Rival Watch

[Loafer]

I seem to remember when Derby got relegated a similar quote got used and quite rightly the Hobnob board was very indignant about it. Yet here you go spouting similar nonsense. You should be ashamed for denigrating clubs now playing at the same level as us. I supported the team when we were in the old division 4 and never heard that sort of claptrap spoken then.We are where we are because we deserve to be.

Who tf are you? Literally no idea what you're on about or never even seen a single post by you before.

What does it matter who I am or how much I have posted, I dont like sneering at so called smaller clubs when we were once in that position. And I'm sure plenty of people on here remember the quote about Derby knowing they had been relegated as they were going to be playing teams like Reading

I have literally no idea what you talk about

I'm not happy about playing complete dross teams like Carlisle or Stockport thank you.(a team who were NATIONAL LEAGUE last year)

I want success and winning in life, not being a loser and happy we are in league 1

[Sutekh]

Who tf are you? Literally no idea what you're on about or never even seen a single post by you before.

What does it matter who I am or how much I have posted, I dont like sneering at so called smaller clubs when we were once in that position. And I'm sure plenty of people on here remember the quote about Derby knowing they had been relegated as they were going to be playing teams like Reading

I have literally no idea what you talk about

I'm not happy about playing complete dross teams like Carlisle or Stockport thank you.(a team who were NATIONAL LEAGUE last year)

I want success and winning in life, not being a loser and happy we are in league 1

Doubt Burnley or SheffU were happy about playing complete dross like Reading. Dont have to be happy to be there but whether you are or not it is what it is and looking forward positively will give a better time of it for fans and club alike.

PS. Luton were National League 9 years ago.

[tidus_mi2]

Man, so frustrating to see Brighton secure a top 6 position, basically where we were in 2007, that for me was one of the only mistakes Coppell made, massively playing down European football.

[Sutekh]

Man, so frustrating to see Brighton secure a top 6 position, basically where we were in 2007, that for me was one of the only mistakes Coppell made, massively playing down European football.

Agreed, the dreadful practically non-recruitment policy that followed over that summer was quite unbelievable esp. as there were several players on the market that could have covered some of the key positions that needed to be covered (and several were still available in the following January).

[Dirk Gently]

Man, so frustrating to see Brighton secure a top 6 position, basically where we were in 2007, that for me was one of the only mistakes Coppell made, massively playing down European football.

Agreed, the dreadful practically non-recruitment policy that followed over that summer was quite unbelievable esp. as there were several players on the market that could have covered some of the key positions that needed to be covered (and several were still available in the following January).

To be fair to the club, they tried like buggery to get the required players in, but no-one suitable agreed to sign. For instance, we agreed terms with Hibs for Scott Brown, who would have been the absolutely perfect Sidwell replacement, but he refused to talk to us.

It was all "little unfashionable Reading" syndrome. No-one thought we were there to stay so no-one joined us - and lo, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Sutekh]

Man, so frustrating to see Brighton secure a top 6 position, basically where we were in 2007, that for me was one of the only mistakes Coppell made, massively playing down European football.

Agreed, the dreadful practically non-recruitment policy that followed over that summer was quite unbelievable esp. as there were several players on the market that could have covered some of the key positions that needed to be covered (and several were still available in the following January).

To be fair to the club, they tried like buggery to get the required players in, but no-one suitable agreed to sign. For instance, we agreed terms with Hibs for Scott Brown, who would have been the absolutely perfect Sidwell replacement, but he refused to talk to us.

It was all "little unfashionable Reading" syndrome. No-one thought we were there to stay so no-one joined us - and lo, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Forgot about the Scott Brown saga, he's quoted as saying "If I had chosen Reading I would probably be fighting a relegation battle next season and then maybe disappearing into the Championship. In two years' time people would have been saying, 'Remember that lad Scott Brown – whatever happened to him?".

