Minimum expectation 26/27

[WestYorksRoyal]

With this weekend's results, we are surely in League 1 next season. For me, anything less than play-offs would be a failure. We have a manager who the club is backing, we have one of the larger budgets in the division, nobody exceptional is coming down, the new owners have had a year to get their feet under the desk and plan for this summer properly. The squad needs a lot of work which is why I'm not going all out and saying we should be challenging for autos, but equally if we get things right, I see no reason why we can't do that.

If we don't finish in the top 6, that is a failure for which Leam will probably carry the can (even if it can be tied back to recruitment decisions of those above his head). And then there is the matter of performances. If we finish 6th and lose in the semis or finish 7th/8th, the question of whether we actually enjoy watching the team matters a lot too. If Leam wants us to be a workman-like team, he had better win promotion. I've been patient with him due to what he inherited, but he won't be able to make the same excuses with a full summer behind him.

Of course it's not easy. Leicester/Oxford/Portsmouth will have ambitions of bouncing back, while Luton and Huddersfield will probably fancy themselves too. I just hope one of Plymouth or Bolton wins the play-offs as they will be a force next season too.

Banned answers
- Generic comment about entitled football fans. Of course I want to watch my team be successful and be enjoyable to watch, otherwise what is the fcuking point? I've been patient this season under the new owners; now it's time to start seeing us deliver.

- We can't assess before we see how the transfer window goes. Wrong, we can assess now based upon what we've seen this season and the progress we've observed. If in August we look a long way off that, that is a collectively failure of Couhig, JJ, Carey and Richardson.

[windermereROYAL]

Probably the biggest summer transfer window in a decade. What will ST sales look like in June before any new faces come through the door?
I can`t face another season like this, we`re clearly in a false position.

[Brogue]

If LR is still here then I think we will do well to survive next season so I’m going with that.

[Royalcop]

Think the owners will set play-offs as a minimum expectation for LR next season, though that assumes they also back him in the summer window.

I think they saw this season as a free hit and a chance to stabilise the club and rebuild, but will want to see a return on their investment sooner than later.

My feeling is that this squad is a long way from challenging at the top - seeing Lincoln today affirmed that; they were stronger and quicker than us all over the pitch. Add to this that some of our better players may agitate to move this summer eg Wing, Savage, JP and I think LR has his work cut out for him.

[Snowflake Royal]

Play offs are not gone. We're 2 points behind.

Goal for next season is the same as any other season. Build a platform to push on from and show progress.

Bottom 4 is total failure
Bottom 9 but survival is failure
Midtable is poor
Top half is tolerable.
Top 10 is acceptable but disappointing
Play Offs is the target.
Autos is the stretch target.

There. Is. Always. Next. Season. Every. Season.
Something we couldn't say the last two. Sacking managers every five minutes is a disaster. Giving them time, even if they ultimately fail, is the only right way. Richardson has taken us from struggling bottom half, to competing for the Play Offs for most of his tenure so far. Despite a very shit start to the season under Hunt. Hell, we won the Championship after a poor start with McDermott.

You. Don't. Get. Relgated. Or. Lose. The. POs. In. October.

Managers need time to pause, reflect and build. You can't do that mid-season. You can't do that in just one or two transfer windows.

Here's some goals for the fanbase:
Don't shit the bed every time we lose.
Stop saying Play Offs are done and Season Over every time we lose, or Game Over every time we concede.
Be the positivity the club needs, not the toxicity it desperately doesn't.
Look up 'patience' in the dictionary.
Support the manager, club and players.
Get that degenerative nerve condition causing the knee jerking looked at by a medical professional

[stealthpapes]

Banned answers
- Generic comment about entitled football fans. Of course I want to watch my team be successful and be enjoyable to watch, otherwise what is the fcuking point? I've been patient this season under the new owners; now it's time to start seeing us deliver.

