Reading are crap

[Negative_Jeff]

Of course it is impossible to emulate the posts of Floyd and Ian Herring, but for one so young Floyd shows great powers of discernment in pointing the finger at Jimmy Hill. In fact much of the bleak scenario presented by the above two posters can be directly attributed to Hill.
Nearly fifty years ago in his role at the PFA the bearded wonder was instrumental in removing the £20 a week maximum wage. Hill may have dovetailed brilliantly with Johnny Haynes on the pitch down at The Cottage in the fifties, but Haynes was the early beneficiary and became the first £100 a week footballer. Hard to imagine this with current employment law but Hill almost single handedly changed the face of football forever, culminating in the absurd business models and transfer of power to players and agents that we have today.
Upon retirement as a player Hill took up management and took Coventry City to the old First Division, no mean feat as the Sky Blues had been regular opponents of Reading in the old Third. Hill eschewed the opportunity to manage at the top level however and instead took up a post at ITV as a football presenter and the age of moronic football punditry was born.
So I think it can be said that Rupert Murdoch has been hanging onto the coat tails of Jimmy Hill throughout the last fifteen or so years of Sky`s disembowlment of the national game. A couple of weeks ago Coventry unveiled a statue of Hill at the Ricoh Stadium to mark his achievements. (Why not John Sillett I wonder?) Given the despicable latest fashion for pissing on war memorials, the good people of once war ravaged Coventry should be pleased that there is something else to aim at.

[sandman]

So in summary.

Football is run by BskyB and greedy chairmen.

The Premier League is populated by prancing primma donnas who have too much money and will shag anything that is blonde and has a fake tan .

John Madejski, Knight of the realm is killing the club and should get out because he won't/doesn't have the money/ambition required to get the club back to the very league that you all hate so much. The very same league that has the prancing primma donnas that Reading would presumably need to buy and pay in order to stay in said league.

The average Season Ticket price is too high despite, (excluding the Upper West) being one of the lowest in league football, on a par with the highest price at Macclesfield. A seat in the Cobbold stand at Ipswich sets you back £1001, £70 pounds more than a standard Season Ticket at Old Trafford and £216 more than the highest at Anfield. Aldersh!t and Oxf*rd's highest prices are respectively 5 and 15 pounds more expensive than it costs to sit in the North, East and Lower West stands (even if you add our highest price we're still in mid table when it comes to ST prices). FFT Magazine study.

Madejski has an ego, no one goes into football to make money it is a vanity project.He is not perfect and we all get frustrated with him but he's not the devil that some make him out to be and our position as a Championship club is better than the position we were in when he took over.

If you want to go and watch non league football go ahead all power to you it needs the support. However, you'll be a lot colder drinking your beer, in a shed in the howling wind, in the middle of January than you will in the concourse at the Mad Stad.

I agree with everything here except for the final sentence.

Beer, in a cosy, warm, comfortable club house with chairs and tables > queueing mindlessly on a Mad Stad concourse

Depends on the individual. If you get to know the people who sit around you things like queueing and standing up in the concourse aren't noticeable.

[Victor Meldrew]

[From my experience accountants in general know very little about business-seldom do they offer advice and in most cases they state the position as it stands for both the current year and the past year.
They are seldom entrepeneurial and find it hard to understand the chances that entrepeneurs are prepared to take as they themselves are so risk averse.
Their function in life is to report facts so they often lack the imagination required to succeed in business.
Mr Mad had that imagination for businesses involved in 2nd hand cars and a football club.
I fear that with his advancing years he has taken too much notice of accountants and lost the imagination and risk-taking required to take a football club forward and by not expanding the football club business it is in fact regressing through too much caution.
Just an opinion rather than a fact and no I am not an accountant (thank goodness) but I do know that borrowing relatively small amounts of money against substantial fixed assets is not difficult even in these supposedly dark days.

Surely it depends on what type of accountant? Also when talking about banks lending money then being "entrepeneurial" is irrelevant. Banks look at risk before lending and there are very few businesses as risky as football.

Your comments baically seem to have gone off on a tangent to the point I was making.

Don't all of these topics end up going off at a tangent?
I won't have it that RFC couldn't borrow money if they wanted to.
If we are to believe what came from the club last year that the bank loan had been repaid presumably there are now no loans against the stadium and hotel-if there are any significant loans after the mega millions earned from the 2 Premiership years then those that run the financial side of the club should be shot.

