Sense of Reality

[Jink]

Hi All,

I have been reading recent posts with great interest on a number of topics about our great football club. We all need to take a step back and think more realistically about what is going on!

I think the expectation levels have been misleading (whether by the club or us as fans),let's be honest how can a team survive in the premiership with a mere outlay of £5 million on players? If we only ever spent £5 million in the richest league in the world what cats chance in hell have we got of spending big in the championship? I agree the powers above could have done more with regards to player recruitment but it is what it is.

What would we all say if we ended up like a pompey? Would we blame Anton then?

Just sit back and enjoy the ride,I think the play offs are a realistic chance of promotion, anyone setting their expectations higher are living in cloud cukoo land!

[tee peg]

You are correct but the club must shoulder the blame for the fans
high expectations.This hype comes with the new regime .As the saying
goes, "shit or get off the pot".

[Victor Meldrew]

Hi All,

I have been reading recent posts with great interest on a number of topics about our great football club. We all need to take a step back and think more realistically about what is going on!

I think the expectation levels have been misleading (whether by the club or us as fans),let's be honest how can a team survive in the premiership with a mere outlay of £5 million on players? If we only ever spent £5 million in the richest league in the world what cats chance in hell have we got of spending big in the championship? I agree the powers above could have done more with regards to player recruitment but it is what it is.

What would we all say if we ended up like a pompey? Would we blame Anton then?

Just sit back and enjoy the ride,I think the play offs are a realistic chance of promotion, anyone setting their expectations higher are living in cloud cukoo land!

Are you Hammond in disguise?
You (Nicky) haven't explained what "reality check" is that we fans should be taking in your spiel last week.
BTW why is it always "doing a Pompey"-why not a Norwich or a Swansea?

[Jink]

Hi All,

I have been reading recent posts with great interest on a number of topics about our great football club. We all need to take a step back and think more realistically about what is going on!

I think the expectation levels have been misleading (whether by the club or us as fans),let's be honest how can a team survive in the premiership with a mere outlay of £5 million on players? If we only ever spent £5 million in the richest league in the world what cats chance in hell have we got of spending big in the championship? I agree the powers above could have done more with regards to player recruitment but it is what it is.

What would we all say if we ended up like a pompey? Would we blame Anton then?

Just sit back and enjoy the ride,I think the play offs are a realistic chance of promotion, anyone setting their expectations higher are living in cloud cukoo land!

Are you Hammond in disguise?
You (Nicky) haven't explained what "reality check" is that we fans should be taking in your spiel last week.
BTW why is it always "doing a Pompey"-why not a Norwich or a Swansea?

Just for arguments sake (and I am only just saying) Swansea(Very unlikely) or Norwich (you never know) got relegated, it would be very unsustainable for them to keep the players they have or more worryingly if a fan of either would suffer financial ruin. I know there is parachute payments but I think the wages some of their players are on would be dangerous to their long term future - I say this again look at what happened to our friends at Portsmouth.

Don't get me wrong,I would love for us to spend millions on players and to get some big names in, but unfortunately as stated by others in the past on this forum we are little old Reading who can not attract star names.

We should be going for the big players of clubs in the lower leagues, i.e. Donaldson of Brentford, big, strong has pace and can score goals - he would be the prefect partner for Alfie as is eaxactly what we need. Look at Austin/Hooper, both of these started in the lower leagues then went for fees we would not dream of paying, surely this guy would be within our means!

[Platypuss]

Let's have another new thread covering exactly the same ground again.

