Most disappointing season?

[Sutekh]

The total lack of any reasonable investment the last time we were in the PL leading to 9 wasted months of complete and utter disappointment where even winning a free kick was usually something to celebrate.

[Vision]

Most disappointing season was the season after finishing 8th in the Premier League, and SJM's penny pinching getting us relegated the next season! That was our chance to establish ourselves at the top table, and he threw it away!

Would you care to enlighten as to why you think one man was responsible for the side that finished 8th one season getting relegated the next. Did he sell half the team or something?

The cost of competiting at that level sent the shitters up him, our wage bill was the lowest in the league, give or take a club or two, and we barely spent anything in replacing Steve Sidwell. There was also a shit-storm behind the scenes about player bonuses, which lead to the players losing faith in their captain, who didn't speak up for them, and then relegation followed. SJM simply wouldn't up the wage bill or transfer kitty enough to give us a chance to compete at that level, let alone keep the existing squad happy!

LOL.

Even If all that were true (its not) then you're still listing several other people culpable for that season.

The irony though is that you're the one on here constantly saying how you've fallen out of love with football because it's just about the money yet you whine about the reluctance of the chairman to spend more money back then.

[Ian Royal]

Most disappointing season was the season after finishing 8th in the Premier League, and SJM's penny pinching getting us relegated the next season! That was our chance to establish ourselves at the top table, and he threw it away!

Would you care to enlighten as to why you think one man was responsible for the side that finished 8th one season getting relegated the next. Did he sell half the team or something?

The cost of competiting at that level sent the shitters up him, our wage bill was the lowest in the league, give or take a club or two, and we barely spent anything in replacing Steve Sidwell. There was also a shit-storm behind the scenes about player bonuses, which lead to the players losing faith in their captain, who didn't speak up for them, and then relegation followed. SJM simply wouldn't up the wage bill or transfer kitty enough to give us a chance to compete at that level, let alone keep the existing squad happy!

The alleged bonus issue happened before we finished 8th so I hardly think you can blame that.

Key injuries like Sonko, Convey and Little, Sidwell going and poor signings finished us. With what we spent - not an insignificant figure, we got Rosenior, Fae, Cisse, Matejovsky and Kebe over the season. Add to the previous failures of Sodje, Halford and the stop gap of Duberry. We spent enough to get decent players we needed, unfortunately our first choices turned us down. We just signed junk because we didn't have enough experience of scouting and signing the sort of players we needed. Ones ready to do in the PL. Add to that Shorey's sulking, Hunt's ego.

That's a huge set of contributing factors, very few of which Madejski was responsible for. He didn't have lots of money to throw at us, and the money he did provide should have been enough to see us scrape by given we were relegated because of a horrendous second half of the season.

[Coppelled_Streets]

The irony though is that you're the one on here constantly saying how you've fallen out of love with football because it's just about the money yet you whine about the reluctance of the chairman to spend more money back then.

I hate the game now, but no I don't constantly go on about it - it's come up in a couple of different threads over however many months! I maintain an interest in our clubs well being, but I don't even think I can even call myself a supporter any more! I dislike everything about the modern game, largely because of the ridiculous sums of money it now takes to compete (how you can suggest wanting Reading to match the likes of a West Brom or a Crystal Palace £ for £ being the same thing I don't know - they're a million miles away from the City's and Chelsea's of the game). Then there's the pantomime match day experience at our club, and others. SJM could, as we have seen by the accounts and TV money, have increased our wage budget to make us more competitive in that second season. Instead he saw us finish 8th and believe we had a squad capable of repeating it without much investment - and he was very very wrong! Coincidently, his businesses were also starting to suffer at the very same time, and his and our decline was on! The rest as they say is history. Panic sale, dodgy owner, massive debts, "where'd the money go?", panic sale, Thai consortium come in and 'move' not clear the debt, sell clubs land.. next chapter should be interesting.. enjoy!

[Vision]

The irony though is that you're the one on here constantly saying how you've fallen out of love with football because it's just about the money yet you whine about the reluctance of the chairman to spend more money back then.