My main point was that if there is a will to progress and invest in the business (players,not an even bigger hotel)borrowing COULD be arranged against the security of the ground and hotel and even to some extent the playing staff.
How on earth do you think other clubs can partake in the transfer market?-they borrow against their assets.
My view is that there is no will to expand and progress-I'm not saying that is right or wrong because we are seeing the downside of a club with one single owner whereas Man City are currently seeing the upside of having a monopoly of one because it is a decision of that one person.
As a fan I am disappointed that the will to succeed has gone-I don't want to watch non-league or Div 1 rubbish-but as a fan I have no say in what goes on at our club other than not to renew my season ticket next season which,if we get relegated,I might do after contributing to the welfare of the club for over 50 years.

BTW that idiot earlier from Basingstoke comparing watching the club that you have followed almost since birth to deciding not to watch Sex and the city just doesn't get it what being a fan is all about.
It is something you are stuck with for life,it isn't a choice as it is with London clubs it is about where fate dictates where you were born.
I am glad for that reason not to have been born in Accrington or Exeter but for footballing reasons alone today I wish I had been born in Manchester and not just up the road from Battle Hospital.

[Millsy]

I have it on good authority that Madejski is secretly a Swindon fan.

[Jimbo]

BTW that idiot earlier from Basingstoke

Firstly, I am not from Basingstoke, I just live in this dump. I was born in Reading.

comparing watching the club that you have followed almost since birth to deciding not to watch Sex and the city just doesn't get it what being a fan is all about.

Secondly, I knew that some twat would quote the old "you don't understand what being a fan is" bollocks.
The author of this thread called it "Reading are crap". He then went on to say how much he hates football, he hates watching Reading etc.
My point is this: If you do something you don't HAVE to do and hate doing it, then you are a moron.
I am a Reading fan. I love watching Reading, I love match days, I love the club. No matter what happens on or off the pitch. Reading FC is not crap.

It is something you are stuck with for life,it isn't a choice as it is with London clubs it is about where fate dictates where you were born.
I am glad for that reason not to have been born in Accrington or Exeter but for footballing reasons alone today I wish I had been born in Manchester and not just up the road from Battle Hospital.

Pathetic, and you call yourself a loyal fan. I do not wish I was born in Manchester. I'm proud to be a Reading fan, born in Reading.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

It is a truly warped mind which can't rest after a defeat in the Carling Cup, but after an abortive attempt at sleep I find myself turning Ben Hamer's goalkeeping over in my head as well as apparently more pressing concerns about needing a new boiler and pending appraisals with my team at work ("you've put here 'strengths - accounting'. That's your job though, isn't it?").

Quite why I thought that watching Reading play would improve another dire day spent at work after battling across Berkshire on First Great Western's tardy and expensive service, dodging lycra-clad oxf*rd with fold up bicycles in the vestibules is beyond me. At least at Reading I can tell everyone in no uncertain terms what I think of their wretched performance as opposed to work where I spend the best part of 8 hours a day keeping my tongue. And now the more I think about it, the more things trouble me, for instance:


- Why did I spend £350-odd on a season ticket to commit to watching Alex Pearce slice desperate clearances at 45 degree angles to his kicking foot and Jem Karacan donate the football to the opposition as if they were collecting sports equipment for flood-ravaged Pakistan? It's not as if I didn't already know back in the summer that these two - and a good many others on our books - are pretty absymal at football. It should be about £4 to get in to watch a football match really, tops. I blame Liverpool fans and Northern Rock.

- Why do we have a failed ex-Slough and Woking manager in charge? Don't get me wrong, I like Brian. He's quite clearly a thoroughly bloody nice bloke which is at least an improvement on his predecessor.

- Why is our best player Icelandic? Iceland is to football what, erm, Bejam is to Cricket.

- Why is my own personal favourite player - also Icelandic - a 34-year old who is slower than a mini-bus full of Chelsea fans with a flat tyre? Are we otherwise so devoid of quality and excitement that watching a man apparently made from granite smash foolhardily into the opposition is the most entertaining thing on offer?

- Why do I hate Adam Federici? Is it because he is seemingly the only Australian who is crap at sport? Or because every post-match mistake-denying interview is delivered in that chirpy accent after he has spaffed a couple of low, near-post dollies under his fat belly?

- When will Brian Howard ever make a tackle? He likes a physical challenge about as much as Walter the Softy does.

- Why is it a £3.50 return fare from Reading station to go and watch this sh*t? What am I getting for my money, a film showing en route? You f*cking crooks.

