Hard to see any progress for the forseeable future

[SLAMMED]

I think we need to get used to mid table championship football at the very best until there is a sea change at this club.

Madejski - clearly, his heart is not in it to the extent it was previously. He would love to sell out but can't find a buyer. He will keep the club sound and stable but has no intention of investing further funds or trying to push the club forwards.

Coppell - if the spirit of the championship had survived, he would definately have been the right man for the job, but it hasn't. The chairman is not fully behind it anymore, many players have left to pursue their own self interest and many still here would like to leave. The golden team has long gone and we have to move on and build a new team. Coppell doesn't, IMHO, have the hunger to do this.

Whilst not being a member of the carpark squad, I applauded their actions as, at the time it was the right thing to do. Had we known that the spirit of the championship side was already totally dead, in hindsight, we should have let Coppell go and started afresh.

As for Madejski, there are some on here who would happily see us drift downwards whilst improving/maintaining our balance sheet in the belief that the rest of football will meltdown around us and we will emerge as one of the last men standing. They are rather like people who build nuclear bunkers in their back garden. Much as I admire and appreciete what Madejski has done, I don't see how the club can go forward with him at the helm and would now like to see someone new who wants to move things forward.

Can't see either leaving anytime soon so supporting Reading's going to be a whole lot duller and uninspiring than in recent years

Clearly written before our demolition of wednesday...

[Royal Lady]

I don't think he is. Winning at home and then losing/drawing away to teams who aren't much cop doesn't constitute "progress" in my book. I'm sure when he comes back in a bit, he'll confirm this.

[Thaumagurist*]

You what? Only two defeats and third in the table is not progress?

You're a strange pair.

[West Stand Man]

You what? Only two defeats and third in the table is not progress?

You're a strange pair.

Well I suppose that strictly it isn't - if (like the odd couple) you live in that quaint world where Reading is or should be a world power. Last year we were in the PL and so anything this year has to be a retrograde step and hence not progress.

In my world we are building a new team, and looking pretty good too, that is progress.

[Royal Lady]

As it stood when Schards originally started this thread, we'd lost Kitson, Shorey, Little, Sonko and not replaced them with what he and some others considered to be the right replacements. We DO now have some good prospects for the future, but we're early into the season and as we can't win an away game and play pretty poorly away from home at the moment, despite our successes at home, it would seem to me that we're not likely to make much progress. Should we get automatic promotion and remain in the top three or 4 throughout most of the season, I, for one, will accept that my original thoughts on this were proved to be wrong.

[rg6royal]

Hard to see any progress at all...

[Thaumagurist*]

Can I also make the point that as last season we only scored 41 goals, we've already scored half that in 8 games.

Wolverhampton away this Tueday will be an interesting game, I suppose you could call it a barometer of a game.

[Archie's penalty]

Can I also make the point that as last season we only scored 41 goals, we've already scored half that in 8 games.

Wolverhampton away this Tueday will be an interesting game, I suppose you could call it a barometer of a game.

Definitely. Perhaps our toughest away task of the season.

As some others have said if we get a point or beat the Wolves they will have to re-adjust their expectations...

[PEARCEY]

Can I also make the point that as last season we only scored 41 goals, we've already scored half that in 8 games.

Wolverhampton away this Tueday will be an interesting game, I suppose you could call it a barometer of a game.

Definitely. Perhaps our toughest away task of the season.

As some others have said if we get a point or beat the Wolves they will have to re-adjust their expectations...

Thats the positive spin Archie but if we lose they are 11 points clear of us. We do really have to avoid defeat.

[Archie's penalty]

Can I also make the point that as last season we only scored 41 goals, we've already scored half that in 8 games.

Wolverhampton away this Tueday will be an interesting game, I suppose you could call it a barometer of a game.

Definitely. Perhaps our toughest away task of the season.

As some others have said if we get a point or beat the Wolves they will have to re-adjust their expectations...

Thats the poswitive spin Archie but if we lose they are 11 points clear of us. We do really have to avoid defeat.

We have to be positive that we can get at least a draw. We have scored 14 goals in the last four games. Let's have a right good go at them.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Can I also make the point that as last season we only scored 41 goals, we've already scored half that in 8 games.

Wolverhampton away this Tueday will be an interesting game, I suppose you could call it a barometer of a game.

