Hard to see any progress for the forseeable future

[Southbank Old Boy]

1. The last time there was a thread like this was to do with the extention where I was roundly mocked, particularly by the morbidly ignorant such as yourself, for suggesting that the extention was a bad idea as there was unlikely to be the demand to fill the existing capacity going forward. One year on and we're playing in front of 4,000+ empty seats every week.

Personally I would still rather have the extension going ahead so if (or should that be when ) we return to the Premiership we have a stadium in place that will enable the club to keep prices slightly lower and to cope with the demand. As it stands we will have to suffer huge increases in prices again.........

I totally agree with this. It would also have been a sign of the progress that Schards is adament is lacking (which I agree with, off the pitch at least, and still share his concerns about how the current preiod of the clubs history will impact the medium to long term future of the club).

[Southbank Old Boy]

Whilst I feel that the only way Reading FC could bcome an established Premiership team IS by expanding the stadium, that clearly isn't going to happen for a few years yet - firstly, we have to get back into the Premiership, and then look as if we are going to be staying there for more than a couple of seasons before it would even be contemplated.

Even if all those things were in place now, I think that plans for expansion would have been shelved anyway due to the credit crunch, as it would have been difficult to raise the neccesary funds at a reasonable price at this time (I understand that the costs equate to approx £1000 per seat for the expansion; therefore, additional 14,000 seats = £14M).

However longer term, I would imagine that it is still in the plans.

What I don't understand are those that think expansion plans are, in some way, wrong, yet accuse the club of "lacking ambition"!

It's a bit chicken and egg really isn't it

We won't really be able to establish ourselves without the extra capacity but without establishing ourselves it's unlikely that we'll expand

Wasn't the east stand expansion of about 6-8,000 seats due to go ahead first? I think we should've gone ahead with that asap, and I think if we did that, and had gone into Europe at the end of our first season we'd be sitting pretty in the Premiership now

[Silver Fox]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

[West Stand Man]

Hardly. £13 million sold, £1.5 million bought is not a freshening up, it's a firesale.
The young players have been picked out of neccesity rather than out of a desire to make them first team regulars. I fully expect to see them out of the squad within two weeks barring further injuries.
I could live with mid table finish if we were rebuilding a team for the future but we are not. A mid table finish this year is a continuation of a downward drift and gradual erosion of our dream team rather than a first step for a growing new side. A totally wasted season that simply puts any genuine stab at a return to the prem back twelve months.

These are quotes that you may wish to review in the light of some real facts now?

£13m in and £1.5m out looks good business now I think, and the youngsters are showing up to be pretty reasonable. Karacan is settling as a regular starter and Pearce looks very comfortable when he plays (I think both will flit in and out this season as they are young and will need nurturing not overusing).

[Schards#2]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

He has indeed.

I'd be interested to know where the people think the £15 million odd that would have been spent would have come from.

Doyle - £5m
Hunt - £4m
Bikey - £1m

Not buying Hunt and Armstrong - £1.5m

Getting there but i'm not sure we'd be tearing up trees on the pitch

[Wycombe Royal]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

He has indeed.

I'd be interested to know where the people think the £15 million odd that would have been spent would have come from.

Doyle - £5m
Hunt - £4m
Bikey - £1m

Not buying Hunt and Armstrong - £1.5m

Getting there but i'm not sure we'd be tearing up trees on the pitch

For someone who works in the financial industry you sure do post some crap at times to do with the financial matters, regardless of whther you are serious or not.

[Schards#2]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

He has indeed.

I'd be interested to know where the people think the £15 million odd that would have been spent would have come from.

Doyle - £5m
Hunt - £4m
Bikey - £1m

Not buying Hunt and Armstrong - £1.5m

Getting there but i'm not sure we'd be tearing up trees on the pitch

For someone who works in the financial industry you sure do post some crap at times to do with the financial matters, regardless of whther you are serious or not.

Why would people in the Financial Services industry be any different from everyone else?

[brendywendy]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

He has indeed.

I'd be interested to know where the people think the £15 million odd that would have been spent would have come from.

Doyle - £5m
Hunt - £4m
Bikey - £1m

Not buying Hunt and Armstrong - £1.5m

Getting there but i'm not sure we'd be tearing up trees on the pitch

probably loans, i dont think anyone would expect a stadium to be expanded for cash

[Wycombe Royal]

He has indeed.

I'd be interested to know where the people think the £15 million odd that would have been spent would have come from.

Doyle - £5m
Hunt - £4m
Bikey - £1m

Not buying Hunt and Armstrong - £1.5m

Getting there but i'm not sure we'd be tearing up trees on the pitch

For someone who works in the financial industry you sure do post some crap at times to do with the financial matters, regardless of whther you are serious or not.

Why would people in the Financial Services industry be any different from everyone else?

Fair point, I can't argue with that..........

[Hoop Blah]

The young players have been picked out of neccesity rather than out of a desire to make them first team regulars. I fully expect to see them out of the squad within two weeks barring further injuries.

These are quotes that you may wish to review in the light of some real facts now?

...and the youngsters are showing up to be pretty reasonable. Karacan is settling as a regular starter and Pearce looks very comfortable when he plays (I think both will flit in and out this season as they are young and will need nurturing not overusing).

Isn't that exactly what was originally said though? The youngsters would come in and then make way again once the regulars where back fit and ready. Pearce covered well for Ivar, but lost his place at the first real opportunity. Karacan is filling in currenlty, and doing a fine job too, but when Marek and Harper are back fit will be keep those two and Bryn out of the team? I doubt it, and like you say, he'll need resting and taking out of the firing line at times.

