Madejski's comments to BBC Radio Berkshire

[Southbank Old Boy]

Imagine a raffle where the first prize is an unnamed player valued at £5m, second prize is an unnamed player valued at £500,000.

Reading FC buys a ticket - which prize do you want them to win?

I can see your point Schards, and there is a risk buying in someone who is only worth 200k, but our two biggest transfers have ended as flops (Fae and Halford), yet Doyle and Kitson have been excellent.

I would though want to win the 5m prize, sell it, and get the 500k one

And our next few "big" transfer fee's were?

Bikey, Matejovsky, Rosenoir and Dubbery probably....they've all been pretty decent signings so far, with more to come from the first three.

All transfers are a bit hit and miss but it is odd that our two most expensive players seem to have been the worst of the bunch. That really shouldn't put us off buying quality players in the future though, if anything, it should ensure that we're a bit smarter on who we sign.

I hope we learn similar lessons from the transfers of players like Halls, Bennett, Sodje, Oster, Brown etc

[Woodcote Royal]

Surely the correlation is that players with a proven ability at a certain level cost more. That doesn't necessarily mean that value = ability.

We bought Dave Kitson for £150,000, he already had the ability to play well for us. We sold him for 5.5m after he'd proved it. Whether he can keep it up is a different matter.

Such a simple concept is wasted on Schards.

[Kes]

Don't you think JM has shot Reading FC in the foot with his comments? Nobody decent will want to sign for 'tight' Reading now.

[howser]

I would say that is a distinct possibility Kes, agents will have locked onto those statements of his very quickly and as footballers are, in many ways similar to JM, "money driven" it must have an adverse affect on possible newcomers, especially those from the English leagues who have for a while now sucked the finance out of the game.

[TBM]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... _at_w.html

[Gordons Cumming]

Don't you think JM has shot Reading FC in the foot with his comments? Nobody decent will want to sign for 'tight' Reading now.

So, without seeing him kick a ball, you are saying Mooney isn't decent?

[Royal Rother]

Don't you think JM has shot Reading FC in the foot with his comments? Nobody decent will want to sign for 'tight' Reading now.

When everyone else has run out of money or gone bust they'll be queueing up.

[RoyalBlue]

SOB and RB, the management was of the opinion that although there were obvious weaknesses we had enough within the squad to stay up.

There would have been significant activity in the transfer market if we had achieved that in order to strengthen for 2008/9.

They got it wrong.

These are the inescapable facts. Repeating the same old arguments won't change anything. Just move on and enjoy the new season and the fact that we are trying to do it the RFC way. It's fun.

They are the 'inescapable facts' that Madejski is happy for the supporters to hear. What we don't know is whether Coppell was happy with the peanuts that Madejski was prepared to make available for wages. If they would only attract clapped out monkeys, maybe Coppell had no option but to be happy with the players he had got.

As for your assertion that there would have been significant activity in the transfer market had we stayed up, just what makes you so sure that would have happened when Madejski keeps banging on about obscene wage levels, not being held to ransome over transfer fees, etc. etc?

The middle way is the route to take and, until Madejski is prepared to take it, we are likely to experience far more frustration than success.

You might enjoy trying to do things the Madejski way. But I am fed up with his stubborn insistence that he can single-handedly buck the economics of the game and still compete effectively at the highest levels. It's not fun and it's not realistic. Coppell worked the miracle once, to expect him to keep repeating that feat is like expecting to scoop up the lottery jackpot on a regular basis.

[FiNeRaIn]

Coppell worked the miracle once, to expect him to keep repeating that feat is like expecting to scoop up the lottery jackpot on a regular basis.

One of the best comments I have read for a long time here. This is exactly the point, coppell achieved a miracle, a one off. He has lost several key components to that team. Sidwell, kitson, little and shorey were a CLASS apart in our promotion year. They have all gone. Giving him peanuts and expecting him to find 4 replacement players is a completely unrealistic expectation, especially if the clubs aim is promotion. If its not, then the club has other questions to answer.
I am tired of it being repeated, we didn't invest last season and we were rightly relegated, we deserved our fate, I hope the club learned a valuable lesson. I am happy with the singing of mooney, I don't mind players like that, but we NEED a certain degree of proven talent as you can't expect every bargain to work out, its just not going to happen. Madejski says there is more to follow before the deadline so we will wait and see, here's hoping we get a left back and a right winger.

[SpaceCruiser]

I am tired of it being repeated, we didn't invest last season and we were rightly relegated, we deserved our fate, I hope the club learned a valuable lesson.

Well, if you're tired of it, stop repeating it then.

I am happy with the singing of mooney,

What type of voice is Mooney?

[FiNeRaIn]

What type of voice is Mooney?

I could make several spitteful comments here that would apply to only you on the board, but, I am an not rising to it.

[ElmParker]

Hands up who wants FiNeRaIn to rise to it.

[Royal Rother]

I am tired of it being repeated, we didn't invest last season and we were rightly relegated, we deserved our fate, I hope the club learned a valuable lesson.

Well, if you're tired of it, stop repeating it then.

I am happy with the singing of mooney,

What type of voice is Mooney?

Being a striker he's a False Eto'o.

[ElmParker]

I am tired of it being repeated, we didn't invest last season and we were rightly relegated, we deserved our fate, I hope the club learned a valuable lesson.

Well, if you're tired of it, stop repeating it then.

I am happy with the singing of mooney,

What type of voice is Mooney?

Being a striker he's a False Eto'o.

Beautifully done, I must say.

[SpaceCruiser]

What type of voice is Mooney?

I could make several spitteful comments here that would apply to only you on the board, but, I am an not rising to it.

[papereyes]

Anyway, on the OS in the article with JM welcoming Mooney he also confirms there is money to spend and we are looking to supplement the squad before the end of the window.

As said elsewhere, I think this is the club taking the chance after a couple of games to assess how the squad fares and they have come to the sensible and realistic conclusion that it really does need some strengthening.

So well done club.

Now go and do it.

[Dirk Gently]

Anyway, on the OS in the article with JM welcoming Mooney he also confirms there is money to spend and we are looking to supplement the squad before the end of the window.

As said elsewhere, I think this is the club taking the chance after a couple of games to assess how the squad fares and they have come to the sensible and realistic conclusion that it really does need some strengthening.

So well done club.

Now go and do it.

I actually think it is the club's response to this thread and to reports like the one in the EP a few days ago.

[Gordons Cumming]

It's easy to spend someone else's money.

[Baines]

It's easy to spend someone else's money.

And fun too.

[Man Friday]

They are the 'inescapable facts' that Madejski is happy for the supporters to hear. What we don't know is whether Coppell was happy with the peanuts that Madejski was prepared to make available for wages. If they would only attract clapped out monkeys, maybe Coppell had no option but to be happy with the players he had got.

As for your assertion that there would have been significant activity in the transfer market had we stayed up, just what makes you so sure that would have happened when Madejski keeps banging on about obscene wage levels, not being held to ransome over transfer fees, etc. etc?

The middle way is the route to take and, until Madejski is prepared to take it, we are likely to experience far more frustration than success.

You might enjoy trying to do things the Madejski way. But I am fed up with his stubborn insistence that he can single-handedly buck the economics of the game and still compete effectively at the highest levels. It's not fun and it's not realistic. Coppell worked the miracle once, to expect him to keep repeating that feat is like expecting to scoop up the lottery jackpot on a regular basis.

Possibly one of the best posts ever - concise and absolutely spot-on. It just got better and better culminating in the last paragraph and, in particular, the last sentence.