When did you move from RTG to STG

[rhroyal]

Just out of interest.

[sheshnu]

You should really just lighten up and enjoy it for what it is. You'll be much happier!

[Big Foot]

I think the middle ground is where it's at

On the one hand I'm disappointed with the short sightedness of the signings and lack of ambition displayed from above yet on the other, I understand the motives behind SJM's actions (although not neccessarily agreeing with said actions)

[rhroyal]

Just a little frustration. At the end of last season I mocked Floyd when he suggested that survival should once again be our aim for this season. Already I'm seeing that he could be right. I'm also sick of just words coming from the club regarding finances. You're a PLC; put audited financial statements on your website or make them easily available online. Don't just expect us to believe what your say in the media. I imagine statements for the year finishing 30/06/10 will be due soon and all we'll get is a message to trust the club. Let us have a look!

[rob the royal]

I think the middle ground is where it's at

On the one hand I'm disappointed with the short sightedness of the signings and lack of ambition displayed from above yet on the other, I understand the motives behind SJM's actions (although not neccessarily agreeing with said actions)

^This.

[brendywendy]

NEVER!



totally agree with mr bigfoot

[andrew1957]

I was extremely surprised - even shocked - that the club cashed in on Siggy. I really did not see that coming and expected us to build the team round him this season and then let him go in summer 2011 if we failed to get promotion. So I felt mega STG yesterday, but the sun is shining today and life moves on and I actually managed to get some sleep last night so maybe not all is lost.

But I really don't expect promotion now. In all truth I don't think we will go down either - there are too many poor teams in this division - so mid table mediocrity here we come.

[Wimb]

I'm happy having a club in the Championship with the potential to be promoted through some good management, bit of form and some good luck. I'd rather not be a club where I'm passing round the donation bucket and watching Sky Sports News wondering if my club will be wound up.

Just support the bloody team on the pitch. Go to matches and enjoy them for what they are, why does it matter if its a 33 year old leftback or a 20 year old superstar midfielder scores the goal in the rain against Millwall? I go to football to support the team, whoever pulls on the Reading shirt and just enjoy a game of football. I enjoyed celebrating winning a dour game against Welling in the FA Cup first round as much as I did half the games in the Premier League ffs, a win is a win.

Life's too short to worry about the financial accounts/where money has hasn't gone.

[brendywendy]

players come and go, teams move up and down
the club remains, and that is what i support

[Big Foot]

players come and go, teams move up and down
the club remains, and that is what i support

Exactly

I know I will be supporting the club long after the players, Hammond, Howe and even Madejski have left

[Terminal Boardom]

For me, it was the delays in removing TB1 and TB2. I have felt for years that all SJM has ever done is use the football club as a personal promotional tool.

[Gordons Cumming]

I'm happy having a club in the Championship with the potential to be promoted through some good management, bit of form and some good luck. I'd rather not be a club where I'm passing round the donation bucket and watching Sky Sports News wondering if my club will be wound up.

Just support the bloody team on the pitch. Go to matches and enjoy them for what they are, why does it matter if its a 33 year old leftback or a 20 year old superstar midfielder scores the goal in the rain against Millwall? I go to football to support the team, whoever pulls on the Reading shirt and just enjoy a game of football. I enjoyed celebrating winning a dour game against Welling in the FA Cup first round as much as I did half the games in the Premier League ffs, a win is a win.

Life's too short to worry about the financial accounts/where money has hasn't gone.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Big Foot]

I was extremely surprised - even shocked - that the club cashed in on Siggy. I really did not see that coming and expected us to build the team round him this season and then let him go in summer 2011 if we failed to get promotion. So I felt mega STG yesterday, but the sun is shining today and life moves on and I actually managed to get some sleep last night so maybe not all is lost.

But I really don't expect promotion now. In all truth I don't think we will go down either - there are too many poor teams in this division - so mid table mediocrity here we come.

