Oh dear.....

[brendywendy]

I think Mooney could be another Doyle.

On the basis of what exactly? that he has scored 20 goals for....CORK

isnt that the same basis upon which we based our purchase of doyle though?

[RoyalBlue]

Well if the Vote of Confidence thread is anything to go by, those three 'happy' strikers are going to have to do a damn good job in order to win over some 7,000+ less than happy supporters!

ALOL @ using a poll on here as a gauge of the RFC support, even then it has it as people voting that they are confident in the current administration. Clown

If you want to get so F*cking abusive and personal, why don't you do the decent thing and give up your moderator position you ...............

As a moderator (albeit IMO a poor one) do you really think that the current large membership of HNA is not pretty representative of RFC support in general? Or do you hold the opinion that only a small and certain class of people still use the internet?!

Now do the maths:

Say 16,000 fans of which 44% aren't confident in the present management. That by my calculation comes to the 7,000 (7,040 to be precise hence 7,000+) I mentioned. At no point did I claim that there weren't those that were confident in the current administration say: @9,0000

[Skin]

So one day we're telling the world they have 3 weeks to come and buy our players the next we're assuming no-one will want to buy any of our strikers and we'll be ok with the 3. Lets face it if (for example Doyle gets snapped up by a Prem club, could we really stop him? we certainly won't get involved in a wages war) will we have any time left to replace him? Besides 3 strikers are never enough when you consider injuries, cup games, internationals (assuming Doyle and Long get recalled) etc etc. OK so we will dump ourselves out of the cups? Great. No-one will get injured (I bet we don't have 3 fit strikers after the first 2 games) O'h and we're assuming the 3 we do have will be in form all season (Long?) and take it in turns to come off the bench to score when the pairing we play aren't scoring? OK we have the youngsters to play in the cups but even so WTF is going on here?

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Spin. Little more than that.

Very few managers are ever going to come out and say their current players aren't good enough, and there's a big difference between saying if we can't get anybody in then the three we have will be OK, and thinking that we don't need anyone.

the very fact that we've apparently put a bid in for Noel Hunt rather implies that we are trying to sign a new forward, rather than that we aren't.

I'm sure "the more enlightened members of the board" will find a way of using the bid for a striker as proof that we aren't trying to sign anyone though.

[Skin]

Spin. Little more than that.

Very few managers are ever going to come out and say their current players aren't good enough, and there's a big difference between saying if we can't get anybody in then the three we have will be OK, and thinking that we don't need anyone.

the very fact that we've apparently put a bid in for Noel Hunt rather implies that we are trying to sign a new forward, rather than that we aren't.
I'm sure "the more enlightened members of the board" will find a way of using the bid for a striker as proof that we aren't trying to sign anyone though.

I hope you are right, although that could indeed be the 'spin' instead?

[Gordons Cumming]

I think Mooney could be another Doyle.

On the basis of what exactly? that he has scored 20 goals for....CORK

A hunch

Next question.

[Seal]

im happy to judge their decisions when theyve made them
rather than freaking out now
feck all we can do about it anyway

That's a fairly swift change of position from:

brendywendy wrote:
the interview as a whole makes it quite clear that none of this reactionary rubbish is true

LOLOLOL
how is it a change of position at all?!

they are both totally different things

one says ill happily judge the club when the transfer dealings are done.
the other is saying the interview from steve coppell doesnt say he " isnt going to buy a new striker at all."

not sure on what your argument is there at all

I'll try and spell it out....

You said that if you read the full interview, it will show that everyone over reacting to the specific Coppell quote is wrong.

I did a quick analysis of the interview, which suggested that maybe we have cause for concern.

You then said, "oh well, I'll judge things later, nothing we can do about it anyway".

That strikes me a quite change of position in about 5 minutes.

Anyway, no point arguing over it. We both want the same thing, which is success for RFC. I just I guess I'm a little more pessimistic about us having any this season IF (and I appreciated it's a big IF) we don't pull our finger out!