[melonhead]

TITANGRAPH_Please feel free to skip:

a sense of perspective and reality is very much needed here i think.
we are in danger in causing problems rather than helping things, and thats not really our job as fans.(though i recognise your right to ask questions and realise you have the clubs interests at heart.)
if we lose tomorrow night in the current climate i can see a nasty poisonous atmosphere developing and alot of criticism of Nigel, and Anton, based mostly on here-say and conspiracy which could severely damage everything.

lets look at the situation we are in:


we had an owner who could afford to put exactly no money in, leaving us in a situation where we HAD to sell our best players every year, and who had been forced to reduce investment to such an extent that we couldnt afford any european scouting, and nor could we afford to get anyway near a Cat 1 academy.
We now have an owner who has financial backing and is willing to spend that money on infrastructure as it increases the value of the club massively, which will make his investors very happy indeed, as well as making us a bigger, and better club, which should make us all very happy too.
we no longer have to sell our best players simply to fill the 5 million +++ black hole that we are operating under.(players demanding to leave is another matter entirely)

before Anton came we had very little hope of ever going back up, with him we have already been up, and he will be focussing everything on getting us back, because that is the only place this club at this time can make a profit, and see a return for his investors.

weve been relegated yes, after a very poor and down-heartening season, and we've had a bit of the inevitable restructure, which was always going to happen.
QPR and Wigan if anything have had to sell even more of their players to fund the buying they've done.
we have taken that premiere league money and invested it in our training ground and academy- making it certain we can attract the best young players to our club, which is good for our football, and our finances.

we have a team with some very good players, and some very large gaps, which we have tried our hardest to fill, but ultimately, so far, failed to do so.I 100% believe that we would in no way have offloaded nhunt etc if we as a club didnt all fully believe they would be replaced.

weve lost one game, seen some better football, and some more entertainment, but this has been lost a little with our drubbing in the cup, the failure to deliver on naive promises in the window, and a couple of dull 0-0s

but lets remember, a good team starts from the back, and a manager should concentr8 on that, before he can truly start to play expansive attacking football. im happy it looks like weve made ourselves more solid, even if that means we lose a little attacking impetus initially.
and like Kes says - you cant turn wimbledon into barcelona in 6 months.


if we can bring in a striker or two, bring through some of our yoof players who look very good prospects, and start to build on a more solid backline
i'm sure that we can easily make the playoffs.

thats not a bad position to be in.

lets not go all mental about it,
and get behind the team.




(there are no american tanks in baghdad etc)

[kwik-silva]

tl;dr

[Extended-Phenotype]

We should only deal in facts, then. Is it a fact that Maps and Kebe demanded to leave?

[melonhead]

FACT! but lets not focus on the relatively innoccuous. What about the rest

[genome]

As I said in the other thread, we were in much worse form at this point in our last Championship season (four defeats from the first six) and looked equally shocking, and look how that one turned out.

With all the criticisms flying about it's hard to remember we've lost only one Championship match so far this season.

[Extended-Phenotype]

FACT! but lets not focus on the relatively innoccuous. What about the rest

Just asking. Seems quite an important difference between a club's owner having no money and being forced to sell two assets, and a club resigning itself to letting two assets go because they flat out demand to leave.

[Libertine]

The only difference this time is we have a team the club feels was good enough for the PL, seeing it is relatively the same, with the losing of Kebe and Maps offset by the additions of Drenthe, Bridge and Williams.

So is that reason for optimism? Or concern since one would think we should be off to a much better start than we have seen? It's a long season, a marathon as opposed to a sprint, so I am relatively unconcerned about our sluggish start. But with the talent we retained and the additions that we made, albeit we didn't acquire the final few pieces of the puzzle, I thought a top 2 finish was a realistic goal...and so did NA. Do you feel that is a completely unrealistic expectation? I am starting to feel that way now and it is a bit concerning looking back at the first sentence of this comment.

[melonhead]

FACT! but lets not focus on the relatively innoccuous. What about the rest

Just asking. Seems quite an important difference between a club's owner having no money and being forced to sell two assets, and a club resigning itself to letting two assets go because they flat out demand to leave.

i know which side im fully behind, and which one you are
maybe its pointless to continue this

[melonhead]

The only difference this time is we have a team the club feels was good enough for the PL, seeing it is relatively the same, with the losing of Kebe and Maps offset by the additions of Drenthe, Bridge and Williams.

id agree 100%
but for the letting go of nhunt and others, and promises of replacements that didnt 5turn up meaning the losses werent really offset fully

[Mike Hunt]

