Apologies here please:-

[dean horrix legend]

Johnson's 'Dive' was a PEN

looked like a dive from the north stand

looked like a pen on match of the day (taken behind johnson)

looks like a dive from the picture on the website (taken behind inga)

Sat in the North stand (B18) it looked a penalty,was relieved when I saw Rennie book Johnson.

[readingbedding]

All of my mates who go and support Reading FC and others who support their team all understand a couple of things about relegation.

It's very simple.
It's more or less unheard of for teams to be relegated in January or February.
Teams don't get relegated unless they cannot stay up mathematically.

There you go.

[Man Friday]

Crikey! Words of wisdom. Can I ask is it possible for a team to be looking as though they're heading for relegation or is it only facts that count, as in "you're up if you're up and down if you're down"?

[Stranded]

Certainly no apologies from East Berkshire. Whilst I am thrilled that we have won 2 games, we could have and perhaps should have lost both. Lady luck has smiled on us in the last 2 games and this has helped hugely. Of course you'll still have half the crowd saying that 'Rennie was bent' and so on but let's be honest Johnson's 'Dive' was a PEN and if that goes in it's a whole different ball game. On a positive note (yes I can be very positive when justified!) the one thing which really pleased me and has been mentioned by others was our clear surge of confidence once we had scored. I was calling for Long to be sub'd as I didn't think he'd contributed a great deal.....and then he scored! A great goal as well I thought. Looking at our remaining games we definitely have a fighting chance. Players like Little coming back could be the difference between us staying up or not. Midfield remains a problem area and we must replace Sidwell next year if we stay up. None of his 'replacements' are anywhere near as good and this has hurt us this year. Long may Bikey stay in the side, even though he has a rush of blood now and again he looks confident, something which Sonko has lost.
All in all well done the boys, but I'm afraid that even if we stay up it will be in spite of Coppell not because of him. He has made poor decisions at crucial times culminating in his latest 'calculated gamble' with Lita which was completely unneccesary. Long may our luck continue, we will need it if we are to survive.

I'm sorry but you can't have it both ways, if we go down you wish to blame Coppell but if we stay up and perhaps even finish relatively comfortably by May it's in spite of him.

The Lita gamble may seem unneccesary but it could have the effect of boosting other strikers confidence at a time they've had none - two scored straight off - certainly no proof but if the 3 remaining strikers continue to score in the next 3 games then a link could well be made.

If we are safe come the end of the season then the manager has done his job regardless of your thoughts on some of his decisions this season. As you say, yourself you were looking toward Long coming off Coppell made the decision to keep him on, he won yet another header, made a good run for Doyle who found him and scored. Is that luck that he started with and kept Long on, or a good decision? If he'd taken Long off and we'd finished 0-0 would that have been bad luck or a bad decision?

[brendywendy]

posts like crowthorne royals just go to prove what poor attitudes to this club people like him have
just awful.
i wonder how many wins it will take for him to have the good grace to admit that maybe he was a little hasty and OTT in his critique of the team and management

[Crowthorne Royal]

Realistic views through normal glasses not 'rose tinted' ones BW ?
Yeah, people like me who applaud, sing, buy season tickets, stay till the end and clap the players, go to away games.......I agree it's people like me that give this clubs supporters a bad name. Well actually, no it's the club's supporters who sing inane things like 'sh*t on the floor' when an opposition player is injured, leave early and may not buy a season ticket next year if it's Championship football. Me ? I'll be there, but, if you don't mind I would like to put forward my views on what I think should change or has gone wrong. Finally, I think Coppell has been great for us, but whichever way you look at it this year he's made some poor decisions. Madejski, same thing, but don't tell me as an STH that my season tkt is going up because we are 'investing in players because staying in the Premiership is so important' and then don't replace 2 of our 3 best players (Sidwell & Little)

[PEARCEY]

All of my mates who go and support Reading FC and others who support their team all understand a couple of things about relegation.

It's very simple.
It's more or less unheard of for teams to be relegated in January or February.
Teams don't get relegated unless they cannot stay up mathematically.

There you go.

Similarly teams are certainly not safe from relegation with 22 points on the board at Christmas...er..there you go.

