SJM's radio interview ..

[Terminal Boardom]

Bad post.

We are doing a southampton, bradford and leeds without even investing in the team. how ironic is that? For years RT'Gs would go on about not breaking the bank investing in players. Well, we didn't - yet are are in absolute free fall like those aforementioned clubs, how do you explain that one? We cut the cloth at the expense of most of the quality we had in the squad and as a result we are playing the worst football since the bullivant era and look odds on for relegation. Well run club.

i explain it by looking at our finances, and then looking at theirs you bumbling nobcheese

Football is played on the pitch you retarded moron, not in the bank.

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

4th in the league to relegation candidates, a job well done madejski.

A wonderful example of panic management. SLM's business empire is struggling big time. No wonder he is going to sacrifice a burden on his finances to save something profitable.

[Pseud O'Nym]

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

First off Doyle, SHunt and Bikey left because they wanted to play in the Premier League, nothing the club could do about that.

The first wave of departures; Murty, Hahnemann, Duberry and Sodje. According to Hahnemann speaking on BBCRB the day their departure was announced, he and Murty had been aware that they were on their way out since the turn of the year. So the decision to let them go must have been taken when we were still one of the favourites for automatic promotion. In other words that decision was clearly football and not finance related and, presumably, was made with Coppell's approval.

So the only players who went purely to cut the wages bill are Harper and Rosenior. How much their departure could be said to have “destroyed the team” is subjective, personally though I'd just say that if they were really still on near Premiership wages then they sure as hell weren't putting in near Premiership performances.

[Northern Git]

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

First off Doyle, SHunt and Bikey left because they wanted to play in the Premier League, nothing the club could do about that.

The first wave of departures; Murty, Hahnemann, Duberry and Sodje. According to Hahnemann speaking on BBCRB the day their departure was announced, he and Murty had been aware that they were on their way out since the turn of the year. So the decision to let them go must have been taken when we were still one of the favourites for automatic promotion. In other words that decision was clearly football and not finance related and, presumably, was made with Coppell's approval.

So the only players who went purely to cut the wages bill are Harper and Rosenior. How much their departure could be said to have “destroyed the team” is subjective, personally though I'd just say that if they were really still on near Premiership wages then they sure as hell weren't putting in near Premiership performances.

So you realy think that had Hunt or Doyle or Bikey said they wanted to stay they would not have been shipped out anyway like Harper and Rosenior? The decisions where made only on finances (SJM has said it many times if you had bothered to listen.)

As for him moaning about the hospitality income being down 50%, perhaps, just perhaps if he and his 'marketing' team had not shit on all the local businesses who had previously been the mainstay of his hospitalty income he would not have his current problem.

[Pseud O'Nym]

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

First off Doyle, SHunt and Bikey left because they wanted to play in the Premier League, nothing the club could do about that.

The first wave of departures; Murty, Hahnemann, Duberry and Sodje. According to Hahnemann speaking on BBCRB the day their departure was announced, he and Murty had been aware that they were on their way out since the turn of the year. So the decision to let them go must have been taken when we were still one of the favourites for automatic promotion. In other words that decision was clearly football and not finance related and, presumably, was made with Coppell's approval.

So the only players who went purely to cut the wages bill are Harper and Rosenior. How much their departure could be said to have “destroyed the team” is subjective, personally though I'd just say that if they were really still on near Premiership wages then they sure as hell weren't putting in near Premiership performances.

So you realy think that had Hunt or Doyle or Bikey said they wanted to stay they would not have been shipped out anyway like Harper and Rosenior? The decisions where made only on finances (SJM has said it many times if you had bothered to listen.)

I've listened enough to know that deals were done - at least with Doyle and Hunt, don't know about Bikey - to keep them at the club last season for a promotion push with a “go with our blessings” clause if we failed.

If we're going to play “what if” then if they'd been that keen on staying they'd have had to take a major pay cut. But they didn't want to stay so speculating on what might have happened if they had is a tad pointless.

As for him moaning about the hospitality income being down 50%, perhaps, just perhaps if he and his 'marketing' team had not shit on all the local businesses who had previously been the mainstay of his hospitalty income he would not have his current problem.

I don't know if other companies who paid out for hospitality prior to the Premiership feel shat on. We spent a bit over the last three seasons, none this season but that's just down to the recession, not any resentment over the club maximising its income during our stay in the Premiership, we'd have done the same if we were them.

