How Long Will BM Last at this rate?????

[Maguire]

Regarding performance vs size of club/salaries Swansea really are a one off though aren't they? I can't see them continuing drastically over performing in the way they have in the last 2 years. Inevitably they will lose their best players/ or have to ratchet up wages to retain them. I'd be interested to see how quickly their wage bill is increasing.

Unless we pay ridiculous wages we will always struggle to bring in premier league quality players initially, unless we have another angle of them (eg ex players such as Sidwell, Gilf etc) Blaming BM for not reinforcing/building a new squad with players that will fit into mid table PL teams is naive at best.

I think his major mistake was not getting a settled defence (inc Pearce) early enough plus not playing 451 from the get go. But you know, we all make mistakes.

I'd say they've already lost 3 of their best players in Joe Allen, Danny Graham and Scott Sinclair...doesn't seem to have affected them in the slightest...and a lot of that is to do with the manager and how he gets the team to play..

..I'm sure if Laudrup came to Reading and had the current squad, he'd get more out of them with his style of playing, than BM has...sad but true

He signed Pablo Hernandez (£5+ million), Jonathon De Guzman on loan, and Chico Flores. They let Graham go, that wasn't a big loss.

Let's see what happens when Michu gets his summer move.

[AirRaidSiren]

Regarding performance vs size of club/salaries Swansea really are a one off though aren't they? I can't see them continuing drastically over performing in the way they have in the last 2 years. Inevitably they will lose their best players/ or have to ratchet up wages to retain them. I'd be interested to see how quickly their wage bill is increasing.

Unless we pay ridiculous wages we will always struggle to bring in premier league quality players initially, unless we have another angle of them (eg ex players such as Sidwell, Gilf etc) Blaming BM for not reinforcing/building a new squad with players that will fit into mid table PL teams is naive at best.

I think his major mistake was not getting a settled defence (inc Pearce) early enough plus not playing 451 from the get go. But you know, we all make mistakes.

I'd say they've already lost 3 of their best players in Joe Allen, Danny Graham and Scott Sinclair...doesn't seem to have affected them in the slightest...and a lot of that is to do with the manager and how he gets the team to play..

..I'm sure if Laudrup came to Reading and had the current squad, he'd get more out of them with his style of playing, than BM has...sad but true

Great post DOYLERSAROYALER. I totally agree with this, especially your last statement. It is mostly about the manager, how he gets the best out of the squad he has. Swansea do not buy the biggest players, as in transfers, they buy players to suit the style of play. They pass the ball fluently, like they have just come off the training ground, where as we can't pass for shit, it is a simple training ground exercise. Pass. Manage to keep possession of the ball. We fail epically in both.

We will never get the chance to physically see my next point, but IF the likes of Laudrup was our manager now, I strongly believe we would not be in the position we are, that we would be in a stronger position than we currently are, we'd be playing better football and no favouritism shown towards players. Laudrup and previously Rodgers, got the best out of a squad of Championship(as a lot of them came up and have stayed) players, and added new additions to strengthen the squad. Swansea should be an excellent example of how a 'smaller' club can do it.

For people to continuously say that we are doing our best with Division 1 players or Championship players are talking out of their proverbial backsides. Players can adapt and progress given the right opportunity. Le Fondre is one prime example, played right through the divisions and has adapted to the Premiership. Unfortunately, McDermott is playing a style of football that would hinder players in their progress, not adapt to the Premiership in a positive way. How can you adapt playing hoofball and defensively? It certainly wasn't 'the Reading way' in recent times....

Brian is dragging us backwards, we're supposed to be a club on the up, making progress. Let's see the season out and either a, he resigns or b, get rid. No time for being 'nice'. Our club is bigger than the manager.

[Victor Meldrew]

Swansea are a one off yes, just like Fulham are, and Stoke, and Reading, and Wigan, and Norwich, and Southampton, and West Brom.

None of them, based on potential, resources and attendances should really be higher in the league than the likes of Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheff Weds, Villa, but they are to varying degrees.

We sometimes get hung up on the 'little old Reading' tag and don't appreciate that we have significant resources now. We might not have cash thrown at us like Southampton or QPR, or the match day revenues of Newcastle and Sunderland, but we aren't miles away from our competition as some make out.

I agree with you.
Other posters often seem to have a hang up about other clubs,where we stand in relation to them and how those clubs will have failure just around the corner as seen in the postings by leon and maguire.
Swansea have now won a major trophy and got into Europe,something that we could/should have done before throwing that final match at Blackburn to ensure that we didn't make it,meanwhile we languish close to relegation and see fit to predict doom and gloom for other similar clubs.
Fulham,Stoke and Wigan have made big efforts to stay in the Premier League over a number of years-I wish we would do the same.