[Toadie]

I think the key frustration here is 'lack of ambition'. Its all very well picking up replacement players, but if they're unproven and fail to adapt, by November you're 20 points off the pace, and praying for 3 or 4 teams to spectacularly collapse in order for your team to be in with a shout for the automatics.

It's disappointing to see that:

a) Existing players clearly have little faith in us returning to the Prem at the first time of asking
b) Ex-Prem players don't see us as a route back up
c) We don't appear to have any money! Even though we've spent about £10m tops in 2-3 years.

The Toad (Blood pressure rising)

[Tilehurst Mike]

It takes a lot for me to actually say something on here (40-odd posts in 4 years of the new board) but after 38 years as a fan this is one season I'm really starting to worry about before it's even started.

I was as happy as most to see Copp stay (I didn't really want the upheaval of a new guy trashing the squad) but all the noises coming from the Mad Stad point to either no money or not wanting to spend it. Or maybe inability to buy players. Or low wages. It's like the Spanish Inquisition sketch - you can always find one more thing to add to the list of possible reasons but at the end of the day, I'm not qualified or a fly-on-the-wall to know what the problem is.......

but I do know that I, personally, am getting ticked off with this because as I see it, the money I/we spend isn't being reinvested in the team. Now, that may be a very simple argument but I pay my season ticket, programmes, food, shirts, other merchandise etc and that's my choice... but I also pay money to Sky who last season (and this with parachute?) pay a big sum on to my club. £30m? £50m?

Where's it all going?

Are we really so cr*p that we can't attract any players? Christ, Derby just paid £1.75m for Rob Hulse. You may not like him, but if they are able to do that, where is our effort and looking / making offers / spending?

Less than 3 weeks to go and I wouldn't mind betting that by August 10th we have a squad which also does not include Shorey, Harper, Doyle and even Matejovsky (were he fit enough to attract an offer). What will Coppell say then "a chance for last season's fringe players to shine" ??

That's fine, but not at £400-odd quid a season mate*. start spending something on the team. (*and that's just the home games of course, and ignoring the fact i also pay for 2 teenagers)

That all may be very simplistic ... me>money>club/sky>team but you get my point. We're not competing with everyone else, and I'm already tired of Mr Mad's moral high ground over high wages and transfer fees. If we can't play with the big boys, why does he bother?

one of the best posts on here for a long time. Agree with every word!

[Barry the bird boggler]

I think the key frustration here is 'lack of ambition'. Its all very well picking up replacement players, but if they're unproven and fail to adapt, by November you're 20 points off the pace, and praying for 3 or 4 teams to spectacularly collapse in order for your team to be in with a shout for the automatics.

It's disappointing to see that:

a) Existing players clearly have little faith in us returning to the Prem at the first time of asking
b) Ex-Prem players don't see us as a route back up
c) We don't appear to have any money! Even though we've spent about £10m tops in 2-3 years.

The Toad (Blood pressure rising)

a) Which ones exactly, Kits always said he wanted to get back to the Premiership as quickly as possible and Shorey has continually been linked with other clubs even when we were in the Premiership. Harper has a clause in his contract that put him on the transfer list following relegation. Can't recall any other moans from players saying how they want to walk out.

b) Anyone have proof that Reading have actually approached a Premiership club about signing one of their "lesser" players?

c) Agreed. 2 years in the Premier league + parachute payments and 4 million for Kitson and the club tells SC he has to sell before he buys. One wonders what JM is on here as presumably all players would have had to take a pay cut after relegation. So there's definitely something unambitious going on there....

[papereyes]

According to the guy on SSN JUST NOW we are in talks with a foreign striker at the moment but are very cagey about the details.

[Gordons Cumming]

According to the guy on SSN JUST NOW we are in talks with a foreign striker at the moment but are very cagey about the details.

Face facts.......we are always cagey until deal is finalised. The Reading way and so it should be.
Reading will never go public about transfer dealings until deal is done. Any talk by the management in public is designed to get the best price for any deal coming in or out.

Consequently we are all going to be really frustrated.......................

