Preview from a Blackburn perspective

[thefruits]

Quite a good site. Interesting commentary on front page on issue over Benny McCarthy leaving.... might be good or bad for morale... depends if true or not..

Anyway onto the game...

Ok, boys and girls, get your inflatables out (leave the ones from Amsterdam in the closet) and get your programmes while you can because it is the last match of the 2006-2007 season. At the time of writing, a win against Reading would bolster our Euro chances, given that Totts, Bolton and Portsmouth cooperate and end their seasons on losing notes, but whatever the case may be, a win against Reading would cement top half status. Not really the place we were looking for at the start of the year, but given the difficulties we endured as well as the shed load of games on our plate, I think top half is damned fine. But, this isn’t a season in review, it’s a preview of the Reading Royals…

Reading have garnered 10 points out of their last 5 games leading to our match, just like us, coincidentally. Their last win was against the Newcastle LoonyToons as well, how eerily similar, eh? Their average attendance is in the low 24k’s while ours…ehh..well we weren’t just promoted now were we? I am not sure of the timeline but I also think their win against Bolton hastened or culminated in Big Fat Sam’s dismiss..erm..early retirement which can only be seen as a good thing. Now Bolton can go down next year and Big Fat Sam can turn Newcastle into hoofball merchants. Note to Shola and Obafemi; you lads will need to learn how to settle a ball, sharpish.
Who knows what mindframe the Royals will be in when they come to town, happy to get the season over with, fighting for their lives to get into Europe or just disinterested looking at their travel brochures for sunny-ish Blackpool or the swampy regions of Florida where the mosquito’s are as big as Vespa’s and the snowbirds outnumber the fit birds…

For me, I had to read up on my Reading history as a few seasons ago I’d never really had a reason to know anything about them. They were always lumped in with the QPR’s and the Brentford’s of the Football world. I knew their name but couldn’t tell you who was on their squad. Then comes a Yank! Marcus Hahnemann and my interest was piqued. I read up a bit and still didn’t have anything more than a surface interest. Was Hahnemann more of an Aiden Brown or more of a Brad Friedel? In other words was this guy destined for anonymity or world fame playing abroad? At that time the Magic 8-Ball could only state that Signs pointed to no. Not really a yes or no question I asked it, but the answer was general enough that I could infer what the Magic 8-Ball was getting at. It’s a very powerful sphere, that 8-Ball. At any rate the Royals floated along on the very periphery of my conscious until one day the news comes out that Bobby Convey was to join Reading. Well now! There’s a certifiable Yank talent going to Reading. For anyone who wondered, Convey was the first wunderkind for the Yanks in a long while, before Santino Quaranta, Freddy Adu and now Altidore. But anyway, Convey’s a Royal and off to the history books I went. Off to the official site as well. I followed them with great interest as they all but ran away with the Soda Water League and the off-season that ensued. Their signings were less than inspiring and I wondered if they had enough to make it in the Premiership. But at least they made an effort, unlike Watford, at making some improvements to a squad that was very nearly untouchable in the league below.

In comes Sam Sodje (a one time Rovers target) from Brentford (I really should read up on those periphery clubs), Andre Bikey (is it Beekay? Or Bike-ee? I’ve never really heard conclusive evidence either way) from Lokomotiv Moscow, Ulises de la Cruz (how the heck does this guy still get a job in the Premiership?) from somewhere deep in the mountains of Ecuador, Michael Duberry from Stoke and a few more sundry signings that didn’t make much of a splash then. The one signing, however, that did make a huge impact was Seol Ki-Hyeon from Wolves. Seol came up and became the best Korean in England, sorry Ji-Sung and Young-Pyo, but it’s true.

Seol did wonders for Reading and they were absolutely flying at the start of the year beating Middlesborough 3-2 on their own ground. For shame, ‘Boro, for shame! The Royals went on to win 4 more, draw one (a 1-1 score against the Mancs of all teams) and lose two finding themselves at the heady heights of 7th in the month of Octember(as my Vietnamese mother-in-law says it). Then like the climber who looks down for the first time after the pleadings not to, gets dizzy and drops to 11th spot(one above our Rovers) losing 5 in a row (4 Prem, 1 League Cup). Sitting at 11th spot, which was still high by any Royals standards, they started to show their real talent and everyone started to believe that lower mid-table was where the team should be. Then inexplicably, the Royals go out and win 4 in a row. This team is more streaky than a pair of my nan’s undies! Of course after this run, they go out and bottle it once again losing 4 (including their loss to us at their home ground. Take THAT!) and drawing 2, reminding me of when my older brother and I would play King of The Hill, or dirt heap, whatever. I’d get so close and push him back a bit and he’d get a bit tired of the feeble exercise that he’d flick me down the hill laughing with diabolical mirth all the time. But with dirty knees and scraped elbows, Reading came back to trounce WHam 6-0! Something we should have investigated as we could not solve the WHam Equation not once, but twice(for shame, Rovers, for shame!). About like me and Calculus…