[brendywendy]

Realistic views through normal glasses not 'rose tinted' ones BW ?
Yeah, people like me who applaud, sing, buy season tickets, stay till the end and clap the players, go to away games.......I agree it's people like me that give this clubs supporters a bad name. Well actually, no it's the club's supporters who sing inane things like 'sh*t on the floor' when an opposition player is injured, leave early and may not buy a season ticket next year if it's Championship football. Me ? I'll be there, but, if you don't mind I would like to put forward my views on what I think should change or has gone wrong. Finally, I think Coppell has been great for us, but whichever way you look at it this year he's made some poor decisions. Madejski, same thing, but don't tell me as an STH that my season tkt is going up because we are 'investing in players because staying in the Premiership is so important' and then don't replace 2 of our 3 best players (Sidwell & Little)

i actually misread the post, most is well reasoned and balanced, i just cant countenance the last sentence where you say if we stay up its in spite of coppell.

but you still go on like yours is the only viable opinion to have,so you are just doing the same thing youve accused me of.

i never questioned your seniority as a fan, or your week in week out attandance
i also sing, clap, buy season tickets, go to away games, reserve games etc, im sure most on here do, and even if i didnt id still have a valid opinion

and by the way your season ticket didnt go up this year, it was frozen
and we have tried to replace the players you mentioned,with bids for scott brown, and also got 3 new replacement players in in the case of sidwell, they just havent worked out yet
we have made a significant investment in the team, buying 2-3 players in every window,breaking the transfer record every year, doubling our wage bill since the championship, and managed to keep all but one of our best players to a team we could not compete with financially or in terms of potential silverware


i have been, and will be, totally happy if we finish 17th this season, this was always the most important thing, the only thing to focus on

yes the management have made mistakes,all managers do, all businesses do
football isnt an exact science though, sometimes things work, sometimes they dont, they can work one year but not the next.

[sucatraps]

Realistic views through normal glasses not 'rose tinted' ones BW ?
Yeah, people like me who applaud, sing, buy season tickets, stay till the end and clap the players, go to away games.......I agree it's people like me that give this clubs supporters a bad name. Well actually, no it's the club's supporters who sing inane things like 'sh*t on the floor' when an opposition player is injured, leave early and may not buy a season ticket next year if it's Championship football. Me ? I'll be there, but, if you don't mind I would like to put forward my views on what I think should change or has gone wrong. Finally, I think Coppell has been great for us, but whichever way you look at it this year he's made some poor decisions. Madejski, same thing, but don't tell me as an STH that my season tkt is going up because we are 'investing in players because staying in the Premiership is so important' and then don't replace 2 of our 3 best players (Sidwell & Little)

i actually misread the post, most is well reasoned and balanced, i just cant countenance the last sentence where you say if we stay up its in spite of coppell.

but you still go on like yours is the only viable opinion to have,so you are just doing the same thing youve accused me of.

i never questioned your seniority as a fan, or your week in week out attandance
i also sing, clap, buy season tickets, go to away games, reserve games etc, im sure most on here do, and even if i didnt id still have a valid opinion

and by the way your season ticket didnt go up this year, it was frozen
and we have tried to replace the players you mentioned,with bids for scott brown, and also got 3 new replacement players in in the case of sidwell, they just havent worked out yet
we have made a significant investment in the team, buying 2-3 players in every window,breaking the transfer record every year, doubling our wage bill since the championship, and managed to keep all but one of our best players to a team we could not compete with financially or in terms of potential silverware


i have been, and will be, totally happy if we finish 17th this season, this was always the most important thing, the only thing to focus on

yes the management have made mistakes,all managers do, all businesses do
football isnt an exact science though, sometimes things work, sometimes they dont, they can work one year but not the next.

These quotes cover both ends of the spectrum and most of the middle ground in between!

[Man Friday]

This was a good topic wasn't it!!!

