We had a chance

[SLAMMED]

Makes sense

[RepressedRoyal]

To make sure we were extremely strong going into this season.

Poor foresight and a lack of closing ability from squeeky has left us scrabbling around in the last minute bargain basement yet again.

We have learnt nothing. Squeeky is good at making money from sales but seems shit at actually closing incoming deals.

3 CB's (our best one has been sold) - shit strikers and we have lost one of our wingers. Thank got McCleary hasn't been taken yet or we would really have top rely on shit like HRK the absolute donkey.

Will this club ever learn, soundbites from the Russian saying we will be stronger than last season don't help.

Utterly shit tinpot bollo*

Chance missed.

Who's this got guy we need to be thanking for not selling McCleary?

[Bristol Paul]

usual early spending spree to get the hopes (and season ticket sales) up. Cynical by the club, and almost seems pre calculated

[Tamworth_Royal]

Adkins stated 2 days ago
“There are three positions I would like to strengthen,” he said.

“We’ve still got a few days left and a lot of business is done in that time.]

And what does Hammond do........ Sells Kebe and Marriappa ..........brilliant Hammond

[andrew1957]

Promotion assured - we only sold two of our best players this time.

[CholseyRoyal]

Adkins stated 2 days ago
“There are three positions I would like to strengthen,” he said.

“We’ve still got a few days left and a lot of business is done in that time.]

And what does Hammond do........ Sells Kebe and Marriappa ..........brilliant Hammond

Not quite fair on NH, it was obvious Mariappa wanted away hence why he wasn't even on the bench for most games. I guess it was the same for Kebe, you can't force players to stay at the club if they don't want to and get offers from a higher league.

[clauski]

Every other flaming club can do it, why not us? Cardiff have spend 28 mill, palace have bought in 13 players , even Hull have made big signings

and all will be well and truly oxf*rd if/when they get relegated or their backers lose interest.

Why not just say Anton should be spending £300 million on making us champions league contenders?

Because that's not what he's saying and not what the clubs mentioned are doing. I still don't buy the arguments of doing another Leeds or Portsmouth - clear exceptions and way more mismanaged than spending a few quid in the summer. The clubs above will be OK and if they stay up like Southampton, Swansea etc they can go from strength to strength. Still, that was last year - this year the manager said he still wanted to strengthen and we haven't. That means we've failed to meet our objectives in this transfer window and go into the season weaker than we would like to be - FACT.

[Pseud O'Nym]

Adkins stated 2 days ago
“There are three positions I would like to strengthen,” he said.

“We’ve still got a few days left and a lot of business is done in that time.]

And what does Hammond do........ Sells Kebe and Marriappa ..........brilliant Hammond

Not quite fair on NH, it was obvious Mariappa wanted away hence why he wasn't even on the bench for most games. I guess it was the same for Kebe, you can't force players to stay at the club if they don't want to and get offers from a higher league.

Besides which it's not his job to decide who goes or stays, just to negotiate the best deal for the club.

[Tamworth_Royal]

Adkins stated 2 days ago
“There are three positions I would like to strengthen,” he said.

“We’ve still got a few days left and a lot of business is done in that time.]

And what does Hammond do........ Sells Kebe and Marriappa ..........brilliant Hammond

Not quite fair on NH, it was obvious Mariappa wanted away hence why he wasn't even on the bench for most games. I guess it was the same for Kebe, you can't force players to stay at the club if they don't want to and get offers from a higher league.

Besides which it's not his job to decide who goes or stays, just to negotiate the best deal for the club.

It's also his job to grant Nigel's wish of bringing in 3 players as per last Friday, instead he weaken's the squad by selling 2. They were under contract we didn't have to sell

[Tamworth_Royal]

QPR spent money showed intent, Wigan spent money showed intent, Reading .......... sold £5M in players bought Williams £700,000 oh dear same old same old.

Look how much Cardiff have spent compared to us last season, Palarse invested in a huge squad, both have got better results than us so far than we did by November last year in the Prem and yet we fail to understand you have to evolve and invest. Pathetic club this has turned into since Madejski brainwashed Anton into thinking he can milk it like he did.

[Pseud O'Nym]

It's also his job to grant Nigel's wish of bringing in 3 players as per last Friday, instead he weaken's the squad by selling 2. They were under contract we didn't have to sell

No it isn't. His job is to try and acquire the manager's targets within the budget set by the board. Who is sold is not his decision, he's just a negotiator.

[Libertine]

I am very concerned about the state of the team. So far we have been leaking goals steadily and have been offensively anemic in open play outside of the very open Watford game. The answer? Ship out, arguably, our best CB and a winger, who when healthy, has shown he can be a difference maker. And we have brought in.................

I don't know, maybe there are 2 or 3 loan deals lined up that we are not aware of. But we were told there would be players coming in and all that has happened is we have shipped players out. Bringing Drenthe, Bridge and Williams in were good first steps in building the foundation of a team that can play the style that NA wants to play, we just forgot to complete the foundation and are looking to build the house on an un-solid base. As much as Alf is a friggin Reading FC hero with what he has done with the club already he, in my most humble opinion, is not big/strong enough or fast enough to lead the line on his own (he certainly isn't the Lambert NA had at Soton) and Pog looks completely disinterested. The midfield is ok, our keepers are our strength, but the back 4 have been very shaky. And speaking of shaky...I have very little confidence in our second team players, players that provide the needed depth any promotion contending team must be able to count on if they plan to be promoted in this division with all of the Sat-Tues games on the schedule in the Championship, after the P'boro debacle. If no more moves are made I think we are midtable at best this season...

