RFC - a total shambles

[shadesrwrf]

During my many years of supporting Reading the last three seasons have without doubt been the best so I propose we repeat the pattern. Relegated this year, record breaking season in the Championship next season, over-performing first season back in the prem (this time just making it into Europe just to vary the experience slightly) and then relegated the following season. And repeat.

Or...

[Friday's Child]

I must say, without glee, that the demise of the first team this year, and the fans (over) reaction, neutralised by the (overly) optimistic RTGs, has been wholly........


.........predictable.


Am I the only one that finds each result, signing, post-match reaction a matter of "going through the motions".

Bring on next season...

[winchester_royal]

If we could bring in someone who would have, say, Hunt's kind of influence on our team no doubt we would. But players like Hunt can't be bought, not even from cheapskate clubs like Reading.

PNE have a right winger really similar to Hunt, 22yo Simon Whaley. Whenever I've seen him on tv he always looks lively and energetic, and is a good finisher with either foot.
Middlesbrough and Portsmouth have been linked with £2M mentioned, but nothing seems to have materialised.
We are desperate for a right winger and I think we should make an offer.

a bit more quality would be nice

[Gordons Cumming]

We will be fine.
Anyone looked at our run-in to the end of the season?

We'll pick up a few points in Feb and March at home and 1 or 3 away(?) and April, apart from Arsenal, is a piece of cake.

Sorted.

Why worry?

[paultheroyal]

5 wins and a draw - job done.

[Sculpture of a Fan]

There's nothing wrong with the team which couldn't be solved by paying the going rate in terms of wages. If we don't match our better player's expectations in terms of wages and ambition then they are obviously (and understandably) going to want to leave.

Having said that, wages in football are obscene. Maybe Mr Mad is right to refuse to get sucked into the insanity? However, ultimately, if he doesn't , we will eventually have to resign ourselves to going back to where we came from (or at least back to the Championship). It’s not realistic to expect to sustain a premiership team by picking up ‘bargain basement’ players, no matter how good our scouting is (imho this is backed up by our post promotion transfers). Even if we did happen to unearth a quality player or two we are always going to struggle to keep them unless we show some ambition and match their wage expectations.

The last two and a half years following Reading have been incredible (thanks to Mr Mad, SSC and the players), but I can’t help thinking this transfer window and the next ‘off season’ is the time to start making our choice: start thinking and acting like a premiership club, or lose our best players, get weaker and, most likely, get relegated.

Oh, and anyone suggesting Coppell should leave is clearly a buffoon.

[Gordons Cumming]

Oh, and anyone suggesting Coppell should leave is clearly a buffoon.

Careful, Newbie, careful....................

[Sculpture of a Fan]

I know! Couldn't resist though!

[erwin]

I'm fed up with all the fatalism ... we're going to stay up - start chanting it to yourself now ... in those drowsy moments just before you get up in the morning, while you're taking your first piss, while you're brushing your pegs, in the shower, over your cornies, on the train to work, at the photocopier, over lunch, during that bloody boring pm meeting, on the train home, over dinner, during ... ahem ... you know ... bloody hell ... Reading CANNOT go down, and with the will of all of us, they WILL not.

(from 'Zen - the Art of Staying Up')

[seahawk10]

(from 'Zen - the Art of Staying Up')

Written by John Holmes.

I agree wholeheartedly.

We are staying up!
We-are-staying-up.
We are staying up!
We-are-staying-up.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[RoyalBlue]

I fear that with all the speculation surrounding Hunt, Reading might be so enthused about retaining him and almost see it as a signing.

Agreed, take the money and lets raid the Championship and get 2 at £2million.

Spot on. I though SC had largely built our success on taking good players from lower levels who will give their all to make a success of themselves in the PL. So why the hell not try it? Surely we're not going to be told that such players would rather miss out on the chance of playing in the PL than join little Reading?

5 wins and a draw - job done.

In our current form and with our current squad, where do you think they are going to come from (I certainly wouldn't put any money on the last game of the season at Derby, where if we still need the points players and management will freeze).

Are we still 5 points outside the relegation zone? Well, yes, I think we are! Would those teams below us rather be in our position with our number of points? I rather think they would.

Fcuking doom and gloom merchants! Call yourself supporters when all you want to do is look on the worst possible turn of future events without any real semblance of balance to your views. Crap.

Well the Fcuking doom and gloom merchants have shown more foresight that some at the club up until now! The winger crisis and depletion of central defence (whole squad for that matter) due to the African Cup of nations for starters!

"We knew they'd be powerful at set-pieces and the bigger the team you can put out, the better," said Coppell. "But if any
team loses three centre-halves then they're in trouble." You sodding knew you were likely to lose two of them months ago Mr Coppell!

