Coppell out!

[The whole year inn]

It still amazes me that some people are still able to see the positives out of a load of negatives with our playing style and our results lately. Fair play to those of you that are still positive though.

The positive, as I said elsewhere, is that despite it all promotion is all in our own hands - win one of our games (even draw both) in hand over Brum and all we have to do is match every team below us point for point over 12 games.

As a lot of the teams around us seem as incapable of taking hold of the mettle as we are then this has to be a positive.

the goals will come, we just need to get the first one to take off some of the pressure.

..and it will come early on Tuesday night.

[Royalee]

Some bullish and inspiring words from Coppell today; coming out fighting on the front foot:

Steve, a defat on Saturday was there a bit of a lack of imagination upfront?

I don't know.

Is this a crisis?

I don't know.


http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDet ... 85,00.html

LOLZ

[Skyline]

Of course Coppell should stay until the end of the season. I'm still convinced that, whatever happens, he will leave at the end of this season anyway, but changing things now would be the worst thing we could do. As many others have said, it's not like we're fighting relegation.

If Coppell was going to go, it should have been last season, during the run of 8 defeats after Christmas. I've mentioned it before (but think it bears repeating) that I lost a degree of confidence in him when he came out after about six or seven of those defeats and said (words to the effect of) "Now I have a reason to make changes" - it was like he didn't want to upset the poorly-performing players by dropping them. And I remember being annoyed when Fulham announced they were appointing Roy Hodgson as manager - IMO he was the ideal candidate to replace Coppell at that time.

it's quite clear he can't get his team confident again;
clearly not something he learnt from Fergie.

Why would Coppell have learnt anything from Fergie?

[Rawlie19]

Whatever happens now this season, I think we'll be relegated next season. And it won't be with Coppell.

And if we don't win promotion this season?

If we don't win promotioin this season, I would think the following players will leave: Doyle, Lita, Harper, S Hunt, Matejovsky, Bikey. The following are getting on a bit: Murty, Ingi, Gunnarsson. That leaves us with N Hunt, Kebe, Rosie (might want to jump too), USA and Armstrong, plus the new kids (who I think are a prospect, but not senior players).

I can seriously see us being in the same boat as Charlton this time next year if we don't go up. Sorry, I'm usually up-beat about things, but I feel the glory days are long gone and won't be repeated while Madejski is the owner. I thank him, Coppell and the team for the 3+ years that have been a dream though.

[Rawlie19]

Whatever happens now this season, I think we'll be relegated next season. And it won't be with Coppell.

If we fuk up promotion this season, and I think we will, then next season will be horrible, but never a relegation season. The following season maybe. You happy smiley soul you.

If we go up, then I'll let you rub my belly next season Jay.

[watfordroyal]

What was said & done last season is history, today we stand in a great position, despite our dip in form, with a team that SSC has built.
In August many thought we'd be fighting with the "big boys" alike Charlton, Southampton & Norwich (all of which have dumped their managers!)
I know where I'd sooner be.

[Gordons Cumming]

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... t_to_start

I recall Dillon saying something positive like this at the same stage last season.

[Vision]

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2046161_were_not_finished_were_just_about_to_start

I recall Dillon saying something positive like this at the same stage last season.

LOl. No Dillon's remark was that he'd looked ahead at the fixtures and saw we'd finish 12th!

To be fair Downes remarks are actually what you'd want and expect him to say. he's not predicting where we will finish he's saying its an opportunity to focus on a set period of games. Sounds fair enough to me.

[Gordons Cumming]

It's still a positive comment which I hope proves to be more accurate than Dillon's.

OK?

[Vision]

It's still a positive comment which I hope proves to be more accurate than Dillon's.

OK?

Fine thanks. You?

[3 veesinarow]

I don't really want to haul this thread to the top again, but the lack of rational perspective is really starting to get on my tits. Some "fans" will never be happy until we show Big Four style success and can therefore justify the arrogance that goes with that territory.

A recent comment stated "the glory days are long gone". FFS, we're not Luton, Leeds or even Charlton, we are still slap bang in the middle of a promotion race. They'll only be "gone" this season if the race is lost and "long gone" when we are stuck fast in mid-table (or worse) for seasons in a row.

This is the seventh season out of the last nine where we have been involved in a PROMOTION campaign...oh yes, and I'd quite forgotten, the other two were in the Premier League. Like it or not, and taking into account the frustration of coming back down last season, those were definitely glory days for a club that spent 135 years getting there.

Considering that there is currently ONE player at the club that was involved nine years ago, then that is some consistency to keep turning over personnel and producing squads that challenge the right end of the table year after year. What more can people possibly want from our historically small and underachieving club? Some clubs produce flash in the pan seasons and then just as fast sink back into obscurity, or worse. I remain, at worst, somewhat nervous that our current form is not good, but am absolutely convinced that we will not slide down that path. Nothing will be put right by Coppell leaving at this stage of the season, but whatever he decides to do at the end of this season, he can never be thanked enough for getting us to a position where people CAN bleat hysterically about the end of the glory days.

