Back from the game - QPR

[glass half full]

If Long scores a hat trick of volleys like that at Cardiff, I'll forgive him any lack of respect.

[Snowball]

I didn'nt notice him make the gesture, but IF he did, then it was a good point well made. The 'Long-time to go' thread is 38 pages long (ok, 37 of them are Snowball!) because so many people think he's no good. He knows we think that and after scoring a belter he makes a gesture that says "what do you think of that then eh?!". How on earth is that a lack of respect!

And lets be honest, we don't pay his wages and I do not feel disrespected.

Oh, and one more thing, we weren't playing like utter dogshit, we were just being outclassed away from home by a team who haven't been beaten in the league all season, on double our wages with a player in Faurlin who is was bought for 3.5m and Taarabt who was playing a blinder.

Well said, PP. What's the guy gotta do? He scored a blinder. Had atrocious service. Was clattered all game.

Has been getting a LOT of stick, and facts is facts, Club scorers in the league this season Kebe 4, Long 3, Church 3, Harte 3, Mills 2, so NOBODY is running away with goal-scoring because of our system.


I love the bullshit way fans say "We pay his wages"


No we don't. We pay to watch games. We don't OWN the players or even employ them,
and whatever they earn is not their fault. They are blokes just making their way as
best they can, like you or I

[Big Foot]

PPPS – I don’t think I’ve seen us win away from home now since Doncaster away last year, having missed the Burnley and Leicester games. You’ll be all glad to know that I’m not going to Watford!

December 2008 and Birmingham away was the last away league victory for me!

[handbags_harris]

and the guy a bit to the right of the goal having the staring contest with the steward in the last few minutes appeared to be an utter twat - he must have been late 20s/early 30s, but came across as being a petulant toddler.

Yep

Thanks. I'll take it as a compliment

[Snowball]

Looking at the Table, that's a hell of a record QPR have. Is a defeat up there so bad?

01 15 5 3 0 16-02 4 3 0 13-04 +23 33 QPR ( lost3-1, outclassed)
02 15 5 2 1 15-06 5 0 2 13-07 +15 32 Cardiff
03 15 5 2 0 11-01 4 0 4 10-11 +09 29 Swansea (lost 0-1)
04 15 5 1 2 20-07 2 2 3 07-10 +10 24 Derby
05 15 4 1 3 14-10 3 2 2 09-09 +04 24 Coventry
06 15 4 1 2 10-07 3 2 3 09-09 +03 24 Ipswich (beat them 1-0)
07 15 4 1 3 14-13 3 2 2 08-07 +02 24 Norwich
08 15 3 0 4 12-16 4 2 2 14-12 -02 23 Leeds United
09 15 5 1 1 15-07 0 6 2 09-11 +06 22 Burnley (beat them 4-0 at their place)
10 15 4 1 2 13-07 2 3 3 10-10 +06 22 Reading

[Bandini]

Is a defeat up there so bad?

No.

Being outplayed by 10 men isn't the best though.

[Big Foot]

Is a defeat up there so bad?

No.

Being outplayed by 10 men isn't the best though.

Do the other team get an extra point for going down to 10 men? It's completely irrelevant when the ink is dry

[Bandini]

Is a defeat up there so bad?

No.

Being outplayed by 10 men isn't the best though.

Do the other team get an extra point for going down to 10 men? It's completely irrelevant when the ink is dry

Well, I'm slightly more impressed when a team of 10 men outplay a team of 11, than when a team of 11 outplay a team of 11, as in my view the more players a team has, the more likely it is they will win.

It hadn't occurred to me before that people would have different views on the subject.

[PistolPete]

Fans pay his wages.
Lack of respect.

Two complete-load-of-bollocks-talksportesque statements that piss me off no end.

I didn'nt notice him make the gesture, but IF he did, then it was a good point well made. The 'Long-time to go' thread is 38 pages long (ok, 37 of them are Snowball!) because so many people think he's no good. He knows we think that and after scoring a belter he makes a gesture that says "what do you think of that then eh?!". How on earth is that a lack of respect!

And lets be honest, we don't pay his wages and I do not feel disrespected.

Oh, and one more thing, we weren't playing like utter dogshit, we were just being outclassed away from home by a team who haven't been beaten in the league all season, on double our wages with a player in Faurlin who is was bought for 3.5m and Taarabt who was playing a blinder.

Well, given that the club's main source of income is season ticket sales, yes we bloody well do pay his wages.

And given that he is paid handsomely, he has no right to do the whole 'badly done to baby' thing when he finally decides to do his job.

And we were very, very shit yesterday. Taarabt and Faurlin were not the only differences.

The fact that he is paid handsomely has naff all to do with it; he gets stick, scores a belter, and gives a nudge to his critics momentarily - how is that disrespectful?!

