THE INQUEST

[Number 9]

Who is to blame for getting us into the Premier league in great style and then achieving a 8th placed finish while playing some brilliant football along the way?

the same management team that denied that 2nd season syndrome did not exist

So they accepted its exitance?

Without SSC and JM we would never have been in the Premier League in order to be able to be relegated from it. A few more seasons would have been nice but we had t go down some time.

[brendywendy]

i reckon its probably a little bit of everyones fault, no one person is to blame, but as manager, coppell needs to take alot of it for his decisions, madejski for spouting off about selling and moaning about the wages all season, and hammond and the scouts for not picking enough gems from the duds, the players for letting their high standards slip,
gutted, but whatever happens, it was a wicked ride
and we are in a miles better position financially, and in terms of playing and reserve squad, and infrastructure than the year before we went up
hope he stays and hope the players and fans pull together
ill be gutted if any of the "champions" leave without me giving them a proper send off and thank you

[Dirk Gently]

If you really want to know, there are three main factors which I am absolutely certain are behind this. All of these have been confirmed to me by various people.

- Steve Coppell has been too loyal to his long-term players - by his own admission he recognises this as a failing of his. He had opportunities to bring in "established" Pl players and he (and he alone) decided not to go with them.

- The wage structure will always be a disincentive to getting the best players - it can be done, but it automatically cuts down the options. That's not saying it's a bad thing, just a limiting factor.

- Do you remember when we went up - it was with great team spirit and a squad of players who were "hungry"? Well, a good few of them just aren't hungry any more. They think they've arrived and established in the PL and they started to believe what was said about them last season. This I think is the most telling thing - players who think they've nothing left to prove end up proving nothing, and once their egos start to grow with all the PL hype it starts to bugger up the team spirit, as we've seen.

Try as you might, you can't blame just one person or one group - but I think a combination of these three factors covers 95% of what's gone wrong this season.

[winchester_royal]

I hope Sidwell is ashamed of himself

I wonder how he feels now....

What has it got to do with Steve Sidwell.....he played professionally and gave 100% last season. He moved on and so should you.

He sold out for the money, and we did not get a penny of compensation.......he should have had more respect for the club which got him where he was

[FiNeRaIn]

Who is to blame for getting us into the Premier league in great style and then achieving a 8th placed finish while playing some brilliant football along the way?

the same management team that denied that 2nd season syndrome did not exist

So they accepted its exitance?

Without SSC and JM we would never have been in the Premier League in order to be able to be relegated from it. A few more seasons would have been nice but we had t go down some time.

Stupid mentality. You don't build just to fail or there is no point in football. I don't know who is to blame, coppell for not buying or madejski for not giving him a big enough wage budget or transfer budget to buy, it lies with those two im afraid.
At the end of the day we pay the clubs money, we paid well over the odds for season tickets this season, more than parts of old trafford on the promise that the money was to " invest in the squad", we didn't, we are down. I'm furious with coppell and majejski, not the players.
We spend 135 years getting here and then we can't be bothered to make any effort to stay here, what a waste. Im not gutted at all, im sick of the sob stories I am reading so far like " im gutted, this hurts,etc", why? Its expected, there are no hurtful circumstances at all. You should be angry two men pissed away our premiership campaign because of lack of investment. Fulham are a better side with better player, thats why they stayed up, no other reason. We have had players out of form or injured all season and haven't bothered to replace, we DESERVE our fate.

[PEARCEY]

If you really want to know, there are three main factors which I am absolutely certain are behind this. All of these have been confirmed to me by various people.

- Steve Coppell has been too loyal to his long-term players - by his own admission he recognises this as a failing of his. He had opportunities to bring in "established" Pl players and he (and he alone) decided not to go with them.

- The wage structure will always be a disincentive to getting the best players - it can be done, but it automatically cuts down the options. That's not saying it's a bad thing, just a limiting factor.

- Do you remember when we went up - it was with great team spirit and a squad of players who were "hungry"? Well, a good few of them just aren't hungry any more. They think they've arrived and established in the PL and they started to believe what was said about them last season. This I think is the most telling thing - players who think they've nothing left to prove end up proving nothing, and once their egos start to grow with all the PL hype it starts to bugger up the team spirit, as we've seen.

Try as you might, you can't blame just one person or one group - but I think a combination of these three factors covers 95% of what's gone wrong this season.

In other words Dirk this was all avoidable which is the most disappointing thing about this

[Berry]

I hope Sidwell is ashamed of himself

I

He sold out for the money, and we did not get a penny of compensation.......he should have had more respect for the club which got him where he was

This is the Premiership everyones in it for there own gain apart from a handful of loyal supporters

[Southbank Old Boy]

If you really want to know, there are three main factors which I am absolutely certain are behind this. All of these have been confirmed to me by various people.

