Are you happy with the current state of RFC?

[Schards#2]

I'm looking forward to some 'proper' away days next season in League 1.

Rusty tin > Shiny metal

What a load of old balls. When we were struggling in the prem, you were one of the ones saying you'd be happy to return to the championship and games at 3.00 Saturday, cheaper tickets, less plastic fans etc. But what did you do? Stop going because we weren't winning.

To suggest you will be there week in week out in Div 1 is balls.

[Schards#2]

Madejski and Hammond surely have to take a greater responsibility however?

Madejski made his first cardinal sin by keeping Coppell when we got relegated. He had CLEARLY reached the end of his shelf life and needed replacing then.

Secondly he didn't make enough funds available last season or push Coppell to strengthen in the correct areas. To say we "broke the bank" going for promotion, he sounds like a father telling his child a cock & ball story to get the child to believe him. Very weak.

Thirdly I would say Rodgers wasn't the right man to appoint. We needed to get a manager with a stronger presence and greater man management experience, especially as Madejski knew this was going to be a "transitional period" and with such a young squad, heads would drop very easily. I'm not saying Barry Fry was the man for the job! But Rodgers has shown his poor man management skills in his handling of Harper & Matejovsky (to a lesser extent) as well as not being able to pick a consistent side.

Hammond also comes into this as he has shown with Coppell & Rodgers poor nouse in the transfer market. Fae & Halford are two immediate instances from the Coppell regime of poor identification of the right personnel. Then there's Jay Tabb from last season, signed him without knowing what his best position is and saturating a squad further across midfield when we needed someone to stick the ball in the back of the bloody net. Finally, this transfer window just gone - the Tommy Smith debacle is well documented enough. Why did we sign Mills? We knew he hadn't had a pre-season and already had cover in those positions so; particularly when "funds are tight" and the "cloth is being cut" why was the money not spent on (AGAIN) buying someone capable of putting the ball in the back of the net?
End of prosecution.



Madejski OUT.

'greed with all that.

Mega 'greed with the highlighted part

[Ian Royal]

I'm looking forward to some 'proper' away days next season in League 1.

Rusty tin > Shiny metal

What a load of old balls. When we were struggling in the prem, you were one of the ones saying you'd be happy to return to the championship and games at 3.00 Saturday, cheaper tickets, less plastic fans etc. But what did you do? Stop going because we weren't winning.

To suggest you will be there week in week out in Div 1 is balls.

I believe I said I'd be happy to agree with you if you said something I thought was worth agreeing with.

+1000000

[Northern Git]

Delighted. Although we haven't got a large bank balance to dip into, the difference between what the club makes and what the club spends must surely be on the positive side.

We have a chairman who's written off plenty of club debt in his time and is a supporter of the club: He wont risk putting the club into financial trouble for the chance of an immediate positive response.

May I have a couple of puffs of whatever it is you're smoking please?!

It is true he isn't (yet) charging exhorbitant interest rates on the LOANS he has made the club. However, there is no evidence whatsover in the Club's accounts that he has ever written off ANYTHING.

I do wish people would do some research before blindly banging away at their keyboards. Here's another one for you - how much rent do you think Mr Mad charges for RFC to use the Hogwood complex? What? You thought RFC owned it? Sorry chap, wrong again. Mr Mad owns that, and receives £18,000 per year in rent from RFC for its use. Not a lot I grant you, but what happens when he decides he doesn't want hairy-arsed footballers trudging all over his nice pristine lawns anymore? So much for the rhetoric about "infrastructure" development!

At the last time of looking, the Hotel is 100% owed by RFC, and generated a profit of nearly 500k last accounts. So a nice little earner there. It was built using an interest free, (repayment on demand ), loan of c £17M from Mr Mad. So I can accept that he's "donated" interest costs for that. Perhaps that is what you were referring to? Although in the current low interest rate regime, he wouldn't be getting much for it on deposit.

Whilst it would be sad to see him relinquish his ownership on a sentimental level, from a club development perspective, like SSC last year, his time here is now at an end. Whether "wealthy Arabs" are the best way forward of course is an entirely different argument. Given the nonsense currently going on at Portsmouth, personally I'd steer clear of them by a million miles. "Shifty looking" doesn't begin to come close, or is that being too sterotypical? Probably, but you get my drift.

Goods stats Strap. Nice to see someonelse has spotted the training ground situation.

Would take issue on the club owning the hotel tho. Reading football club does not own the hotel. Reading Football Club (Holdings) own the hotel (and Reading football club limited.) The Hotel could be sold off or retained by JM completely independantly from the football club.

[Big Foot]

Madejski and Hammond surely have to take a greater responsibility however?

Disagree

Madejski made his first cardinal sin by keeping Coppell when we got relegated. He had CLEARLY reached the end of his shelf life and needed replacing then.

Disagree

Secondly he didn't make enough funds available last season or push Coppell to strengthen in the correct areas.