I hate the game now, but no I don't constantly go on about it - it's come up in a couple of different threads over however many months! I maintain an interest in our clubs well being, but I don't even think I can even call myself a supporter any more! I dislike everything about the modern game, largely because of the ridiculous sums of money it now takes to compete (how you can suggest wanting Reading to match the likes of a West Brom or a Crystal Palace £ for £ being the same thing I don't know - they're a million miles away from the City's and Chelsea's of the game). Then there's the pantomime match day experience at our club, and others. SJM could, as we have seen by the accounts and TV money, have increased our wage budget to make us more competitive in that second season. Instead he saw us finish 8th and believe we had a squad capable of repeating it without much investment - and he was very very wrong! Coincidently, his businesses were also starting to suffer at the very same time, and his and our decline was on! The rest as they say is history. Panic sale, dodgy owner, massive debts, "where'd the money go?", panic sale, Thai consortium come in and 'move' not clear the debt, sell clubs land.. next chapter should be interesting.. enjoy!

And the thing you hate about the game is exactly what you're berating Madejski for not doing back then.

We lost Sidwell to Chelsea by the way. Should we have competed with the sort of money they dish out? Also we weren't a million miles away from the likes of West Brom and Palace wrt to wage bill. Did you also miss the twenty or so times Coppell publicly said there was more money available? The accounts tell you we did increase our wage bill that second season. the accounts also tell you we made an operating profit of 6m both season which was money Coppell had available but chose not to spend as he considered the likes of Cahill,O'Neill and Taylor to be not much better than what he had and/or not worth the asking price. There was more money available but it wasn't spent. Also worth noting that it was the manager's policy to have a smaller tightknit squad so even though our total wage bill was in the bottom 3 of the division , on an individual basis our regular players were being paid competitively alongside the Palace and West Brom players at the time. Plenty of improved deals signed during this period.

You're right in a way though because there is no way JM was going to compete with the likes of Bolton (a similiar natural size club to us) by continually losing money each season until their debt becomes enormous and impossible to pay back when the inevitable relegation comes.

Madejski has to take some of the blame for that relegation for sure, but to put it all down to his "penny pinching is just incorrect. Pretty much everyone at the club made mistakes that season and complacency definitely set in as I don't think they saw relegation as a possibility until it was too late. In the end though it came down to a simple fact that our success was down mainly to a tight knit squad that were committed to performing for Reading. Once they had a season in the circus they ceased to become Reading players and saw themselves as Premiership ones.

Anyway as usual we're getting away from the OP.

Back to Back, the final season at Elm park and the first season at The Madejski were mind numbingly mediocre.

[Hampshire Royal]

The worst season for me was 1970-71. The previous season we had played some of the best football ever seen by a Reading team. 70-71 srarted with us expecting to be promoted. Instead it was was the season we were relegated to Div 4 for the first time in our history.

[Elm Park Kid]

mispost

[Elm Park Kid]

Given how absolutely awful we were towards the end of last season I'm not surprised at all that we struggled. Especially given that we failed to sign a decent left back or proven striker. Like everyone else my head was turned by the Ipswich result and I thought we had a reasonable chance of competing if all our new players gelled well and Blackman continued on his form. The Fulham result brought us crashing down though and the Clarke thing just destroyed moral.

So i'm looking on the positives:

1. So so happy to have McDermott back. Would have taken him returning and finishing midtable over us finishing top 6 under Clarke.
2. Nick Blackman looks like he may genuinely be a quality forward at this level.
3. Danny Williams is showing signs that he may be real deal.
4. McShane and Quinn have settled well.
5. Owners are afraid to spend a bit of money.

What a terrible, terrible post.

Decent Left back = Taylor
Proven Striker = Vydra


How can you say you'd rather come mid table with McDermott than a possible promotion candidates with Clarke? pathetic.


Nick Blackman has been disgraceful in the last 10 games.

The owners have already come in and spent a fair deal of money. They never said they'd be splashing millions upon millions but have spent an awful lot in loan fees/wages, contract with staff and managers, the whole new royal elm park project.

Taylor is not a decent left back. As shown by the fact that Obita (who himself is a pretty bad left back) was keeping him on the bench.

Fair enough about Vydra, I did kind of forget about him. But I was mainly talking about my expectations at the start of the season.

I would rather have McDermott as a long term option then Clarke getting us into the play offs before taking some better job. Brian now has the opportunity to build a decent team ready to start again next season.