- We can't assess before we see how the transfer window goes. Wrong, we can assess now based upon what we've seen this season and the progress we've observed. If in August we look a long way off that, that is a collectively failure of Couhig, JJ, Carey and Richardson.

These are the only two serious, sensible answers so I can only conclude that the OP is neither serious nor sensible.

I mean, it's this:

If we don't finish in the top 6, that is a failure for which Leam will probably carry the can (even if it can be tied back to recruitment decisions of those above his head). And then there is the matter of performances. If we finish 6th and lose in the semis or finish 7th/8th, the question of whether we actually enjoy watching the team matters a lot too. If Leam wants us to be a workman-like team, he had better win promotion. I've been patient with him due to what he inherited, but he won't be able to make the same excuses with a full summer behind him.

Fine, but when do you start agitating to get rid? We got rid of Hunt after only one proper transfer window. If we're lower-midtable before Xmas, is that really enough to start saying "man's got to carry the can". Are there any examples from previous RFC seasons where this would not have been the best way forward?

If we put together Leam's form this season, over all 42 games so far, we would be 3rd or 4th. So, yeah, something about fans being entitled has to be said. If you're hinting at getting rid of a manager who is achieving playoff form, if that isn't good enough, then what DO you want? And what do you do if you don't get it?

Chopping and changing the manager is the single worst thing we can do.
It automatically means that we've wasted opportunities, whether in training or in player acquisitions.

And that leads into the next 'banned' answer - the midseason signings have been, with one or two exceptions, better than the summer ones. Which takes us back to:

Chopping and changing the manager is the single worst thing we can do.

We're one of only a few clubs that has a genuine history of doing this a slightly different way. When it got close over the last two seasons, the things that kept me going were seeing the hints of the old way Reading FC used to operate in the squad that Selles (another utterly under-rated manager on here, fwiw) put together. When I want my club back, that's what I want. I don't want manager after manager after manager, a stream of transfer windows trying to fix whichever squad holes are most important now!

We had this! It was shit! and then we almost disappeared as a club!

Some long term thinking, some patience, and not this fucking insane rush to be the first person to call for the head of the next manager.

Go back to those threads about getting rid of Hunt. If you got what you wanted then, just how happy with things are you now?

[Snowflake Royal]

You're my hero Papes.

[From Despair To Where?]

The target is incremental progress. For next season that means play offs with a fitter squad controlling games better.

[Orion1871]

We'll end up just missing out on the play offs again next season.

The results at the start of the season will likely be better than the start of this year. However, the toll of a long hard first 7 months or so of having to hang on in most games will do for our hopes of qualifying for them again. At some point Marriott will have a long injury break (or two) or go on a drought because no one can keep up his goal ratio for this long.

Richardson will probably have done enough in the eyes of Couhig, and the eyes of Ian and that other poster, to then be given another attempt to get promotion in the following season. If he fails that one too then I think it will be up to the next owner to stick or twist with Richardson as I think Couhig will be near or past 80 and cut his losses at that point.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

If we are in League One again next season, I wouldn't be surprised if RC & co. flip the club, given the investments needed...

If they are in charge, it depends on how brave they are....

Option A means selling £5-10M of players by end of June to balance the books

Option B means finding the funds to cover the deficit and invest to make a better fist of automatic promotion.....

[Snowflake Royal]

We'll end up just missing out on the play offs again next season.

What are this week's lottery numbers?

[Orion1871]

We'll end up just missing out on the play offs again next season.

What are this week's lottery numbers?

3 8 2 5 9 68

[tidus_mi2]

So I suppose this season and last are very similar in that we will finish in or around the play-offs and never really looked like nailing down a top 6 like Bolton, Bradford and Stockport seem to have done, so what is a mark of progress next season? I went for top 6 and in that, I don't mean potentially scraping in like we looked like we might do this season and last but actually being in the top 6 all season pretty much.