[Hoop Blah]

All we had to do was apply for the inter-toto or what ever it was called and we'd have had a chance to play in Europe that year too.

We didn't because we didn't think we could handle it. Personally I think that turned the players off as they saw a club and management that no longer had ambitions to improve.

[SPARTA]

If you look at a lot of their players then quite a few are Championship level but like us they need to play above their max week in week out. Stoke are physical, longball and agressive in their play for a reason, and that is to make up their pretty average squad. - and it works.

Charlie Adam - £4m
Peter Crouch - £10m
Matthew Etherington - £2m
Cameron Jerome - £4m
Wilson Palacios - £6m
Jermaine Pennant - £2m
Asmir Begovic - £3.25m
Steven N'Zonzi - £3m

Please can everybody stop using Stoke as a yardstick to judge how much we are getting from a substandard squad. It is a patently ridiculous comparison.

Are you really using cost of a player as a way of saying someone is PL standard?

Of those, Adam, Jerome and Pennant are all second tier quality, and they were trying to off-load Palacios in January as he's been a very expensive flop!

[Ouroboros]

Sparta: literally everything you say on this forum is wrong. It's incredible, honestly.

[sandman]

Sparta: literally everything you say on this forum is wrong. It's incredible, honestly.

'greed.

He's so miserable he makes floyd look like Will Ferrell in Elf.

[Stuboo]

Sparta: literally everything you say on this forum is wrong. It's incredible, honestly.

'greed.

He's so miserable he makes floyd look like Will Ferrell in Elf.

[Hoop Blah]

I caught a bit of McDermott on TalkSport this morning and he was saying how he was just 'enjoying being in the Premier League'. I heard Legiertwood saying something very similar on Radio Berks earlier in the week.

It made me think that perhaps there is a feeling in the club that we're just lucky to be where we are and just to go out and enjoy 38 big days out instead of really feeling at home and competitive. We've a few players in the squad who have been waiting years to get here and perhaps there's not the hunger of what seemed to be a younger squad last time we came up.

[maffff]

Yes I agree as well. Swansea are overachieving and will regress to the mean at some point.

What's our mean and how far back should we measure?

If we go back to the club was founded then our mean is 6th in the 3rd Tier of English football.

12 seasons ago we were back in the 3rd tier, and we've only had 4 seasons of 'mid table mediocrity' in the last 14/15.

With all of the other factors off the pitch, investment in the club, growing the infrastructure. Aren't we established as a top/middle end Championship club now, pushing towards the Premier League? If we regressed to the 3rd tier would we be regarded as a 'massive club' for that level?

Interestingly our lowest ever points haul in the Football League was 30 in 1930/31. Can we beat it?

[Maguire]

Yes I agree as well. Swansea are overachieving and will regress to the mean at some point.

What's our mean and how far back should we measure?

About 19th or 20th in the football pyramid.

[maffff]

19th / 20th in the football pyramid being roughly interchangeable with 22nd to 26th?

I'd be happy to see us yoyo for a bit and look to push on.

We're unrecognisable from the team we were 20 years ago (for better and for worse)

[Maguire]

I see it as a long game really - no point throwing the toys out of the pram after one result or even one poor season, so long as the general trend is upward.

I don't think RFC have ever been so well-positioned to push on as a club, although clearly staying in the Premier League next season would be a great help.

If people are going to compare us to whichever similar club is currently enjoying the most success (in this case, Swansea) then of course we'll come out unfavourably. There are a lot of other similarly-sized clubs doing significantly worse.

[joeroyal]

I caught a bit of McDermott on TalkSport this morning and he was saying how he was just 'enjoying being in the Premier League'. I heard Legiertwood saying something very similar on Radio Berks earlier in the week.

It made me think that perhaps there is a feeling in the club that we're just lucky to be where we are and just to go out and enjoy 38 big days out instead of really feeling at home and competitive. We've a few players in the squad who have been waiting years to get here and perhaps there's not the hunger of what seemed to be a younger squad last time we came up.

McDermott says the same old things over and over again lucky to be here, look how far we have come, fantastic bunch of lads, Ha i dont hear vibes from swansea comming out with all this properganda they just got on with it and gave there fans something to be proud of never once have they faced the chop since they have been in the top flight but then again would any of our squad get in the side. look forward to tomorrow same old faces same old style of play same old excuses post match. we didnt deserve that , we should have had a penalty, could of gone either way, its not just going for us at the moment, never mind Utd after this one

[maffff]

I see it as a long game really - no point throwing the toys out of the pram after one result or even one poor season, so long as the general trend is upward.

