SC hasn't a clue.

[Woodcote Royal]

"we don't miss Sidwell"

"this squad is better than the 2005/6 squad"

I can't be bothered reading back but anyone who agrees with these 2 statements must be a bit head mental and that reason i am OUT.

Dont miss Sidwell,is he mad.Thats the reason we are where we are,struggling to make the play offs and thats why we were relegated.Get Paul Jewell in he knows the Prem and the championship inside out.

As the only person I have ever placed on ignore is only too aware, I always maintained that Sidwell was over rated and replaceable (he's improved since he left but is still not playing regular first team football)

We have missed him simply because Coppell failed to replace him or even to give Karacan the chances his performances this season have deserved.

[boy1985]

As the only person I have ever placed on ignore is only too aware, I always maintained that Sidwell was over rated and replaceable (he's improved since he left but is still not playing regular first team football)

We have missed him simply because Coppell failed to replace him or even to give Karacan the chances his performances this season have deserved.

Do you fall over a lot?

[brendywendy]

Is it my fault you can't read?

i thought the this could relate to the village, not the idiot

[Royal_Belly]

As the only person I have ever placed on ignore is only too aware, I always maintained that Sidwell was over rated and replaceable (he's improved since he left but is still not playing regular first team football)

We have missed him simply because Coppell failed to replace him or even to give Karacan the chances his performances this season have deserved.

Do you fall over a lot?

Oh... maybe he was the 2 year old he was talking about!!!

So who would you have gone out and brought to replace Sidwell then Woodcote - Enlighten us?

[Woodcote Royal]

As the only person I have ever placed on ignore is only too aware, I always maintained that Sidwell was over rated and replaceable (he's improved since he left but is still not playing regular first team football)

We have missed him simply because Coppell failed to replace him or even to give Karacan the chances his performances this season have deserved.

Do you fall over a lot?

I'm not saying that Sidwell played badly for us just that to have replaced him with a player of similar ability would not have busted our Premiership bank account.

As I've said before, what we spent on Fae could have replaced Sidwell.

[boy1985]

I'm not saying that Sidwell played badly for us just that to have replaced him with a player of similar ability would not have busted our Premiership bank account.

As I've said before, what we spent on Fae could have replaced Sidwell.

Who then?
IMO there was no-one around that we could afford or would come to us with the same ability as Sidwell.
No-one is going to argue that Fae was a pathetic buy but that's a different story.

[Woodcote Royal]

As the only person I have ever placed on ignore is only too aware, I always maintained that Sidwell was over rated and replaceable (he's improved since he left but is still not playing regular first team football)

We have missed him simply because Coppell failed to replace him or even to give Karacan the chances his performances this season have deserved.

Do you fall over a lot?

Oh... maybe he was the 2 year old he was talking about!!!

So who would you have gone out and brought to replace Sidwell then Woodcote - Enlighten us?

It's not you who I have placed on ignore just the two year old........................as has been the case for some time.

[Hoop Blah]

As the only person I have ever placed on ignore is only too aware, I always maintained that Sidwell was over rated and replaceable (he's improved since he left but is still not playing regular first team football)

We have missed him simply because Coppell failed to replace him or even to give Karacan the chances his performances this season have deserved.

Do you fall over a lot?

I'm not saying that Sidwell played badly for us just that to have replaced him with a player of similar ability would not have busted our Premiership bank account.

As I've said before, what we spent on Fae could have replaced Sidwell.

I don't wish to get involved in your petty squabbles, but from my recollections you said we wouldn't miss Sidwell because we had Gunnarsson who was just as good and would prove how over rated Sidwell was.

[Woodcote Royal]

I'm not saying that Sidwell played badly for us just that to have replaced him with a player of similar ability would not have busted our Premiership bank account.

As I've said before, what we spent on Fae could have replaced Sidwell.

Who then?
IMO there was no-one around that we could afford or would come to us with the same ability as Sidwell.
No-one is going to argue that Fae was a pathetic buy but that's a different story.

But that's because you, like so many Reading fans, totally over rate Sidwell.

He was a very good box to box player but didn't have the skills to put him out of the price range of lower Premiership clubs....................if he did, the now improved Sidwell would be guaranteed a start every week at a club like Aston Villa.

i'm not getting into who was available when he left....................in my view, his record since he left justifies my stance.

Furthermore, Sidwell's failure to sign numerous offers of a new contract gave the club ample time to effect some damage limitation and, as ever, Coppell did nothing.

[papereyes]

"we don't miss Sidwell"

"this squad is better than the 2005/6 squad"

I can't be bothered reading back but anyone who agrees with these 2 statements must be a bit head mental and for that reason i am OUT.

'greed.

I think I need a beer.

The only thing that trumps it, imo, is "there are three worse teams"

I don't wish to get involved in your petty squabbles, but from my recollections you said we wouldn't miss Sidwell because we had Gunnarsson who was just as good and would prove how over rated Sidwell was.

:

[Woodcote Royal]

I don't wish to get involved in your petty squabbles, but from my recollections you said we wouldn't miss Sidwell because we had Gunnarsson who was just as good and would prove how over rated Sidwell was.

I remember saying we'd rarely missed Sidwell when he was injured and that, that was down to some excellant performances from Gunnarrson but I never expected him to last a whole season without the distinct possibility of age catching up with him.

As with other Coppell favourites, it seems he never wants to replace them until they've actually gone, as if he's hoping against hope that they will stay and just as with Shorey, this practice has cost us dearly.

