Fans forum

[PEARCEY]

Agree with previous comments here. It doesn't say a lot about so many of our first team players that many were looking to leave. It certainly seems that being a Premiership footballer has gone to their heads particularly Kitson. Shades of West Ham and the baby Bentleys c January 2007.

[The 17 Bus]

Anyone that has read the notes from the last two fans forums should have learned a massive amount about football mangement and S Coppell.

S Coppell has covered almost all of the complaints that we get on HNA, it is now looking as though getting a new manager in would have been a real disaster, with so many players wanting to leave a new man would have had a torrid time.

I am hoping for an invite to the Directors box along with Readingfanman, should we gain promotion.

[Gordons Cumming]

When Steve Coppell leaves Reading FC it will be one of my saddest days supporting this club.

[Gordons Cumming]

Who do people think the 9 players who wanted out were?
My guess:-

Kitson
Shorey
Little
Sonko
Oster
Doyle
Fae
Lita
Bikey

[Streets]

Who do people think the 9 players who wanted out were?
My guess:-

Kitson
Shorey
Little
Sonko
Oster
Doyle
Fae
Lita
Bikey

Little never went to Coppell and said he wanted to leave.
He agreed a new deal verbally, Coppell came back from holiday and Little took Pompey's offer - now there's loyalty for you.

I'd say Doyle and Hunt are the other two hoping to break away. I just hope we keep both of them. I don't see where the drive and goals will come from minus those two.

[RoyalBlue]

once

not repeatedly

and again

madejski been nothing but honest about expecting loans to be repayed etc
dunno where you are getting the charity bit from
not from him thats fur sure

Come off it, do you not recall the times he repeatedly appeared on BBCRB bleating about all the money he was having to put in to keep the club going with little or no prospect of getting it back?!! He used to say that the very least the Reading public could do in return was come along and support their team.
If that didn't strongly imply charitable/philanthropic motives then I don't knwo what does. Actually I do, I believe he was also on record on more than one occasion as saying he wanted to put something back into the local community and his support of RFC was one way of doing that. Few, I suspect, took this to mean that he was putting back into the community in a similar way to how Barclays do when they lend money to local businesses/people!

Surely, that is exactly the point. When Mad John was putting up his money there was little realistic chance of ever getting it back. The fact that he is getting some/all back is a minor (possibly a major) miracle.

Maybe that was correct at the time, but now he is raking it all back in people can stop painting him as the charitable saint that he never was.

Don't forget, that even if he wasn't expecting to get his money back, through his involvement with RFC he was still taking his name from virtual obscurity right into the limelight. Given the way he behaves, I would suggest that that was a very major motivator for him!

[PEARCEY]

Who do people think the 9 players who wanted out were?
My guess:-

Kitson
Shorey
Little
Sonko
Oster
Doyle
Fae
Lita
Bikey

Not sure about Oster as he wasn't going to get a deal anyway but the others seem right as I doubt from what SC has said that Harps would have requested a transfer. This would say a hell of a lot more about Harper than the rest

[rg6royal]

Who do people think the 9 players who wanted out were?
My guess:-

Kitson
Shorey
Little
Sonko
Oster
Doyle
Fae
Lita
Bikey

Not sure about Oster as he wasn't going to get a deal anyway but the others seem right as I doubt from what SC has said that Harps would have requested a transfer. This would say a hell of a lot more about Harper than the rest

Thats because Harper is loyal and plays for the team.

[Schards#2]

I suppose we all know it anyway but it's depressing to read confirmation of what a bunch of hired mercenaries most players are.

Sounds like there are still many off field problems and if 4-5 of our already shrunken first team squad don't want to be here, it doesn't auger well.

It's ironic to see Madejski imploring more support from the fans when he and half the team are looking for the exit.

[working class hero]

Mr Mads idiotic posturing and windmilling arms yesterday was frankly embarrassing. Does he really need to milk applause like that. And what sort of puppets spring into applause just because thay are told to.

Time for him to sit quietly.

I am sure at one time he said he would sell the club for a peppercorn rate if someone came along with enough cash to advance the club.
Why then is he demanding mega bucks?

[Stranded]

Maybe that was correct at the time, but now he is raking it all back in people can stop painting him as the charitable saint that he never was.

Don't forget, that even if he wasn't expecting to get his money back, through his involvement with RFC he was still taking his name from virtual obscurity right into the limelight. Given the way he behaves, I would suggest that that was a very major motivator for him!

I'm sorry RB, but I just fail to see how anybody would truly have thought that taking over a sleepy blackwater club in third teir of the English game would ever give them the best chance of getting the limelight - esp in 1990 prior to the Premier League (when football was nowhere as "glamour filled" as today) and many years before the massive money came in from Sky and abroad.

Esp. when it would see them having to write cheques week after week to keep said club alive. If fame and limelight where all he craved there would have been so many easier ways for him to acheive that with the finances at his disposal.

[Royal With Cheese]

JM chose to save the club & for that I thank him. However having got to the Prem, he then shat himself & decided that this would be a great opportunity to take back all the money he put in. I for one feel cheated because he talked of big plans & big spending. Our wage bill turned out to be the lowest amongst all the teams & we hardly spent. We have now sold & sold & sold. I have no problem with that, except we haven't replaced what's gone. If we're not careful we will end up back where we came from due to lack of investment. It's like 1995 all over again.