I don't think RFC have ever been so well-positioned to push on as a club, although clearly staying in the Premier League next season would be a great help.

If people are going to compare us to whichever similar club is currently enjoying the most success (in this case, Swansea) then of course we'll come out unfavourably. There are a lot of other similarly-sized clubs doing significantly worse.

Very well put, same way as the club are playing it. Relegation would be disappointing but if you go boom or bust there'll inevitably be a point where bust catches up in the end.

I've been going to games since 1991 and couldn't have been a much better time to start really. it's been the best 20 years of our history and we're in a great position to carry on this upward trend.

[sandman]

I caught a bit of McDermott on TalkSport this morning and he was saying how he was just 'enjoying being in the Premier League'. I heard Legiertwood saying something very similar on Radio Berks earlier in the week.

It made me think that perhaps there is a feeling in the club that we're just lucky to be where we are and just to go out and enjoy 38 big days out instead of really feeling at home and competitive. We've a few players in the squad who have been waiting years to get here and perhaps there's not the hunger of what seemed to be a younger squad last time we came up.

McDermott says the same old things over and over again lucky to be here, look how far we have come, fantastic bunch of lads, Ha i dont hear vibes from swansea comming out with all this properganda they just got on with it and gave there fans something to be proud of never once have they faced the chop since they have been in the top flight but then again would any of our squad get in the side. look forward to tomorrow same old faces same old style of play same old excuses post match. we didnt deserve that , we should have had a penalty, could of gone either way, its not just going for us at the moment, never mind Utd after this one

Same old spoilt, moaning, fans who after 20 years of almost constant growth cry like little babies and call for the board/manager/tea lady to be sacked when something goes slightly wrong.

[Hoop Blah]

I see it as a long game really - no point throwing the toys out of the pram after one result or even one poor season, so long as the general trend is upward.

I don't think RFC have ever been so well-positioned to push on as a club, although clearly staying in the Premier League next season would be a great help.

If people are going to compare us to whichever similar club is currently enjoying the most success (in this case, Swansea) then of course we'll come out unfavourably. There are a lot of other similarly-sized clubs doing significantly worse.

I wouldn't disagree with any of that. I would add that now we've established a competitive advantage through prudent management and success on the pitch it isn't a time to sit back, enjoy the ride and pat ourselves on the back.

Now is/was the time to push on even harder to make sure we stand the best chance of staying ahead of the likes of Sheff Utd, Sheff Weds, Birmingham etc etc who could claim to be bigger and better than us.

[maffff]

of staying ahead of the likes of Sheff Utd, Sheff Weds, Birmingham etc etc who could claim to be bigger and better than us.

and are all teams you would expect us to be beating regularly.

[BR2]

I see it as a long game really - no point throwing the toys out of the pram after one result or even one poor season, so long as the general trend is upward.

I don't think RFC have ever been so well-positioned to push on as a club, although clearly staying in the Premier League next season would be a great help.

If people are going to compare us to whichever similar club is currently enjoying the most success (in this case, Swansea) then of course we'll come out unfavourably. There are a lot of other similarly-sized clubs doing significantly worse.

You directly asked the question about comparison with other clubs so some of us responded and Hoop Blah in particular offered up the likes of Fulham,Wigan and Norwich as well as Swansea so it was not just directed at one club only that is currently doing better than us..

[joeroyal]

I caught a bit of McDermott on TalkSport this morning and he was saying how he was just 'enjoying being in the Premier League'. I heard Legiertwood saying something very similar on Radio Berks earlier in the week.

It made me think that perhaps there is a feeling in the club that we're just lucky to be where we are and just to go out and enjoy 38 big days out instead of really feeling at home and competitive. We've a few players in the squad who have been waiting years to get here and perhaps there's not the hunger of what seemed to be a younger squad last time we came up.

McDermott says the same old things over and over again lucky to be here, look how far we have come, fantastic bunch of lads, Ha i dont hear vibes from swansea comming out with all this properganda they just got on with it and gave there fans something to be proud of never once have they faced the chop since they have been in the top flight but then again would any of our squad get in the side. look forward to tomorrow same old faces same old style of play same old excuses post match. we didnt deserve that , we should have had a penalty, could of gone either way, its not just going for us at the moment, never mind Utd after this one

Same old spoilt, moaning, fans who after 20 years of almost constant growth cry like little babies and call for the board/manager/tea lady to be sacked when something goes slightly wrong.

Lift your head out of the sand and you will see it is more then something going slightly wrong