I am officially bored of...

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

when the fcuk did all the RTGs invade this thread?

I spend good money watching RFC under Coppell and dont get anything back.

too true. Here's been here 5 years now and we've achieved absolutely f*** all under him

when did this board get invaded by the Mr Magoo appreciation society?

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Not with you here. Hammond may co-ordinate the identification process, but Coppell chooses who to pursue, then Hammond supposedly gets it done. The evidence, slim as it is, seems to bear out that it's a case of Coppell not choosing than Hammond failing to get the deals done. My sense is that Hammond and McDermott have been very busy lining up targets and Coppell has been equally busy declining them. Of course, I don't really know but I can't see anything pointing in the direction of Hammond's failure here.

suggestions are that it isn't Coppell going out and picking players, but instead our scouts are identifying targets and suggesting them. It's not as if coppell can have watched the likes of Cisse, Fae, Kebe, Bikey, or even Marek, in person too often, nor Doyle, Long, Bennett, not to mention those foreign triallists we had over who get sent away for not being good enough. And lets not forget Halford, who we'd been watching for over a year without realising he doesn't possess much talent beyond a long throw.

If our scouting network is repeatedly finding players who aren't good enough, and offering them to Coppell, do you really blame Coppell for not signing them?


And it's Hammond who deals with all the contract negotiations, so if that's a stumbling point as well, you can't real pin that on Coppell either.

[glass half full]

This is a football financial world dominated by agents and this is the root of the problem.

Look at how much Leicester spent on agents and where did it get them?

Whilst looking for signings from Reading FC is a bit like watching paint dry I would far rather we unearthed uncut diamonds such as Doyle and polished them than paid massive sums of money on overrated so-called 'established premiership' players and kept underachieving players on the books who have a higher opinion of themselves (thanks to their agents and acolytes) than they are really worth.

It is much more fun and satisfying too.

[rg6royal]

Lets do what Palace did last season and give the youngsters a chance.

[glass half full]

I totally agree.

[Royal Lady]

My main gripe at the moment is that Madejski kept saying we want to be a PL team, that frigging video last season " We won't be next", blah blah blah. He talked the talk, but when it came to walking the walk, he did nothing to ensure that we gave ourselves as good a chance as possible to stay up. I think the answer DOES lie with the amount of money he "allowed" Coppell to spend. Whilst technically telling the truth in that there was money to spend, the amount was almost certainly so low that it hampered Coppell's abilities to bring in exactly who he wanted. Don't forget that we're not just talking about transfer fees, we have to remember the wages. Was it not Gilberto or someone who left Arsenal in the close season for £1 million - I asked Schards why we didn't go for him, but he said WCBAP. Maybe Fae and Halford (our two bigger signings over the last couple of years) hadn't demanded high wages per se, so we could afford the bigger transfer fee.

I just feel that if all this was Coppell's fault and Madejski was so desperate to remain in the PL, that he would have got rid of Coppell by now, and ESPECIALLY at the end of the season when Coppell was waivering anyway and when we were relegated.

I wouldn't mind if Madejski and Howe didn't try to big us up all the time "we can be as big as Arsenal" LOL (or maybe he was talking about their ladies team )

I hope to God we get a good result today, because I just KNOW that there will be booing at the end of the game, around me, and my brother in law will call for Madejski's head. The players that we have at the moment need to be motivated, need a captain who will do his job and I, personally, don't think Harper is the man for it, with transfer speculation dangling over his head - and need to go all out and TRY THEIR BEST. I said this last season, and I'll say it again, if a bunch of players all give 100% and still don't get the results we want, at least we know they gave their all. When they mince about on the pitch, pull out of tackles and can't even cross a ball - THAT's when I get annoyed and you can spend all the money you like, but if players don't perform to the best of their ability, you're fcked. Rant over.

[juanpablo]

PEARCEY wrote:
Andrew I dont think you are too wide of the mark here...as things stand our current squad is just about on a par with 2005/2006...you could argue Matejovski, Bikey, Rosenior and Noel Hunt are a fair trade off for the loss of Sidwell, Kitson, Little and Shorey...only just though.
You could also contend the ageing of Murty, Hahneman and Ingimarsson is counter-balanced with the promise of youth in Pearce and Karacan..again just about..but any more sales and we start looking weaker than three years ago and that is not good enough when you consider the amount of money coming into the club in that time.
As things stand its ok...but lets not see any more of our better players go just because it happens to be a good deal...thats surely a short term selling club mentality rather than the brick by brick approach the club have promoted in recent years

quality

[Platypuss]

you could argue Matejovski, Bikey, Rosenior and Noel Hunt are a fair trade off for the loss of Sidwell, Kitson, Little and Shorey...only just though.

Well you could argue it - in the same way that I could argue that the moon landings never happened. The argument that I would be a certifiable loon would be quite persuasive, however.

[Ian Royal]

you could argue Matejovski, Bikey, Rosenior and Noel Hunt are a fair trade off for the loss of Sidwell, Kitson, Little and Shorey...only just though.

Well you could argue it - in the same way that I could argue that the moon landings never happened. The argument that I would be a certifiable loon would be quite persuasive, however.

Yeah, even I wouldn't argue that one. Hunt isn't in the same class as Kitson, Matejovsky might compare to Sidwell, but is a different type of player and Rosenior and Bikey are totally incomparable to Shorey and Little. They bring totally different things and play in totally different positions

I'd try something very different in trying to show our team and squad was up to it.

[PEARCEY]

you could argue Matejovski, Bikey, Rosenior and Noel Hunt are a fair trade off for the loss of Sidwell, Kitson, Little and Shorey...only just though.

Well you could argue it - in the same way that I could argue that the moon landings never happened. The argument that I would be a certifiable loon would be quite persuasive, however.

Yeah, even I wouldn't argue that one. Hunt isn't in the same class as Kitson, Matejovsky might compare to Sidwell, but is a different type of player and Rosenior and Bikey are totally incomparable to Shorey and Little. They bring totally different things and play in totally different positions

I'd try something very different in trying to show our team and squad was up to it.

How do you know Hunt is not in the same class as Kitson. Lets wait and see.
Matevjovsky is a current International for the Czech Republic as opposed to Sidwell struggling to make Villa's team.
I accept Bikey and Rosenior are not comparable with Shorey and an ageing and crocked Little ...where in my post did I say they were?....but in terms of quality of the respective players theres not so much in it.
As for your comments Platypuss surely you can do better than that.