Disagree. Funds available, Coppell's decision where and how to strengthern. I'm rather glad our Chairman doesn't try to stick his oar in given how well that's gone elsewhere.

Thirdly I would say Rodgers wasn't the right man to appoint. We needed to get a manager with a stronger presence and greater man management experience, especially as Madejski knew this was going to be a "transitional period" and with such a young squad, heads would drop very easily. I'm not saying Barry Fry was the man for the job! But Rodgers has shown his poor man management skills in his handling of Harper & Matejovsky (to a lesser extent) as well as not being able to pick a consistent side.

Easy to say with hindsight. Most our fans were extremely positive about Rodgers joining.

Hammond also comes into this as he has shown with Coppell & Rodgers poor nouse in the transfer market. Fae & Halford are two immediate instances from the Coppell regime of poor identification of the right personnel. Then there's Jay Tabb from last season, signed him without knowing what his best position is and saturating a squad further across midfield when we needed someone to stick the ball in the back of the bloody net. Finally, this transfer window just gone - the Tommy Smith debacle is well documented enough. Why did we sign Mills? We knew he hadn't had a pre-season and already had cover in those positions so; particularly when "funds are tight" and the "cloth is being cut" why was the money not spent on (AGAIN) buying someone capable of putting the ball in the back of the net?

For every example of a poor signing you come up with I can come up with a good or great signing. Very few clubs get a high proportion of truely successful signings.

Fae & Halford have shown they were good players since. Just not right for us. It happens. Coppell takes the blame for not signing the right players in the right position. His responsibility, not the man who negotiates the deal. We've not missed out on many signings we had a right to expect to get. That suggests Hammond is pretty good at his job IMO.

I think you should probably wait more than 9 games before writing off the Mills signing.

End of prosecution.

The defence rests comfortable in the knowledge it has blown the prosecution's case out of the water, for anyone actually willing to consider the case objectively and not just pick the side they thought was right in the first place anyway.

Hindsight may be a good tool but if you look back I'm sure you'll find my opinion of Rodgers' appointment was a split one. On one hand I thought we had a decent enough young, hungry manager. On the other, we had an experience manager with no track record. I thought I would give him time to stamp his mark on the side and I would say that 20% of a season down is a good time to make an early judgement. Believe me, I would be very pleased to eat humble pie come May 2010 but I really can’t see a next home win, let alone a decent push for a respectable league position (as a MINIMUM expectation).
We’ve had good signings, I’m not doubting that. I would be a cretin to say £100k for Ivar, £150k for Kitson or £75k for Doyle were bad signings. But the more money involved, the greater pressure and less room for error there is. Which is what puzzles me so greatly on signings I’ve quoted, again with a particular focus on Mills. To say judge him in another 9 games time is pointless as (injuries withstanding) he’ll have only turned out for the stiffs a handful of times in that space of time.

Please also show me stats rather than ambiguous claims as to how well Fae and Halford have done since they left us. Halford has jumped from club to club more than Jack Tweedy and Fae has faded into obscurity in the French league, that world class pool of talent.
As for Coppell not having reached his shelf life come relegation, did you not see any of our performances earlier on this calendar year? Not to mention the start of the previous season where we went 8 games without a win... I call that stale and a clear sign of reaching his shelf life.

Madejski has sole ownership of the club, ultimately the buck stops with him. If Rodgers’ isn’t performing the goods (as you say) then we have to look at who hired him and why? Surely not because he was the cheap option and Madejski wants OUT?

[Dirk Gently]

I keep thinking of the old joke "How do you get to the .....wherever.....?" and the answer is "I wouldn't start from here." It even works if the question is ""How do you get to the Premier League?"

I don't think anyone is terribly happy with the way things have gone over the past couple of months, but the simple fact is that circumstances have conspired to ensure that we are now where we are. We're in a completely different situation to where we were a year ago, and there's nothing we can do about it except make the best of it.

Last year was a big gamble to get into the PL at the first attempt - that failed, but everything in the club was geared to it - including getting the "big-name" players to stay on for one year in an attempt to go back up, with a promise that they'd be allowed to leave if we didn't. Financially, too, so much was committed last year, so that this year is a very different year, too - and that was before the credit crunch came along and banks started clamping down on lending, especially to football clubs in Tier 2.

Apart from the loss of bank lending, if you look at the figures you'll see that the difference in income between the PL and the CCC is absolutely immense. These are the facts of life that we have to live with, and what puts us where we are now.

So, no, no-ones particularly happy, but there are no quick fixes to the situation we find ourselves in.

That's life, c'est la vie, tant pis!

[Big Foot]

Apart from the loss of bank lending, if you look at the figures you'll see that the difference in income between the PL and the CCC is absolutely immense. These are the facts of life that we have to live with, and what puts us where we are now.

I dread to see next season without the parachute payments then....