[themadstad]

Heard a bit of Dellor's interview on BBC berks this morning.

Synopsis: There will be very little money, if any, to spend in January. We have an 'amazing squad' (said that three or four times) and a great manager and promotion is a possibility. The fans need to rally behind the club. It's a community club. And there are no buyers for RFC.

Anyone hear any more.

Yes, possibly from league 1 next season!! And there's Brendan saying how he wants the next two transfer windows before anyone judges him. Feel sorry for him if this is Madejski's plans.

On the bright side our kids out on loan at Southampton, Charlton and Wycombe will bring league 1 experience to our squad next season which will come in handy. We might then have a chance of a play off challenge from league 1. That'll be next season's excuse for not having to buy any players!!

[Dirk Gently]

Bad post.

We are doing a southampton, bradford and leeds without even investing in the team. how ironic is that? For years RT'Gs would go on about not breaking the bank investing in players. Well, we didn't - yet are are in absolute free fall like those aforementioned clubs, how do you explain that one? We cut the cloth at the expense of most of the quality we had in the squad and as a result we are playing the worst football since the bullivant era and look odds on for relegation. Well run club.

i explain it by looking at our finances, and then looking at theirs you bumbling nobcheese

Football is played on the pitch you retarded moron, not in the bank.

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

4th in the league to relegation candidates, a job well done madejski.

But if we'd carried on spending at the rates we were doing, even last season, we would soon have been £20M in debt. Should we only tackle debt after it's happened, or should we not run that debt up in the first place?

As the the "recognised players", it's actually a miracle we kept them on for the one year we did. They were pretty decent for footballers and they promised to stay a year with us in an attempt to go straight back up. That failed. Having promised them a nice easy release after that year, what would you like us to do? Refuse to sell them, or at least make it difficult? That would result in debt and unhappy players!

We're not doing a Southampton, Bradford or Leeds because the latter two of those were down to "living the dream" (their words, not mine). Financially, we've got a similar situation to Southampton, certainly - except that our structure and organisation, and the contracts we've signed, mean we have the flexibility to make the cuts and changes required to survive. They didn't.

That's where the "well-run club" bit comes in, but I'm absolutely fascinated that you seem to treat that as a term of abuse, rather than something to be glad about.

[Sun Tzu]

I'm confused as to how we are 'odds on' for relegation.

It would be unusual to have 3 clubs as bookies certainties to go down after a third of the season wouldn't it ?
Especially when there is no gap between the bottom 3 and the rest !

[Wycombe Royal]

I'm confused as to how we are 'odds on' for relegation.

We aren't. At the last odds I looked at (yesterday) we were about 6th in the list to be relegated and we weren't "odds on".

[Sun Tzu]

I'm confused as to how we are 'odds on' for relegation.

We aren't. At the last odds I looked at (yesterday) we were about 6th in the list to be relegated and we weren't "odds on".

So anyone who says we are must be a 'retarded moron' to quote the rather inarticulate ramblings of an earlier poster ?

[Royal Lady]

I'm confused as to how we are 'odds on' for relegation.

It would be unusual to have 3 clubs as bookies certainties to go down after a third of the season wouldn't it ?
Especially when there is no gap between the bottom 3 and the rest !

tbf to him, he said "WE LOOK odds on for relegation"

[Wycombe Royal]

I'm confused as to how we are 'odds on' for relegation.

We aren't. At the last odds I looked at (yesterday) we were about 6th in the list to be relegated and we weren't "odds on".

So anyone who says we are must be a 'retarded moron' to quote the rather inarticulate ramblings of an earlier poster ?

Well I wouldn't go that far.............

[Hampshire Royal]

Yes, but we don't look odds-on for relegation. I have only seen two games this season (Watford and Leicester) but what I saw led me to believe that we are playing well enough to easily beat relegation. I can't believe some of the rubbish I read on here. I know people want, above all, to be seen to be right, but surely we are Reading fans first. To me (a fan since 1967) that means looking for what's good about the team, while not ignoring the bad things. The crap written about certain players is unbelieveable. Kebe looks a very good footballer every time I've seen him. Rasiak has the ability to win most things in the air. McAnuff has as much ability as any winger I've seen play for us. Church and Pearce are raw, but certainly have shown that there is potential there. Mind you, that can be said about the team as a whole. Who honestly thought that a new team with a new manager would immediately start to play like world-beaters and win every game with panache. Loads of you, apparently!! The realists among us (to quote a phrase) knew that this season would be difficult and that the team would need as much support as we could give them. I wish I could get to more games than I do as we need my sort of encouragement, not the negativ bollox given by those who say 'at least I turn up'.