[Agent Balti]

The reason Sidwell doesn't get a look in at Villa is for the very over-rated, but O'Neill favourite, Stiylian Petrov. And he's been injured plenty this season.

To say that Sidwell for us was over-rated, frankly, is bollocks. The fact that he hasn't been replaced adequately is proof that he, in the system we play (sorry, don't play very well) is proof in itself. To cite a lack of skill for a box to box midfielder is lazy. Box to box midfielders are not flair players, nor would I have wanted Sidwell to produce any fancy flicks. His sheer energy alone was the difference between him and other defensive midfielders, like Fae, Cisse, Gunnarsson, or anyone else that's played in midfield alongside Harper.

To my mind, it is one of the main reasons why our system fails today. A lack of a proper attacking midfielder to give the opposition defence something to mark or creating space. Since Sidwell left we have had many pretenders who pick up the pieces on the edge of the box (Cisse comes to mind) but not one of them has that drive all over the park, that gives us a 'consistent' threat.

Sidwell over-rated? Not a chance.

[The 17 Bus]

We also miss a class taker of free kicks, in the recent past we have had Shorey and Caskey, now a decent free kick is one that goes in the general direction of the goal,

[Top Flight]

We're missing alot of things at the moment.

IMO we are missing Sidwell and Shorey the most and an in form Glen Little.

[Top Flight]

So Reading are 5th in the table of clubs of similar stature.

Considering there are about 40 odd clubs of Readings stature and potential, maybe more, we are definitely doing very well.

Reading's board has the most cautious approach to football finance (compared to the 4 clubs listed above) and there is no doubt that it affects the outcome on the pitch.

I really don't think there is anyone out there who could replicate what Coppell is achieving under Readings unique circumstances. He is doing a truly amazing job.

All this ridiculously high expectation has been created by one truly sensational season that was a one off in not just the history of Reading but the history of any club.

5th in the Championship is a spectacular achievement for a club like Reading.

Do you write this sort of nonsense for a bet?

Have you never heard of parachute payments?

After 2 seasons in the top flight and the resulting £10m? safety net we are currently enjoying, there is absolutely sod all similarity in the respective statures of clubs like Reading and Blackpool or even biggers clubs such as Southampton, Norwich and Ipswich etc, for whom parachute payments have now expired.

Add this to our largely intact Premiership squad that we kept following our totally avoidable relegation and it really beggars belief just how far Coppell's apologists are willing to go to distort the truth, in order to defend the errors he made that have led to 2 seasons as spectacular in their failure as the previous two were in their success.

If this season is considered a failure, then Fook me.

I have been watching a total failure of a club for many many years. What we have now is truly remarkable compared to where we could be right now.

[Southbank Old Boy]

We also miss a class taker of free kicks, in the recent past we have had Shorey and Caskey, now a decent free kick is one that goes in the general direction of the goal,

And still Harper has rarely had a chance to take a few

[Cookie]

Steve Coppell - The greatest manager we have had in my 25 years watching Reading.

But......Whatever club he is at he will never last more than 3/4 seasons. His teams are made up of unknown grafters, if his team does well they either leave because the club isn't big enough (lets face it he will never be in charge of a big club), or they get too big for their boots, and he can't manage that type of player. Everything happening now was always on the cards, the same happened at Palace.

Time for a change after this season is out.

[1871royals]

I think we did have a few realistic Sidwell replacements we missed out on.

Marvin Elliot moved to Bristol City for nothing that Summer. (Fair enough he hasnt proved it in the Prem but he would have done better than Cisse or Fae).
Palacios moved to Birmingham.
Robbie Savage or Boateng as a short term measure
Muamba moved to Birmingham after a loan spell we were coming off a 8th position in Prem we should have been a more attractive option
Etuhu moved to Sunderland
Olifijana playing for Wolves

I think all the above players were within our price range and we would have been an attractive option. Also they are all Ballwinners, I didn't think we needed Ben Watson for e.g as hes more creative. Additionally apart from Palaciois all had experience in English football which was a massive problem with Fae/Cisse etc.

Slightly off topic, SC has found us some gems in transfer market but he struggles to sign "good/established players." Coming off an 8th place finish in prem we should have got much better players in. For e.g. Stoke signing Beattie a players whos proven it in Prem, I couldnt imagine SC going for a player like him last season. Most clubs raid the Championship when they enter the Prem but we didnt do that.

[Terminal Boardom]

The frustration is the management knowing for fully 12 months that Sidwell was going to leave yet did not find an adequate replacement. Sidwell and Harper formed a fairly dynamic CM pairing which has not been matched since he left.

If that was not bad enough, losing our main supply route for goals was the final nail. Convey was injured and / or out of form and Blakey was plain old injured. We never adequately replaced them either. Thus 3/4 of our first choice midfield from the previous 2 seasons were unavailable for one reason or another. How many clubs could have coped with that? Again, the frustration is that nothing was done to rectify.

[Royal Rother]

To say that Sidwell for us was over-rated, frankly, is bollocks. The fact that he hasn't been replaced adequately is proof that he, in the system we play is proof in itself.

Well that makes a lot of sense.

It's actually pretty simple - Sidwell was over-rated by some and under-rated by others. He was an important cog but no more so than several other players, and less so than some.

He turned in loads of extremely average performances in both 2005/6 and 2006/7 seasons, but because he left and the team's performances declined he is now viewed as the vital player upon whom we were completely reliant - frankly that is bollocks.