[Dirk Gently]

Apart from the loss of bank lending, if you look at the figures you'll see that the difference in income between the PL and the CCC is absolutely immense. These are the facts of life that we have to live with, and what puts us where we are now.

I dread to see next season without the parachute payments then....

Correct - that's why a lot of the pain is being gone through now - rather than suddenly next season when it'll be unsustainable.

[joe999]

No. I think the way Madejski is treating the fans is disgusting.

[Dirk Gently]

No. I think the way Madejski is treating the fans is disgusting.

Please explain why.

[Terminal Boardom]

And yet at the time of posting there are 17 people who are happy with the current state of the club. The Soviet Politburo is alive and well.

[RoyalBlue]

Apart from the loss of bank lending, if you look at the figures you'll see that the difference in income between the PL and the CCC is absolutely immense. These are the facts of life that we have to live with, and what puts us where we are now.

I dread to see next season without the parachute payments then....

I dread to see the next season when Madejski has managed to p*ss off and drive away thousands of season ticket holders then!

[Dirk Gently]

And yet at the time of posting there are 17 people who are happy with the current state of the club. The Soviet Politburo is alive and well.

Perhaps they believe that a change now would be more destructive than giving BR some time to work it out.

[Pseud O'Nym]

I keep thinking of the old joke "How do you get to the .....wherever.....?" and the answer is "I wouldn't start from here." It even works if the question is ""How do you get to the Premier League?"

I don't think anyone is terribly happy with the way things have gone over the past couple of months, but the simple fact is that circumstances have conspired to ensure that we are now where we are. We're in a completely different situation to where we were a year ago, and there's nothing we can do about it except make the best of it.

Last year was a big gamble to get into the PL at the first attempt - that failed, but everything in the club was geared to it - including getting the "big-name" players to stay on for one year in an attempt to go back up, with a promise that they'd be allowed to leave if we didn't. Financially, too, so much was committed last year, so that this year is a very different year, too - and that was before the credit crunch came along and banks started clamping down on lending, especially to football clubs in Tier 2.

Apart from the loss of bank lending, if you look at the figures you'll see that the difference in income between the PL and the CCC is absolutely immense. These are the facts of life that we have to live with, and what puts us where we are now.

So, no, no-ones particularly happy, but there are no quick fixes to the situation we find ourselves in.

That's life, c'est la vie, tant pis!

[Paxman}Oh, come on, come on, a simple yes or no please![/Paxman]

[Ian Royal]

I voted yes because I was told it's about the state of the club and not the team.

[Pseud O'Nym]

I voted yes because I was told it's about the state of the club and not the team.

How about not voting because, like every poll I've seen on HNA, it's a leading question asked to reinforce the OP's prejudices?

[Ian Royal]

I voted yes because I was told it's about the state of the club and not the team.

How about not voting because, like every poll I've seen on HNA, it's a leading question asked to reinforce the OP's prejudices?

That's what I was doing, but the person who said it held the opposite view so I voted yes as a petty moment of contraryness.

[Dirk Gently]

I keep thinking of the old joke "How do you get to the .....wherever.....?" and the answer is "I wouldn't start from here." It even works if the question is ""How do you get to the Premier League?"

I don't think anyone is terribly happy with the way things have gone over the past couple of months, but the simple fact is that circumstances have conspired to ensure that we are now where we are. We're in a completely different situation to where we were a year ago, and there's nothing we can do about it except make the best of it.

Last year was a big gamble to get into the PL at the first attempt - that failed, but everything in the club was geared to it - including getting the "big-name" players to stay on for one year in an attempt to go back up, with a promise that they'd be allowed to leave if we didn't. Financially, too, so much was committed last year, so that this year is a very different year, too - and that was before the credit crunch came along and banks started clamping down on lending, especially to football clubs in Tier 2.

Apart from the loss of bank lending, if you look at the figures you'll see that the difference in income between the PL and the CCC is absolutely immense. These are the facts of life that we have to live with, and what puts us where we are now.

So, no, no-ones particularly happy, but there are no quick fixes to the situation we find ourselves in.

That's life, c'est la vie, tant pis!

[Paxman}Oh, come on, come on, a simple yes or no please![/Paxman]

It's far too complex a situation to be answered with a simple "yes or no" answer. Not happy with the way things have gone with the team, but not so unhappy that I think we have any alternatives at the moment.

[Pseud O'Nym]

It's far too complex a situation to be answered with a simple "yes or no" answer. Not happy with the way things have gone with the team, but not so unhappy that I think we have any alternatives at the moment.

+1, but grudgingly.

[Pseud O'Nym]

I voted yes because I was told it's about the state of the club and not the team.

How about not voting because, like every poll I've seen on HNA, it's a leading question asked to reinforce the OP's prejudices?

That's what I was doing, but the person who said it held the opposite view so I voted yes as a petty moment of contraryness.

Thus reinforcing their prejudices and further polarising opinion. I blame you.[i]

[i] And Cisse, coz he's shit.