2012-13 season previews

[Unphased Royal]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11096/7980122/Premier-Predictions
Phil Thompson...

"I think most people would have got it wrong last year and predicted that Norwich, Swansea and QPR would have gone down. For all three of them to survive was astonishing. So it's hard to call but at this moment I would say Southampton would be one of them. I also think Wigan will struggle and QPR - despite surviving last year - could be in the mix as well."

We didn't even get a mention... Although in the surprise package part he afterwards he did say...

"West Ham could do it. Sam Allardyce has that knack of getting the best out of his teams."

Yeah the West Ham side that were expected to walk it but only made the play-offs and were fairly fortunate to win them.

[MouldyRoyal]

Mirror Football wisely not predicting a finishing place:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... er-1259424

[winchester_royal]

Mick McCarthy seems to like us - http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11673/7992522?

I think they'll maintain their image, what they are: they are a fantastic club and Brian McDermott is a great guy. He's run the club really well. He's got both feet on the ground and is full of humility.

"He'll go and continue doing what he's done by winning the Championship - and didn't they come up with some force, by the way. From early on in the season when they kept drawing games they were brilliant. I just wish him and the club well because Reading is a great club.

legend

[Ian Royal]

Love Mick.

[plroyals]

he would like us after all the players we have sold to him

[SpaceCruiser]

he would like us after all the players we have sold to him

Apart from Kevin Doyle, who else have we sold to him?

[plroyals]

i might be wrong and he might of not been there manager then but hunt?, USA?, did we sell halford to them. less than i thought at first tbh but he's got some good deals from us.

[SpaceCruiser]

First off, it's "have" not "of".

Wolves bought Stephen Hunt from Hull City.

How is it possible for Wolves to buy the entire country of USA? Can we stop calling Marcus Hahnemann that, please? He was a freebie, so we couldn't "sell" him to them as his contract with us had expired.

I think we sold Greg Halford to Sunderland, seem to remember Roy Keane complaining about us getting the better deal in his transfer or something.

[plroyals]

First off, it's "have" not "of".

Wolves bought Stephen Hunt from Hull City.

How is it possible for Wolves to buy the entire country of USA? Can we stop calling Marcus Hahnemann that, please? He was a freebie, so we couldn't "sell" him to them as his contract with us had expired.

I think we sold Greg Halford to Sunderland, seem to remember Roy Keane complaining about us getting the better deal in his transfer or something.

my bad, sorry. massive fail by me

[M Brook]

Sporting Life's take on the relegation situation. Particularly interesting given who we are playing on Saturday.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... nking-ship

[melonhead]

First off, it's "have" not "of".

Wolves bought Stephen Hunt from Hull City.

How is it possible for Wolves to buy the entire country of USA? Can we stop calling Marcus Hahnemann that, please? He was a freebie, so we couldn't "sell" him to them as his contract with us had expired.

I think we sold Greg Halford to Sunderland, seem to remember Roy Keane complaining about us getting the better deal in his transfer or something.

my bad, sorry. massive fail by me

ignore him, pedantic bugger
so we only sold him one player. he should still be grateful

[DaveBanana]

Paul Merson on SSN:

I don't see Reading going down at all. They've got pace to burn up front and I think they'll cause teams problems. People like Jobi McAnuff and Jimmy Kebe are quick and that's a massive key in the Premier League. I think they'll comfortably stay up.

Presumably on player to look out for...



I'm going to go for Jobi McAnuff of Reading. I played against him when he was a kid at Wimbledon and thought he was going to be a good player. He didn't quite live up to the expectations that I had, but if you watch him he's an out-and-out winger and he'll run at players with unbelievable pace. He could be the player to watch out for in the Premier League this year. He could be very important if Reading are going to stay up. I expect him to get a lot of the ball because of the way they play.

A general reading preview:

Reading: Last season could not have gone much better, with a remarkable run over the second half of the campaign taking Reading to the Championship title. Additions were always going to be required. Proven Premier League performers have been drafted in and Brian McDermott has moved quickly to bolster his ranks. Consolidation will be the aim in 2012/13, but the exploits of Norwich and Swansea last term have offered hope to all promoted clubs.

Mick Mc

"I think they'll maintain their image, what they are: they are a fantastic club and Brian McDermott is a great guy. He's run the club really well. He's got both feet on the ground and is full of humility.

"He'll go and continue doing what he's done by winning the Championship - and didn't they come up with some force, by the way. From early on in the season when they kept drawing games they were brilliant. I just wish him and the club well because Reading is a great club.

[Croydon Royal]

One of the best previews I've read so far on Football 365: http://www.football365.com/f365-feature ... 41/Reading

[E. Andrew]

One of the more flattering titles, at least.
_

The ground is of course named after John Madejski, an unimaginably good advert for football club chairmen, who after saving and transforming Reading has sold a controlling interest to a Russian, Anton Zingarevich.

Safe to say he brings a new advert? More visual?

[Still Hate Futcher!]

Mick McCarthy seems to like us - http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11673/7992522?

I think they'll maintain their image, what they are: they are a fantastic club and Brian McDermott is a great guy. He's run the club really well. He's got both feet on the ground and is full of humility.

"He'll go and continue doing what he's done by winning the Championship - and didn't they come up with some force, by the way. From early on in the season when they kept drawing games they were brilliant. I just wish him and the club well because Reading is a great club.

legend

Always liked McCarthy. He was my choice for the Royals job had Brian gone to Wolves last season. Thankfully the vacancy never materialised.

[andrew1957]

Harry Rednapp's review is about spot on to me. At last someone who knows the game and talks sense.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19270749

[Man Friday]

sorry to interject but where's the post to predict where we think we'll finish? I usually go pessimistic but I feel confident this year! I'm predicting 14th with a good cup run in one of the compos!

[MouldyRoyal]

Phil McNulty at the BBC has this to say about us:

Reading
Premier League new boys Reading have been busy in the transfer market backed by the finances of new Russian owner Anton Zingarevich after Sir John Madejski handed over the baton. Whether this will be enough to ensure a prolonged stay in the division remains to be seen.

Brian McDermott has done brilliant work and he will hope the signings of experienced striker Pavel Pogrebnyak from Stuttgart and the additions of the likes of Chris Gunter, Garath McCleary, Danny Guthrie and Adrian Mariappa can make the Royals a force.

It will be a tough transition and I see it as a season of struggle back in the top flight for Reading.

Finishing position - 20th

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/ ... _pred.html

He also has Villa finishing 8th

[DaveBanana]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19221348

Preview for the Stoke game, but focusses on the season as a whole very nicely, commenting on how others are wrong to put is down

[maffff]

Might as well throw mine up here and take the flack now.....

http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/2012/08/17/season-preview-2012-13-reading-interview/

FTR, I predicted on there last season I said "fourth, chasing but falling just short of an auto place. And McDermott won’t make the same mistakes at Wembley two seasons in a row……". Turns out we didn't need Wembley. I also expected Khumalo to be quality after how he did pre-injury at Preston. So yeah. I talk sh/t.