys me is that Reading is getting the stick for this cock up and yet Atwell is 4th official somewhere this Saturday. Should we have let Watford score? Maybe. But if Watford score a blatant offside goal or someone uses a hand in the home game would they let us score? Very unlikely.

[Terminal Boardom]

As Morrissey once sung: Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before".

The city of Liverpool has been boycotting The Sun since it all but accused the Liverpool fans of murder at Hillsborough. Sir Alex Ferguson refuses to speak to the BBC because of allegations against one of his sons.

With this in mind, as supporters, we should stop buying or reading the Daily Mirror. The Football Club should also ban the Daily Mirror, and other Mirror Group newspapers, from sending their representatives to our home games.

Only after Holt and the Mirror Group unreservedly apologise will we consider buying their papers in future.

[earleyroyal]

Or just ignore whatever the silly little man writes. He hasn't accused anyone of murder (gone quite close) and doesn't deserve the badge of honour that a boycott would undoubtedly give him.

Anyone who has their views on Reading influenced by this retard clearly isn't worth listening to, probably deserve to be listened to about as much as the Mirror deserves to be read.

[AbovetheI]

As Morrissey once sung: Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before".

The city of Liverpool has been boycotting The Sun since it all but accused the Liverpool fans of murder at Hillsborough. Sir Alex Ferguson refuses to speak to the BBC because of allegations against one of his sons.

With this in mind, as supporters, we should stop buying or reading the Daily Mirror. The Football Club should also ban the Daily Mirror, and other Mirror Group newspapers, from sending their representatives to our home games.

Only after Holt and the Mirror Group unreservedly apologise will we consider buying their papers in future.

He's entitled to his free speech as much as we are for calling him a twat. He spouts bollocks to please fans of Chelsea, Man Utd and the big players so he could "get cosy" with them for stories and exclusives. As a former journalist I know how it works.

Just let him spout his bigotry and be done with him.

[Yorkshire Royal]

LOL

Scousers stopped buying The Sun because Kelvin McKenzie printed a front page that suggested liverpool fans pissed on the dead and robbed them of the wallets before charging the police. Although this is quite funny really, it is totally and utterly untrue and it took the paper many years to even apologise. Their readership dropped from over 200K to around 70K.

Oliver Holt's must recent column contains points that are valid I'm afraid. However his absolute stinker about hating the club and chairman last year was way out of order, but is not comparable in anyway to the scouse boycott of The Sun. Further more Reading hardly has the volume of fans, nor I imagine Mirror readers anyway, to make any impact.

But finally, no one should buy the Mirror because, to be honest, it's a really shit newspaper...Oh and Alex Ferguson is just a bitter idiot..

[Arnie_Pie]

@ people that buy The Mirror.

[phil in cornwall]

LOL

Scousers stopped buying The Sun because Kelvin McKenzie printed a front page that suggested liverpool fans pissed on the dead and robbed them of the wallets before charging the police. Although this is quite funny really, it is totally and utterly untrue and it took the paper many years to even apologise. Their readership dropped from over 200K to around 70K.

Oliver Holt's must recent column contains points that are valid I'm afraid. However his absolute stinker about hating the club and chairman last year was way out of order, but is not comparable in anyway to the scouse boycott of The Sun. Further more Reading hardly has the volume of fans, nor I imagine Mirror readers anyway, to make any impact.

But finally, no one should buy the Mirror because, to be honest, it's a really shit newspaper...Oh and Alex Ferguson is just a bitter idiot..

Why don't you get this translated into English and post it again?

[Yorkshire Royal]

Why don't you get this translated into English and post it again?

You what?? What are you on about..?

Okay, let me re-word the only slightly poorly written point:

"However his absolute stinker about hating the club and chairman last year was way out of order, but is not comparable in anyway to the reasons behind the scouse boycott of The Sun"

Let me sum up my point so the simple amongst us can understand it. Oliver Holt's tirade against Reading is not comparable in anyway to the lies published on the front page of The Sun. Therefore making such a comparison to justify not buying the mirror is silly. Further more, I doubt even if all Reading fans stopped buying the mirror it would have no significant impact on the mirror's revenue. And finally, irrelevant of proposed boycott, no one should buy the mirror anyway, as it's rubbish. Better?

[SCIAG]

As I said in the other thread- someone should wait by Holt's car and give him a present with the word "STOLEN" written on it. I wonder if he'd reject it.

[Archie's penalty]

Was it just me, or did anyone else not have a clue what the gal was given for? I thought it was given because Bikey's header had gone over the line and the keeper clawed it back out.

That's exactly what I thought it was given for. I was not only in the away end but also really low down. I had no idea what had happened but celebrated when we were given the goal. I think quite a lot of Reading players were just like me in that respect.