[brendywendy]

Realistic views through normal glasses not 'rose tinted' ones BW ?
Yeah, people like me who applaud, sing, buy season tickets, stay till the end and clap the players, go to away games.......I agree it's people like me that give this clubs supporters a bad name. Well actually, no it's the club's supporters who sing inane things like 'sh*t on the floor' when an opposition player is injured, leave early and may not buy a season ticket next year if it's Championship football. Me ? I'll be there, but, if you don't mind I would like to put forward my views on what I think should change or has gone wrong. Finally, I think Coppell has been great for us, but whichever way you look at it this year he's made some poor decisions. Madejski, same thing, but don't tell me as an STH that my season tkt is going up because we are 'investing in players because staying in the Premiership is so important' and then don't replace 2 of our 3 best players (Sidwell & Little)

i actually misread the post, most is well reasoned and balanced, i just cant countenance the last sentence where you say if we stay up its in spite of coppell.

but you still go on like yours is the only viable opinion to have,so you are just doing the same thing youve accused me of.

i never questioned your seniority as a fan, or your week in week out attandance
i also sing, clap, buy season tickets, go to away games, reserve games etc, im sure most on here do, and even if i didnt id still have a valid opinion

and by the way your season ticket didnt go up this year, it was frozen
and we have tried to replace the players you mentioned,with bids for scott brown, and also got 3 new replacement players in in the case of sidwell, they just havent worked out yet
we have made a significant investment in the team, buying 2-3 players in every window,breaking the transfer record every year, doubling our wage bill since the championship, and managed to keep all but one of our best players to a team we could not compete with financially or in terms of potential silverware


i have been, and will be, totally happy if we finish 17th this season, this was always the most important thing, the only thing to focus on

yes the management have made mistakes,all managers do, all businesses do
football isnt an exact science though, sometimes things work, sometimes they dont, they can work one year but not the next.

These quotes cover both ends of the spectrum and most of the middle ground in between!

just trying to cover all the bases!
then i can jump on whichever bandwagon was proved correct


and this thread just confirms my belief that one shouldnt gloat until its over,& not a murment before

[sucatraps]

These quotes cover both ends of the spectrum and most of the middle ground in between![/quote]


just trying to cover all the bases!
then i can jump on whichever bandwagon was proved correct


and this thread just confirms my belief that one shouldnt gloat until its over,& not a murment before[/quote]

You are Mark Lawrenson AICMFP!

[Platypuss]

Stick where stick is deserved is fine - it's the lack of faith in, and support given to, the team, its management and the Board that grates with me after years of unparalleled success have shown that they actually have a pretty good idea of how to do their jobs.

A sensible and realistic post, IMO.

[papereyes]

This was a good topic wasn't it!!!

All of these threads are just depressing in the way they show how people let unjustified blind faith cripple their ability to reason.

[Alan Partridge]

I'd like to apologise on behalf of Alan Partridge, if he doesn't mind.

[Royal Rother]

This was a good topic wasn't it!!!

All of these threads are just depressing in the way they show how people let unjustified blind faith cripple their ability to reason.

Are you likely to move on from this line any time soon?

Questioning decisions taken is one thing, and we all know that you expressed reasoned concern about the team all through the season (well done you) but, setting this aside for a moment because you are talking about faith, do you really feel that having faith in a manager and coaching staff who had delivered unparalleled success in the recent past was all that unjustified?

[Southbank Old Boy]

This was a good topic wasn't it!!!

All of these threads are just depressing in the way they show how people let unjustified blind faith cripple their ability to reason.

Are you likely to move on from this line any time soon?

We all know that you expressed reasoned concern about the team all through the season (well done you) but, setting this aside for a moment because you are talking about faith, do you really feel that having faith in a manager and coaching staff who had delivered unparalleled success in the recent past was all that unjustified?

When it was clear some serious errors in judgement were being made yes I think it was unjustified.

[papereyes]

This was a good topic wasn't it!!!

All of these threads are just depressing in the way they show how people let unjustified blind faith cripple their ability to reason.

Are you likely to move on from this line any time soon?

Nope. Not for a while. I rather like being cLOLueless.

[papereyes]

All of these threads are just depressing in the way they show how people let unjustified blind faith cripple their ability to reason.

Are you likely to move on from this line any time soon?

We all know that you expressed reasoned concern about the team all through the season (well done you) but, setting this aside for a moment because you are talking about faith, do you really feel that having faith in a manager and coaching staff who had delivered unparalleled success in the recent past was all that unjustified?

When it was clear some serious errors in judgement were being made yes I think it was unjustified.

Errors in judgement that the manager now openly admits.

[Platypuss]

Questioning decisions taken is one thing, and we all know that you expressed reasoned concern about the team all through the season (well done you) but, setting this aside for a moment because you are talking about faith, do you really feel that having faith in a manager and coaching staff who had delivered unparalleled success in the recent past was all that unjustified?

Faith; yes. Blind faith; no.