Secret Footballer

[SCIAG]

We did eventually get relegated under Coppell...

Sacking Brian in the summer would have been very harsh. Maybe if he'd have left after the 7-5 (for example) then we would have stayed up, but Hammond being that blindly pragmatic makes my skin crawl.

[TBM]

We did eventually get relegated under Coppell...

Sacking Brian in the summer would have been very harsh. Maybe if he'd have left after the 7-5 (for example) then we would have stayed up, but Hammond being that blindly pragmatic makes my skin crawl.

You think sacking Brian would have been harsh but you'd accept sacking Coppell despite getting 106 points and 99 goals in a season

[SCIAG]

We did eventually get relegated under Coppell...

Sacking Brian in the summer would have been very harsh. Maybe if he'd have left after the 7-5 (for example) then we would have stayed up, but Hammond being that blindly pragmatic makes my skin crawl.

You think sacking Brian would have been harsh but you'd accept sacking Coppell despite getting 106 points and 99 goals in a season

No, silly

I was at the parking space protest, as far as I'm concerned Coppell could have had the job for life.

[stealthpapes]

Sounds more like he must have talked to Hammond when he watched a home match after Brian had gone

That's how I read it.

[From Despair To Where?]

The other interesting thing in that passage was the DoF saying they should have shipped out most of the senior players who had got the club up and replaced them before the start of the season with Premiership quality players.

I know Kitson didn't get on with Pulis but he seems to really hate Steve Cotterill with a passion

[Ian Royal]

Sounds more like he must have talked to Hammond when he watched a home match after Brian had gone

That's how I read it.

I'm not sure I understand how you could read it any other way.

The other interesting thing in that passage was the DoF saying they should have shipped out most of the senior players who had got the club up and replaced them before the start of the season with Premiership quality players.

No shit sherlock from 'possibly Hammond' there. Federici, Gorkss, Leigertwood, Karacan, Pearce, Kebe, Hunt and Roberts all put in such regularly stonking performances in the PL.

Even McAnuff and ALF didn't do that well. Although significantly better than the others. Possibly a bit harsh on Pearce and sick-note Kebe.

[YateleyRoyal]

Finished the first book this morning and started the second. Love the fact that he absolutely ripped on Pompey.

[Geekins]

Finished the first book this morning and started the second. Love the fact that he absolutely ripped on Pompey.

This the first one about ripping into Pompey??

[YateleyRoyal]

Finished the first book this morning and started the second. Love the fact that he absolutely ripped on Pompey.

This the first one about ripping into Pompey??

I dont remember, they've both sort of rolled into one now.

[SPARTA]

Are these good books? I'm not a big reader but I fancy something for the holiday in a couple of months. Or if you want to flog your copy, give me a shout.

[KC Royal]

Only discovered the other day when he retired who TSF was. I've had both books since Christmas and hadn't started either

Been reading this thread along with both books (not got far with the second one so far). This story has stood out so far, even more so having done some digging through the hobnob archive (2 testimonial threads, 2008 when it was announced it had been granted and after the game in 2009).

I've been a long term reader of The Secret Footballer's online articles and i'm 99% sure it's our bargain that is Dave Kitson.
His second book came out yesterday and i've just been having my first flick through it and i'm quite suspicious over the last part of the chapter 'Charity begins at home' which details an account of a charity created at his club to keep the wives busy (Swings & Smiles?).
The story goes that the club's captain was in his testimonial year yet was being refused one by the chairman due to his opinion that footballer's already earnt enough (familiar?) and it's became clear to many of the players that there were dodgy dealings going on behind the scenes of the charity and he was profiting from it to compensate himself. TSF says this lead to the captain being ostracised and the team fell apart and it can all be pinpointed from this incident.

Could be absolute pie in the sky but it does connect, although i am not sure if this could be our capitulation in 2007/8 or latter of 2008/9?

I'm almost certain this hasn't cropped up before, so if you're in a bookstore have a glance over the second chapter as it's quite interesting albeit disconcerting.

I assumed it was 08/09 at first as that was his last season at the club, but given that Kitson was hardly around that season (just last 2 months on loan) and Madejski's opinion had already come out by the time it had been granted at the end of March 2008, it looks like it was 2007/08.

What makes the story more interesting, and shocking is other stuff I noticed along the way. See the first post here
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73869&start=40

There was also a suggestion that Murty wasn't actually injured at all, and was actually dropped at the start of March. Then we went to a training camp to Marbella (which i'd forgotten about but ties in with the story about the chairman and striker on a boat even if 2003 is clearly wrong - Lita had already gone on loan to Charlton by then which rules him out - so assuming it was about us, and i'm still not entirely sure it was, the striker must have been Doyle even if his career going down afterwards doesn't seem to fit). Anyway, see the very last post here
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72898&start=40
We took Little, who wasn't fit to play for another month at least, but Murty didn't go

Incidentally our results in March saw us win 3 and draw 1 out of 5 (and we should have won the 0-0 v Blackburn too imo, not helped by the sheer incompetence of Clattenberg and his assistants). Then Murty gets granted the testimonial on 31 Mar 2008, and after that we only beat Derby (who in the 2nd half of that season were shocking) out of our remaining 6 games...