Sorry Nev, it's far worse than 1995.

In 1995 we were still at Elm Park and had we have been promoted we would have been able to refit to about 14,000. We now have a stadium that can generate (roughly) over double of the old elm Park.

In 1995 we had excellent players but if the team of '95 played the team of '06 I believe that squad would have won quite easily. The only players I would have taken out of that would have been Sakka and Osbourn.

We're now systematically dismantling the team. We show little ambition. I don't blame Coppell for that. I blame Madejski. That's it John, get your loans paid up. After all , what would RFC need with your money?

[kwik-silva]

Now, I wasn't supporting RFC in 1995 (with good reason let me tell you) but what we really need now is just for some nice, rich business man, who partakes in no illegal actions and doesn't have any partners that they share business with, to come and buy us

[Royal Lady]

Or perhaps in this economic state of gloom and doom, Mr Mad has to realise that no-one wanted to buy us last year and no one seems interested this year, so maybe he should forget about selling for another year or two and put his energy into sorting the club out and allowing us to purchase/loan a couple more important signings. What are the club's ambitions? Do we really know? I don't. Perhaps he wouldn't mind telling us.

[Royal With Cheese]

Now, I wasn't supporting RFC in 1995 (with good reason let me tell you) but what we really need now is just for some nice, rich business man, who partakes in no illegal actions and doesn't have any partners that they share business with, to come and buy us

That person doesn't exist! Give me a crook with a pile of cash any day!

Oh, hang on.......

[Stranded]

Or perhaps in this economic state of gloom and doom, Mr Mad has to realise that no-one wanted to buy us last year and no one seems interested this year, so maybe he should forget about selling for another year or two and put his energy into sorting the club out and allowing us to purchase/loan a couple more important signings. What are the club's ambitions? Do we really know? I don't. Perhaps he wouldn't mind telling us.

It could also be that in the doom & gloom we are saving for a harsh winter...agreed no-one knows but the stated goal is that we want to get back to the top flight and it would appear we are looking to do it in a smiliar way to last time, by not spending shedloads and trying to engender a superb team ethic - something missing last year.

[Royal Lady]

Didn't Coppell say in his Fan's Forum interview that getting back to the Prem would mean we'd need to find £100 million or something? That says to me that Mr Mad doesn't want us to get back up there because he can't afford it. Therefore, our ambition if you can call it that, is to consolidate in the Championship until someone more willing to spend lots of money buys us. I truly haven't seen anything this season where the Chairman or the Board or the Management have declared outright that we will be going all out to get back to the Prem this season. I might have missed it. So, please someone point me in the direction of these comments.

[kwik-silva]

Yeah he does somewhere... He says it would require big big money, upwards of 100m or something. Consolidation in the CCC might not be a bad thing though, although it may mean some of our better players may want to leave even more

[PEARCEY]

Or perhaps in this economic state of gloom and doom, Mr Mad has to realise that no-one wanted to buy us last year and no one seems interested this year, so maybe he should forget about selling for another year or two and put his energy into sorting the club out and allowing us to purchase/loan a couple more important signings. What are the club's ambitions? Do we really know? I don't. Perhaps he wouldn't mind telling us.

It could also be that in the doom & gloom we are saving for a harsh winter...agreed no-one knows but the stated goal is that we want to get back to the top flight and it would appear we are looking to do it in a smiliar way to last time, by not spending shedloads and trying to engender a superb team ethic - something missing last year.

Not totally true as we were not flogging off our better players three years ago. Having said that after what Coppell has said about 8/9 wanting to leave anyway.... let them go....it does really grate though that such underperformance during the second half of last season has been rewarded with Premiership deals for some of them. If we go up and Stoke go down I will be feeling pretty smug.

[Ian Royal]

Didn't Coppell say in his Fan's Forum interview that getting back to the Prem would mean we'd need to find £100 million or something? That says to me that Mr Mad doesn't want us to get back up there because he can't afford it. Therefore, our ambition if you can call it that, is to consolidate in the Championship until someone more willing to spend lots of money buys us. I truly haven't seen anything this season where the Chairman or the Board or the Management have declared outright that we will be going all out to get back to the Prem this season. I might have missed it. So, please someone point me in the direction of these comments.

I thought we'd passed that ridiculous arguement that has been floating around for all but a couple of seasons since 95 or earlier.

clearly not.

I'm sure someone with a brain for finances could make a convincing arguement for a promotion followed by relegation every couple of years being massively more beneficial financially than consolidation in the Championship. And without massive investment once promotion is attained we've already shown that with the right spirit and a bit of luck you can survive at least one season.

IMO the plan is clearly to push for promotion on the assumption that what we have is potentially good enough with a few changes where necessary. Probably relying on the posibility of using the January window (whether it comes off or not) to strengthern in the areas which become more apparent.

But to do that without heavy financial investment so that if it doesn't happen the club are still on a sound footing. I'm not talking about if we don't do that it'll be a Leeds, but in the current climate it could rule out a challenge in another season for many years.

worst (realistic) case scenario is we end up midtable and join all the other Championship teams who are 2 - 3 players and a bit of luck away from a strong promotion push. BUT if things go worse and we end up having a season fighting relegation we have the funds in place to rescue ourselves if necessary.