Blackman is joint 3rd top goal scorer in the league with more goals now than our highest scorers achieved all last season.

Sorry, the last one was a typo. I meant to say I was optimistic that the owners aren't afraid to spend some money.

[msmivie]

Most disappointing season was the season after finishing 8th in the Premier League, and SJM's penny pinching getting us relegated the next season! That was our chance to establish ourselves at the top table, and he threw it away!

Would you care to enlighten as to why you think one man was responsible for the side that finished 8th one season getting relegated the next. Did he sell half the team or something?

The cost of competiting at that level sent the shitters up him, our wage bill was the lowest in the league, give or take a club or two, and we barely spent anything in replacing Steve Sidwell. There was also a shit-storm behind the scenes about player bonuses, which lead to the players losing faith in their captain, who didn't speak up for them, and then relegation followed. SJM simply wouldn't up the wage bill or transfer kitty enough to give us a chance to compete at that level, let alone keep the existing squad happy!

ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON! THE MAJOR TURNING POINT IN OUR HISTORY!
Steve Sidwell left on a free, and we somehow managed to get £3m from Sunderland for Greg Halford. That £3m was used to buy two totally unknown Africans, Kaliffa Cisse and Emerse Fae. At a time when investment was needed to consolidate our position in the Premier League there was NONE!
We were deservedly relegated! Nothing to do with bad luck, or second season syndrome, BUT all due to a lack of ambition and investment.
The worrying thing is that we learnt nothing from that experience, and did the same again when we last got promoted in 12/13.
We could sustain a Premier League club, others smaller than us have done so. The key though is a
AMBITION and INVESTMENT. We supporters are just waiting for the Board to take the lead.

[tmesis]

ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON! THE MAJOR TURNING POINT IN OUR HISTORY!
Steve Sidwell left on a free, and we somehow managed to get £3m from Sunderland for Greg Halford. That £3m was used to buy two totally unknown Africans, Kaliffa Cisse and Emerse Fae. At a time when investment was needed to consolidate our position in the Premier League there was NONE!
We were deservedly relegated! Nothing to do with bad luck, or second season syndrome, BUT all due to a lack of ambition and investment.
The worrying thing is that we learnt nothing from that experience, and did the same again when we last got promoted in 12/13.
We could sustain a Premier League club, others smaller than us have done so. The key though is a
AMBITION and INVESTMENT. We supporters are just waiting for the Board to take the lead.

It's not just about ambition/investment. It's about being able to find players.

Our scouting system never seemed to adjust to be a premier league team rather than a championship club looking for bargains, which is why we always seemed to be looking at trialists from Cyprus etc.

Even when we did sign players, they were often players who just didn't fit the way we played.

[Ascotexgunner]

Not even close.

[msmivie]

ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON! THE MAJOR TURNING POINT IN OUR HISTORY!
Steve Sidwell left on a free, and we somehow managed to get £3m from Sunderland for Greg Halford. That £3m was used to buy two totally unknown Africans, Kaliffa Cisse and Emerse Fae. At a time when investment was needed to consolidate our position in the Premier League there was NONE!
We were deservedly relegated! Nothing to do with bad luck, or second season syndrome, BUT all due to a lack of ambition and investment.
The worrying thing is that we learnt nothing from that experience, and did the same again when we last got promoted in 12/13.
We could sustain a Premier League club, others smaller than us have done so. The key though is a
AMBITION and INVESTMENT. We supporters are just waiting for the Board to take the lead.

It's not just about ambition/investment. It's about being able to find players.

Our scouting system never seemed to adjust to be a premier league team rather than a championship club looking for bargains, which is why we always seemed to be looking at trialists from Cyprus etc.

Even when we did sign players, they were often players who just didn't fit the way we played.

Isn't that down to the Director of Football?
Perhaps it's time for a long hard look at the role 'Mr Untouchable' aka Nicky Hammond plays!