- Why (when we have the spackiest, most simperingly middle-class fan base in the land) do we have probably the jobsworthiest stewards in the entire country, who themselves are dictated to by an ex-fireman with a speech impediment? And why don't the stewards make themselves a little more jobsworthy outside the ground rather than erecting a safety fence to keep 250 gibbering Scunthorpe fans at bay and sending the home supporters off to walk all the way round the ground to get to their cars parked at a bargain £7 in Worton Grange.

- Why is it only at football that £7 for 2 hours parking is deemed an acceptable price? At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.

- Why do I have to mind my p's and q's at football anyway? F*ck me, there are 8,000 empty seats most weeks; can't we sit all the kids in families in some sort of enclave with a sound-proof safety fence? At football, people shouldn't be thrown out for swearing, they should be ejected for doing the EA-SAY clap or for wearing face-paint or a jester's hat; these things are far more offensive.

- Why does modern football disenfranchise me so? Preening Premier League fancy-dans getting paid far too much and taking themselves too seriously. Sadly, in the Championship we seem to see the second-tier of this kind of c*nt which in a way is worse. SKY Sports News in HD bringing you the news that Barnsley have banned Vuvuzelas for next season. I hope all 92 league clubs go bankrupt, yes including Reading. It's all your fault, Jimmy Hill.

- Why, after 30 years trying, haven't I been able to find a more fulfilling hobby than watching a crap football team on a far too regular basis? Yes, there is another choice of hobby of course, but much more of that kind of thing and it'll fall off in my hand.


Oh well, at least this has stopped me thinking about the boiler for 5 minutes. And I suppose the biggest WHY here is WHY did I bother writing all this when I hold at least 90% in massive contempt anyhow.

you really bothered to post that?

fLOLyd streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeete

[Victor Meldrew]

BTW that idiot earlier from Basingstoke

Firstly, I am not from Basingstoke, I just live in this dump. I was born in Reading.

comparing watching the club that you have followed almost since birth to deciding not to watch Sex and the city just doesn't get it what being a fan is all about.

Secondly, I knew that some twat would quote the old "you don't understand what being a fan is" bollocks.
The author of this thread called it "Reading are crap". He then went on to say how much he hates football, he hates watching Reading etc.
My point is this: If you do something you don't HAVE to do and hate doing it, then you are a moron.
I am a Reading fan. I love watching Reading, I love match days, I love the club. No matter what happens on or off the pitch. Reading FC is not crap.

It is something you are stuck with for life,it isn't a choice as it is with London clubs it is about where fate dictates where you were born.
I am glad for that reason not to have been born in Accrington or Exeter but for footballing reasons alone today I wish I had been born in Manchester and not just up the road from Battle Hospital.

Pathetic, and you call yourself a loyal fan. I do not wish I was born in Manchester. I'm proud to be a Reading fan, born in Reading.

So you love it when we lose,you love it when Pearce hoofs the ball up to one of our midgets,you love it when we get rid of so many players?
My you have a lot of love boy.

[Millsy]

BTW that idiot earlier from Basingstoke

Firstly, I am not from Basingstoke, I just live in this dump. I was born in Reading.

comparing watching the club that you have followed almost since birth to deciding not to watch Sex and the city just doesn't get it what being a fan is all about.

Secondly, I knew that some twat would quote the old "you don't understand what being a fan is" bollocks.
The author of this thread called it "Reading are crap". He then went on to say how much he hates football, he hates watching Reading etc.
My point is this: If you do something you don't HAVE to do and hate doing it, then you are a moron.
I am a Reading fan. I love watching Reading, I love match days, I love the club. No matter what happens on or off the pitch. Reading FC is not crap.

It is something you are stuck with for life,it isn't a choice as it is with London clubs it is about where fate dictates where you were born.
I am glad for that reason not to have been born in Accrington or Exeter but for footballing reasons alone today I wish I had been born in Manchester and not just up the road from Battle Hospital.

Pathetic, and you call yourself a loyal fan. I do not wish I was born in Manchester. I'm proud to be a Reading fan, born in Reading.

So you love it when we lose,you love it when Pearce hoofs the ball up to one of our midgets,you love it when we get rid of so many players?
My you have a lot of love boy.

I can see both sides. The fact is if you're a born Redingensian, like I am, and you have love and passion for this town, you will support RFC and want them to do well. You have an emotional attahment there that you cannot change so you will go and watch. Bt you may hate what you see of course.