That's what squad players are for, and I can't really knock the way their being handled at the moment by Coppell, although I'd still like to see a bit more of Pearce and Henry out on the pitch.

[brendywendy]

i reckon its more to do with the numbers

if karacan is out, then henry may get his chance, or pearce
i just dont think that coppell-rightly IMO wants to go out with three kids on the field, and is more likely to put them out one at a time with experience around them.

karacan has the shirt for the moment, and the way he and brynn are playing coppell wont swap things until a loss, or an injury IMO

[Platypuss]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

He has indeed.

I'd be interested to know where the people think the £15 million odd that would have been spent would have come from.

I would have thought it was obvious - from the huge amount of money we didn't spend on players in the Premiership.

[paultheroyal]

This thread is almost as good as the Leona Lewis one we had a few months or more back!!!!

[Vision]

The young players have been picked out of neccesity rather than out of a desire to make them first team regulars. I fully expect to see them out of the squad within two weeks barring further injuries.

These are quotes that you may wish to review in the light of some real facts now?

...and the youngsters are showing up to be pretty reasonable. Karacan is settling as a regular starter and Pearce looks very comfortable when he plays (I think both will flit in and out this season as they are young and will need nurturing not overusing).

Isn't that exactly what was originally said though? The youngsters would come in and then make way again once the regulars where back fit and ready. Pearce covered well for Ivar, but lost his place at the first real opportunity. Karacan is filling in currenlty, and doing a fine job too, but when Marek and Harper are back fit will be keep those two and Bryn out of the team? I doubt it, and like you say, he'll need resting and taking out of the firing line at times.

That's what squad players are for, and I can't really knock the way their being handled at the moment by Coppell, although I'd still like to see a bit more of Pearce and Henry out on the pitch.

Harper was fit on Saturday but Karacan still played but i agree with your general point.

For me the real progress is that they are genuinely part of the 1st team squad this season rather than just making up the numbers for training whilst waiting for a loan deal to come through. Personally thats all i was ever looking for and in my opinion its a big step forward for the club. Henry and Kelly both also now regular members of the match day squad with Henry now getting a bench spot ahead of someone of Convey's ability at this level..

Its probably fair to say that if everyone was fit then things might look a little different but its a very rare week when a whole squad is available and to finally have a smattering of youngsters making their mark is huge cause for optimism in my view. The fact that we've done it whilst currently maintaining a strong promotion challenge makes it all the sweeter as far as i'm concerned. I've said before that i'd have settled for a couple of seasons of the "dull and uninspiring mid-table football" that Schards predicted if at the end of it we had managed to produce at least 2 or 3 of our own as regular starters with others knocking on the door. Of course its too early to truly make any real judgements but from that point of view alone i can't see how anyone would think there wasn't progress being made and have cause for optimism for our future (foreseeable or otherwise).

[Thaumagurist*]

Whay are people still discussing the extension? Haven't you seen that Schards has confirmed he was right?

He thinks he's correct. I'm not convinced that 4k empty seats (especially when most of them are in the away stand) is evidence that we shouldn't have the extension built. When Wolves and Birmingham come visiting, we'll see how many people are demanding tickets long after these games have been sold out.

[Hoop Blah]

I thought Harper was still being held back because he wasn't quite fit. That was only from what Murty was saying on the radio yesterday though so might be quite wide of the mark there.

Totally agree that they're now part of the squad though, and I'm pleased to see that Coppell does seem to have learnt a bit from his mistakes last season and is willing to trust those outside of his usual favourites. Some of that is obviously down to necessity, but some seem to have just won ther shirt and have kept it.

Like you Vision, I was reasonably happy to see this year as a chance to get the youths through even at the cost of a few league places here or there.

[brendywendy]

club announced he wqs fit and available

looked to me like he was left out as brynn and jem were winning games, and cisse came on and scored the other day

thatll be the kick up the ass that harps needed, and hell be playing well again whenever he gets his next game

[BR2]

Can't disagree with what you have posted Vision as you,I and a number of other long-standing fans have waited for so long to see a few youngsters come through and to see our club as being a bit more "local" rather than a gathering of French,Icelandics,Irish,Americans and Africans who just happen to be playing for Reading for a few years.
As for the youngsters I am impressed with Jem playing in the most competitive area of the game and to some extent Pearce although it looks as though he will always need to have a pacier fellow centre-back with him but his strength in the air should at least mean a career at Championship or lower level.
Not sure about Henry-he doesn't have great pace which is unfortunate for a winger and although Little got away with not being the quickest he did have great close control.
Kelly looks to be a player that the club believes in-he is now a regular on the bench and is brought on as often as possible to gain experience,something else that we have wanted to see more often with young players.

It is definitely easier to bring in young players at this level than in The Premiership and the hope is that they will blossom enough to become genuine top level players if and when we get back up there.
As I see it we are making progress in that area and from the low point of being relegated we have made short term progress by being amongst the promotion prospects.
Time will tell whether our signings and developing youngsters will keep us in the race but my main concern is the January transfer window when the likes of Bikey,Doyle and Harper might leave.
Only after that month will we know whether we are regressing or progressing because the standard of new signings might dictate how we eventually end up.
BTW it was briefly mentioned earlier that Birmingham have 3 players over 30 and that was portrayed as a negative-we have Bryn,Ivar,Murty and Marcus in that category,3 of whom now look to be first choices this season so we are probably on a par with them on the oldies front.

Good entertainment over the past few games-long may that continue but I want to see January come and go before making a judgement on whether real progress has been made-3rd from the bottom in The Premiership is similar to 3rd from top in The Championship so currently we are about where we were at the end of last season.

[brendywendy]

think they were being criticised for buying in ageing replacementsto replace their best players who they sold
whereas ours have been here for ages