I do recall the club being linked with George O'Reilly and Matt Taylor who would have done a decent job for but not sure how much of that was just speculation from media and how much was actually real. Main issue really was SC being too loyal and SJM having issues with paying the "stupid wages" required for the club to be reasonably competitive in the PL.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

The issue is, if you can't afford it, don't do it and that's obviously what Madejski did when we were in the PL. He just didn't have deep enough pockets to compete with most of the PL clubs consistently. The success was all built on spending sensibly and sustainably, there was no way that was going to change for hell or high water during Madejski's era.

[NathStPaul]

He had more money to spend in the second Premier League season but chose not to along with Coppell being too loyal.

Had Madejski shot his bolt in that second Premier League season and gone with all he had we could easily have stayed up, we were close as it was. I imagine he feels fairly guilty about it.

[Dirk Gently]

Agreed, the dreadful practically non-recruitment policy that followed over that summer was quite unbelievable esp. as there were several players on the market that could have covered some of the key positions that needed to be covered (and several were still available in the following January).

To be fair to the club, they tried like buggery to get the required players in, but no-one suitable agreed to sign. For instance, we agreed terms with Hibs for Scott Brown, who would have been the absolutely perfect Sidwell replacement, but he refused to talk to us.

It was all "little unfashionable Reading" syndrome. No-one thought we were there to stay so no-one joined us - and lo, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Forgot about the Scott Brown saga, he's quoted as saying "If I had chosen Reading I would probably be fighting a relegation battle next season and then maybe disappearing into the Championship. In two years' time people would have been saying, 'Remember that lad Scott Brown – whatever happened to him?".

Joleon Lescott was another one. Got terms accepted but he went to Everton instead of us.
https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/steve-coppell-missed-signing-joleon-4237382

There was the will to sign players - the club even went to the trouble of preparing presentations etc about how good it was to live here, but there wasn't the will of the right players to sign.

Either the same feelings as with Brown, or young players who want to be in a city not a sleepy dormitory town an hour outside a city.
I do recall the club being linked with George O'Reilly and Matt Taylor who would have done a decent job for but not sure how much of that was just speculation from media and how much was actually real. Main issue really was SC being too loyal and SJM having issues with paying the "stupid wages" required for the club to be reasonably competitive in the PL.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

The Lescott one at the time the club were particularly annoyed with. It was a double deal with Seol, both had agreed terms but only Seol turned up to sign.

Jagielka was another one. He had agreed terms to the next year and went to Everton instead.

Brown never wanted to come and we ended up with Emerse Fae.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'm not so sure he feels guilty about it, I just don't think he had the money to compete with the rest, he was already looking to sell up back in 2006. He wanted to upgrade the stadium to 38,000 so that we could increase our revenue streams etc.

If he was to be guilty about anything, I think it may have been that he wasn't all that ambitious, whilst potentially putting the long-term future of the club in doubt if he was becoming more reluctant to invest and wanted to sell up. I very much doubt he was ever going to do that. He was afraid of relegation.

I don't think it wasn't for the want of trying, it was just he wasn't going to burst the bank and potentially jeopardise the future of the club.

[Sutekh]

I'm not so sure he feels guilty about it, I just don't think he had the money to compete with the rest, he was already looking to sell up back in 2006. He wanted to upgrade the stadium to 38,000 so that we could increase our revenue streams etc.

If he was to be guilty about anything, I think it may have been that he wasn't all that ambitious, whilst potentially putting the long-term future of the club in doubt if he was becoming more reluctant to invest and wanted to sell up. I very much doubt he was ever going to do that. He was afraid of relegation.

I don't think it wasn't for the want of trying, it was just he wasn't going to burst the bank and potentially jeopardise the future of the club.

He was and yet with the club in the PL he still couldn't find anyone who was interested enough to buy, so much for being in the PL making a difference!

[leon]

I'm not so sure he feels guilty about it, I just don't think he had the money to compete with the rest, he was already looking to sell up back in 2006. He wanted to upgrade the stadium to 38,000 so that we could increase our revenue streams etc.

