Mcd says we haven't got any cash....

[rob the royal]

I do agree with you and that's why even when we got to the Premiership I was always convinced the club was unlikely to ever really get anywhere under his stewardship and here we are now worrying about the future of the club.

That is perhaps the most inadvertently funny statement ever made on HNA !!!!

Probably a bit wrongly phrased. What I meant was that we were never going to stay up and under JM we were never likely to get back into the Prem and make a real go of staying there because you'd be so hard pressed to run a club as a business and actually continue to achieve the results required year after year.

[Sun Tzu]

His Madj did gamble to get into the prem first time, then he got scared of the cost of staying there and we've been trying to balance the books ever since.

He's also been trying to sell the club for ages, so why should he be pumping his money in, particularly when he's losing millions on his property development.

Like it or not, we''ll be playing the products of the academy. That's what it's there for.

Of course it's there to provide some 'home grown' players but I doubt any football club (bar Madejski FC) expects to try to mount an effective promotion push with such a high proportion of relatively newly blooded academy products.

If we really are going to become a Crewe - producing lots of good youngsters, playing attractive football, selling the youngsters on and never really achieving anything other than day to day survival - then the costs of supporting the club should be adjusted accordingly and Madejski should keep his big gob shut instead of spouting off about PL ambition.

We've not shown any evidence of flogging off the youngsters though.

In case you missed the summer dealings we've moved on the imports who weren't producing and costing a lot and kept the up and coming youngsters (and even blooded the 'next generation', Taylor and Obita in particular looking very promising)

Would also be interested to get your thoughts on how the 'cost of supporting the club' can be adjusted without affecting the viability. Presumably you are either in favour of actually selling Gylfi, or asking SJM to fund the shortfall ?

[floyd__streete]

If supporters can't get excited by the thing most people have been demanding for years (a flow of talented, home produced, local kids in the first team)

Why do we have so many home-grown players in the team though? Because of bad management we were relegated, failed to go back up and we've had to sell off basically everyone we could. So we're now left with a young, largely untried squad. We have a couple of gems in Sig and Church, and I am delighted about that. But are the rest of these lads there on their merits or just due to the dire financial circumstances this 'well run club' has found themselves in? I was no fan of Rasiak, but you knew he could poach 10-12 goals for us. Can we say for sure that Nicholas Bignall, for instance, can match that?

[PEARCEY]

Because there is a £4m gap to be bridged.

That gap would have existed in January as well. Besides that gap should be well on the way to being bridged with the savings on wages re Cisse, Matejovsky, Rasiak, Henry and others off-loaded earlier in the summer.

No, in January we still had the parachute payments - are you completely deaf to reality?

Come off it. The club would have known the likely state of finances available for the close season in May just four months after the January transfer window. In fact the finances would have been in better shape in May than could have been thought possible in January because of the unexpected Cup run. It seems that when the club was in a mess in January funds were made available. Things are not desperate at the moment so funds are not being made available.
I fully understand the need for financial prudence but to not have any funds at all to sign a centre-half on loan is taking it too far. You are the one who needs the hearing-aid.

[Sun Tzu]

If supporters can't get excited by the thing most people have been demanding for years (a flow of talented, home produced, local kids in the first team)

Why do we have so many home-grown players in the team though? Because of bad management we were relegated, failed to go back up and we've had to sell off basically everyone we could. So we're now left with a young, largely untried squad. We have a couple of gems in Sig and Church, and I am delighted about that. But are the rest of these lads there on their merits or just due to the dire financial circumstances this 'well run club' has found themselves in? I was no fan of Rasiak, but you knew he could poach 10-12 goals for us. Can we say for sure that Nicholas Bignall, for instance, can match that?

Rasiak scored 9 last season didn't he ? And not looking like he'd get much chance to score many this. He also publically said he wanted to leave. Will Bignall score more than him ? No idea. I bet Hunt does though....

As for why we have home grown players - you're taking the classic 'let's find a negative angle' here. For years people moaned we had no home grown youngsters. Now we do it's only becasue we've sold everyone else off (which in itself is rubbish isn;t it...). Not all the youngsters will be stars but we've given them more of a chance than for decades and some are taking that chance. Of the current crop some are already under pressure from the next intake (Bell-Baggie, Taylor, Obita....).

But have it your way. be a miserable sod and moan that nothing is good enough or watch what is going on and enjoy it. Or go shopping instead....

[floyd__streete]

As for why we have home grown players - you're taking the classic 'let's find a negative angle' here. For years people moaned we had no home grown youngsters. Now we do it's only becasue we've sold everyone else off (which in itself is rubbish isn;t it...)

Do you really need me to list all of the quality players we have let go since we went down? It makes for pretty depressing reading, but if you really have forgotten then I will do so, just for you.

watch what is going on and enjoy it.

Well, if today is the sign of things to come then there is fat chance of anyone other than the utterly deluded and the mentally ill enjoying the product.

[Sun Tzu]

As for why we have home grown players - you're taking the classic 'let's find a negative angle' here. For years people moaned we had no home grown youngsters. Now we do it's only becasue we've sold everyone else off (which in itself is rubbish isn;t it...)

Do you really need me to list all of the quality players we have let go since we went down? It makes for pretty depressing reading, but if you really have forgotten then I will do so, just for you.

Oddly I think I can remember who we've sold.

That wasn't the point though. If you can't think of any quality players who aren't home produced but we haven't sold then I'll listthem. Just for you.

watch what is going on and enjoy it.

Well, if today is the sign of things to come then there is fat chance of anyone other than the utterly deluded and the mentally ill enjoying the product.[/quote]

Oh dear. 'Product'
Today was very scrappy. Some very good moments and some comedy.
And Forest were no better.
I always thought you were a proper fan Floyd, not a short termist who needs a fix every other week or forgets what following a team is all about !!