[glass half full]

the worst thing about it is getting 5 pints of Old Rosie down you at lunchtime and then having to sit and watch Shane Long with a crashing hangover

I know that Shane Long sometimes plays as if he has a crashing hangover but what evidence do you have?

[Mr Angry]

We are so crap that we just beat Leicester away.

[Gunny Fishcake]

We are so crap that we just beat Leicester away.

LOLOL

Soooo predictable , still a top dogs post and the car park is still £7 !!

[Victor Meldrew]

We are so crap that we just beat Leicester away.

Glad you put a after posting on the other thread that Mr Mad needs to fork out now for defenders!!
Still whatever, and tonight all we fans are united in regardless of our views about where the club is going.
Incidentally I feel that we need a target striker just as much as we need to bolster the defence-Shane's two headers were very,very weak and the commentator reminded us that he scored just 6 goals last season-cue Snowball as spokesman for his defence.

[paultheroyal]

Not the Reading way, but i wish we went for Marlon King.

[Mr Angry]

We are so crap that we just beat Leicester away.

Glad you put a after posting on the other thread that Mr Mad needs to fork out now for defenders!!
Still whatever, and tonight all we fans are united in regardless of our views about where the club is going.
Incidentally I feel that we need a target striker just as much as we need to bolster the defence-Shane's two headers were very,very weak and the commentator reminded us that he scored just 6 goals last season-cue Snowball as spokesman for his defence.

Absolutely! I don't think we are cr@p; with the squad we have we can produce some good performances as tonight proved BUT its obvious we need to strengthen as much as its obvious that SJM clearly doesn't feel that financially we can. That makes us weak rather than cr@p.

I genuinely cannot believe that a lower third Prem team isn't going to take a punt on The Sig before 1st Sept; that finish was total class.

[Barney]

Staying at friends in the Midlands. Been to the game today.

Message to ALL the sad sacks that agreed with the originator of this thread.....THAT RESULT TODAY WAS FOR YOU MUPPETS xxxxxxx

[RoyalBlue]

Staying at friends in the Midlands. Been to the game today.

Message to ALL the sad sacks that agreed with the originator of this thread.....THAT RESULT TODAY WAS FOR YOU MUPPETS xxxxxxx

Please refer to Mr Angry's post above.

Squad is very weak as a result of crap business management.

And before anyone goes on about bad luck with injuries:

Three key players started the season with injuries. Others have been forced to play carrying injuries because the squad is so weak and, surprise, surprise, their injuries have worsened because of that. e.g. Mills admitted after today's game that he had been carrying an ankle injury for two weeks but had carried on playing because we were so short of other players. Would Griffin have been risked last week had we had proper cover? Would Bryn have been expected to play quite as much etc. ?

Well played to the walking wounded, youngsters and outcasts who got us three points today though.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Staying at friends in the Midlands. Been to the game today.

Message to ALL the sad sacks that agreed with the originator of this thread.....THAT RESULT TODAY WAS FOR YOU MUPPETS xxxxxxx

Please refer to Mr Angry's post above.

Squad is very weak as a result of crap business management..

Given our income, how good should our squad be?

We have an income that's at best average for this division, yet for some reason you and loads of other lemmings queue to jump off the cliff of stupidity in assuming anything less than a promotion-chasing squad is failure.

I can't say I'm utterly thrilled about the fact that out squad is weaker than it used to be, but that's the reality of the situation - get used to it.

Really - "small club overachieves then comes back down to earth a few years later" - it's not exactly a first in the world of football.

[brendywendy]

with sig, kebe, mcanuff,tabb, mills we have a spine of a great team. we just need to get some confidence, lose the injuries, and we'll fly

you know it makes seeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnsssssseeeeeeee

[SLAMMED]

DO YOU SEE?

[TedBundy89]

Staying at friends in the Midlands. Been to the game today.

Message to ALL the sad sacks that agreed with the originator of this thread.....THAT RESULT TODAY WAS FOR YOU MUPPETS xxxxxxx

Please refer to Mr Angry's post above.

Squad is very weak as a result of crap business management..

Given our income, how good should our squad be?

We have an income that's at best average for this division, yet for some reason you and loads of other lemmings queue to jump off the cliff of stupidity in assuming anything less than a promotion-chasing squad is failure.

I can't say I'm utterly thrilled about the fact that out squad is weaker than it used to be, but that's the reality of the situation - get used to it.

Really - "small club overachieves then comes back down to earth a few years later" - it's not exactly a first in the world of football.

Well done, good post.