99% of fans get angry when well paid players don't try, no-one on here can say that Long doesn't try. In fact, that is one of the positives about this Reading team - most of them try. Shane Long does his job 100% of the time, whether he is a good footballer or not is not his fault!

"Hi Winchester Royal, I'd like to offer you a 10k per week contract at Reading and, when we've got your fitness up to scratch, we'll start playing you up front on your own in a tough league"
'Er, no thanks John. I wont be able to keep Hob Nob readers happy so I think I'll stick to my current job - albeit I'll be turning down a dream..."
"But Winchester, we pay a manager to pick the team. If he thinks your good enough surely the fans will blame the manager if you're no good and you keep getting picked?"
"You'd think so John, the thing is, Reading fans are a bit odd..."


Seriously though, we dont pay his wages, we pay to watch - how the player gets paid is neither here nor there. Gylfi pays Longs wages, BSkyB pays Longs wages, John Madejski pays Longs wages - but my £395 season ticket was paid for so that I could watch my team play...

Finally, re-read my post - I never said that Taarabt and Faurlin were the only differences, I said that they were part of the difference.

[glass half full]

Past experience has shown that some teams can struggle to know what to do with an extra man.

[floyd__streete]

"Hi Winchester Royal, I'd like to offer you a 10k per week contract at Reading and, when we've got your fitness up to scratch, we'll start playing you up front on your own in a tough league"
'Er, no thanks John. I wont be able to keep Hob Nob readers happy so I think I'll stick to my current job - albeit I'll be turning down a dream..."
"But Winchester, we pay a manager to pick the team. If he thinks your good enough surely the fans will blame the manager if you're no good and you keep getting picked?"
"You'd think so John, the thing is, Reading fans are a bit odd..."

Jesus H., you think it is only Reading fans who get on the back of players who don't perform? I think that the kind of reaction you saw against Doncaster when he was subbed was more indicative of the dissatisfaction of the fan to modern football where you pay £25 week-in week-out to see.....well, often it isn't a great product is it, lets be honest.

And my heart positively bleeds for those poor blighters getting paid so handsomely and apparently unable to button it and show a bit of decorum when those supporters - who have paid through the nose for the privilege of attending, remember - get a little frustrated at seeing their hard-earned spaffed away on such poor entertainment. If you're getting some stick, knuckle-down, work-harder and dare I say get a bit better at your job.....otherwise the alternative is a 9-5 toil 5 days a week like the rest of us. You are privileged so show some f*cking respect.

[winchester_royal]

"Hi Winchester Royal, I'd like to offer you a 10k per week contract at Reading and, when we've got your fitness up to scratch, we'll start playing you up front on your own in a tough league"
'Er, no thanks John. I wont be able to keep Hob Nob readers happy so I think I'll stick to my current job - albeit I'll be turning down a dream..."
"But Winchester, we pay a manager to pick the team. If he thinks your good enough surely the fans will blame the manager if you're no good and you keep getting picked?"
"You'd think so John, the thing is, Reading fans are a bit odd..."

Jesus H., you think it is only Reading fans who get on the back of players who don't perform? I think that the kind of reaction you saw against Doncaster when he was subbed was more indicative of the dissatisfaction of the fan to modern football where you pay £25 week-in week-out to see.....well, often it isn't a great product is it, lets be honest.

And my heart positively bleeds for those poor blighters getting paid so handsomely and apparently unable to button it and show a bit of decorum when those supporters - who have paid through the nose for the privilege of attending, remember - get a little frustrated at seeing their hard-earned spaffed away on such poor entertainment. If you're getting some stick, knuckle-down, work-harder and dare I say get a bit better at your job.....otherwise the alternative is a 9-5 toil 5 days a week like the rest of us. You are privileged so show some f*cking respect.

Indeed.

And to prissy pete, if I was lucky enough to get paid 10k a week for playing a sport I'd love, I certainly wouldn't have the nerve to start getting bitchy with the fans if I hadn't been doing doing what I was being paid to do.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

I think the celebration was a little bit of frustration coupled with relief.

It may have been a celebration that he wanted to hear more noise from the away end.

Remember he said that footballers do read these websites, even though they shouldn't. The last month Long has got a lot of undeserved stick. It's not easy playing up front on your own, let a lone for a guy who only started playing football when he was 16. The guy closes down brilliantly, wins more than his fair share of headers/flick ons and does hold the ball up well.

Surely it's just a sign of passion, and after scoring a goal like that, you deserve to react the way you want to. He was probably, apart from Fed our best player yesterday and will only get better

[PistolPete]

"Hi Winchester Royal, I'd like to offer you a 10k per week contract at Reading and, when we've got your fitness up to scratch, we'll start playing you up front on your own in a tough league"
'Er, no thanks John. I wont be able to keep Hob Nob readers happy so I think I'll stick to my current job - albeit I'll be turning down a dream..."
"But Winchester, we pay a manager to pick the team. If he thinks your good enough surely the fans will blame the manager if you're no good and you keep getting picked?"
"You'd think so John, the thing is, Reading fans are a bit odd..."