[floyd__streete]

That wasn't the point though. If you can't think of any quality players who aren't home produced but we haven't sold then I'll listthem. Just for you.

Not sure that I understand your shoody grammar here, but if you're suggesting that we're not selling on the youngsters then I would suggest that perhaps we haven't received a bid for them yet and that perhaps you shouldn't crow until the end of August. RFC is like a DFS sale; everything must go!

[Pseud O'Nym]

Not sure that I understand your shoody grammar here,

Amazing how often criticising the typos of others comes back to haunt, innit?

[floyd__streete]

Not sure that I understand your shoody grammar here,

Amazing how often criticising the typos of others comes back to haunt, innit?

Would you believe 'deliberate typo'? Not very believable of course , but then some people believe this kind of sh*t: http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2076 ... to_premier

[Sun Tzu]

That wasn't the point though. If you can't think of any quality players who aren't home produced but we haven't sold then I'll listthem. Just for you.

Not sure that I understand your shoody grammar here, but if you're suggesting that we're not selling on the youngsters then I would suggest that perhaps we haven't received a bid for them yet and that perhaps you shouldn't crow until the end of August. RFC is like a DFS sale; everything must go!

'suggest', 'perhaps'

Solid case you have there !!

So what you are saying is we've either sold, or might sell, everyone.

Which makes us like every other team.

So far this summer we've not sold anything except fringe players. So two of the big concerns in recent years (carrying too many expensive, non contributing players and not giving the youth a chance) have been dealt with and STILL it's wrong !! 100% agree that we need a couple of incoming players but the suicidal tendancy on here never ceases to amaze in their ability to make everything about something they presumably do for FUN into a negative !!!

[Southbank Old Boy]

That last para still comes down to mismanagement from the so called well run club though doesnt it

We got relegated when we shouldnt have done, and as flloyd said since then we have ended up having to lose all the gems of that squad, either because of the money situation or because we were no longer living up to their ambitions

[RoyalBlue]

He was happy to stand inviting/reaping the applause when things were going well and it appears he still likes the attention that comes with having your own football club. It's time he realises that things like that don't come for free. If he doesn't offer supporters something to get excited about and to look forward to then he deserves the same stick that any other chairman would get. If he can't stand that heat then the sooner he rushes for the kitchen door the better.

If supporters can't get excited by the thing most people have been demanding for years (a flow of talented, home produced, local kids in the first team) then I suspect what we have in part are the usual boring suspects simply wanting to find things to moan about.....

I's also suggest SJM knows very well that success doesn't come twice for free (we pretty much got it for a bargain basement price the first time round) but I still can't quite get why it's down to him to chuck the cash in to gamble on more 'success'. For year's we've known the financial basis on which the club is run but some people still want us to compete financially int he mad world of football finance, and have cheap tickets, and deliver the moon on a stick !

I'm also confused by Floyd's comment about the club forgetting about 'entertainment'. The football we get now is a dman sight more entertaining than it has been for most of the year's I've watched the club. Floyd obvioulsy equates entertainment with 'being in the Premer league', an elemental mistake !!

You don't get it? He is the sodding Chairman, it is up to him to create a situation where there is the cash to allow the club/business to compete effectively and become increasingly successful. That's an essential role of any Chairman in any business. Plenty of other Chairman seem to be managing to do it and still pay HMRC. If he can't create that situation then he should either provide some cash himself in return for the adulation and recognition he appears to think is his right or hand over (at a sensible price and under sensible terms and conditions) to someone who can.

We haven't actually got what we've been demanding for years as some of the 'talented, home produced, local kids in the first team are clearly only there because the Chairman won't agree a budget that will allow the manager to bring in better players that would allow us to make a serious and realistic push for promotion.

"some people still want us to compete financially int he mad world of football finance, and have cheap tickets, and deliver the moon on a stick !"

Just one of those would be nice! (we now have cheaper but not cheap tickets)

As for boring, you sir, should look in the mirror. That's if you can extract your head out of the sand where it appears to be buried next to Madejski's.

[Sun Tzu]

Yep, usual suspect just moaning about everything.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Adult tickets on the day £27, !!! however a good attendabce today yet again, so I guess something is right.

[sandman]

I don't know why some people bother tbh. If the club make you that depressed and annoyed surely you can find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon that'll make you happy.

[Sun Tzu]

I don't know why some people bother tbh. If the club make you that depressed and annoyed surely you can find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon that'll make you happy.

Agree. Enjoy the good times, tolerate the bad times. It's all transient. There's very little any of us can do to change anything. I can think of much more important things to get upset about than something as small beer as a football club. Certain posters clearly see RFC as the be all and end all though.

[frimmers3]

I don't know why some people bother tbh. If the club make you that depressed and annoyed surely you can find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon that'll make you happy.

Agree. Enjoy the good times, tolerate the bad times. It's all transient. There's very little any of us can do to change anything. I can think of much more important things to get upset about than something as small beer as a football club. Certain posters clearly see RFC as the be all and end all though.

agreed. some can throw their toys out of the pram about edward sheringham 25 years ago.....ohh..its you!

[Sun Tzu]

I don't know why some people bother tbh. If the club make you that depressed and annoyed surely you can find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon that'll make you happy.

Agree. Enjoy the good times, tolerate the bad times. It's all transient. There's very little any of us can do to change anything. I can think of much more important things to get upset about than something as small beer as a football club. Certain posters clearly see RFC as the be all and end all though.

agreed. some can throw their toys out of the pram about edward sheringham 25 years ago.....

Really ?
You are a hyper sensitive man to detect any toy throwing in that discussion.....

[frimmers3]

and your "champions league winner" to appear in a reading shirt is?