As for looking on the worst side - early acknowledgement that you are in trouble is normally a pretty good starting point for making sure you have enough time to take effective action to get out of it.

My house hasn't burnt down or flooded yet but it doesn't stop me taking action to make sure it doesn't. To do that I had to contemplate the fact that the worst possible thing might happen!

Fcuking complacency is far more likely to send us down than fcuking doom and gloom!

[Royal Rother]

But the point you are mising is that it is clear that the club have been trying to fill those gaps and that, for whatever reasons, have not been able to attract the quality they would like within the budget set.

You either support the Board and the manager in carrying out that policy or you don't. I do.

But in the meantime giving the team anything other than 100% support for their honest endeavours seems futile and feeble. The players are only as good as they are, and, in my opinion they are good enough to stay up - just.

If we go down it just means they were not good enough to stay up, that's all - it doesn't mean that they gave less than 100%, it doesn't mean that the club is a shambles, that Coppell can't hack it when the pressure is on and all that rubbish.

There is a long-term financial plan here to ensure the long-term stability of the club. That works in the supporters favour as well as the owner. In times of financial instability and uncertainty, deviate from the policies that drive those plans at your peril - as I suspect the next few years will indicate to several recent / current Premier League clubs great cost.

[PEARCEY]

But the point you are mising is that it is clear that the club have been trying to fill those gaps and that, for whatever reasons, have not been able to attract the quality they would like within the budget set.

You either support the Board and the manager in carrying out that policy or you don't. I do.

But in the meantime giving the team anything other than 100% support for their honest endeavours seems futile and feeble. The players are only as good as they are, and, in my opinion they are good enough to stay up - just.

If we go down it just means they were not good enough to stay up, that's all - it doesn't mean that they gave less than 100%, it doesn't mean that the club is a shambles, that Coppell can't hack it when the pressure is on and all that rubbish.

There is a long-term financial plan here to ensure the long-term stability of the club. That works in the supporters favour as well as the owner. In times of financial instability and uncertainty, deviate from the policies that drive those plans at your peril - as I suspect the next few years will indicate to several recent / current Premier League clubs great cost.

Good post RR. Most of what you say is fair comment.
The only issue I have with that is that the wages constraint is always going to mean the club will struggle to attract the quality required to stay in this division. It is a difficult balancing act but I would much rather the club bought two real quality signings with the wages that go with that than four or five so so signings where the players will fit neatly into the wages remit of the club. Personally I think that is adopting a policy that is too constrained.

[Daniella]

Whats this " long term financial plan" madesjski bleats on about?

He's clearly stated he wants to sell the club to a billionaire. How does that constitute a plan? When a billionaire comes in and does the very thing that madejski has moaned about all these years...over inflate the market..where will the club be then?

There is no viable long term plan if the sole planner of it, and the centre of all those plans, buggers off.

[Royal Lady]

But the point you are mising is that it is clear that the club have been trying to fill those gaps and that, for whatever reasons, have not been able to attract the quality they would like within the budget set.

You either support the Board and the manager in carrying out that policy or you don't. I do.

But in the meantime giving the team anything other than 100% support for their honest endeavours seems futile and feeble. The players are only as good as they are, and, in my opinion they are good enough to stay up - just.

If we go down it just means they were not good enough to stay up, that's all - it doesn't mean that they gave less than 100%, it doesn't mean that the club is a shambles, that Coppell can't hack it when the pressure is on and all that rubbish.

There is a long-term financial plan here to ensure the long-term stability of the club. That works in the supporters favour as well as the owner. In times of financial instability and uncertainty, deviate from the policies that drive those plans at your peril - as I suspect the next few years will indicate to several recent / current Premier League clubs great cost.

Do you honestly think that supporters will suddenly turn up and boo the team and sing "sit down for Steve Coppell, he's not worth standing for" just because many of us can see that we're potentially heading for trouble? Your holier-than-thou attitude day in, day out on here is getting tedious and you quite obviously don't know our supporters as well as you seem to think you do. I'll be very surprised if I hear any sort of booing aimed in the direction of our team or manager at any upcoming game. Our support at the games is what counts to the players and management. If some of us wish to discuss our concerns on here, we'll jolly well do so, without having to put up with criticism from the likes of you.

[RoyalBlue]

But the point you are mising is that it is clear that the club have been trying to fill those gaps and that, for whatever reasons, have not been able to attract the quality they would like within the budget set.

You either support the Board and the manager in carrying out that policy or you don't. I do.

But in the meantime giving the team anything other than 100% support for their honest endeavours seems futile and feeble. The players are only as good as they are, and, in my opinion they are good enough to stay up - just.