[KC Royal]

I've seen a suggestion that the striker/chairman boat story is Forster and Simon Jordan, and that does seem to fit.

[TBM]

I've seen a suggestion that the striker/chairman boat story is Forster and Simon Jordan, and that does seem to fit.

No chance

Forster was 30 when Kitson joined so even if it was the first season together nobody would offer Forster a 30k a week contract to hand in a transfer request

[KC Royal]

Fair point, the confusion continues...

For all the stick Murty has received on here, and it has definitely soured my opinion of him when he was possibly my favourite player - found it quite difficult to read comments in those two testimonial threads saying he was a nice guy, not sure i'd read the first one before but had definitely read the second, Karen Murty was equally responsible. Don't ask me why I remember this, but there was one week when he was "injured", may even have been the training camp week, when Karen wasn't on the BBCRB slot with Graeme because she'd gone away. Must admit at the time I did find that a bit odd, but Murty just said that when he was injured he was difficult to be around. In the light of what's come out I imagine it caused issues between them. It's sad, that stupidity was the beginning of the end of his Reading career. He did have injury problems after that but he rarely played for us again, and i'd be surprised now if he ever returns to Reading in some capacity in the future. I notice that he's recently joined Norwich as U16 coach.

[sandman]

Only discovered the other day when he retired who TSF was. I've had both books since Christmas and hadn't started either

Been reading this thread along with both books (not got far with the second one so far). This story has stood out so far, even more so having done some digging through the hobnob archive (2 testimonial threads, 2008 when it was announced it had been granted and after the game in 2009).

I've been a long term reader of The Secret Footballer's online articles and i'm 99% sure it's our bargain that is Dave Kitson.
His second book came out yesterday and i've just been having my first flick through it and i'm quite suspicious over the last part of the chapter 'Charity begins at home' which details an account of a charity created at his club to keep the wives busy (Swings & Smiles?).
The story goes that the club's captain was in his testimonial year yet was being refused one by the chairman due to his opinion that footballer's already earnt enough (familiar?) and it's became clear to many of the players that there were dodgy dealings going on behind the scenes of the charity and he was profiting from it to compensate himself. TSF says this lead to the captain being ostracised and the team fell apart and it can all be pinpointed from this incident.

Could be absolute pie in the sky but it does connect, although i am not sure if this could be our capitulation in 2007/8 or latter of 2008/9?

I'm almost certain this hasn't cropped up before, so if you're in a bookstore have a glance over the second chapter as it's quite interesting albeit disconcerting.

I assumed it was 08/09 at first as that was his last season at the club, but given that Kitson was hardly around that season (just last 2 months on loan) and Madejski's opinion had already come out by the time it had been granted at the end of March 2008, it looks like it was 2007/08.

What makes the story more interesting, and shocking is other stuff I noticed along the way. See the first post here
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73869&start=40

There was also a suggestion that Murty wasn't actually injured at all, and was actually dropped at the start of March. Then we went to a training camp to Marbella (which i'd forgotten about but ties in with the story about the chairman and striker on a boat even if 2003 is clearly wrong - Lita had already gone on loan to Charlton by then which rules him out - so assuming it was about us, and i'm still not entirely sure it was, the striker must have been Doyle even if his career going down afterwards doesn't seem to fit). Anyway, see the very last post here
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72898&start=40
We took Little, who wasn't fit to play for another month at least, but Murty didn't go

Incidentally our results in March saw us win 3 and draw 1 out of 5 (and we should have won the 0-0 v Blackburn too imo, not helped by the sheer incompetence of Clattenberg and his assistants). Then Murty gets granted the testimonial on 31 Mar 2008, and after that we only beat Derby (who in the 2nd half of that season were shocking) out of our remaining 6 games...

Truly shocking stuff in one of those threads...Reading fans praising Liam Rosenior.

[KC Royal]

[stealthpapes]

lol

[Binfield Royal]

Just found myself stood next to Dave in a shop queue in Windsor so took the opportunity to ask after how things were post football. He's says not doing much so I asked if he was writing ? "No, why do you ask?" He says. I told him a lot of us thought he was The Secret Footballer and he laughed and said no, he doesn't write much but has done a bit of TV and is hoping to do some more. Having looked him in eye at that point, I do not think he was lying to me so I think we need to look elsewhere for that identity.

I wished him all the best and he said hopefully he will come and see few games this season

Still a bargain

[Handsome Man]

Good thread starter

He is the secret footballer though

[SpaghettiHoop]

I thought it was a secret?