Strandedrob the royal personally i don't want to hear the chairman constantly telling the fans that their so important and to make lots of noise. how many people will actually watch that video they just made and say 'Yeah i've been coming to reading for x years and not ever been bothered about being a vocal supporter of the team and the guy shouting back the boys and make some noise before the game has never got me going but but now i've seen that video of the chairman i will be the loudest fan reading have ever had' i mean he's not exactly winston churchill is he?
i can't see why some people think that just because the guy has clearly done a lot for the club he can't be criticised for making what i think is a major major error. you need to speculate to accumulate, and yes money doesn't buy success, especially if you buy the wrong players like fulham, but that's just the risk that you have to take. as someone else said earlier the club came to a fork in the road where there was the opportunity to gamble. i don't think we would have needed to spend a huge amount to make this gamble, but as far as i can see the amount we have spent looks to me like the club has chickened out. and yes there are good reasons to do so - why blow a load of money just to get relegated?
but if you don't try you don't get. and for me the premier league is a league where if you don't keep trying (i.e. improving your squad) then you'll get left behind quicker than you would in the leagues below. everyone always says the prem is a massive step up, and it is, in every way - and that includes the amounts of money and the amount of risk.
for the past few seasons i've had a habit of comparing the squad list to that of the previous season, and i have felt for several years that we've always been improving and getting rid of the dead wood. but this year (up until january at least) i have not felt this to be the case and nobody in this league can afford to do that.
I have no problem with justified criticism that can be backed up with some decent facts but nobody on this board knows the situation, is it the JM won't give up the cash, SC won't spend it or that the sort of players we want don't want to join for whatever reason.
It could be any of the above or a combination, who knows.
The closest we have to facts to back it up are the comments and stories about us bidding significant amounts of money on players over the last couple of seasons, and the apparent fact that we're happy to pay half decent wages to the better players in our current squad.
That would indicate that Mr M is at least willing to stump up some of the requried cash to support his manager, but your right, we'll never really know the full story.
Depends on "how much" the money to spend was, like I said.
, presumably you've sat with Bryan Stabler going through it all with a fine tooth comb have you, Brendy? £40 million a year income x 2 = £80 million minus £38 million a year wage bill = £4 million minus how much on transfers net? Oh, f*ck it who cares - as TGWF suggests, it seems that Mr Mad didn't invest much in trying to keep us in the top flight really. And yes, of course - why should he? Other than making the club a more saleable asset and benefitting himself lonmg term, of course.