Hard to see any progress for the forseeable future

[Ian Royal]

Ian, do you really only think that Doyle and Hunt would go in January? Do you not think clubs will be clamouring for Bikey? Marek? Losing just Doyle and Hunt would have a significant impact on our team, whether they were replaced or not. Let alone if we lose any others.

Why would anyone want Marek? He's barely played AND he doesn't have a get out clause. Bikey, maybe but I think it's doubtful myself. January is too soon for him to really catch attention given his relatively few appearances IMO.

There is no guarantee anyone will go and frankly it seems pretty pathetically alarmist to me, to assume that significant numbers of players will and that will prevent the club to progress. We've already seen some of our best players in Little, Kitson and Shorey leave. That's clearly holding us back and dragging us down the league isn't it!

It seems to me Schards is borrowing trouble for himself in a desperate attempt to try and justify his earlier premature tantrum (which admittedly had the bones of some relavent concerns).

[Royal Lady]

Premature tantrum?? He's voiced his concerns and opinions. And he's said that if we maintain the position we're in now, he'd be more than happy!

Players don't need "get out clauses"! If they want to go and Mr Mad wants to cash in on them, he'll let them go. Lots of managers have seen Marek play (not necessarily at Reading) and if he's back in the team well before January, it's a very real possibility that he might be another one who goes.

The whole point about losing players is that, as we saw when we lost Sidwell and when Little was long term injured, we didn't replace them with the right quality of player and we got relegated. Had we had more foresight and less concern about how much money we'd keep in the bank, we'd still be in the Premiership.

If you're happy to see Reading stay in the Championship, good for you. Some of us, however, feel that having done it once, we can see that with a little bit of investment and a little bit of planning, we can do it again and maintain our position there, thus accumulating more money in order to pay the wages and balance the books.

[Ian Royal]

Oh get a grip and get off your high "I want to see us in the premiership" horse.
We're barely an established Championship club and you seem to think we should be establishing as a Prem one. You're living in cockoo land. You simply do not make it into the top flight for the first time and stay there.

We certainly could have done more to stay, but we didn't. We made mistakes and now we're here. We have a very good chance of getting back despite the lack of investment by Madejski, poor signings and continued faith in Coppell Schards and others seem to think was a disastrous choice not more than a few weeks ago. We probably won't stay for more than a couple of seasons if we do go up this season. That will still be massive progress as a club, which was apparently impossible to see a month or so ago. For some at least.

Previous mistakes will not necessarily be repeated. But I'd like to point out, we could have spent triple the money we did and still end up relegated, which could have left us seriously in the shit.

Chill out, enjoy whats shaping up to be a potentially great season and remember that even just being in the Championship is progress from what the club was not so long ago. Be content that Madjeski is looking to sell to someone who can take the club to another level. Thats a good thing. Not a bad one.

[Schards#2]

Oh get a grip and get off your high "I want to see us in the premiership" horse.
We're barely an established Championship club and you seem to think we should be establishing as a Prem one. You're living in cockoo land. You simply do not make it into the top flight for the first time and stay there.

We certainly could have done more to stay, but we didn't. We made mistakes and now we're here. We have a very good chance of getting back despite the lack of investment by Madejski, poor signings and continued faith in Coppell Schards and others seem to think was a disastrous choice not more than a few weeks ago. We probably won't stay for more than a couple of seasons if we do go up this season. That will still be massive progress as a club, which was apparently impossible to see a month or so ago. For some at least.

Previous mistakes will not necessarily be repeated. But I'd like to point out, we could have spent triple the money we did and still end up relegated, which could have left us seriously in the shit.

Chill out, enjoy whats shaping up to be a potentially great season and remember that even just being in the Championship is progress from what the club was not so long ago. Be content that Madjeski is looking to sell to someone who can take the club to another level. Thats a good thing. Not a bad one.

Eh? Any evidence of that?

Sensationalising your opinions with rubbush like that and drivel like "premature tantrum" undermine any point you might make.

[brendywendy]

Cant we all just get along!

It seems there has been a little progress and its possible that this could be dented in jan.

Can we get on with enjoying how we seem to have started playing with a little panache again.

This is great, isnt ìt?

[readingbedding]

Ridiculous post.
All the way.
Jose.

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

Why would that be?
Surely it's only a game that we fans have no control over?
Dull?, uninsipiring?

Coppell is the best thing that has ever happened to this Club, the job is not done, thousands trust him, the Man knows what to do.

[LUX]

Is this the right room for an argument?

[The 17 Bus]

Untill Schards comes on and says he is wrong on some of his point s I think this is going to happen a lot more yet, entertaining stuff, but not too much point in going over it again and again.

Probably should be locked for a while now IMHO.

[Wycombe Royal]

Sensationalising your opinions with rubbush like that and drivel like "premature tantrum" undermine any point you might make.

Says the man who used the term "firesale" when describing the sale of 3 players for very good fees.

[Mr Angry]

Someone earlier in this thread posted that we hadn't beaten anyone in the top half of the table; we have now beaten teams who are currently 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.

The big question from here is this - can we amass enough points so that come January players like Doyle and SHunt will be less inclined to move to mid table Prem teams as promotion with us looks a good bet?