[Sutekh]

ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON! THE MAJOR TURNING POINT IN OUR HISTORY!
Steve Sidwell left on a free, and we somehow managed to get £3m from Sunderland for Greg Halford. That £3m was used to buy two totally unknown Africans, Kaliffa Cisse and Emerse Fae. At a time when investment was needed to consolidate our position in the Premier League there was NONE!
We were deservedly relegated! Nothing to do with bad luck, or second season syndrome, BUT all due to a lack of ambition and investment.
The worrying thing is that we learnt nothing from that experience, and did the same again when we last got promoted in 12/13.
We could sustain a Premier League club, others smaller than us have done so. The key though is a
AMBITION and INVESTMENT. We supporters are just waiting for the Board to take the lead.

It's not just about ambition/investment. It's about being able to find players.

Our scouting system never seemed to adjust to be a premier league team rather than a championship club looking for bargains, which is why we always seemed to be looking at trialists from Cyprus etc.

Even when we did sign players, they were often players who just didn't fit the way we played.

Isn't that down to the Director of Football?
Perhaps it's time for a long hard look at the role 'Mr Untouchable' aka Nicky Hammond plays!

Outside of contract/transfer negotiation, player recruitment is nothing to do with Nicky Hammond. The manager controls who he wants to bring into the club based on scouting reports, player availability and any budget dictated by the owners.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Vision once again showing why he is one of the best posters on here.
We got relegated as too many players decided to take it easy in the 2nd half of the season, the same happened the following season when we missed out.
It was never about not investing, we didn't invest the previous season either and finished 8th.

[Dr_Hfuhruhurr]

Would you care to enlighten as to why you think one man was responsible for the side that finished 8th one season getting relegated the next. Did he sell half the team or something?

Given that we went down on GD and Nicky Shorey's strategy in the second half of the season was to shut his eyes and kick it into the stands, Im happy to blame him for our relegation. The reason that season was the big disappointment is that we really shouldnt have gone down but we did so because of ego.

In fact both our relegations were shambolic. Our second premiership relegation was the turning point of the club into the disappointing modern era. Just a series of bad decisions behind the scenes, abandoning the ethos of the club in favour of business, tax bills, commercial interests and ill thought out executive decisions. It wasnt the going down that mattered - it was just the end of Reading FC as we all knew it that was so disappointing. If you want a symbol of where Reading went. Then I give you Royston Drenthe. Playing at Yeovil.

The third most disapponting season could well have been our premiership year. Remember we gave up any chance of Europe by letting Watford beat us on the final day of the season?

[marlowuk]

The third most disapponting season could well have been our premiership year. Remember we gave up any chance of Europe by letting Watford beat us on the final day of the season?

We drew with Blackburn on the last day of the season!

[bcubed]

Given the quality of the players brought in, the depth of squad, the excellence of the football being played (e.g Ipswich at home) I felt incredibly optimistic during the early part of the season. Not only did automatic promotion (or at worst play offs) look a shoe in, it looked as though we had a team playing in a style that would enable us to hold our own in the Prem

Plummeting from that euphoria to our current dreary performances and an apparent lack of direction, we now only have the Cup to play for. The season obviously isnt over yet but I dont see a turnaround in prospect and it is definitely one of the most disappointing for me.

[Nameless]

No season comes close to our final season at Elm Park in terms of disappointment.
Any other season is simply a hiccup. We got relegated from the Prem - well we went back up again so that wasn't too big a problem !
But the last season at EP was a one off, it can never be put right, and it was a shambles

[Kuhl_Runnings]

This has indeed been a disappointing season, and it really depresses me that the club just gave up sometime after we lost 4-2 to Fulham. We could've done great things this season but for some unspecified reason it has flopped. I'm sure we can all speculate but personally I haven't the foggiest idea why it's just plummeted all of a sudden and that really get on my nerves. It isn't the most disappointing ever, but in recent memory I'd say so, and certainly the most groan inducing.

[Forbury Lion]

The amount of money we spent on good Championship additions (on paper),

End of the season the loanees may well be gone. What was the master plan? If we won promotion..........

The manager at the time probably knew he'd be sacked if he didn't get promotion and as such wasn't thinking long term with the loan signings, I guess he figured he'd get some money to spend on replacements if we got promoted and if not, it wouldn't be his problem.

Maybe he knew there were failings in the side he wasn't able to address & would be unable to deliver when he decided to speak to Fulham.

The director of football is the one who should be taking the more long term approach and preventing the manager making too many short term signings.