This has to be our first away win of the season.

[RoyalBlue]

Schards must be embarrassed.

Hate to rain on your parade but after the January 2009 transfer window has slammed shut might be a better time to judge who ought to be embarrassed.

If Doyle and S Hunt continue to play like they are, how many people seriously think those two players will still be with us for the second half of the season? The trigger fees will be activated and the real test of progress will be whether the proceeds are immediately consigned to the Madejski vaults or invested in buying quality players, already proven at Championship level who can slot straight into the team and maintain our drive for promotion.

I really hope serious work is underway to identify and secure such replacements afterall, as far as I can make out, it is only registration changes that have to wait for the window to open, there is nothing to stop contractual agreements being put into place to transfer players the moment the window opens.

Can I also make the point that as last season we only scored 41 goals, we've already scored half that in 8 games.

Wolverhampton away this Tueday will be an interesting game, I suppose you could call it a barometer of a game.

A rather strange way of arguing that we have made progress -so far this season we have scored far more goals at Championship level than we did in the PL We no doubt would have scored even more in the Conference but would that be proof of progress?

Agree with your second point though.

[Archie's penalty]

Schards must be embarrassed.

Hate to rain on your parade but after the January 2009 transfer window has slammed shut might be a better time to judge who ought to be embarrassed.

If Doyle and S Hunt continue to play like they are, how many people seriously think those two players will still be with us for the second half of the season? The trigger fees will be activated and the real test of progress will be whether the proceeds are immediately consigned to the Madejski vaults or invested in buying quality players, already proven at Chamionship level who can slot straight into the team and maintain our drive for promotion.

I really hope serious work is underway to identify and secure such replacements afterall, as far as I can make out, it is only registration changes that have to wait for the window to open, there is nothing to stop contractual agreements being put into place to transfer players the moment the window opens.

I agree. I do think that Armstrong and Noel Hunt have been successes so far.

Let's just hope we can have similar players lined up for Doyle and Shunt.

[readingbedding]

Coppell doesn't have the hunger to do this.

[Schards#2]

Schards must be embarrassed.

I slightly embarrassed for you if you think a comfortable home win solves the problems pointed out in the original post.

Even if we get some sort of away form together (unlikely) in January we are likely to lose £10m odd worth of player which we will probably replace with £1m worth of player because we have a chairman who doesn't want to be here longterm.

Even if we overcome that obsticle and get promoted, do you seriously believe Madejski will invest serious money? If he doesn't, do you seriously believe that this squad, (less Doyle and Hunt) won't be savaged in the Premiership.

It's still hard to see progress for the forseeable future, unless you're myopic or see winning at home and losing away in the Championship as progress for a Premiership side that missed Europe by one point the season before last.

Seriously, is that your definition of progress?

[Arch]

I think we need to get used to mid table championship football at the very best until there is a sea change at this club.

[Schards#2]

I think we need to get used to mid table championship football at the very best until there is a sea change at this club.

We are currently 3 points above 12th and still the league insist on us playing half of our games away, starting on Tuesday.

[PEARCEY]

I think we need to get used to mid table championship football at the very best until there is a sea change at this club.

True Arch but I think Schards has a valid point about this squad in terms of Premiership football. If we do go back up there will need to be some serious team building.

[Archie's penalty]

It all depends what your definition of progress is.

[readingbedding]

And, of course had Doyle failed to score and played poorly, and Stephen Hunt suffered a lack of form so far this season, you would say that was a lack of progress too.

Even if we overcome that obsticle and get promoted, do you seriously believe Madejski will invest serious money?

Personally, I think Madejski will have to, we all learnt from the last couple of years, and hopefully players of the calibre of Mensah and Lescott and Scott Brown will want to come to RFC.

Backtrack...

Trying to reclaim some face here...Promotion?
You've never said that word before on this thread have you?

Even mentioning the word promotion... does that not mean progress for the foreseeable future???

Shot your bolt far too early...even entertaining a retrospective of the season at this stage of the season, shows frustration, and is extremely premature.

Now you're saying that it's unlikely that we'll get any away form whatsoever, bringing out the crystal ball again.
We're inconsistent, but I can see us go on a decent unbeaten run, most promoted teams do.

Finally...I think we need to get used to mid table championship football at the very best until there is a sea change at this club.
Has the beginning of the sea-change started yet?