Coppell's Big Gamble

[Forest Gump]

Once again we have decided not to strengthen the team significantly during the transfer window. This indicates the Steve Coppell has put his faith largely in the current squad. 3 points against Bolton will indicate that he is justified in this faith. Defeat against Bolton will signify that he is not and give every Royals fans cause to fear for the rest of the season.

Obviously this is a must win game and I can't see an easier chance to get back to winning ways. If however we fail in this I fear we will be doomed

[readingfc13]

Coppell's mother did always say that the January transfer window is like a box of chocolates...

[Cripple Creek]

We aren't necessarily doomed but if we play like we did against Bolton again then it's good night Vienna. Will we get relegated? Right now, it is hard not to answer in the affirmative.

[Royalee]

Firstly, even if we had won yesterday we'd still have been in trouble so his decision wouldn't have been 'vindicated'.

Secondly, it wasn't a gamble, it was a suicidal lack of bottle on his behalf.

[shadesrwrf]

Firstly, even if we had won yesterday we'd still have been in trouble so his decision wouldn't have been 'vindicated'.

Secondly, it wasn't a gamble, it was a suicidal lack of bottle on his behalf.

On the contrary, it was potentially a suicidal display of misguided bottle.

Nevertheless, my glass remains half full.

[Royalee]

That depends on whether or not you view chickening out of risking upsetting the likes of the mighty Gunnarsson having bottle or not. I wouldn't want to upset rude boi Leroy the internet scorer either given his dazzling displays of ineptitude this season either.

If it had been me, I'd have told him to piss off to Sunderland and join the only footballer in the Premiership who is actually as stupid as him in Richardson. You see, the trouble with dropping players and making changes is you risk upsetting people, which Coppell doesn't like to do. What he is forgetting of course is that the players he'd be upsetting are all crap.

[shadesrwrf]

I trust you'll be putting in an application when Steve Coppell does move on? It'll be a criminal waste of talent if you don't.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

That depends on whether or not you view chickening out of risking upsetting the likes of the mighty Gunnarsson having bottle or not.

It's not about bottle.

I actually spoke to Kevin Dillon (bumped into him on a train) in the summer and the talk of buying players came up. He mentioned Gunnarsson, and in fact selected him out for praise for how well he'd done last season when called on, without once ever moaning about not being in the team enough, and admitted it was a tough decision whether to seek a replacement or give him the chance to step up.

It wasn't about not wanting to upset him. It was about whether they thought he could do the job or not. And in any case, they still bought two central midfielders in the summer anyway. When they signed Fae for £2.5 million, I don't somehow think the club paid that amount for someone they thought wouldn't get in the team.

[Royalee]

I don't know, they did the same with Halford.

Maybe I should advise Coppell as I could have told him Gunnarsson wouldn't be good enough to replace Sidwell well before the first six months of this season. Which begs the question, what does Dillon ACTUALLY do? He was great as a player, but I'm unconvinced as an assistant.

Did he say anything about Lita?

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

The key to this all is, speak to anyone who doesn't support us. The reason we're going down is nothing to do with Coppell according to them. It's all little Reading's fault for not investing enough.

Everyone on the outside thinks this is JM's fault.

No pressure, when no one's going to blame you. If Coppell has spent the money he should/could have in the summer the pressure would have been on him and no one can deny Coppell just doesn't do pressure.

[Royalee]

Explain this then.

Why has Coppell gone on record several times STATING he DOES have plenty of funds to spend but is happy with what he's got? He was also THANKFUL for the end of the transfer window, as he said on the official site on Thursday! Madejski can't force the manager to make signings!

Oh, and every person I've spoken to who isn't a Reading fan lambasts Coppell's negativity, his constant moaning about the way the Premiership is and his negativity in the cups. They find him 'boring' to listen to and ask the question 'why would anyone want to sign for someone openly admitting his side will never be able to compete at the top?'

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Explain this then.

Why has Coppell gone on record several times STATING he DOES have plenty of funds to spend but is happy with what he's got? He was also THANKFUL for the end of the transfer window, as he said on the official site on Thursday! Madejski can't force the manager to make signings!

Oh, and every person I've spoken to who isn't a Reading fan lambasts Coppell's negativity, his constant moaning about the way the Premiership is and his negativity in the cups. They find him 'boring' to listen to and ask the question 'why would anyone want to sign for someone openly admitting his side will never be able to compete at the top?'

He says it on our official site mate, who else reads that apart from us? I've already heard a number of national journalists both in papers and on the radio talking about our lack of investment and how Coppell, such a fantastic manager, is being let down by his Chairman.

We're both talking about the same thing. It's all about pressure.

[retro royal]

At least were have the best media block in the championship

[Royalee]

What do the media know? Hunt's a murderer and Redknapp's Newcastle manager according to them.

[RoyalBlue]

Explain this then.

