Nigel Howe says...

[readingbedding]

Howe lacks credibility, he's not a football man

Someone is bored.

Please kill him.

[Old Biscuitman]

Any vision for the future must be bold thinking and based on more than simply a cold assessment of today's realities. OK, the aspirations may never be realised, but let's at least have some. Fifteen years ago these ideas might have deserved the cynical response which they are getting in some quarters. Since then the progress has been huge, both on the field and off, and who can predict the next fifteen.

Nigel Howe, for whom I hold no particular brief, is only saying what any Chief Executive of a successful organisation would say - and yes, you grumpies, we are successful.

[brendywendy]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

It's called ambition, you Devonian.

Brick by Brick

I don't doubt they have ambition or the way they go about it, but this nonsense doesn't need to be out in the open. Reading will never be as big as some of those clubs mentioned, so what if we have 38,000 seats soon, they will rarely be filled IMO, when we just about manage to sell out 24,000 I could see us getting around 30,000 ish for the big games? Do we have another 14,000 fans just waiting to get through the door? No, IMO.

Reading HAVE to spend big to try and compete with those clubs named, need some names here and need to go forward and replace half our current team if they are to rival those clubs in the short- medium term. That's not going to happen - probably rightly so. So why spout this sort of talk?

Best location? says who!!?

nob

we sell out every week, 24 k is no problem for us

30-38k just gives us the potential to reduce prices for kids, and casual fans
we have the biggest catchment area in the prem, no other prem club for miles in every direction, and no other decent football club close, in any division either IMHO-southhampton and pompey to the south
london to the east, and vast swathes of the country up to birmingham in the north
and bristol and cardiff to the west. that is a massive area
allied to that its also the most disirable area to live in the country,one of the most densely populated, and the richest.
seems pretty good to me

we have come from third tier to top tier in a very short space of time, having spent very little
this years money will see us financially secure for many years to come, and increased capacity and gates can only see us get bigger and better
once that money, and prem survival is safe we can really push on and start spending to match that ambition


and is this the same half of the team(belonging in the championship)that won the chamionship on record points and got to 8th in their 1st ever season in the top flight?

cLOLueless

However, we have the greatest density of Private Schools and the Egg Chasers and Boat Rowers are on the increase. You also have the high concentration of other League teams in leagues 1 and 2 etc and I can't see a S*****n born person ever, ever becoming a Royals supporter, or Wycombe or O****d or Ald****t either. The cachement area is predominantly about 10 mile zone around Reading.

i know people in reading that support swindon
and oxford, and fulham, and west ham, and arsenal, and chelsea, and man u,and man city, and pompey, and southampton, and bristol etc etc

and i also know that given a 5 year stint in the prem, the kids in all of the towns outside of your daft ten mile radius(im sure i grew up further away from the ground than that too) will start to gravitate towards us, raher than the swine oxford, or anyother tinpot team in the lower divs, just like half of readings kids did when we werent in the top flight

your statement just ignores everything we know about the modern game

[MartinRdg]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

And I suppose you don't think we've moved on much in 6 years then?

[Tinrib]

I remember when the original outline plans for the Madstad development were made public.

Ohh how we chortled at the suggestion of 20k+ crowds week in week out..

[Alan Partridge]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

And I suppose you don't think we've moved on much in 6 years then?

I didn't word what i menat right at all tbh.

Reading spent 'big' in relation to where they were then. To get up the lower divisions they signed very good players with big fees. Will they do that now? I severely have my doubts.

[floyd__streete]

nob

See this is my problem with HNA and the RTG brigade in general which I have pointed out on my own thread recently - you can't but help throw in an insult can you? AP argues very reasonably about the wisdom of expansion and then to be fair you put the counter point eloquently too....but you have to resort to calling him a nob and cLOLueless just because his opinion differs. He didn't feel the need to insult back at any point.

[Alan Partridge]

nob

See this is my problem with HNA and the RTG brigade in general which I have pointed out on my own thread recently - you can't but help throw in an insult can you? AP argues very reasonably about the wisdom of expansion and then to be fair you put the counter point eloquently too....but you have to resort to calling him a nob and cLOLueless just because his opinion differs. He didn't feel the need to insult back at any point.

I didn't see that in the post, i'd have called him a cnut otherwise!

[Tails]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

It's called ambition, you Devonian.

Brick by Brick

I don't doubt they have ambition or the way they go about it, but this nonsense doesn't need to be out in the open. Reading will never be as big as some of those clubs mentioned, so what if we have 38,000 seats soon, they will rarely be filled IMO, when we just about manage to sell out 24,000 I could see us getting around 30,000 ish for the big games? Do we have another 14,000 fans just waiting to get through the door? No, IMO.

Reading HAVE to spend big to try and compete with those clubs named, need some names here and need to go forward and replace half our current team if they are to rival those clubs in the short- medium term. That's not going to happen - probably rightly so. So why spout this sort of talk?

Best location? says who!!?

Agreed, we may, geographically, have the best location but unfortunately there is no large residual footballing culture in our parts..... no great affinity no great legends, no great past. We have a wealth of people who do not follow football, until you chip away at that, things wont change permenantly... and this chipping away would take more than just decades of relative success in the premiership.