- Steve Coppell has been too loyal to his long-term players - by his own admission he recognises this as a failing of his. He had opportunities to bring in "established" Pl players and he (and he alone) decided not to go with them.

- The wage structure will always be a disincentive to getting the best players - it can be done, but it automatically cuts down the options. That's not saying it's a bad thing, just a limiting factor.

- Do you remember when we went up - it was with great team spirit and a squad of players who were "hungry"? Well, a good few of them just aren't hungry any more. They think they've arrived and established in the PL and they started to believe what was said about them last season. This I think is the most telling thing - players who think they've nothing left to prove end up proving nothing, and once their egos start to grow with all the PL hype it starts to bugger up the team spirit, as we've seen.

Try as you might, you can't blame just one person or one group - but I think a combination of these three factors covers 95% of what's gone wrong this season.

Totally agree with what you say. However, it's up to the manager to make the best use of his resources. Personally I don't think Coppell has this season.

It's also down to the manager to keep on top of his squad and stopping your third point, the players mental state, from slipping. One way of doing that is by strengthening and refreshing the squad. Coppell's biggest failing is that his squad drifted into a comfort zone.

[M Brook]

As manager the buck really has to stop with Coppell.

At the end of the day it's his fault.

Couldn't disagree more.

Fascinates me when people use this argument.

Surely the logic of "buck stopping" is the highest person in the hierarchy.

So why arbitrarily stop the buck half way up the chain? Yes he does some important things, but surely the players do even more important things i.e. play the matches! If we're going to use buckstop logic then it's of course Madejski.

Even moreseo when we KNOW what took us down was losing Sidwell and not spending enough.

Losing SIdwell = thanks to the wage structure

Not buying = funds *may*have been available for purchases but at the end fo the day down to the wage structure.

Wage structure is 100% Madejski's territory.

The buck stops with him.

It is his fault 100% and I do not see a future for RFC with him as our clueless chairman.

Absolutely spot on! When it comes to footballing matters, Madejski is embarassingly niaive. He is to blame.

[RoyalBird]

Madejski, Coppell and Hammond didn't kick a ball on the pitch. The players should take the majority of the blame as neither the defence or attack played well at major parts of the season, sometimes with a combination of both. Individuals like Doyle and Shorey, who had a tremendous season before, did not perform in crucial situations. Coppell can take some of it for some crappy tactics at times and you could have asked Madejski to have pumped more money into the team, but we spent a lot more this season than the season before. To round it up, it's the players fault.

[Southbank Old Boy]

As manager the buck really has to stop with Coppell.

At the end of the day it's his fault.

Couldn't disagree more.

Fascinates me when people use this argument.

Surely the logic of "buck stopping" is the highest person in the hierarchy.

So why arbitrarily stop the buck half way up the chain? Yes he does some important things, but surely the players do even more important things i.e. play the matches! If we're going to use buckstop logic then it's of course Madejski.

Even moreseo when we KNOW what took us down was losing Sidwell and not spending enough.

Losing SIdwell = thanks to the wage structure

Not buying = funds *may*have been available for purchases but at the end fo the day down to the wage structure.

Wage structure is 100% Madejski's territory.

The buck stops with him.

It is his fault 100% and I do not see a future for RFC with him as our clueless chairman.

The manager is the highest person in the heirarchy responsible for the football side of things.

Yes there are some constraints due to the finances of the club, but I don't buy the arguement that our wage structure prevents us from getting in the kind of players that would've made the difference to us being in today's position or being at least 3 points better off.

As for Sidwell being the reason we got relegated, well your living in a dream world. Not replacing him was a major factor yes, but all clubs need to be able to move on, and there is no way a club like Reading can compete with the richest club in the world when it comes to wages!

[Dirk Gently]

As manager the buck really has to stop with Coppell.

At the end of the day it's his fault.

Couldn't disagree more.

Fascinates me when people use this argument.

Surely the logic of "buck stopping" is the highest person in the hierarchy.

So why arbitrarily stop the buck half way up the chain? Yes he does some important things, but surely the players do even more important things i.e. play the matches! If we're going to use buckstop logic then it's of course Madejski.

Even moreseo when we KNOW what took us down was losing Sidwell and not spending enough.

Losing SIdwell = thanks to the wage structure

Not buying = funds *may*have been available for purchases but at the end fo the day down to the wage structure.

Wage structure is 100% Madejski's territory.