TITANGRAPH_Please feel free to skip:

a sense of perspective and reality is very much needed here i think.
we are in danger in causing problems rather than helping things, and thats not really our job as fans.(though i recognise your right to ask questions and realise you have the clubs interests at heart.)
if we lose tomorrow night in the current climate i can see a nasty poisonous atmosphere developing and alot of criticism of Nigel, and Anton, based mostly on here-say and conspiracy which could severely damage everything.

lets look at the situation we are in:


we had an owner who could afford to put exactly no money in, leaving us in a situation where we HAD to sell our best players every year, and who had been forced to reduce investment to such an extent that we couldnt afford any european scouting, and nor could we afford to get anyway near a Cat 1 academy.
We now have an owner who has financial backing and is willing to spend that money on infrastructure as it increases the value of the club massively, which will make his investors very happy indeed, as well as making us a bigger, and better club, which should make us all very happy too.
we no longer have to sell our best players simply to fill the 5 million +++ black hole that we are operating under.(players demanding to leave is another matter entirely)

before Anton came we had very little hope of ever going back up, with him we have already been up, and he will be focussing everything on getting us back, because that is the only place this club at this time can make a profit, and see a return for his investors.

weve been relegated yes, after a very poor and down-heartening season, and we've had a bit of the inevitable restructure, which was always going to happen.
QPR and Wigan if anything have had to sell even more of their players to fund the buying they've done.
we have taken that premiere league money and invested it in our training ground and academy- making it certain we can attract the best young players to our club, which is good for our football, and our finances.

we have a team with some very good players, and some very large gaps, which we have tried our hardest to fill, but ultimately, so far, failed to do so.I 100% believe that we would in no way have offloaded nhunt etc if we as a club didnt all fully believe they would be replaced.

weve lost one game, seen some better football, and some more entertainment, but this has been lost a little with our drubbing in the cup, the failure to deliver on naive promises in the window, and a couple of dull 0-0s

but lets remember, a good team starts from the back, and a manager should concentr8 on that, before he can truly start to play expansive attacking football. im happy it looks like weve made ourselves more solid, even if that means we lose a little attacking impetus initially.
and like Kes says - you cant turn wimbledon into barcelona in 6 months.


if we can bring in a striker or two, bring through some of our yoof players who look very good prospects, and start to build on a more solid backline
i'm sure that we can easily make the playoffs.

thats not a bad position to be in.

lets not go all mental about it,
and get behind the team.




(there are no american tanks in baghdad etc)

Brendy, Brendy, Brendy... Power post. This is by far your best post under the guise of melonhead...

[Ian Royal]

We should only deal in facts, then. Is it a fact that Maps and Kebe demanded to leave?

Tis a fact we can't know that. Tis a fact the situation is far from as black and white as that.

[Royal Ginger]

The only difference this time is we have a team the club feels was good enough for the PL, seeing it is relatively the same, with the losing of Kebe and Maps offset by the additions of Drenthe, Bridge and Williams.

Never good enough for the Premier League and the club knew it. Promotion was as close to an accident as it could come. It was all about form and confidence.

[Green]

You are correct but the club must shoulder the blame for the fans
high expectations.This hype comes with the new regime .As the saying
goes, "shit or get off the pot".

Which would you rather they did, tee?

[facaldaqui]

I always did have a sense of reality. I could not see how this team was suddenly going to start winning just because it was relegated. The signings were encouraging only if they were part of a larger number of signings, but they turned out to be piecemeal ... parts of a jigsaw only. And this remains a desperately difficult league to get out of, despite the fact we did it twice recently.

I think it is realistic of me to want the team to play better, though. Without the team spirit and dogged tackling we used to have, we look unpromising. Some people say we are trying to play more entertaining football, but I was always entertained by Reading breaking the opposition's hearts through relentless pressing salted by sudden darts up the field. Give me that over the present patchy mix of good play and horribly loose play.

[Cureton's Volley]

Some people say we are trying to play more entertaining football, but I was always entertained by Reading breaking the opposition's hearts through relentless pressing salted by sudden darts up the field.