The long and short of it was that the Royals could not make up their minds what form to put out there for their fans all season. As we are looking up at them in the last week of the season, it shows how well they’ve done. And all of this without Bobby Convey for the most part who’s allergic to grass, by the way. Hahnemann showed he’s good, but nothing near Big Bad Brad’s caliber. Not surprising at all, but encouraging to see that he was no Roy Carroll either. Kevin Doyle turned out to be one of the bargain buys for Coppell. Getting him from County Cork or Derry or wherever for a tenner before the 2005-2006 season was absolutely inspired. And everyone will be delighted to know his first goal was against the Dingles, good on ye, lad! But if we don’t watch out, Coppell might give Hughesy a run at the best Bargain Finder in the Premiership. Leroy Lita (also brought in just last year for a bargain 1 million pounds) and Doyle have 19 League goals between them, with Lita being their Cup Giant this past year as he scored 7 Cup goals. What’s interesting is the following from the Top Scorers section of their official site:

Ulises De La Cruz, Ibrahima Sonko, Nicky Shorey – 1 league
Andre Bikey, Peter Mate, John Oster, Sam Sodje – 1 cup

Now either these two groups of Royals were very coordinated in scoring that one goal apiece, or the Reading Official Site staff are a bunch of lazy See You Next Tuesday’s and just lumped these guys in for a goal. I’d be a bit put-off if I were looked at as a left-over.

The one game that sticks out in my mind is the one where Stephen Hunt single handedly brought down The Almighty Demi-God Peter Cech(Jhosay’s proclamation, not mine) with a well placed knee to the coconut. This led Jhosay to exclaim quite tearfully and melodramatically that the ambulance took 30 minutes to come to his aid, you know! He could have died, you know! You know! Well if I remember correctly the amby was there in much less time than 30 minutes, but whatever, Jhosay got his whining in and the media listened with more concern than usual. It was scary to look at, but Petr was back with a rugby helmet and he looked more goofy than usual. Why he still wears it, I have no idea. Adornment? Is he jealous of Schwarzer and his trademark dirty gray sweat pants? Is Cech that wanting for a trademark ‘look’?

There will be no Q&A this go ‘round as with the last game of the season most Royal fans are in a euphoric trance and the only thing that comes out is that they’re absolutely magic or ace or class or whatever adjective you can use that will describe their position high atop the league. Every question I asked was either answered by one word…Chuffed…or the answers started promising then trailed off mid-thought until all they could get out was “well, we’re Chuffed!â€

[Daniella]

Good article that, breath of fresh air compared to most bias boring crap you read on the net these days.

We were taught a lesson by blackburn earlier in the season for being cocky, they are a smashing club who I have a lot of respect for. Hope its a good game tomorrow and the gobshites from both sides stay home.

[Arch]

Roberts will not continue his scoring trend.

[Behindu]

I look forward to Dela sticking one up Rovers and teaching this Yank to do his research a little more carefully !

[Cripple Creek]

that was a damn good article and far better than the 99 per cent of frankly disposable rubbish (should we cheer for Sidwell? is Lita's first touch letting him down?) that appears on here, my contributions included.

[Bluey]

Typical ' Seppo ' hogwash trash talk, go do a little more research fruitcake and show a little more respect while you're at it.
If Steve Coppell was manager of Burnblack Rovers they would'nt be challenging for 9th spot on the last day, if he had your lot ( and Lucas Neil would still be there ), you'd be right up the arse of the Arse.
Stick with sport where padding and gloves are used for protection.


' GO HARD YOU ROYALS '

[Coppelled Streets]

Roberts will not continue his scoring trend.

I LOL'd at that too. Looks like he missed again.

My predictions are pretty hit and miss, but I expect a tightly contested affair with Rovers sending us out on a winning note. The scoreline will be a 3-1 with Roberts to continue his scoring trend.