The buck stops with him.

It is his fault 100% and I do not see a future for RFC with him as our clueless chairman.

That only applies if the only objective you're measuring success by is "PL football" - that could easily have been achieved, but at what financial cost. JM's objective in the whole thing may not be the same as yours.....

[Hugo Boss]

I agree mostly with Brendy and Dirk however I still maintain that Sidwell leaving was a huge, huge loss. Plugged so many gaps in our midfield and stopped teams breaking at our slightly weak defence.

Still as Brendy has said, it was a great ride and as a supporter of 21 years, seeing my team play in the top flight against the "big boys" was brilliant.

[Arch]

I agree mostly with Brendy and Dirk however I still maintain that Sidwell leaving was a huge, huge loss. Plugged so many gaps in our midfield and stopped teams breaking at our slightly weak defence.

Still as Brendy has said, it was a great ride and as a supporter of 21 years, seeing my team play in the top flight against the "big boys" was brilliant.

Well said, and I'd just add that I sincerely hope all three poll choices are still in the saddle come August.

[brendywendy]

I agree mostly with Brendy and Dirk however I still maintain that Sidwell leaving was a huge, huge loss. Plugged so many gaps in our midfield and stopped teams breaking at our slightly weak defence.

Still as Brendy has said, it was a great ride and as a supporter of 21 years, seeing my team play in the top flight against the "big boys" was brilliant.

fecking awesome three years

even today, not alot in the world can generate feeling like that
well dont the lads for doing their bit today, and the fans who travelled

[Denver Royal]

If we hadn't of gone down this season, we likely would have next. Or the season after. It was just a matter of time because we aren't prepared to spend the wages.

We only went down on goal difference. Further proof, if any were needed, that we didn't need to 'mortgage our future' and spend 'massively' to stay in the Premiership.

We'll see how much 'ambition' we have next season. Anyone think we'll splash the cash on a promotion push? Or will we try to go up on the cheap again, as usual.

Don't expect ticket prices to drop much, if at all. The club will say they need the revenue for a promotion run.

As for Coppell, now that we're down, I think there's a chance he might stay. Reckon he would have left for sure if we'd stayed up.

[RoyalBlue]

As manager the buck really has to stop with Coppell.

At the end of the day it's his fault.

Couldn't disagree more.

Fascinates me when people use this argument.

Surely the logic of "buck stopping" is the highest person in the hierarchy.

So why arbitrarily stop the buck half way up the chain? Yes he does some important things, but surely the players do even more important things i.e. play the matches! If we're going to use buckstop logic then it's of course Madejski.

Even moreseo when we KNOW what took us down was losing Sidwell and not spending enough.

Losing SIdwell = thanks to the wage structure

Not buying = funds *may*have been available for purchases but at the end fo the day down to the wage structure.

Wage structure is 100% Madejski's territory.

The buck stops with him.

It is his fault 100% and I do not see a future for RFC with him as our clueless chairman.

That only applies if the only objective you're measuring success by is "PL football" - that could easily have been achieved, but at what financial cost. JM's objective in the whole thing may not be the same as yours.....

If that isn't the Ego's objective then why doesn't he keep his big damn mouth (and that of his side kick Dunno Howe) shut about Premier League ambitions, stadium expansion, competing effectively at this level etc. etc.?!

Who is the most likely to put their money where their mouth is next season in a real concerted attempt to get back to the Premier League as soon as possible, David Sullivan at Birmingham or Madejski at Reading?

[Arch]

We only went down on goal difference. Further proof, if any were needed, that we didn't need to 'mortgage our future' and spend 'massively' to stay in the Premiership.

Maybe all we needed for that one point was for Halford or Fae to be worth the money.

[Denver Royal]

Agreed...the less Mr Mad talks football, the better.

Oh and yes, I'm very grateful for all that he's done for the club.

[Southbank Old Boy]

If we hadn't of gone down this season, we likely would have next. Or the season after. It was just a matter of time because we aren't prepared to spend the wages.

We only went down on goal difference. Further proof, if any were needed, that we didn't need to 'mortgage our future' and spend 'massively' to stay in the Premiership.

We'll see how much 'ambition' we have next season. Anyone think we'll splash the cash on a promotion push? Or will we try to go up on the cheap again, as usual.

Don't expect ticket prices to drop much, if at all. The club will say they need the revenue for a promotion run.

As for Coppell, now that we're down, I think there's a chance he might stay. Reckon he would have left for sure if we'd stayed up.

Another £3m-£5m on wages and perhaps £5-10m on new signings and we'd have probably been comfortable.