[brendywendy]

Bad post.

We are doing a southampton, bradford and leeds without even investing in the team. how ironic is that? For years RT'Gs would go on about not breaking the bank investing in players. Well, we didn't - yet are are in absolute free fall like those aforementioned clubs, how do you explain that one? We cut the cloth at the expense of most of the quality we had in the squad and as a result we are playing the worst football since the bullivant era and look odds on for relegation. Well run club.

i explain it by looking at our finances, and then looking at theirs you bumbling nobcheese

Football is played on the pitch you retarded moron, not in the bank.

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

4th in the league to relegation candidates, a job well done madejski.

or , comparing to say .....southhampton, we could be in the bottom 3 of the 1st division, having sold all our players,& had 10 points deducted for going into administration.

compared to that model, i would say this is by far the most preferable way of doing it.but you are of course free to think otherwise.
we are not massively in debt, and we have a squad capable of staying up.and building something superb over a few seasons.
id certainly prefer this than losing to brighton at the weekend.

[Halifax 4-1]

Football is played on the pitch you retarded moron, not in the bank.

Had reading cut cloth sensibly then we wouldn't be in this mess. As it stands, we treated our situation like we were 20 million in debt and sold our recognised players, exactly what those other clubs did. Pathetic management and the fans are paying for it by having to watch this rubbish every week.

If we had kept our "recognised players" can you explain how we could pay a wage bill approaching £30 million with a turnover under £15 million!!!

[Schards#2]

Yes, but we don't look odds-on for relegation. I have only seen two games this season (Watford and Leicester) but what I saw led me to believe that we are playing well enough to easily beat relegation. I can't believe some of the rubbish I read on here. I know people want, above all, to be seen to be right, but surely we are Reading fans first. To me (a fan since 1967) that means looking for what's good about the team, while not ignoring the bad things. The crap written about certain players is unbelieveable. Kebe looks a very good footballer every time I've seen him. Rasiak has the ability to win most things in the air. McAnuff has as much ability as any winger I've seen play for us. Church and Pearce are raw, but certainly have shown that there is potential there. Mind you, that can be said about the team as a whole. Who honestly thought that a new team with a new manager would immediately start to play like world-beaters and win every game with panache. Loads of you, apparently!! The realists among us (to quote a phrase) knew that this season would be difficult and that the team would need as much support as we could give them. I wish I could get to more games than I do as we need my sort of encouragement, not the negativ bollox given by those who say 'at least I turn up'.

Did you never see Little play?

[Hampshire Royal]

Little was as good as McAnuff is, in my opinion. Just like Little, McAnuff puts the fear of God into defenders. He both makes chances and scores. Some of his near misses are just too close to be funny.

[Hoop Blah]

Little was as good as McAnuff is, in my opinion. Just like Little, McAnuff puts the fear of God into defenders. He both makes chances and scores. Some of his near misses are just too close to be funny.

Little was twice the player McAnuff is.

McAnuff is just about the best we can hope for right now though...a pretty decent Championship winger. He isn't the problem.

[Hampshire Royal]

Little played in a settled, successful team. McAnuff plays in a team that is still gelling together. If this team starts to become as successful and settled as Little's team, we will start to say how good McAnuff is. That's only my opinion of course, and I realise that it's not as valid as the opinions of those who seem to take great delight in our current (temporary) position.

[Hoop Blah]

I don't take any delight in our current plight.

I've been quite supportive of Rodger actually, but I don't see the need to build up a decent player to be something he's not, in the class of perhaps our best player ever.

I'm judging McAnuff on seeing him at various times over the last 6 or 7 years. I saw Little for Burnley a number of times and most of his games during his Reading career. He had more ability and applied it more consitently than McAnuff.

Like I said though, McAnuff is good enough for where we need to be right now. He'll do alright, but he doesn't need unrealistic comparisons with Little tarnishing his every move.

[brendywendy]

Greed. no winger stands up well in comparison to little,bar perhaps ronaldo! imo