Time to button it, John Madejski

[Big Foot]

Done to death, no debate, Coppell had some funds but nowhere near what was required

As Stranded said, Coppell has admitted he could've brought in O'Neil and/or Taylor (and I thought Cahill was mentioned at the same time but I might've dreamt that as he was just one of my hopes) but decided he didn't want to.

If we'd signed Taylor, let alone O'Neil who's a better player, I think we'd have stayed up as Hunt and Shorey would've had proper competition.

You can say no debate as often as you like, you're just talking rubbish though.

A friend of mine went to school with Matt Taylor and grew up with him, he told me at the time that Matt rang him up saying "I'm about to sign, you'll see me play for your club etc etc", had passed the medical the lot.

At the 11th hour, Bolton came in with an extra £5K per week - may not sound like a great deal but over a 4 year contract that's £1M - and Matt Taylor pleaded with the club to match it, then asked them again to meet him halfway to save him the expense of moving oop North. The club said no, stuck to their guns about their "wage structure" and alas, Matty Taylor signed for Bolton instead of us.

Without dwelling on it too much, I think that is the single moment when this club began it's rapid decline.

[oldebiscuit]

Is anybody else tired of the nonsense our chairman is spouting at the moment?

We hear next to nothing from him when it counts, i.e. when the transfer window is open and he can actually do something about rectifying our current situation.

Now that he sees his cash cow that is the Premier League slipping away through his own neglect, he won't shut up appealing to the fans/players/tea ladies to get us out of the mess his lack own of investment is to blame for.

And please don't say it's Coppell's fault for the lack of investment. He is too cute to criticise his boss in public (as most of us would be) and has to suffer in silence as our lack of competitiveness in the transfer market is clear for all to see.

Our chairman's latest missive in today's Post - "If we've had a lesser team we might have got a better result" -is just an insult to our intelligence.

At least there will be plenty of opportunities to play "lesser teams" next season in the Champtionship. And Mr M will be tens of millions better off thanks to all that unspent Sky TV money.

Your making a lot of noise but you've got nothing to say. I think you 'like the sound of your own voice' and you are trying (but failing) to sound knowledgable. You are boring

[SpaceCruiser]

Um, ob, have you just replied to a message that was posted over 2 years ago?

[FiNeRaIn]

A friend of mine went to school with Matt Taylor and grew up with him, he told me at the time that Matt rang him up saying "I'm about to sign, you'll see me play for your club etc etc", had passed the medical the lot.

At the 11th hour, Bolton came in with an extra £5K per week - may not sound like a great deal but over a 4 year contract that's £1M - and Matt Taylor pleaded with the club to match it, then asked them again to meet him halfway to save him the expense of moving oop North. The club said no, stuck to their guns about their "wage structure" and alas, Matty Taylor signed for Bolton instead of us.

Without dwelling on it too much, I think that is the single moment when this club began it's rapid decline.

Sums up our small time club im afraid. We are not ruthless enough with our approach to the modern game and thats why we are back where we belong..in the championship. You need to match your competitors to stay ahead of the game, we didn't, fans were short changed and back down we went.

[brendywendy]

Hes given us 1.5 m.tops.but i never said he had.im just saying he hasnt stolen any. Wish hed shut up too,but that doesnt mean hes bleeding us dry. And up to the last published accounts it all adds up. And the mentioned money and big buys,and big failed bids show that he was happy to fund our ambition in the past.just not any more.

[Arch]

I would rather sit across a table and listen to JM talk about any subject he chose than do the same with any person who posts on HNA, without exception (except my sister... er ... obviously).

[Plymouth_Royal]

Threads that slag off The Chairman, they bother me.
He's put £Millions into the club, and he gets criticised for not putting enough £Millions in.

So do I but a lot of people get confused when it comes to putting across what money he's put into the club. He has definitely invested millions but not from his own pocket. That's what annoys people the most, especially when he makes out he loves the club. The majority of it has been from banks, which explains why we haven't seen all that money from the prem and siggs sale spent on the squad.

[Scarface]

I'm frustrated with the lack of investment as well, but it's not really a valid excuse, I wish fans stopped moaning about it. There are plenty of teams in this league, with smaller squads and transfer budgets, that are scoring goals and above us in the league.

At the moment we're under-achieving and that's down to the manager, his team selections and tactics.

[Hoop Blah]

A friend of mine went to school with Matt Taylor and grew up with him, he told me at the time that Matt rang him up saying "I'm about to sign, you'll see me play for your club etc etc", had passed the medical the lot.

At the 11th hour, Bolton came in with an extra £5K per week - may not sound like a great deal but over a 4 year contract that's £1M - and Matt Taylor pleaded with the club to match it, then asked them again to meet him halfway to save him the expense of moving oop North. The club said no, stuck to their guns about their "wage structure" and alas, Matty Taylor signed for Bolton instead of us.

Without dwelling on it too much, I think that is the single moment when this club began it's rapid decline.

Personally I think it started 6 months ealier when we refused the chance to play in Europe and continue to move forward, but that's splitting hairs as it's the same argument.

Interesting that we bolted at that extra £2.5k per week when our total wage bill for that season was actually higher than Boltons. I guess the money we spent on the likes of Sodje, Halls and the other squad fillers we didn't play hampered us in that respect.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

I'm frustrated with the lack of investment as well, but it's not really a valid excuse, I wish fans stopped moaning about it. There are plenty of teams in this league, with smaller squads and transfer budgets, that are scoring goals and above us in the league.

At the moment we're under-achieving and that's down to the manager, his team selections and tactics.

...which are pretty much exactly the same as last year, when we did very well.

Blaming the manager after just 7 games (of which 4 have been away) rather hints that some people just go into panic mode rather earlier than others.

I remember a guy named Chris J. (I'll spare his blushes) who I once heard getting angry about our impending relegation after an away pre-season friendly that didn't feature the full 1st team.

to be fair, in 1997/8, he was saying "that's it, we're going down this year" during our 2nd game of the season, but supporting a football team and being that pessimstic must be a real curse. I bet within 5 minutes of us get promoted at Leicester in 2006, he was getting depressed about knowing we'd go down the following year.