[windermere_royal]

At least we have a healthy balance sheet , effing sick the way the club is run on a shoestring , still all us fans got conned into buying STs on the back of empty promises.

[taipeiroyal]

God, we are so shit, sack Adkins, get rid of all the players, sign the entire Real Madrid squad...bet people on here would still find something to complain about.

[mickeyc9]

Nick Hammond Sales Director. They blamed the last window on Brian. Presumably Anton will sack Hammond now as otherwise it is his fault. Can't wait until the propaganda machine that is the web site churns into action "rightly prudent" and "did our business early". Any other guesses for the excuses?

[RoyalBlue]

Adkins stated 2 days ago
“There are three positions I would like to strengthen,” he said.

“We’ve still got a few days left and a lot of business is done in that time.]

And what does Hammond do........ Sells Kebe and Marriappa ..........brilliant Hammond

Not quite fair on NH, it was obvious Mariappa wanted away hence why he wasn't even on the bench for most games. I guess it was the same for Kebe, you can't force players to stay at the club if they don't want to and get offers from a higher league.

Very valid point but, knowing that those two players wanted out, the club should have done what others do - shown some balls and taken a calculated risk by signing replacements before the outgoing deals are concluded.

As for Hammond's often dismal performance on the incoming side of transfers, either he isn't getting the proper backing from the likes of the owner, Chairman and Managing Director or he is shyte at the job and should be given the push.

QPR spent money showed intent, Wigan spent money showed intent, Reading .......... sold £5M in players bought Williams £700,000 oh dear same old same old.

Look how much Cardiff have spent compared to us last season, Palarse invested in a huge squad, both have got better results than us so far than we did by November last year in the Prem and yet we fail to understand you have to evolve and invest. Pathetic club this has turned into since Madejski brainwashed Anton into thinking he can milk it like he did.

I seem to remember someone mentioning that Hull had spent the least of the PL newcomers but still spent £12M.

Meantime, Cardiff and Saints (I know they aren't a newcomer this season) demonstrate that they intend to stay in the PL and have invested properly to significantly increase their chances of doing so.

Did Madejski and Anton really manage to make all of their money without continually investing decent sums of money in their businesses, even when (or perhaps particularly when) they weren't performing well. How much money did Madejski invest in the print industry, even in recent years?

Yet still they seem to think that they can singlehandedly buck the economic model of top English professional football.

[Royal Lady]

The usual excuse is "the manager had money to spend but chose not to" - what's the excuse this time around.

Dellor tweeted last night that 2 deals had fallen through - now, when a deal falls through it's normally failing a medical or failing personal terms - so who were these two players - surprised SSN hadn't picked up on either of them. Or was it just a soundbite from the club to try and placate the fans - "oooh we tried to sign two players, not our fault if the deals didn't go through" - Whatevs, AZ, whatevs.

You don't need to spend £30 million, probably didn't need to spend £10 million, but unless you are prepared to spend some real money - you'll not get anywhere near the right players that we NEED at this time. What irks me the most is the fact all the noises coming out of the club were we going to say a load of new players, strengthen the team, hope to go straight back up, AZ wanted to get into Europe blah blah blah. I'd rather they'd have said to us AND Adkins, this is a work in progress - it might take 5 years before we're back where we want to be - stick with us. But, instead they treat us like bloody idiots promising all this and not delivering - still they've got our ST money.

A good balance sheet is something to be proud of, IF you've also got a team capable of going places. Having a good balance sheet and a rubbish team is nothing to be proud of in my book.

Rant over. Soz.

[Gordons Cumming]

The usual excuse is "the manager had money to spend but chose not to" - what's the excuse this time around.

Dellor tweeted last night that 2 deals had fallen through - now, when a deal falls through it's normally failing a medical or failing personal terms - so who were these two players - surprised SSN hadn't picked up on either of them. Or was it just a soundbite from the club to try and placate the fans - "oooh we tried to sign two players, not our fault if the deals didn't go through" - Whatevs, AZ, whatevs.

You don't need to spend £30 million, probably didn't need to spend £10 million, but unless you are prepared to spend some real money - you'll not get anywhere near the right players that we NEED at this time. What irks me the most is the fact all the noises coming out of the club were we going to say a load of new players, strengthen the team, hope to go straight back up, AZ wanted to get into Europe blah blah blah. I'd rather they'd have said to us AND Adkins, this is a work in progress - it might take 5 years before we're back where we want to be - stick with us. But, instead they treat us like bloody idiots promising all this and not delivering - still they've got our ST money.

A good balance sheet is something to be proud of, IF you've also got a team capable of going places. Having a good balance sheet and a rubbish team is nothing to be proud of in my book.

Rant over. Soz.

Agreed.

Who's Head of Communication at Reading?

[No Fixed Abode]

Massive game against Brighton up next. Lose and there will rumblings akin to that of Arsenal on their opening day defeat to Villa. Only difference is it will be too late for you to do anything in the market.

I still would expect Reading to finish in the higher echelons on the division, but with some of the promotion rivals strengthening, it's now going to be tougher for Reading to finish in the top two, perhaps top six.

Under performers will have to come good, otherwise it could be a disappointing season unless the January window is more prudent.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Surprise surprise another window passes and another total failure for the club. It's just unbelievable they never ever learn and to top it all they sell off Kebe and Mariappa with no replacements coming in.

Oh and its funny that a number of deals fail on the last day as other sides don't release players until they have got replacements. Tell me why don't Reading do the same?

Utterly pathetic, now let's wait to see the raft of excuses and reasons, lead of which will be that the club know the loan window opens next week so they weren't unduly worried....





....there, if that doesn't make for a late announcement from the club that we've quietly signed Sissoko and a striker then nothing will....