[brendywendy]

surely if we are top at xmas , and still playing well and getting these great results, the lure of history making will be too great!
plus, im not sure doyle is the calibre of player that the villa fans want, and if everton are still bottom half-maybe the lads will recant and stay another year.that said, we couldnt really begrudge them their moves if theyve got us to that position.

who knows, daft worrying about it now.

id like to see bikey offered a new contract though.
and hunt and doyle to sit down with the management in december to assess what they want to do, with a view to getting in early for the transfers, dont want this one going till the last day of the window again.

[papereyes]

Someone earlier in this thread posted that we hadn't beaten anyone in the top half of the table; we have now beaten teams who are currently 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Me.

Because at the time, the highest team we'd played was 9th (Charlton, at the time of the post)

We've now done 1st and 4th (at the time of the games) and a great doubt has been removed.

[Royal Rother]

As I have said repeatedly, it is no foregone conclusion that we will sell Doyle and Hunt in January because for that to happen someone needs to be in a position to splash some cash and their won't be much of that flying around for a while; but anyway, top-team Birmingham are more likely to need to sell players than Reading in January.

Some of this is guesswork but I guess most would agree:

> Their ground is significantly larger than ours and, although their average attendance is marginally higher in numbers, it is much smaller than ours in percentage of capacity (66% to our 80%). This will presumably mean they are generating less net income from matches.

> They had a much higher net outflow of funds in transfers both last season and this pre-season and are therefore likley to be carrying higher short-term debt.

> They have a higher wage bill.

> They have no-one of any note coming through to the 1st team from their Academy.

> They have owners who are far more disenchanted with owning a football club than we have.

So anyway, regarding the issue of selling best players in January, at the moment I would suggest that Birmingham are more likely than Reading to go down that route, and even if we do, in Coppell we have a manager who knows exactly what is required to build a promotion winning team on a budget. Birmingham don't have that and Wolves, well, Wolves have Mick McCarthy. (Actually, I do rate him but not in Coppell's league.)

[Riseley]

Too busy to trawl through the whole shooting match but has humble pie been eaten by Schards yet or has his famous stubborn streak won the day?

[brendywendy]

Too busy to trawl through the whole shooting match but has humble pie been eaten by Schards yet or has his famous stubborn streak won the day?

no pie.

[Riseley]

Too busy to trawl through the whole shooting match but has humble pie been eaten by Schards yet or has his famous stubborn streak won the day?

no pie.

One can only admire such doggedness in the face of overwhelming evidence. Almost makes one proud to be British.

[Schards#2]

As I have said repeatedly, it is no foregone conclusion that we will sell Doyle and Hunt in January because for that to happen someone needs to be in a position to splash some cash and their won't be much of that flying around for a while; but anyway, top-team Birmingham are more likely to need to sell players than Reading in January.

Some of this is guesswork but I guess most would agree:

> Their ground is significantly larger than ours and, although their average attendance is marginally higher in numbers, it is much smaller than ours in percentage of capacity (66% to our 80%). This will presumably mean they are generating less net income from matches.

> They had a much higher net outflow of funds in transfers both last season and this pre-season and are therefore likley to be carrying higher short-term debt.

> They have a higher wage bill.

> They have no-one of any note coming through to the 1st team from their Academy.

> They have owners who are far more disenchanted with owning a football club than we have.

So anyway, regarding the issue of selling best players in January, at the moment I would suggest that Birmingham are more likely than Reading to go down that route, and even if we do, in Coppell we have a manager who knows exactly what is required to build a promotion winning team on a budget. Birmingham don't have that and Wolves, well, Wolves have Mick McCarthy. (Actually, I do rate him but not in Coppell's league.)

How does this sit with what Reading did close season and what Birmingham did close season - a period which, some might argue, might provide an indication of what may happen in January?

[readingbedding]

Too busy to trawl through the whole shooting match but has humble pie been eaten by Schards yet or has his famous stubborn streak won the day?

no pie.

One can only admire such doggedness in the face of overwhelming evidence. Almost makes one proud to be British.

There's no fool like an old fool.

[brendywendy]

As I have said repeatedly, it is no foregone conclusion that we will sell Doyle and Hunt in January because for that to happen someone needs to be in a position to splash some cash and their won't be much of that flying around for a while; but anyway, top-team Birmingham are more likely to need to sell players than Reading in January.

Some of this is guesswork but I guess most would agree:

> Their ground is significantly larger than ours and, although their average attendance is marginally higher in numbers, it is much smaller than ours in percentage of capacity (66% to our 80%). This will presumably mean they are generating less net income from matches.

> They had a much higher net outflow of funds in transfers both last season and this pre-season and are therefore likley to be carrying higher short-term debt.

> They have a higher wage bill.

> They have no-one of any note coming through to the 1st team from their Academy.

> They have owners who are far more disenchanted with owning a football club than we have.

So anyway, regarding the issue of selling best players in January, at the moment I would suggest that Birmingham are more likely than Reading to go down that route, and even if we do, in Coppell we have a manager who knows exactly what is required to build a promotion winning team on a budget. Birmingham don't have that and Wolves, well, Wolves have Mick McCarthy. (Actually, I do rate him but not in Coppell's league.)

How does this sit with what Reading did close season and what Birmingham did close season - a period which, some might argue, might provide an indication of what may happen in January?

that depends- how are the players we sold doing in the prem?
and are the players brum kept hold of, thet everyone was talking about leaving doing any good in the championship?

[Thaumagurist*]

Dream team of Giggs and Coppell if we go up, why not?? Giggs team manager, Coppell new position, GOD of football.

GIGGS?!? No thanks.