Nigel Howe says...

[Vision]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

It's called ambition, you Devonian.

Brick by Brick

I don't doubt they have ambition or the way they go about it, but this nonsense doesn't need to be out in the open. Reading will never be as big as some of those clubs mentioned, so what if we have 38,000 seats soon, they will rarely be filled IMO, when we just about manage to sell out 24,000 I could see us getting around 30,000 ish for the big games? Do we have another 14,000 fans just waiting to get through the door? No, IMO.

Reading HAVE to spend big to try and compete with those clubs named, need some names here and need to go forward and replace half our current team if they are to rival those clubs in the short- medium term. That's not going to happen - probably rightly so. So why spout this sort of talk?

Best location? says who!!?

I'm not sure what the problem is really. With an imminent transfer window, not to mention half an eye on potential investors surely its the Chief Executives job to publicly sell the club's ambitions and potential for the future.

Just because cynical sods like us might be a bit bored hearing it, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

[Alan Partridge]

Why use the one of the least attractive games as your Benchmark?

Seeign as though both the games with Chelsea and Arsenal have gone on general sale could argue those two as well. What I'm saying is that we play 4 home games against the 'elite' 15 others against the not so elite. I'm not going onto another ground expansion debate (personally i'm all for expanding) it's the number I think is ridiculous. The day I'm watching Reading v Fulham or Middlesbrough in front of 38,000 is the day they give me the job on Football Manager 2010!

[Behindu]

Why use the one of the least attractive games as your Benchmark?

Seeign as though both the games with Chelsea and Arsenal have gone on general sale could argue those two as well. What I'm saying is that we play 4 home games against the 'elite' 15 others against the not so elite. I'm not going onto another ground expansion debate (personally i'm all for expanding) it's the number I think is ridiculous. The day I'm watching Reading v Fulham or Middlesbrough in front of 38,000 is the day they give me the job on Football Manager 2010!

So discuss 30,000 rather than 38,000.

[readingbedding]

To be fair there's the same thrilling debate going on in Club Policies...

[Alan Partridge]

Why use the one of the least attractive games as your Benchmark?

Seeign as though both the games with Chelsea and Arsenal have gone on general sale could argue those two as well. What I'm saying is that we play 4 home games against the 'elite' 15 others against the not so elite. I'm not going onto another ground expansion debate (personally i'm all for expanding) it's the number I think is ridiculous. The day I'm watching Reading v Fulham or Middlesbrough in front of 38,000 is the day they give me the job on Football Manager 2010!

So discuss 30,000 rather than 38,000.

30,000 is a feasible number for Reading to attract. If the team is invested on. People aint gonna come and watch the same old faces each year, especially at the price we are paying for the 'priveledge'.

[zac naloen]

Why use the one of the least attractive games as your Benchmark?

Seeign as though both the games with Chelsea and Arsenal have gone on general sale could argue those two as well. What I'm saying is that we play 4 home games against the 'elite' 15 others against the not so elite. I'm not going onto another ground expansion debate (personally i'm all for expanding) it's the number I think is ridiculous. The day I'm watching Reading v Fulham or Middlesbrough in front of 38,000 is the day they give me the job on Football Manager 2010!

So discuss 30,000 rather than 38,000.

30,000 is a feasible number for Reading to attract. If the team is invested on. People aint gonna come and watch the same old faces each year, especially at the price we are paying for the 'priveledge'.

Which is why they aren't expanding straight to 38,000...

[papereyes]

There's some more text here:

http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 80,00.html

As for the best location, well, he has a point. Nearest club to the West? Swindon, Bristol. To the North? Oxford, then Coventry. To the South? Southampton and Portsmouth. To the East, there's London. That is a large area and it does have a large population in it. If you consider Premiership clubs, you've got to extend to ... well .... Wales is a natural barrier and Birmingham in two of those cases.

We've always suffered by drain to the big London clubs and then Liverpool and United. If we're competing in the Premierleague, then the loss to the London clubs is going to decline. Sadly, his ramble through large nearby towns such as Newbury, Basingstoke, Wokingham, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough reminds me of David Brent ...

And yet, even as I know he has a point and I know its a reasonable ambition and I know its, really, our only ambition, I have some real sympathy with AP's point of view. I'd rather see him say that as we buy in that centre midfielder that we've desperately and transparently needed. I'd rather see him say that as we open up those seats, competitively priced so that the stadium sells out.

If the club keep on saying this and start failing to deliver, you'll find a lot of fans turning on them. These comments, in light of what was a slightly disappointing summer's spending, do leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouth.

[Alan Partridge]

To be fair there's the same thrilling debate going on in Club Policies...

Yeah I was dredding mentioning it to be honest but it was part of Howe's quote. Just a bit bored of hearing the same old claptrap from the same people then Reading spend £600,000 net on players nowhere near good enough.

[readingbedding]

To be fair there's the same thrilling debate going on in Club Policies...

Yeah I was dredding mentioning it to be honest but it was part of Howe's quote. Just a bit bored of hearing the same old claptrap from the same people then Reading spend £600,000 net on players nowhere near good enough.

Look what you have done!

Hope you're happy with yourself...

People are repeating their viewpoints on a related topic without knowing why they are doing so.

[brendywendy]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

but he says it himself, we are way behind the top 4, and the next group of clubs too.he says nowt about being a boig club
cant see why we cant force ourselves into that next band though, within 5 years if we stay in the prem.

[kevan]

Reading CEO makes perfectly sensible statement of strategy and gets told lots of things he already knows and is acting on already.

If I had to bet on the accuracy of RFC management statements and predictions over the last few years vs that of the doom merchants I wonder where I should put my money?

