Food for thought for Mr Ego

[cmonurz]

So what? Are you honestly a supporter of Reading because you think they can win the top division? Strange

That's a strange conclusion to come to from my post, although why shouldn't a football supporter dream of reach the top? We came 8th two years ago, can't I dream of Europe, or more?

I'm not saying it will, or should, happen, just agreeing with strap that it is the natural conclusion to top competitions becoming more and more elitist.

It would be interesting to look at how many 'new' teams have qualified for the CL in the last few years from a few European countries, and investigate how they have done it.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I would expect with money

[cmonurz]

Goes back to the debate had on the Team board - why are we going to watch Reading? To see us finish 3rd and lose the play-off final? Take away the aspiration to see us playing the top sides and I don't think I would bother; even if we were a Conference side I would go to games wanting to see promotion to League Two, and so on.

And that's at the root of why so many were miffed about last season - there is an ability and resource gap between the Premier League and Championship, we bridged it, then failed to capitalise.

[Huntley & Palmer]

What has that got to do with a European Super League? You are talking about something completely different now

[cmonurz]

No I'm not, you pulled the discussion towards Reading, it could equally apply to Everton, Villa, or whichever other Premier League sides will soon find even qualifying for Europe to be beyond their financial scope. Imho.

[readingbedding]

No I'm not, you pulled the discussion towards Reading, it could equally apply to Everton, Villa, or whichever other Premier League sides will soon find even qualifying for Europe to be beyond their financial scope. Imho.

That's exactly what he/she said a few posts up!

[Huntley & Palmer]

Not meaning to be pedantic but you mentioned Reading. I was simply saying that the top clubs leaving the top division in England would just leave it in a more sorry state than it already is. You would have a scenario where those left behind are fighting over even smaller scraps financially, teams like us would fall even further behind and probably not be able to keep hold of our best players. Those establised teams would be the new BIG clubs below the superleague

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Strapped for cash.

[working class hero]

I'm getting real tired of Strap calling our esteemed chairman "Mr Ego".

Wet Sham, etc.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

The thing is, Mr Madejski is part of Reading and Strap is a Reading supporter. I would never call anyone associated with Reading names. Anyone associated with other clubs or clubs other than Reading are fair game, because I do not respect them.

So you do not respect people like Wenger, Ferguson, Scolari or Benitez? Why not? All are worthy of respect for their achievements. Would you respect Bin Laden or Bush if they bought RFC and invested heavily.

What a crap philosophy.

[Thaumagurist*]

An unlikely scenario!

[papereyes]

The other option is Reading (or Everton, Villa, Spurs etc) never, ever, ever win the English league, unless a Sheikh fancies throwing his money around.

In the past, we could. It was highly unlikely, but we could. Villa, Everton, Spurs could. Twenty years ago (give or take) Villa were relegated from the top division. Within 5 or 6 years, they'd finished second in the top division twice.

What's depressing is that Everton, Villa (who won the league within the last 25-30 years) probably won't. Not now. They might finish 4th but if they get a tough draw, then they won't get into Europe.

Could a superleague exist? Possibly - I can see the big teams in it not allowing much promotion/relegation, in the US model, and using a smaller club as a feeder/reserve team, as in the US model.

Getting a better funded UEFA cup would be a start in terms of making things better. Sharing the money in the Champions League more evenly between the bigger teams and the smaller leagues would also be an improvement. Tinkering with who gets into which qualifying round is mere window dressing when big English teams will get more money for simply being in the league than they do in prize money for getting to the final.