Rotherham Match Thread - Sponsored By Clolarkelol

[Sanguine]

Yeah my recent comments about Andersen's lack of games in his many years at Reading are put in context now. I'd sooner play brendy in goal than Mikkel again.

[strap]

Whoever is in charge of the clear-out during the close-season - Please. please PLEASE make sure Clarke is included as part of the dead wood cull.!!!

This idiot is bloody clueless. I thought Bodgers was a clueless charlatan - Clarke makes him look a veritable genius.

Even Adkins was better able to motivate than Clarke is.

OK then Mr stats/database guy, who can't say anything wrong on here, (er, don't know where THAT came from??? ), what would you do then?

Sack another manager? and what would that do to help?

Apologies MSR, have been pre-occupied with passing of close relative - my answer would not have been to hire Clarke in the first place. Sacking another manager would seem short sighted I agree, but when it's patently not working, clearly best to admit a mistake and move on. The recent removal of most of the backroom staff, and the desire to remove senior players raised from the Academy points to only one thing. Clarke is obviously Empire Building, and simply removing any threat he feels there is to his position. A somewhat different approach to a true manager in Mr Coppell, who made a point of working with the existing staff at each club he goes to. I'll wager SC mark 1 has a far more impressive record at RFC than SC mark 2 could ever hope to achieve.

Oh, and whilst on my soapbox, I see real estate moves are already underway by our new owners - something I mentioned not 2 months ago as the start of the decline of RFC. I honestly didn't think that would start for a couple of years! Our new owners are certainly not wasting any time with their true plans for the club are they?

[Sutekh]

Whoever is in charge of the clear-out during the close-season - Please. please PLEASE make sure Clarke is included as part of the dead wood cull.!!!

This idiot is bloody clueless. I thought Bodgers was a clueless charlatan - Clarke makes him look a veritable genius.

Even Adkins was better able to motivate than Clarke is.

OK then Mr stats/database guy, who can't say anything wrong on here, (er, don't know where THAT came from??? ), what would you do then?

Sack another manager? and what would that do to help?

Apologies MSR, have been pre-occupied with passing of close relative - my answer would not have been to hire Clarke in the first place. Sacking another manager would seem short sighted I agree, but when it's patently not working, clearly best to admit a mistake and move on. The recent removal of most of the backroom staff, and the desire to remove senior players raised from the Academy points to only one thing. Clarke is obviously Empire Building, and simply removing any threat he feels there is to his position. A somewhat different approach to a true manager in Mr Coppell, who made a point of working with the existing staff at each club he goes to. I'll wager SC mark 1 has a far more impressive record at RFC than SC mark 2 could ever hope to achieve.

Oh, and whilst on my soapbox, I see real estate moves are already underway by our new owners - something I mentioned not 2 months ago as the start of the decline of RFC. I honestly didn't think that would start for a couple of years! Our new owners are certainly not wasting any time with their true plans for the club are they?

For gods sake give it a rest and the time it needs to start working out one way or another before passing judgment. It took SC1 a season and a half at least before 2005/2006 came along and he managed to keep that going for 2 seasons before losing the plot. So at least give SC2 the benefit for 18 months or so.

Every manager has a different way of working, some "empire build" and some don't, so whose to say whether Steve Clarke is right or wrong but from what I've seen this summer the moves have all been positive and the squad is starting to look a damn sight better than where we were at the end of the season.

Yes you can say the backroom staff changes were unnecessary but then look at the dreadful season we've gone through and Steve obviously thinks a complete freshening up of staff from top to bottom will help improve things by injecting some new ideas, energy and dynamics into the squad and weekly routines

As to real estate changes, well that was always on the cards. As i recall when the take over happened this was one of the areas that was mooted to be looked at. Rather they moved quick with their plans so any revenue can be realised as quickly as possible than sit around waiting for years on end (it's going to be a minimum of 3 years before anything is built anyway). I would have thought it would be ideal now that the Green Park station is going to go ahead - particularly if it provides a decent size music venue for the TV region.

[Nameless]

The real estate issue is interesting.
I reckon the Madejski era saw 7 or 8 'real estate' projects.
- they sold our traditional home
- they built a new stadium
- they sold off a large chunk of land to raise money, the land could have been used for RFC related activity such as training pitches, or car parking
- they extended the hotel
- they extended the hotel again
- they built the training dome and artificial pitch (actually two different projects)
- they bought Hogwood, and began the process of buying a new training ground and selling Hogwood

The Thais are proposing a further protect, using land freed up by moving the dome and artificial pitch (I believe). Would a better option be to leave that land fallow ? They have talked about it raising money to make the club financially stable, so on the face of it it's a long term earner for the club rather than their private enrichment.
Clearly the club needs to be financially stable, even under SJM it struggled to break even so that needs extra income streams. It seems we've upped the sponsorship income, stadium naming rights are on the agenda so they are looking at options.
What is the concern about the proposed development ? If it's using otherwise unused assets, raises money for the club and provides a much needed facility I'm not sure I understand the alarm (although I'd support the need to be slightly cautious given the failure to deliver promises under the AZ regime)

[From Despair To Where?]

