Royalee Except Coppell ADMITTED HIMSELF that he had been fully backed with funds to bring in players and stated publicly that he chose not to sign players in January. If he really wanted to bring players in then why did he go on record the Thursday before the window shut and laud the closure of the window?
Well if you believe that, then its hard to take the rest seriously. When it comes to the issue of Reading's wage structure it ALL comes down to Madejski's hatred of paying players premiership wages. Two years ago, the players were motivated to get promoted, last year it was to establish themselves as premiership players. And this year? Who knows. We dont want to win a cup, we dont want to win a place in Europe - in essence we want to be marginally better than three teams. The players have nothing to play for, except their contracts, and they must know now that the Reading contract that will be offered will be bettered at a least a dozen other clubs, some of them which are interested in their services.
Their only hope is threefold if they want to secure the contract of their international compatriots.
Hope Reading accept a bid from another club - Reading have failed to do this for Hunt and Shorey.
Hope Madejski has a sudden change of heart on the issue of contracts - a big LOL at that.
Or... sign a contract that is pittance in relative terms in the Premiership but is unsustainable in the Championship, hope the club gets relegated and force a sale at the end of the year. Hunt has already done this, Im sure Shorey will follow and Ill watch what Doyle does closely. This is exactly what happened at Sunderland when they went down without a whimper and its the closest model I can think. Of course, they went on a horror run (15 without a win wasnt it?) so do not be at all surprised if this run of ours continues for another month or so yet.
No, Reading's problems are primarily at the Chairman/DoF and player level - Coppell has been left with an impossible job in the middle, and he has to come out with the comment that you rely so much upon, Royalee, to impress on the players that they arent at a club going nowhere. Although they probably know now, like us, that its all BS. But the bit thats going to blow your mind? Relegation is probably the best thing that will happen to us. Reading arent a club that get on with the Premier League.
Ill agree with you with Oster. I like Coppell's approach to player loyalty, but I would prefer him to place loyalty to a player we might conceive has a possible long term future at the club. But the bit where Reading lost at home to Watford when there was so much to play for, is for me the turning point. You might say that and our shambolic approach to cup runs might be enough to suggest a different manager - but in the present set up? You're having a laugh. I couldnt think of a single manager who could keep us up. The only one I can think of is a manager who knows the players well.......... its all a matter of whether he gets as fed up as us and resigns.
Oh, the Man City job - totally irrelevant, mate.