[Hound]

To Ian and Papes - do you think it was the right decision to sack Hunt now or still the wrong one? Would you have trusted Hunt to keep us up, or get anything like the points hail that LR has - and then build for next season or was it the right call to bring in LR?

My opinion is the change of manager was the single best decision made this season

[Snowflake Royal]

To Ian and Papes - do you think it was the right decision to sack Hunt now or still the wrong one? Would you have trusted Hunt to keep us up, or get anything like the points hail that LR has - and then build for next season or was it the right call to bring in LR?

My opinion is the change of manager was the single best decision made this season

It's undeniably worked. I think we are better off with Richardson longer term, and have performed better under him.

I think we pulled the trigger a few weeks sooner than I would have liked. I still think Hunt would have kept us up if we hadn't sacked him. And there was plenty of time to wait and still save us from relegation, which seems well supported by Leam getting us on the verge of the POs.

Edit: I will say though, there's an argument in hindsight that Couhig should have pulled the trigger sooner and maybe Richardson would have us in the POs with a few more games of the season to improve results.

But I think the biggest issue with our season was having practically a whole new squad, some key signings failing and some key injuries.

If we have a fit Marriott, O'Connor and Williams from the start, it's a different story.

Just as a reminder our first game against Lincoln to start the season was:

Pereira
Abrefa - relegated to the youth side
Burns - relegated to squad back up
Stickland - sent out on loan several tiers down
Dorsett - failing to progress
Savage
Wing
Elliott - fallen apart again and failed to stake a claim
Kelvin - out wide
MOM - utter failure of a loan
Camara - shipped out on loan not good enough.

That's a dreadful side. You'd only expect 3 of them to be first XI starters next season.

[Hound]

To Ian and Papes - do you think it was the right decision to sack Hunt now or still the wrong one? Would you have trusted Hunt to keep us up, or get anything like the points hail that LR has - and then build for next season or was it the right call to bring in LR?

My opinion is the change of manager was the single best decision made this season

It's undeniably worked. I think we are better off with Richardson longer term, and have performed better under him.

I think we pulled the trigger a few weeks sooner than I would have liked. I still think Hunt would have kept us up if we hadn't sacked him. And there was plenty of time to wait and still save us from relegation, which seems well supported by Leam getting us on the verge of the POs.

Edit: I will say though, there's an argument in hindsight that Couhig should have pulled the trigger sooner and maybe Richardson would have us in the POs with a few more games of the season to improve results.

But I think the biggest issue with our season was having practically a whole new squad, some key signings failing and some key injuries.

If we have a fit Marriott, O'Connor and Williams from the start, it's a different story.

Just as a reminder our first game against Lincoln to start the season was:

Pereira
Abrefa - relegated to the youth side
Burns - relegated to squad back up
Stickland - sent out on loan several tiers down
Dorsett - failing to progress
Savage
Wing
Elliott - fallen apart again and failed to stake a claim
Kelvin - out wide
MOM - utter failure of a loan
Camara - shipped out on loan not good enough.

That's a dreadful side. You'd only expect 3 of them to be first XI starters next season.

Yeah that side could well have dropped. Adding Lane and Ritchie wouldn’t have stopped that

Williams and Marriott have been undoubted successes when fit, sadly it was always odds against they’d remain that way

The idea of getting rid of LR now I certainly massively disagree with - but I’m not quite sure the point papes is trying to make other than defending LR’s record which is reasonable. Sometimes sacking a manager is the correct call. What I think we have now though is an owner, CEO and manager aligned which wasn’t there under Hunt

[Snowflake Royal]

To Ian and Papes - do you think it was the right decision to sack Hunt now or still the wrong one? Would you have trusted Hunt to keep us up, or get anything like the points hail that LR has - and then build for next season or was it the right call to bring in LR?

My opinion is the change of manager was the single best decision made this season

It's undeniably worked. I think we are better off with Richardson longer term, and have performed better under him.