If he was to be guilty about anything, I think it may have been that he wasn't all that ambitious, whilst potentially putting the long-term future of the club in doubt if he was becoming more reluctant to invest and wanted to sell up. I very much doubt he was ever going to do that. He was afraid of relegation.

I don't think it wasn't for the want of trying, it was just he wasn't going to burst the bank and potentially jeopardise the future of the club.

He was and yet with the club in the PL he still couldn't find anyone who was interested enough to buy, so much for being in the PL making a difference!

if we'd stayed up the second season I think the situation might have changed

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'm not so sure he feels guilty about it, I just don't think he had the money to compete with the rest, he was already looking to sell up back in 2006. He wanted to upgrade the stadium to 38,000 so that we could increase our revenue streams etc.

If he was to be guilty about anything, I think it may have been that he wasn't all that ambitious, whilst potentially putting the long-term future of the club in doubt if he was becoming more reluctant to invest and wanted to sell up. I very much doubt he was ever going to do that. He was afraid of relegation.

I don't think it wasn't for the want of trying, it was just he wasn't going to burst the bank and potentially jeopardise the future of the club.

He was and yet with the club in the PL he still couldn't find anyone who was interested enough to buy, so much for being in the PL making a difference!

if we'd stayed up the second season I think the situation might have changed

Yeah Madejski mentioned that himself in an interview he did a while back now. He thinks that if the club remained in the league for another season, then he may have had some more interest and would have potentially sold then.

[Elm Park Kid]

No one knows if surviving an extra season would have made any difference in the long-run. I think that the late 00s was already a bit too late for Reading to establish itself as a permanent PL club without a billionaire bankrolling us. You need that additional revenue that comes from a widespread support at home and abroad - I feel like Reading was already fighting an extremely difficult battle back then to get the attention of the younger generations. Yes, you've got other clubs that were our size now in the PL - but most of them have had a lot of additional cash ploughed into them.

Big John did what he could. He wasn't going to put his personal finances at risk in order to gamble on the club. We've seen the painful consequences of owners trying to do that. He tried to sell the club to someone he thought could spend what he couldn't - he messed up - it is what it is.

[Royal_jimmy]

I'm not so sure he feels guilty about it, I just don't think he had the money to compete with the rest, he was already looking to sell up back in 2006. He wanted to upgrade the stadium to 38,000 so that we could increase our revenue streams etc.

If he was to be guilty about anything, I think it may have been that he wasn't all that ambitious, whilst potentially putting the long-term future of the club in doubt if he was becoming more reluctant to invest and wanted to sell up. I very much doubt he was ever going to do that. He was afraid of relegation.

I don't think it wasn't for the want of trying, it was just he wasn't going to burst the bank and potentially jeopardise the future of the club.

He was and yet with the club in the PL he still couldn't find anyone who was interested enough to buy, so much for being in the PL making a difference!

if we'd stayed up the second season I think the situation might have changed

From memory I heard we had interest but Madejski didn't like those who were interested in buying the club which was fair enough. He didn't want to flog us to asset strippers but sadly that's what he ended up doing by selling to the Thai's albeit with little choice as he couldn't fund the club himself anymore. Frustrating we couldn't get someone from America who has an interest in the game. Especially with the potential that the club has.

[tidus_mi2]

He was and yet with the club in the PL he still couldn't find anyone who was interested enough to buy, so much for being in the PL making a difference!

if we'd stayed up the second season I think the situation might have changed

From memory I heard we had interest but Madejski didn't like those who were interested in buying the club which was fair enough. He didn't want to flog us to asset strippers but sadly that's what he ended up doing by selling to the Thai's albeit with little choice as he couldn't fund the club himself anymore. Frustrating we couldn't get someone from America who has an interest in the game. Especially with the potential that the club has.