Why has Coppell gone on record several times STATING he DOES have plenty of funds to spend but is happy with what he's got? He was also THANKFUL for the end of the transfer window, as he said on the official site on Thursday! Madejski can't force the manager to make signings!

Oh, and every person I've spoken to who isn't a Reading fan lambasts Coppell's negativity, his constant moaning about the way the Premiership is and his negativity in the cups. They find him 'boring' to listen to and ask the question 'why would anyone want to sign for someone openly admitting his side will never be able to compete at the top?'

He says it on our official site mate, who else reads that apart from us? I've already heard a number of national journalists both in papers and on the radio talking about our lack of investment and how Coppell, such a fantastic manager, is being let down by his Chairman.

We're both talking about the same thing. It's all about pressure.

Agreed, he's not likely to come out in the open and say that whilst he still wants a job. I doubt the Chairman favours such a level of free speech. However, he dropped a bloody great hint after the Chelsea game when he said 'that's what you get from investment'.

[Forest Gump]

Thank you for you replies so far.
Now with hindsight of yesterday's game with BOlton I may have made a slightly harsher approach to my post.
If I remember when thhe first window closing Coppell's declaration of faith in the current squad was repaid with a set of disastrous results. If this is repeated then we are in for near-record run of defeats. Not sure we;ll break the Bullivent record but if we don't start to get points soon we will be out of reach of safety before Easter.

the question is: are they players motivated? Do they have any confidence? Does the club actually have any ambtion or are they just thinking that we'll get the parachute payment anyway so why risk further investment.

Personally I agree that football carries financial risk. The clubs that are willing to take a gamble and invest in their squads deserve to get success and on this basis Reading FC do not deserve it. So if we get relegated - and this seems a pretty strong possibility - it will be no more than the Club deserves.

The fans deserve better. But we won't get it.

Come on Reading. Come on Coppell. Where's your determination to succeed. Form where I see it you just can't be bothered.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Explain this then.

Why has Coppell gone on record several times STATING he DOES have plenty of funds to spend but is happy with what he's got?

maybe because he's happy with what he's got. Remarkable as it may sound, he may not think the players are relegation certainties and he doesn't want to panic buy just for the sake of it.

Oh, and every person I've spoken to who isn't a Reading fan lambasts Coppell's negativity, his constant moaning about the way the Premiership is and his negativity in the cups. They find him 'boring' to listen to and ask the question 'why would anyone want to sign for someone openly admitting his side will never be able to compete at the top?'

how many of them have actually met coppell and know what he's like as a person?

The way tv works is that those who are loud and outspoken are interesting and "characters", and those who are quiet and calm are boring.

You wouldn't think Dillion has an obvious sense of humour from his tv clips, foe example, but he had quite a dry wit

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

The key to this all is, speak to anyone who doesn't support us. The reason we're going down is nothing to do with Coppell according to them. It's all little Reading's fault for not investing enough.

Everyone on the outside thinks this is JM's fault.

everyone on the outside also thinks we got promoted by JM bankrolling the team Al-fayed style way beyond our means.

Most on the outside also don't appreciate how many teams are living way beyond their means. They also don't tend realise we've actually spent about £11 million since promotion.

Seol £1.5 million
Halford £2.5 million
Cisse £0.5 million
Rosenior (swap for Seol, so another £1.5 million?)
Fae £2.5 million
Bikey £1 million
Bennet £0.5 million
Matejovsky £1.5 million
Duberry £800,000
Kebe £400,000

[kirkrich]

I grant you we have spent 11 million, but that is for 10 players! 10 million should be for 2 good players, quality players who would walk straight into our team, not 10 players and hope that one of them will work. I thought Cahill was great for Bolton, he should be the sort of player we are busting a gut to sign. I liked our starting line up on Saturday and thought we looked strong on paper. But despite playing all four of our strikers up front at various times, we failed to make an impact. We simply were not good enough. Marek looked good, but was he good or were the rest of the team just poor? Looking at the players faces I thought Inga looked like he really wanted it but some of the others just seemed to have accepted their fate already. I am truly depressed and not looking forward to work on Monday!

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Fae £2.5 million
Bennet £0.5 million
Kebe £400,000

That's £3.4M down the drain. Imagine if we had instead spent £3.4M on a right winger we could use. Reportedly Wolves want £4M to part with Kightly, and PNE want £2M for Simon Whaley.

So Kebe's not good enough?

Please tell us his weaknesses as you clearly know him so well.

Yes we've wasted money adn we've bought players we shouldn't have bought. My point was that people outside don't exactly have the best insight into the club. Many said for example that we didn't sign anyone to replace Sidwell. The fact that Fae & Cisse weren't up to the job doesn't alter the fact that those who said we didn't sign anyone were wrong.

I agree that our transfer policy sometimes smacks of hope rather than expectation, and I'm not out to bet my life savings on Kebe being the inspiration we need, but I think the guy should be allowed to at least take the field for us before being written off as a useless waste of money.