Jesus H., you think it is only Reading fans who get on the back of players who don't perform? I think that the kind of reaction you saw against Doncaster when he was subbed was more indicative of the dissatisfaction of the fan to modern football where you pay £25 week-in week-out to see.....well, often it isn't a great product is it, lets be honest.

And my heart positively bleeds for those poor blighters getting paid so handsomely and apparently unable to button it and show a bit of decorum when those supporters - who have paid through the nose for the privilege of attending, remember - get a little frustrated at seeing their hard-earned spaffed away on such poor entertainment. If you're getting some stick, knuckle-down, work-harder and dare I say get a bit better at your job.....otherwise the alternative is a 9-5 toil 5 days a week like the rest of us. You are privileged so show some f*cking respect.

So by that you imply that Long is not trying?

And you're right - it's not just Reading fans - it's all football fans. I've fallen out of love with the game but just not Reading FC (it's my dads fault!)

We don't have Adebayor on 200k+ a week giving it the African dance when he scores for his Mancunian fans, we don't have Rooney on £150k a week moaning that his team mates aren't up to it, we don't have Andy Caroll snorting cocaine in his spare time or a player like Anelka who wanted to move to a new club every other season. No, we've got Shane Long who tries his heart out every game to justify his place and salary.

If he cant perform for Reading he will drop down to Div 1 or 2, if he still cant perform at that level he'll end up like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ricketts - but in the meantime, if he scores a belter, why are fans so precious when he makes a minuscule gesture?!

[Victor Meldrew]

Back to wimb's earlier tome,one point I would take issue with you concerns your view that Brian is building a team.
Do you really feel that is happening?
Within the next couple of years Griff and Harte (or in Harte's case too old already) will be too old as will Bryn and Ivar.
McAnuff and Howard will have passed 30 and Kish may well have gone back to his parent club.
IMHO there are big question marks about the likes of HRK,Church,Antonio,Cummings and Pearce and Hunt always seems to be injured.

At the moment I feel that the team is patched up rather than being built and although there has to be an element of experienced players combined with those in their prime and those that have youthful zest I don't feel that we have enough of the latter two categories other than McAnuff and Jem.
I think most people have already written this season off in terms of promotion but those that are over-optimistic might have become more realistic after yesterday's performance and come to terms with the fact that 6th position was just a temporary period of over-achievement.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

oh and one more thing that annoyed me about yesterday's perfomance. Our full backs are too old to attack, I don't think one of them ever got beyond their full back. In 4-5-1 this needs to happen, look how well Chelsea do it. God do we miss Bertrand

[PistolPete]

I miss Bertrand too

[Elm Park Old Boy]

I think the celebration was a little bit of frustration coupled with relief.

It may have been a celebration that he wanted to hear more noise from the away end.

Remember he said that footballers do read these websites, even though they shouldn't. The last month Long has got a lot of undeserved stick. It's not easy playing up front on your own, let a lone for a guy who only started playing football when he was 16. The guy closes down brilliantly, wins more than his fair share of headers/flick ons and does hold the ball up well.

Surely it's just a sign of passion, and after scoring a goal like that, you deserve to react the way you want to. He was probably, apart from Fed our best player yesterday and will only get better

I agree with this. And Shane - if you are sad enough to read this, and take what some of the numpties on here say - please be reassured that most Reading supporters respect your efforts and honesty, appreciate it when you do well, are disappointed when you don't, and sincerely want you to keep banging in belters like yesterday for a long time ot come, in a Reading shirt.

[Sarah Star]

I miss Bertrand too

Can't quite believe he prefers to play for Forest rather than us, but I guess it's just the way things turned out rather than any preferance on his part.

[floyd__streete]

And you're right - it's not just Reading fans - it's all football fans. I've fallen out of love with the game but just not Reading FC (it's my dads fault!)

We don't have Adebayor on 200k+ a week giving it the African dance when he scores for his Mancunian fans, we don't have Rooney on £150k a week moaning that his team mates aren't up to it, we don't have Andy Caroll snorting cocaine in his spare time or a player like Anelka who wanted to move to a new club every other season. No, we've got Shane Long who tries his heart out every game to justify his place and salary.

Fair play Pete, great reply - the bit I have put in bold particularly resonates very much with me.

I would never accuse Long of not trying - if he didn't have such a work ethic to be honest he'd be nowhere near good enough to play in the top four divisions of english football - perhaps I should have expanded my rant to say work harder in training in order to get better at your job. But after scoring his first goal in open play in bloody November I'd expect a bit more humility in his celebration. I was sat very near the front on the lower tier, it is a good job he didn't clebrate like that near me or else I would have leaned over the hoardings and bloody strangled him