If we go down it just means they were not good enough to stay up, that's all - it doesn't mean that they gave less than 100%, it doesn't mean that the club is a shambles, that Coppell can't hack it when the pressure is on and all that rubbish.

There is a long-term financial plan here to ensure the long-term stability of the club. That works in the supporters favour as well as the owner. In times of financial instability and uncertainty, deviate from the policies that drive those plans at your peril - as I suspect the next few years will indicate to several recent / current Premier League clubs great cost.

Do you honestly think that supporters will suddenly turn up and boo the team and sing "sit down for Steve Coppell, he's not worth standing for" just because many of us can see that we're potentially heading for trouble? Your holier-than-thou attitude day in, day out on here is getting tedious and you quite obviously don't know our supporters as well as you seem to think you do. I'll be very surprised if I hear any sort of booing aimed in the direction of our team or manager at any upcoming game. Our support at the games is what counts to the players and management. If some of us wish to discuss our concerns on here, we'll jolly well do so, without having to put up with criticism from the likes of you.

So very well said RL!

On the odd occasion when I have had a go at a match it has never ever been directed at the players (sorry PANTS day excepted). Dare I say it, I have committed the ultimate sin by directing my criticism at the saviour of RFC - Mr M and his minions!

My support for the 11 players wearing the hoops on the pitch remains undiminished.

[1960]

I really don't know what you lot are worrying about. The ticket prices are cheaper in the Championship and we get to see our team win more often.

Bring it on!!

Watford screwing up and Charlton only on the fringes. Then there's Sheff Utd in the bottom half. Not to mention Coventry, Leicester, Nottm Forest, Sheff Wed, Palace (recovering now a bit), Norwich, Ipswich, Wolves, Leeds.

Lrt's not be too hasty about giving up our place in the premier League.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

5 wins and a draw - job done.

In our current form and with our current squad, where do you think they are going to come from (I certainly wouldn't put any money on the last game of the season at Derby, where if we still need the points players and management will freeze).

in our current form?

Look at our last few games of "bad form"

West Ham (A)
Spurs (A)
Portsmouth (H)
Aston Villa (A)

How many points were you expecting from those games?


It does always amaze me how some fans panic at a series of poor results, no matter how expected those poor results were, and how they seem to assume it means we'll play bad for the rest of the season.

[Royal Rother]

But the point you are mising is that it is clear that the club have been trying to fill those gaps and that, for whatever reasons, have not been able to attract the quality they would like within the budget set.

You either support the Board and the manager in carrying out that policy or you don't. I do.

But in the meantime giving the team anything other than 100% support for their honest endeavours seems futile and feeble. The players are only as good as they are, and, in my opinion they are good enough to stay up - just.

If we go down it just means they were not good enough to stay up, that's all - it doesn't mean that they gave less than 100%, it doesn't mean that the club is a shambles, that Coppell can't hack it when the pressure is on and all that rubbish.

There is a long-term financial plan here to ensure the long-term stability of the club. That works in the supporters favour as well as the owner. In times of financial instability and uncertainty, deviate from the policies that drive those plans at your peril - as I suspect the next few years will indicate to several recent / current Premier League clubs great cost.

Do you honestly think that supporters will suddenly turn up and boo the team and sing "sit down for Steve Coppell, he's not worth standing for" just because many of us can see that we're potentially heading for trouble? Your holier-than-thou attitude day in, day out on here is getting tedious and you quite obviously don't know our supporters as well as you seem to think you do. I'll be very surprised if I hear any sort of booing aimed in the direction of our team or manager at any upcoming game. Our support at the games is what counts to the players and management. If some of us wish to discuss our concerns on here, we'll jolly well do so, without having to put up with criticism from the likes of you.

Do me a favour will you? When you have a strong point to make, please don't use "jolly-well" in future - it just makes me laugh.

Do me another favour and read the content of the Team Board after and during recent defeats and tell me if that constitutes 100% support for their honest endeavours. I think not.

And tell me you have not heard booing and aggressive reactions to mistakes made by those players from the stands. And tell me you think that won't get more noticeable in the coming weeks if we do really get pulled into the mire. Sorry but that's just ostrich syle naivety.

[Forbury Lion]

If we could bring in someone who would have, say, Hunt's kind of influence on our team no doubt we would. But players like Hunt can't be bought, not even from cheapskate clubs like Reading.

PNE have a right winger really similar to Hunt, 22yo Simon Whaley. Whenever I've seen him on tv he always looks lively and energetic, and is a good finisher with either foot.
Middlesbrough and Portsmouth have been linked with £2M mentioned, but nothing seems to have materialised.
We are desperate for a right winger and I think we should make an offer.

a bit more quality would be nice

players with more quality demand quality wages... maybe we need to continue signing players that we can develop the quality in.

Too bad the academy hasn't proved a success.