I'm intrigued as to why the real estate projects would signal the decline of Reading FC. The Thais seem to have given sound reasons as to why it would benefit the club. I'm also intrigued as to the alternatives to Clarke as manager at the time. I'm also intrigued as to how holding on to players with overinflated contracts just because they are academy products benefits the club long term and how releasing them signifies "Empire Building". I'm also intrigued as to if we are so badly off under the Thais, how much better would we have been with Samuelson's mob or an Israeli online gambling magnate who both seemed to place re-development of the land over running the club. Lets be honest. They were the alternative.

Most of all, i'm also intrigued by Strap's sepia tinted view of the Coppell era. Firstly, it's unfair to compare any manager to the most successful manager in our history and it's also unfair to ignore the first 2 years of Coppell's tenure when we had to put up with the likes of Paul Brooker. Lloyd Owusu and Dean Morgan gracing the pitch. Lest we forget the bullshit posted about Coppell not being up to the job and lest we forget the total meltdown on here after an opening day defeat at home to Plymouth.

I used to like strap's contribution, his stats based stuff is amazing, however, more and more he's coming across like curmudgeonly old fool.

[under the tin]

Our new owners are certainly not wasting any time with their true plans for the club are they?

The way I see it, more power to their elbow.
As the old quote goes, "if you want to become a millionaire by owning a football club, start off as a billionaire".
With the crazy salaries that pro footballers pick up these days, even the most fiscally challenged should be able to see that the current business model is unsustainable.
It's more than unsustainable, it's plain bonkers to have a multi million pound edifice, fitted with 24,000 seats, being used less than 50 times per annum. When the Madstad was a mere drawing, it was mooted in the local press that it could also serve as a multi purpose entertainment venue. Apart from a small handful of gigs there, this area has not been exploited.
For my twopennyworth, I'd just fit a retractable roof on the existing stadium. Venue sorted. Advances in technology make temporary surfaces achievable. The Scots did an outstanding job at Hampden for the commonwealth games.
A big car park, with good proximity to motorway links is a useful asset. Back in the day, every Sunday heralded a big market in the Wembley car park. I very much doubt that the car park owners were that much interested in leather jackets of questionable virtue, however, the revenue was undoubtedly useful. It should be noted that Blackbushe market is currently homeless.

If the Thais want to build the leisure facilities that the UK's officially largest town currently lacks, bring it on.
The Central swimming pool is an out dated disgrace, Ice arenas exist in smaller towns surrounding, but not here.
A pool/ice rink combo is a neat idea. The heat exchangers used to suck the heat out of the ice to keep it frozen recycle that heat to warm up the pool.

These add facilities that also generate funds to help our football club, long term.
Maybe the current owners are using it all as a vehicle to later sell on at a profit.
Only history will tell if when they do, that they left us a stronger club than the one they bought.

[Royal Ginger]

I'd just fit a retractable roof on the existing stadium. Venue sorted.

This would be hell acoustically, the storage area required for storing a temporary floor, stage, trussing would need to be huge, the turn around would be very expensive and i'm sure there's not a market for a regular 30,000+ venue in Reading. It's also short of secondary areas which are a necessity for large conferences. I get why it looks an attractive proposition, but I really don't think that'd work. Venue next door works for me. Mini Wembley park.

[ZacNaloen]

Acoustics could be sorted with some proper thought about it put into the design of the roof tbf. Deaden it just right here, bounce it back just right there.

But that doesn't solve the problem that the stadium is too big of a venue for the sort of thing Reading would attract.

need something bigger than Hexagon, but smaller than 25,000 seats. Even the O2 arena capacity is only 20,000 (according to google)

[Nameless]

Fitting a roof on the stadium would hardly give the multiuse facility being talked about. A conference out on the pitch would be most odd and as 2-0 points out it's not a 20,000 venue that's needed it's probably 10,000.
If you tried to use the stadium you'd also only be able to stage midweek gigs most the the year round....

[under the tin]

Valid points made above, but perhaps my contribution was taken a bit too literally. My fault.
I'm just floating ideas out there, because my point was actually about the under use of the stadium itself.
I am informed that the AELTC make enough money in the Wimbledon fortnight for them not to need to worry about using the bulk of the show court facilities for the rest of the year.
RFC are not in that position, and it would irk me, were I the owner of the stadium, that it has contributed the square root of fcuk all into the income stream since the ref blew the final whistle some weeks back.
Event venues aren't only about the amount of spectators, (because television rights count massively) but also about the type of venue, and exploring whatever else could be staged there. It's not just about gigs.
Put it this way, were I owner, and I knew the pitch was going to be dug up and resurfaced anyway, I'd be thinking about contacting the Equestrian fraternity ahead of this and mooting the idea of staging an international show jumping competition. The Wembley arena never had much problem selling tickets for events like this, and an arena like ours is certainly fit for that kind of purpose. Monster Trucks? Star Wars shown on a giant 360 degree screen set up on the pitch?
The points made about the separate venue are well taken, but getting it built is years away.
With some creative thinking, daft ideas like mine above could have already happened, and contributed something to the movement. I'd certainly have already been on to the phone to the Blackbushe market people.

[John Smith]

Acoustics could be sorted with some proper thought about it put into the design of the roof tbf. Deaden it just right here, bounce it back just right there.

But that doesn't solve the problem that the stadium is too big of a venue for the sort of thing Reading would attract.

need something bigger than Hexagon, but smaller than 25,000 seats. Even the O2 arena capacity is only 20,000 (according to google)

Yeah, just glue some egg boxes to the top of it and Bob's yer Uncle