Logical next step, well done

[RoyalBlue]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Quite right. It's no good just having a stadium to rival those clubs, you have to have a squad as good as theirs too.

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

bla bla bla buy more players.
The Club is aware of this ...

They talk about the need and intention to strengthen the squad and they talk about their plans to expand the stadium. Notice any similarities?

They have yet to start implementing those plans and aren't giving definitive timescales for doing so. Planning consent = budget to buy new players!

Yes they are, January is the time they want to start supplementing and this summer is when they want to start the expansion. It's in the bloody headline.

What bloody headline? Even if it is said somewhere then:

Either

JM plans to have sold the club by next summer - as only earlier this week he said that he didn't anticipate the expansion work happening under his ownership

or

Nigel Howe and JM need to get their stories straight between them!


The target date for both strengthening the squad and expanding the stadium appears somewhat fluid - both having moved already from those first mentioned.

[zac naloen]

'It's clear that we must supplement squad in January'

[Kitsonista]

Surely the point would be if we were Winning against the top 5 clubs and had international football (EUFA/Champions League) then 38K is not an unreasonable figure. So in terms of ambition it's a good goal to aim for. No timescales, just the Club's Vision Statement "to be one of the top 10 Premiership teams", Good use of Vision Statement, bold but not unreachable, what we need now is the Mission Statment to say how they will achieve the Vision. Therein Ladies and Gentleman lies the rub.

[brendywendy]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

It's called ambition, you Devonian.

Brick by Brick

I don't doubt they have ambition or the way they go about it, but this nonsense doesn't need to be out in the open. Reading will never be as big as some of those clubs mentioned, so what if we have 38,000 seats soon, they will rarely be filled IMO, when we just about manage to sell out 24,000 I could see us getting around 30,000 ish for the big games? Do we have another 14,000 fans just waiting to get through the door? No, IMO.

Reading HAVE to spend big to try and compete with those clubs named, need some names here and need to go forward and replace half our current team if they are to rival those clubs in the short- medium term. That's not going to happen - probably rightly so. So why spout this sort of talk?

Best location? says who!!?

nob

we sell out every week, 24 k is no problem for us

30-38k just gives us the potential to reduce prices for kids, and casual fans
we have the biggest catchment area in the prem, no other prem club for miles in every direction, and no other decent football club close, in any division either IMHO-southhampton and pompey to the south
london to the east, and vast swathes of the country up to birmingham in the north
and bristol and cardiff to the west. that is a massive area
allied to that its also the most disirable area to live in the country,one of the most densely populated, and the richest.
seems pretty good to me

we have come from third tier to top tier in a very short space of time, having spent very little
this years money will see us financially secure for many years to come, and increased capacity and gates can only see us get bigger and better
once that money, and prem survival is safe we can really push on and start spending to match that ambition


and is this the same half of the team(belonging in the championship)that won the chamionship on record points and got to 8th in their 1st ever season in the top flight?

cLOLueless

[Gus the teenage cow]

Howe lacks credibility, he's not a football man

[brendywendy]

Gus lacks credibility, he's not a man

[Behindu]

Howe lacks credibility, he's not a football man

Gus lacks credibility

The Team isn;t part of Howe's remit. We employ Hammond and Coppell to look after that and Howe sorts out the rest.

And ask his uncle Don if Nigel has any football heritage.

[Arch]

Howe lacks credibility, he's not a football man

Right. He's just the CEO of one of the most astonishing success stories in football in the last decade.

[Kitsonista]

Nigel....football is played on the pitch mate, and as long as half our team belongs in the Championship we will never rival those clubs you mention, sorry to burst the bubble of big club bullshit.

Go and support Torquay you killjoy.

Great comeback

Reading - talking big since 2001. Just please stop.

It's called ambition, you Devonian.

Brick by Brick

I don't doubt they have ambition or the way they go about it, but this nonsense doesn't need to be out in the open. Reading will never be as big as some of those clubs mentioned, so what if we have 38,000 seats soon, they will rarely be filled IMO, when we just about manage to sell out 24,000 I could see us getting around 30,000 ish for the big games? Do we have another 14,000 fans just waiting to get through the door? No, IMO.

Reading HAVE to spend big to try and compete with those clubs named, need some names here and need to go forward and replace half our current team if they are to rival those clubs in the short- medium term. That's not going to happen - probably rightly so. So why spout this sort of talk?

Best location? says who!!?

nob

we sell out every week, 24 k is no problem for us

30-38k just gives us the potential to reduce prices for kids, and casual fans
we have the biggest catchment area in the prem, no other prem club for miles in every direction, and no other decent football club close, in any division either IMHO-southhampton and pompey to the south
london to the east, and vast swathes of the country up to birmingham in the north
and bristol and cardiff to the west. that is a massive area
allied to that its also the most disirable area to live in the country,one of the most densely populated, and the richest.
seems pretty good to me

we have come from third tier to top tier in a very short space of time, having spent very little
this years money will see us financially secure for many years to come, and increased capacity and gates can only see us get bigger and better
once that money, and prem survival is safe we can really push on and start spending to match that ambition


and is this the same half of the team(belonging in the championship)that won the chamionship on record points and got to 8th in their 1st ever season in the top flight?

cLOLueless

However, we have the greatest density of Private Schools and the Egg Chasers and Boat Rowers are on the increase. You also have the high concentration of other League teams in leagues 1 and 2 etc and I can't see a S*****n born person ever, ever becoming a Royals supporter, or Wycombe or O****d or Ald****t either. The cachement area is predominantly about 10 mile zone around Reading.