PistolPete Who Moved The Goalposts? PistolPete I don't care what anyone says, I like Zingarevich's impulse buys.... made me believe that Reading were going places.
I don't. Owners playing at manager usually ends in disaster, and Reading is a club that has had success based on teamwork and everyone generally pulling in the same direction. We saw what happened when that goes awry in the second season in the Premier League when players suddenly started to develop egos hugely disproportionate to their talent.
The other major issue is I have is that Anton could have financially condemned the club with his approach to ownership. It's all very well him using his much-vaunted "encyclopaedic knowledge" of football to bring big names to the club, but being the short term owner he was, he didn't have to worry about the consequences after his departure. With hindsight, I think we got off lightly.
Yeah, well, I disagree. He clearly never intended to be here for the short term. He's not the first person (and won't be the last) to find themselves a bit poorer and have to sell something. Big shame in my opinion but the king is dead so lets hope the next king is a good one and lives longer.
Ps - If you're going to quote me, at least quote the whole paragraph to give it a bit of context.
PistolPete, not sure my abbreviating your quote made any real difference to what I wanted/was trying to say - not my intention to try and change the meaning of what you said at all, though.
I may be wrong, but are you saying that because you liked some of the names AZ was trying to bring in, it's okay to for an owner to influence the makeup of the squad? I think that's dangerous and not good for a football club in the short, medium or long term for so many reasons. I'd love to see European stars pulling on the hoops as much as any other fan but only if the manager thinks it's a good idea and we can afford it. As we are, after all, an average-sized club for this league, we have to be very careful both financially and tactically.
You're dead right about people being forced to sell when things get rough, but the speed of all this leaves me thinking there's something not adding up behind the scenes. I have no idea what that may be of course, but the commonly held view is that the Zingareviches are exposed to commitments on the Winter Olympics and need all their resources in that area. Again, I find this a bit odd as they would have known about the likelihood of this happening a long time before AZ took control of his 51%. I suppose it will all come out in the wash, but we need stability and commitment with the next lot!