Yep, real shame really that Madejski at the point he did sell was so desperate for the sale he got conned by AZ, ended up losing more money by essentially bailing us out and taking control again when it was found AZ actually had no money.

So I'll be forever grateful he had the foresight to put the clause in the deal that ownership would default back to him should AZ fail to buy the remaining % of the club or I feel we definitely would have gone into administration.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

No one knows if surviving an extra season would have made any difference in the long-run. I think that the late 00s was already a bit too late for Reading to establish itself as a permanent PL club without a billionaire bankrolling us. You need that additional revenue that comes from a widespread support at home and abroad - I feel like Reading was already fighting an extremely difficult battle back then to get the attention of the younger generations. Yes, you've got other clubs that were our size now in the PL - but most of them have had a lot of additional cash ploughed into them.

Big John did what he could. He wasn't going to put his personal finances at risk in order to gamble on the club. We've seen the painful consequences of owners trying to do that. He tried to sell the club to someone he thought could spend what he couldn't - he messed up - it is what it is.

It was only what Madejski himself thought, he thought we may have seen some interest if we were to survive for a second season, although I suppose nobody ultimately will know now. He did want to increase our revenue streams, that's what we were looking at a stadium expansion for.

Madejski does mention that, during the 00's era, with the club being successful it was attracting attention to the club and people were interested in the team at that point, despite some resistance in his early days. One of those, if only we stayed up that season, or got ourselves back up again within a season, things may have looked a lot different now compared to what they are.

[Snowflake Royal]

if we'd stayed up the second season I think the situation might have changed

From memory I heard we had interest but Madejski didn't like those who were interested in buying the club which was fair enough. He didn't want to flog us to asset strippers but sadly that's what he ended up doing by selling to the Thai's albeit with little choice as he couldn't fund the club himself anymore. Frustrating we couldn't get someone from America who has an interest in the game. Especially with the potential that the club has.

Yep, real shame really that Madejski at the point he did sell was so desperate for the sale he got conned by AZ, ended up losing more money by essentially bailing us out and taking control again when it was found AZ actually had no money.

So I'll be forever grateful he had the foresight to put the clause in the deal that ownership would default back to him should AZ fail to buy the remaining % of the club or I feel we definitely would have gone into administration.

Yep. And the Thais weren't really asset strippers. They selarated out a relatively unimportant piece of land where development would benefit the club. And bailed us out of issues with Vibrac and HMRC when Madejski couldn’t.

It's Yongge that's the asset stripper. Sold the old training ground, new training ground and stadium out from the club's control, to perpetuate his apalling overspending and stave off the FL a couple of extra seasons

[YorkshireRoyal99]

From memory I heard we had interest but Madejski didn't like those who were interested in buying the club which was fair enough. He didn't want to flog us to asset strippers but sadly that's what he ended up doing by selling to the Thai's albeit with little choice as he couldn't fund the club himself anymore. Frustrating we couldn't get someone from America who has an interest in the game. Especially with the potential that the club has.

Yep, real shame really that Madejski at the point he did sell was so desperate for the sale he got conned by AZ, ended up losing more money by essentially bailing us out and taking control again when it was found AZ actually had no money.

So I'll be forever grateful he had the foresight to put the clause in the deal that ownership would default back to him should AZ fail to buy the remaining % of the club or I feel we definitely would have gone into administration.

Yep. And the Thais weren't really asset strippers. They selarated out a relatively unimportant piece of land where development would benefit the club. And bailed us out of issues with Vibrac and HMRC when Madejski couldn’t.

It's Yongge that's the asset stripper. Sold the old training ground, new training ground and stadium out from the club's control, to perpetuate his apalling overspending and stave off the FL a couple of extra seasons

Wasn't the debacle around selling it to himself though? Is it not the club who now own the training ground? I don't think he's stripped the club of assets aside from the stadium, but I think it was all a plan to increase revenue to help bypass FFP for as long as possible.