[thefruits]

Typical ' Seppo ' hogwash trash talk, go do a little more research fruitcake and show a little more respect while you're at it.
If Steve Coppell was manager of Burnblack Rovers they would'nt be challenging for 9th spot on the last day, if he had your lot ( and Lucas Neil would still be there ), you'd be right up the arse of the Arse.
Stick with sport where padding and gloves are used for protection.


' GO HARD YOU ROYALS '

LOL... Ole thefruits simply pulled the article from the blackburn supporters website.. I'm a loyal royal... for many years... just thought it was head and shoulders above most of the poorly researched, diatrite that we have seen on opposition boards this season.

Yank or not... that Blackburn fan at least made an effort. Hats off.

[londinium]

Typical ' Seppo ' hogwash trash talk, go do a little more research fruitcake and show a little more respect while you're at it.
If Steve Coppell was manager of Burnblack Rovers they would'nt be challenging for 9th spot on the last day, if he had your lot ( and Lucas Neil would still be there ), you'd be right up the arse of the Arse.
Stick with sport where padding and gloves are used for protection.


' GO HARD YOU ROYALS '

LOL... Ole thefruits simply pulled the article from the blackburn supporters website.. I'm a loyal royal... for many years... just thought it was head and shoulders above most of the poorly researched, diatrite that we have seen on opposition boards this season.

Yank or not... that Blackburn fan at least made an effort. Hats off.

I thought it was a good post 'fruit'. Surely it was very obvious that it was taken from a Blackburn website and not your work. I thought it was also very obvious that it was written before the Blackburn/Spurs game on Thursday, hence the 'Roberts' item and the fact that he says that possibly Blackburn will still be fighting for Europe come today. So there is no real need to slag either the poster or the writer especially as it is one of the best articles by an away fan this season, as the bloke has obviously made an effort unlike you '2 line slagger' who really can't see bad from good.

Nice one fruits.

[Daniella]

' GO HARD YOU ROYALS '

This isn't a sex forum.

[biscuitsrus]

You are obsessed.

[Royal Rother]

Just came across this on another forum to which I (and some other Reading supporters) contribute.

Gives a lovely warm glow...

I would just like to say to all Reading supporters what a great game we all saw at Ewood Park yesterday. Obviously as a Rovers supporter I would have loved to have won and risen one more place in the Premiership, but yesterday's game only deserved to be a draw. I'm sure Reading fans think they should have won though, because they played some beautiful football.

I don't think our team were at their best and one thing was obvious, to me at least, Reading were much more of a team than Rovers. Reading worked hard at playing cohesive football. They opened up our defense almost at will. Each time Rovers scored Reading came back with an equaliser. A very competitive and very enjoyable game.

When we arrived at the ground and I was reading through my programme, I was amused to see that the player number 13 was listed as READING FANS. As I had not been able to get to our away fixture at Reading, this was the first time I had seen a team sheet for Reading. I had an inkling from that and seeing the fans decked out in blue and white, that they were going to be very supporting, and so it proved to be throughout the match. I have never seen so many inflatables being tossed around a crowd of football supporters before a game. I did wonder, as I was watching balls, paddling pools and an inflatable tractor (!) being tossed around, whether some of the supporters might have thought we were BlackPOOL and not BlackBURN (just a joke). But those supporters had certainly come to enjoy themselves.

At the end, when the Reading players went to their thousands of supporters in the Darwen End of the ground, it was wonderful to see the reception they were given. As I was clapping off our team, I didn't see all that happened but since several of the Reading team walked back bare-chested I assume they gave the crowd their shirts. The thick line of yellow and orange security staff were not needed, none of those supporters were going to invade the pitch and spoil a great day.

As Reading's players walked towards the dressing room the Rover's supporters, already on their feet from cheering off the home team, who had now left the field, clapped Reading off. It was a show of respect which Reading deserved for a great game of football. It was wonderful also to see the Reading players acknowledging the applause. If memory serves that is only the second time I have seen an away team clapped off the pitch this season.

Thank you Reading for a memorable game. You are certainly a credit to the Premiership.

[biscuitsrus]

Beautiful.

After the game a couple of their fans going into the drinking club outside the stadium came up to congratulate me and my mate for the way that Reading played. Full of praise and admiration for RFC.

Damn sight more than the Bolton fans did

[Tails]

fair play

[Kitson12]

I look forward to Dela sticking one up Rovers and teaching this Yank to do his research a little more carefully !

WSRL

[brendywendy]

oooo that made me all tingly

god we're great arent we