[brendywendy]

nob

See this is my problem with HNA and the RTG brigade in general which I have pointed out on my own thread recently - you can't but help throw in an insult can you? AP argues very reasonably about the wisdom of expansion and then to be fair you put the counter point eloquently too....but you have to resort to calling him a nob and cLOLueless just because his opinion differs. He didn't feel the need to insult back at any point.

was my 1st insult in weeks!

feel free to throw one back ap(cnut aknowledged and accepted)
lord knows i deserve it

it was totally uncalled for and i apologise unreservedly

[Dirk Gently]

Agreed, we may, geographically, have the best location but unfortunately there is no large residual footballing culture in our parts..... no great affinity no great legends, no great past. We have a wealth of people who do not follow football, until you chip away at that, things wont change permenantly... and this chipping away would take more than just decades of relative success in the premiership.

Agreed, it will take some time, but the majority of PL income comes from the TV, and from a foreign (especially Asian audience).

These are "new" supporters, so perhaps one of the crucial factors in the location is the Heathrow-Reading Railair Bus.

And, sadly, I'm only half-joking - the English PL is turning into a battle of global brands, in which traditional and local supporters are less relevant, and matches are "events." For these, ease of communications is paramount, and that's where we beat everyone else hands down.

[Kevin Doyles Right Foot]

Nigel Howe says...

relax?

[floyd__streete]

it was totally uncalled for and i apologise unreservedly

Fair play to you. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, you ****ing ****

[brendywendy]

it was totally uncalled for and i apologise unreservedly

Fair play to you. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, you ****ing ****

you asterixing asterix?

[Ian Royal]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

It's called ambition, you Devonian.

Brick by Brick

I don't doubt they have ambition or the way they go about it, but this nonsense doesn't need to be out in the open. Reading will never be as big as some of those clubs mentioned, so what if we have 38,000 seats soon, they will rarely be filled IMO, when we just about manage to sell out 24,000 I could see us getting around 30,000 ish for the big games? Do we have another 14,000 fans just waiting to get through the door? No, IMO.

Reading HAVE to spend big to try and compete with those clubs named, need some names here and need to go forward and replace half our current team if they are to rival those clubs in the short- medium term. That's not going to happen - probably rightly so. So why spout this sort of talk?

Best location? says who!!?

nob

we sell out every week, 24 k is no problem for us

30-38k just gives us the potential to reduce prices for kids, and casual fans
we have the biggest catchment area in the prem, no other prem club for miles in every direction, and no other decent football club close, in any division either IMHO-southhampton and pompey to the south
london to the east, and vast swathes of the country up to birmingham in the north
and bristol and cardiff to the west. that is a massive area
allied to that its also the most disirable area to live in the country,one of the most densely populated, and the richest.
seems pretty good to me

we have come from third tier to top tier in a very short space of time, having spent very little
this years money will see us financially secure for many years to come, and increased capacity and gates can only see us get bigger and better
once that money, and prem survival is safe we can really push on and start spending to match that ambition


and is this the same half of the team(belonging in the championship)that won the chamionship on record points and got to 8th in their 1st ever season in the top flight?

cLOLueless

However, we have the greatest density of Private Schools and the Egg Chasers and Boat Rowers are on the increase. You also have the high concentration of other League teams in leagues 1 and 2 etc and I can't see a S*****n born person ever, ever becoming a Royals supporter, or Wycombe or O****d or Ald****t either. The cachement area is predominantly about 10 mile zone around Reading.

Would you like to repeat that last bit to all the Yanks and Koreans, the Swedes and Norwiegians who support the club. Not to mention all the other fans who live in this country but not reading. And that is with only our second season in the premiership.

[RoyalBlue]

If only Howe had said 'We're not sure what we want to be really, perhaps we'll muddle alomg for another season or two and then get relegated. Who knows...'

Would Mr PArtridge have been happy ?

Frankly what Howe says is what you'd expect him to say - they want to move up a level from where they have now got to.

Why did he need to say anything at all?!

Unless of course his statement was more to promote the potential of the club to any would be buyers, rather than reassure the supporter base who have heard it all before.

Howe lacks credibility, he's not a football man

Gus lacks credibility

The Team isn;t part of Howe's remit. We employ Hammond and Coppell to look after that and Howe sorts out the rest.

And ask his uncle Don if Nigel has any football heritage.

That last line is hardly your most convincing argument!
Abilities/aptitudes don't always flow down direct family lines, let alone from uncle to nephew!

That's not to say I would use such a simplistic argument to suggest Nigel Howe lacks credibility!

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

I think you should write and tell him that in order to be a big club we'll also need better players.

It's amazing that nobody at the club has realised that. I'm sure they are planning to be fielding the very same championship winning team in 5-10 years time without buying anyone else.

It's a good thing you are here. A flaw in the plan like that could confuse a stupid person.

[Gordons Cumming]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

I think you should write and tell him that in order to be a big club we'll also need better players.

It's amazing that nobody at the club has realised that. I'm sure they are planning to be fielding the very same championship winning team in 5-10 years time without buying anyone else.

It's a good thing you are here. A flaw in the plan like that could confuse a stupid person.

Do I sense a note of sarcasm?

You're not taking the pee out of our Alan are we?

[Alan Partridge]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

I think you should write and tell him that in order to be a big club we'll also need better players.

It's amazing that nobody at the club has realised that. I'm sure they are planning to be fielding the very same championship winning team in 5-10 years time without buying anyone else.

It's a good thing you are here. A flaw in the plan like that could confuse a stupid person.

They've made a good effort of doing that plan over the last couple of years.

[Ian Royal]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

I think you should write and tell him that in order to be a big club we'll also need better players.

It's amazing that nobody at the club has realised that. I'm sure they are planning to be fielding the very same championship winning team in 5-10 years time without buying anyone else.

It's a good thing you are here. A flaw in the plan like that could confuse a stupid person.

They've made a good effort of doing that plan over the last couple of years.

Worked pretty well last season and we're far from the worst team this season as well.