[Toadie]

I think the key frustration here is 'lack of ambition'. Its all very well picking up replacement players, but if they're unproven and fail to adapt, by November you're 20 points off the pace, and praying for 3 or 4 teams to spectacularly collapse in order for your team to be in with a shout for the automatics.

It's disappointing to see that:

a) Existing players clearly have little faith in us returning to the Prem at the first time of asking
b) Ex-Prem players don't see us as a route back up
c) We don't appear to have any money! Even though we've spent about £10m tops in 2-3 years.

The Toad (Blood pressure rising)

a) Which ones exactly, Kits always said he wanted to get back to the Premiership as quickly as possible and Shorey has continually been linked with other clubs even when we were in the Premiership. Harper has a clause in his contract that put him on the transfer list following relegation. Can't recall any other moans from players saying how they want to walk out.

b) Anyone have proof that Reading have actually approached a Premiership club about signing one of their "lesser" players?

c) Agreed. 2 years in the Premier league + parachute payments and 4 million for Kitson and the club tells SC he has to sell before he buys. One wonders what JM is on here as presumably all players would have had to take a pay cut after relegation. So there's definitely something unambitious going on there....

On point a), Hunt has said publicly that its better if the fans know that players want to move on. If bids come in, I can't see any of our squad saying "No, I brought Reading down, I owe it one season to try and get them back up". Idealistic I know.

On c), I remember seeing an old Leicester fanzine on the train when I was about 14 called "Where's The Money Gone?", and finding their plight highly amusing.

That memory is getting less and less funny.

[Alan Partridge]

According to the guy on SSN JUST NOW we are in talks with a foreign striker at the moment but are very cagey about the details.

Probably be another 16 year old Bulgarian for the Academy.

Or it'll be one of the Irish lads, Mooney or Hunt mk2.

[Huntley & Palmer]

If you want to get so F*cking abusive and personal, why don't you do the decent thing and give up your moderator position you ...............

As a moderator (albeit IMO a poor one) do you really think that the current large membership of HNA is not pretty representative of RFC support in general? Or do you hold the opinion that only a small and certain class of people still use the internet?!

Now do the maths:

Say 16,000 fans of which 44% aren't confident in the present management. That by my calculation comes to the 7,000 (7,040 to be precise hence 7,000+) I mentioned. At no point did I claim that there weren't those that were confident in the current administration say: @9,0000

Calm down cherub, it's only a message board If you wish to apply less than 1% of the match going RFC fans on here that voted on that thread, as a sample of support for our entire match day crowd then you go ahead. It makes me laugh that one person could have so much hatred for the club he supports, what a mug.

[papereyes]

According to the guy on SSN JUST NOW we are in talks with a foreign striker at the moment but are very cagey about the details.

Face facts.......we are always cagey until deal is finalised. The Reading way and so it should be.
Reading will never go public about transfer dealings until deal is done. Any talk by the management in public is designed to get the best price for any deal coming in or out.

Consequently we are all going to be really frustrated.......................

I was just reporting word for word what the SSN guy said. No facts needed to be faced.

[brendywendy]

According to the guy on SSN JUST NOW we are in talks with a foreign striker at the moment but are very cagey about the details.

Probably be another 16 year old Bulgarian for the Academy.

Or it'll be one of the Irish lads, Mooney or Hunt mk2.

LOL at one dundee supporters description of hunt MK 2

"puts in alot of effort, runs around alot but isnt the best finisher, or the most skillful"

i reckon hes on his way then!

[Alan Partridge]

According to the guy on SSN JUST NOW we are in talks with a foreign striker at the moment but are very cagey about the details.

Probably be another 16 year old Bulgarian for the Academy.

Or it'll be one of the Irish lads, Mooney or Hunt mk2.

LOL at one dundee supporters description of hunt MK 2

"puts in alot of effort, runs around alot but isnt the best finisher, or the most skillful"

i reckon hes on his way then!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, it's in the genes!

[Huntley & Palmer]

Effort > skill for 90% of RFC idiots

[Alan Partridge]

Effort > skill for 90% of RFC idiots

Always been the case.