It was inevitable the club would cash in on him if they received an offer now. Madejski is a businessman and he'll treat Sigurdsson (or for any matter, any other player) as assets. The end of the day, that's all a football club can have as "assets" outside of infrastructure.

You have a business, you have an asset you have grown yourself and after a short period of time where that asset has displayed market worth you receive an offer. Weighing this up, you realise that the asset may not have as good a season as the one just gone / might get injured and so forth which would reduce the value of the asset much much more than it's been increased to now. What would you do?

As a football fan, it's hard to think rationally like that and of course I want us competing at the highest level and going after the kind of signings which will excite me and make my chest arrive in a room 15 minutes before the rest of me where I'm bursting with pride at having an envied squad of players. But I also live in the real world and know these are austere times for all businesses.

Another point in question, I wonder how many Reading fans own/are involved in businesses that have failed due to the recession? Or how many have been made redundant during this harsh recession? They will surely be singing from Madejski's hymn book...

[papereyes]

What gets me is that we could have been better a few seasons ago and the recent years have been very much a case of "for the want of a nail".

While where we are >>> where we were, where we could easily be >> where we are.

[Still Hate Futcher!]

I think the middle ground is where it's at

On the one hand I'm disappointed with the short sightedness of the signings and lack of ambition displayed from above yet on the other, I understand the motives behind SJM's actions (although not neccessarily agreeing with said actions)

+1

[westendgirl]

I'm happy having a club in the Championship with the potential to be promoted through some good management, bit of form and some good luck. I'd rather not be a club where I'm passing round the donation bucket and watching Sky Sports News wondering if my club will be wound up.

Just support the bloody team on the pitch. Go to matches and enjoy them for what they are, why does it matter if its a 33 year old leftback or a 20 year old superstar midfielder scores the goal in the rain against Millwall? I go to football to support the team, whoever pulls on the Reading shirt and just enjoy a game of football. I enjoyed celebrating winning a dour game against Welling in the FA Cup first round as much as I did half the games in the Premier League ffs, a win is a win.

Life's too short to worry about the financial accounts/where money has hasn't gone.

I could not agree more. I watched my husband in hospital fighting for his life in April 2006 so since have never felt that success in football is anything more than a fleeting good feeling after a win.

It is important to have something in your life other than work but it should be a relief from the pressures of life not a source of angst

[brendywendy]

For me, it was the delays in removing TB1 and TB2. I have felt for years that all SJM has ever done is use the football club as a personal promotional tool.

seems a fair deal to me

[brendywendy]

What gets me is that we could have been better a few seasons ago and the recent years have been very much a case of "for the want of a nail".

While where we are >>> where we were, where we could easily be >> where we are.

agreed- but with the margines so small, against clubs who had spent the extra millions, we could very very easily have spent an extra 5-10 million then, and still gone down, leaving us in a much worse state now.
you feel it would have been worth the risk, JM didnt, and hes in charge of the purse strings unfortunately

[papereyes]

It's not necessarily money spent - it was the attitude that pervaded the club at all levels between 2006 and 2008 that we were good enough to avoid relegation/bounce back up and some very obvious deficiencies in the squad were not remedied.

We accumulated average players and then didn't really use them.

Spending money is part of it but the whole attitude was that we'd muddle through somehow.

[brendywendy]

It's not necessarily money spent - it was the attitude that pervaded the club at all levels between 2006 and 2008 that we were good enough to avoid relegation/bounce back up and some very obvious deficiencies in the squad were not remedied.

We accumulated average players and then didn't really use them.

Spending money is part of it but the whole attitude was that we'd muddle through somehow.

Coppel and hammond took the view that if a team that was worth a grand total of <5 million could trounce the championship
and if the same team plus the addition of one new player for 1 million could take us to 8th place
then money probably wasnt the generator of our success.
& we still tried to buy in mensah and scott brown- who would have probably kept us up, but when they wouldnt come they didnt want to gamble on some second choice charlie.
and based on the previous two seasons can you not see why they may have come to that conclusion?