I think we pulled the trigger a few weeks sooner than I would have liked. I still think Hunt would have kept us up if we hadn't sacked him. And there was plenty of time to wait and still save us from relegation, which seems well supported by Leam getting us on the verge of the POs.

Edit: I will say though, there's an argument in hindsight that Couhig should have pulled the trigger sooner and maybe Richardson would have us in the POs with a few more games of the season to improve results.

But I think the biggest issue with our season was having practically a whole new squad, some key signings failing and some key injuries.

If we have a fit Marriott, O'Connor and Williams from the start, it's a different story.

Just as a reminder our first game against Lincoln to start the season was:

Pereira
Abrefa - relegated to the youth side
Burns - relegated to squad back up
Stickland - sent out on loan several tiers down
Dorsett - failing to progress
Savage
Wing
Elliott - fallen apart again and failed to stake a claim
Kelvin - out wide
MOM - utter failure of a loan
Camara - shipped out on loan not good enough.

That's a dreadful side. You'd only expect 3 of them to be first XI starters next season.

Yeah that side could well have dropped. Adding Lane and Ritchie wouldn’t have stopped that

Williams and Marriott have been undoubted successes when fit, sadly it was always odds against they’d remain that way

The idea of getting rid of LR now I certainly massively disagree with - but I’m not quite sure the point papes is trying to make other than defending LR’s record which is reasonable. Sometimes sacking a manager is the correct call. What I think we have now though is an owner, CEO and manager aligned which wasn’t there under Hunt

I think Papes point is that people were calling for Hunt to go after 1 or 2 games, and Leam before any. Brogue certainly, but he starts the bandwagon and people quickly jump on the toxic train long before it should be a question in anyone's mind.

Like there is no justification for there to be a conversation about Richardson's tenure for another 6 months period. And yet that rancid thread bobs back up practically every time we drop points.

I'm increasingly of the opinion you get the club the fanbase deserves, and ours deserves failure year on year as we have massive entitlement and little brain or patience. If our fans of 2005 looked at us now, they'd despise us.

[stealthpapes]

To Ian and Papes - do you think it was the right decision to sack Hunt now or still the wrong one? Would you have trusted Hunt to keep us up, or get anything like the points hail that LR has - and then build for next season or was it the right call to bring in LR?

My opinion is the change of manager was the single best decision made this season

I think we'll end up in about the same place. A win or two in it.

The issues we're facing now are basically the same ones we would have faced with Hunt. There's no one brought in post-Hunt who's absolutely tearing the place up. The structural issues we had last summer were the same.

That said, I think you've got to credit Leam for the results he's ground out. Half my tracking his form was in response to people going "season over" in December and January. That ain't how this division works.

Maybe we could have lucked out or got someone famous for their motivation approach. I think it would have (a) hit all the same problems and then (b) burnt out in the Spring.

More than anything else, I want the club to get some identity back. And an early step in that is nursing a young manager through a tough spell so that fans, players, manager all end up on the same page. .

[stealthpapes]

I think Papes point is that people were calling for Hunt to go after 1 or 2 games, and Leam before any. Brogue certainly, but he starts the bandwagon and people quickly jump on the toxic train long before it should be a question in anyone's mind.

Pretty much. Even this thread is basically a LEAM OUT thread in a pretty bonnet.
And here's a thing to add - I think Brogue's had a point in that the behind the scenes stuff ain't properly fixed yet.

[Esteban]

The teams still in the playoff hunt, or currently occupying playoff positions, have either all come down from the Championship, were there or thereabouts last season, or riding the crest of a wave following promotion from League 2. Wycombe, Stevenage and Lincoln have all been slowly building. It's only Reading that had to pretty much start again in the summer.

Given we had a completely new ownership set-up, a significant number of new players come in and manager change in October, this season has arguably exceeded expectations. Sure, it's disappointing if we miss out on the playoffs, especially as it was in our hands, but it's more than a satisfactory season in respect of where we were in June.