RUMOUR - Danny Graham?

[Jink]

Just read in today's Sunday Mirror that we are after Danny Graham for £5 million along with Norwich and West Sham.

[72 bus]

Not a chance that we can compete with Norwich or West Ham for any players signature at this time.
The setup at Reading in football terms and from a business perspective is from the dark ages.
Dated and predictable on the pitch and everything done on the cheap off the pitch.

[Royal Rother]

Running the business to have a strong Balance Sheet, not propped up by benefactor loans, is NOT from the Dark Ages.

Investing big money into The Academy is NOT doing things on the cheap and is certainly not an idea from the Dark Ages.

[Royal Rother]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

[Petercccccc]

Well said....that's my contribution

[72 bus]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

So you disagree that the football being served up is dated ?
That the current squad is worse and actually worth less in monetary terms that the one we had six years ago ?
That the academy seems to exist primarily to supply the lower leagues with cheap young players ?

The club clearly is going backwards, we have a new owner who has a personal wealth many times less than the previous one
We are heading for the championship without even putting up a fight and will start next season with one of the oldest squads in that league without the financial resources to replace the dead wood.

I guess you really believe that the academy is suddenly going to start producing premiership quality players
And that Anton's dad is really going to fund his sons interest in RFC, because Anton certainly does not have the funds to put in himself.
And that father christmas does come down the chimney after all...

Wake up and look at the league table and the dross we have in our squad and then tell me where the progress has been.

[LightwaterRoyal]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

So you disagree that the football being served up is dated ?
That the current squad is worse and actually worth less in monetary terms that the one we had six years ago ?
That the academy seems to exist primarily to supply the lower leagues with cheap young players ?

The club clearly is going backwards, we have a new owner who has a personal wealth many times less than the previous one
We are heading for the championship without even putting up a fight and will start next season with one of the oldest squads in that league without the financial resources to replace the dead wood.

I guess you really believe that the academy is suddenly going to start producing premiership quality players
And that Anton's dad is really going to fund his sons interest in RFC, because Anton certainly does not have the funds to put in himself.
And that father christmas does come down the chimney after all...

Wake up and look at the league table and the dross we have in our squad and then tell me where the progress has been.

Do oxf*rd off, we tried to do things on the cheap in the summer and it hasnt worked. Wait until January 31st and then decide whether or not Anton has ambition.

[RoyalBlue]

Amazingly some people, including JM, still haven't realised that English professional football at the highest levels does not currently operate like 'normal businesses' and that is unlikely to change in the forseeable future.

So whilst the RFC approach may not be from 'the dark ages' it is clearly very unenlightened!

And it is completely true that, other than pure mercenaries, we will not be able to compete effectively with any other club in the PL for a player's signature, given the mess that the management on/off the pitch has got us into in terms of league position this season.

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

'Educate' - pompous or what? If you were a teacher I'd be complaining to OFSTED as you are teaching the wrong subject i.e. the economic model of normal businesses rather than the economic practice of English professional football at the highest level.

[Royal Rother]

Thanks, but I already know you don't get it - no real need to reaffirm it.

[melonhead]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

So you disagree that the football being served up is dated ?
That the current squad is worse and actually worth less in monetary terms that the one we had six years ago ?
That the academy seems to exist primarily to supply the lower leagues with cheap young players ?

The club clearly is going backwards, we have a new owner who has a personal wealth many times less than the previous one
We are heading for the championship without even putting up a fight and will start next season with one of the oldest squads in that league without the financial resources to replace the dead wood.

I guess you really believe that the academy is suddenly going to start producing premiership quality players
And that Anton's dad is really going to fund his sons interest in RFC, because Anton certainly does not have the funds to put in himself.
And that father christmas does come down the chimney after all...

Wake up and look at the league table and the dross we have in our squad and then tell me where the progress has been.

just watching west brom west ham
its all hoof ball, and the only difference is theres one up front for each.
woohoo, thumbs up for the "new" game

[cmonurz]

Thanks, but I already know you don't get it - no real need to reaffirm it.

That's pretty rich coming from someone ready to bring out the talk of bankruptcy and doom and football apocalypse every time someone dare suggest we spend a few million quid.

What fruits exactly do you expect the investment in our academy to bear?

Chelsea have had what, one player through their youth ranks into the first team in a decade? Liverpool two or three, one more if you include Sterling, but he's QPR really. Football is a different sort of business - status and infrastructure go hand in hand. You don't build a 'world class' academy, fancy training pitch and talk about expanding the stadium and then say 'oh shit, we're in League One'.

As a supporter of a non-league side you can't seem to see beyond the desires of the average man and his dog stood on the touchline.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

West Ham is a strikers graveyard, althought they will be able to offer tonnes more money than us.

Norwich would be a good fit but it's one side of the country to the other. Possible but unlikely.

[Royal Rother]

Thanks, but I already know you don't get it - no real need to reaffirm it.

That's pretty rich coming from someone ready to bring out the talk of bankruptcy and doom and football apocalypse every time someone dare suggest we spend a few million quid.

What fruits exactly do you expect the investment in our academy to bear?

Chelsea have had what, one player through their youth ranks into the first team in a decade? Liverpool two or three, one more if you include Sterling, but he's QPR really. Football is a different sort of business - status and infrastructure go hand in hand. You don't build a 'world class' academy, fancy training pitch and talk about expanding the stadium and then say 'oh shit, we're in League One'.

As a supporter of a non-league side you can't seem to see beyond the desires of the average man and his dog stood on the touchline.

Sorry, that all seems a bit random to me. Not sure you're following a logical sensible path here. If you're saying it is better to invest in the 1st Team at the expense of the Academy then you're quite wrong.

[SPARTA]

Just read in today's Sunday Mirror that we are after Danny Graham for £5 million along with Norwich and West Sham.

£5m? That rules us out then.
As well as Norwich and West Ham? That rules us out then.

[Born 'n Bred Royal]

£5m - no chance. we could get someone better than him for £5m, if AZ is prepared to splash the cash

[72 bus]

£5m - no chance. we could get someone better than him for £5m, if AZ is prepared to splash the cash

Contrary to popular belief on Hob nob, AZ has little cash of his own.
SJM was looking for a billionaire, but could not find one that would let him continue to have the stadium named after him and prance around on the pitch before kickoff.
Instead we got AZ, son of a billionaire, quite a different thing.

[Royal Rother]

Do you REALLY believe those were factors in his mind when looking for a buyer?

I guess not. Just spouting more rubbish.

[72 bus]

Do you REALLY believe those were factors in his mind when looking for a buyer?

I guess not. Just spouting more rubbish.

Every other club that goes on sale manages to find very rich owners, SJM stated many times over the years that he would only sell to a billionaire.
What went wrong ?

[Royal Rother]

His other businesses?

[72 bus]

His other businesses?

So now we have two owners with limited funds in premiership terms, an ageing squad with a totally disfunctional midfield that would not get into any other premiership side.
And you think we are in a good place ?

RFC this season is like watching a train wreck in slow motion, we have learned nothing from the last time we were in this division
But it's the Reading way.