Do you miss the Premiership?

[poohs pure]

Of course Madejski wanted promotion to the premier. He just wanted it on the cheap, that's all.

Coppell's promotion was not an isolated fluke. We came second in this league before and failed to go up because only one went up automatically that year and because we lost the playoff final against Bolton. And we've been in the playoffs on other occasions.

not sure where isolation comes into it? a fluke is a fluke, all of which surely must be isolated? anyway you are wrong and a complete tugpot

oh and what did he stand to gain by getting us promoted to the premier on the cheap, paying £50m in wages and not investing and then losing any credibility and chance of future wonga? yeah that was definitely his master plan.

as i have already said, you sir are a class tugpot.

[SHORT AND CURLY]

error

[SHORT AND CURLY]

I miss the games against the bigger clubs. More often or not we played and tried, two things sadly lacking at this time.
When you see Stoke beating the spuds today its a case of what could have been with a little investment by old skin flint.

Still we are a well run club!

[working class hero]

Not a bit of it.
I prefer the CCC [or even League 1 or 2] as it is full of honest players competing hard in relatively equal games. Few primadonnas, less cheating in the lower levels.

I certainly don't miss SJM squeezing us till the pips squeak to make money.

[SHORT AND CURLY]

Not a bit of it.
I prefer the CCC [or even League 1 or 2] as it is full of honest players competing hard in relatively equal games. Few primadonnas, less cheating in the lower levels.

I certainly don't miss SJM squeezing us till the pips squeak to make money.

Without being picky

Honest players ??? Not at RFC. The only players I have seen are getting paid for not trying

Relatively equal games?? A bit like WBA and QPR away you mean.

Few primadonnas??, Obviously not referring to the man with the big watch and his book of magic tactics. He who answers to wiggy and squeaky, who have cheated and decieved us into buying season tickets on the understanding that we will be challenging for the promotion this season.

[Barry the bird boggler]

I miss not playing football at the top level, particularly as we so spectacularly decided to not to bother trying to save ourselves

However I do not miss the total uncompetitiveness and the over the top SKYpe (see what I did there) of the division.

[Gordons Cumming]

I miss not playing football at the top level, particularly as we so spectacularly decided to not to bother trying to save ourselves

However I do not miss the total uncompetitiveness and the over the top SKYpe (see what I did there) of the division.

[Franchise FC]

I miss the fact that, if we were to be relegated we'd still be at least in the Championship

[Son of Len]

Yes. I'm in the States and we get no coverage of Championship football here. FSC shows MLS, though.

[From Despair To Where?]

I don't miss the bullshit of the Premiership but I do miss going to games thinking "Actually, with a bit of luck, we could actually get something out of this game"

[Wimb]

Watching SSN as much as I do, combined with a growing malaise towards the rest of this season has got me thinking about this again...

The longer time goes on since the Premiership days, the more same nostalgia starts to creep into my thinking on the Prem Years. The excitement in the build up to the big games and the atmosphere around the club etc etc

On the otherhand perhaps it was best that we only spent two years there, because that way the nostalgia will remain strong and we'll have more good memories then bad memories of middling about doing bugger all in that league.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Good call Wimb, The prem is the place to be, shame the club could not survive longer there, Home to Scunny or home to Arsenal, , hardly a choice is it.

[Big McC]

"Actually, with a bit of luck, we could actually get something out of this game"

That's how I feel about Championship games this season! - Relying on luck I'm afraid. And no, don't really miss the Premiership. Good while it lasted but no more.

[Humanistic]

Good call Wimb, The prem is the place to be, shame the club could not survive longer there, Home to Scunny or home to Arsenal, , hardly a choice is it.

Whilst I understand the sentiment, I found the home games against Arsenal two of the most boring matches I can remember. So completely one-sided on both occassions. To be fair the home games against the other Big 4 sides were pretty competitive on the whole. So yes, I'd rather be playing Scunthorpe than Arsenal today but ideally with the 2005-07 side if that can be arranged

[Y21]

I do miss Hahneman (couldn't remember how to spell his name though) - a class keeper.
I do miss Sonko (pre injury)
I do miss SHunt
I do miss Doyler, Kitson and yes, even Lita.
I do miss Murty and Shorey, as left footed as he is.
And Harper.

None of the players we have now are within a sniff of any of these players.

Yours, In Rose Tinted Land,

Y21.

p.s. I wish this season would just finish now, its been dire. I've hardly enjoyed any of it.
p.p.s Rodgers out.

[rob the royal]

not really as i now support man u...

i'm not fickle... just a little mixed up.

[SteveRoyal]

In a way, I do.
I miss the excitement and expectation surrounding the Mad Stad during our two years there.
I miss the opposition being so much better than us, yet we fought and won and did well.
I miss the idea of it being Reading Football Club versus Manchester United, one of the best teams in the world. (or any other top 6 team, really...)
I miss Hahnemann, Murty, Shorey, Sidwell, Convey, Doyle and Kitson.

Yet again, in another way, I don't.
Championship is less predictable, and gives us fans a roller coaster of a ride through the season; (obviously, the Premiership we knew when we had no chance... even then, a few surprises were thrown up!).
I enjoy the ups and downs of the division's season - it is only football, afterall!
I love seeing our young, academy stars playing in our first team! Pearce, Karacan, Davies, Sigurdsson, Robson-Kanu and Church all excite me whenever they play, even if they don't perform to the standard we expect.
Tickets are cheaper.
We're considered one of the bigger clubs in the division by some of the media!

There are pros and cons of every division, but as it is I'm happy to watch our team bleed in the youngsters and try to play slick, on-the-floor passing.

[seahawk10]

Yes. I'm in the States and we get no coverage of Championship football here.

This

[RoyalBlue]

No, I absolutely love watching a team desperately lacking in class and quality struggling for Championship survival!

[peterroyal76]

I don't miss the Premiership, obviously its the top division and the place to be, but we are not equipped on the pitch or financially to compete. While the top teams get richer and richer, the rest are also rans. I personally blame UEFA for admitting more than one club to the Champions league and with that aquiring all the wealth which allows them to at least keep the gap between themselves and the rest but more likely lengthen the gap. Teams used to be promoted and then challenge the top five because they were teams who worked hard together and performed for each other.

We used to have a team like that, but the money and the seeing what the other clubs had and could give them turned their heads. And seeing what it would cost to attain and then compete with them caused our chairman to s**t himself. This isn't a dig at JM as he has put in a lot of wealth.

So as I said earlier the Prem is the place to be....but its nice to be able to compete on an a pretty much even playing field. We haven't played well for a while, but it is nice to go to games having a realistic chance of winning (if only we would take our damn chances!).