[CMRoyal]

I don't really want to haul this thread to the top again, but the lack of rational perspective is really starting to get on my tits. Some "fans" will never be happy until we show Big Four style success and can therefore justify the arrogance that goes with that territory.

A recent comment stated "the glory days are long gone". FFS, we're not Luton, Leeds or even Charlton, we are still slap bang in the middle of a promotion race. They'll only be "gone" this season if the race is lost and "long gone" when we are stuck fast in mid-table (or worse) for seasons in a row.

This is the seventh season out of the last nine where we have been involved in a PROMOTION campaign...oh yes, and I'd quite forgotten, the other two were in the Premier League. Like it or not, and taking into account the frustration of coming back down last season, those were definitely glory days for a club that spent 135 years getting there.

Considering that there is currently ONE player at the club that was involved nine years ago, then that is some consistency to keep turning over personnel and producing squads that challenge the right end of the table year after year. What more can people possibly want from our historically small and underachieving club? Some clubs produce flash in the pan seasons and then just as fast sink back into obscurity, or worse. I remain, at worst, somewhat nervous that our current form is not good, but am absolutely convinced that we will not slide down that path. Nothing will be put right by Coppell leaving at this stage of the season, but whatever he decides to do at the end of this season, he can never be thanked enough for getting us to a position where people CAN bleat hysterically about the end of the glory days.

POTS(eason)

[Gordons Cumming]

It's still a positive comment which I hope proves to be more accurate than Dillon's.

OK?

Fine thanks. You?

Couldn't be better.

[The 17 Bus]

I bet you would be better if RFC had wone the last three games??

[brendywendy]

I don't really want to haul this thread to the top again, but the lack of rational perspective is really starting to get on my tits. Some "fans" will never be happy until we show Big Four style success and can therefore justify the arrogance that goes with that territory.

A recent comment stated "the glory days are long gone". FFS, we're not Luton, Leeds or even Charlton, we are still slap bang in the middle of a promotion race. They'll only be "gone" this season if the race is lost and "long gone" when we are stuck fast in mid-table (or worse) for seasons in a row.

This is the seventh season out of the last nine where we have been involved in a PROMOTION campaign...oh yes, and I'd quite forgotten, the other two were in the Premier League. Like it or not, and taking into account the frustration of coming back down last season, those were definitely glory days for a club that spent 135 years getting there.

Considering that there is currently ONE player at the club that was involved nine years ago, then that is some consistency to keep turning over personnel and producing squads that challenge the right end of the table year after year. What more can people possibly want from our historically small and underachieving club? Some clubs produce flash in the pan seasons and then just as fast sink back into obscurity, or worse. I remain, at worst, somewhat nervous that our current form is not good, but am absolutely convinced that we will not slide down that path. Nothing will be put right by Coppell leaving at this stage of the season, but whatever he decides to do at the end of this season, he can never be thanked enough for getting us to a position where people CAN bleat hysterically about the end of the glory days.

shpot on my shon

[The 17 Bus]

Most seem to want us to be a top Championship side, yet not win promotion, as the premier is rubbish, apparantly. Seems like thats what we are trying to do, the only trouble is that feckin idiot Coppell has made us too good and now we are in line for promotion!! No wonder he is getting grief from many here, fancy taking us too far.

[1960]

Some "fans" will never be happy until we show Big Four style success and can therefore justify the arrogance that goes with that territory.

I don't think anyone on this site has ever said he/she wants us to be a top four club. We should, though be able to match clubs such as Fulham (relegated us last year on GD and now 8th), Bolton (beat us by one point and now pretty solid mid-table), Wigan (third/fourth division rivals of old and now in their fourth premier season and pretty solid) and, yes, even West Ham. These are the teams of a similar size to us (West Ham a bit bigger I suppose) so why the hell can't we aspire to match them ?

[3 veesinarow]

Some "fans" will never be happy until we show Big Four style success and can therefore justify the arrogance that goes with that territory.

I don't think anyone on this site has ever said he/she wants us to be a top four club. We should, though be able to match clubs such as Fulham (relegated us last year on GD and now 8th), Bolton (beat us by one point and now pretty solid mid-table), Wigan (third/fourth division rivals of old and now in their fourth premier season and pretty solid) and, yes, even West Ham. These are the teams of a similar size to us (West Ham a bit bigger I suppose) so why the hell can't we aspire to match them ?

I'm not saying that anyone has ever wanted us to be top Four, just that no-one ever seems to be happy with how far we have come and where we are now - they always seem to want us to be five steps ahead of where we actually are. A perfectly valid and reasonable aspiration is to become a comfortable, solid mid-Premier League club such as those quoted, but my real point is why can't people allow us to be "in the moment" and not declare with doom-laden gloom that the party is already over?

[brendywendy]

agreed

realistically just to be challengers for promotion each season was a step up for us as a club, to be a yo yo club would be a huge jump, and to establish ourselves as a top division side is a quantum leap.

people forget who we are sometimes

[Sun Tzu]

These are the teams of a similar size to us (West Ham a bit bigger I suppose) so why the hell can't we aspire to match them ?

Or take Leeds, Leicester, Derby, Forest, Southampton, Watford, Bradford and many others. All teams of a similar size to us and, um, well behind us.....