Well done on cup run but fans deserve better

[Samrfc01]

I think Pog will be here next season unless some russian club come in for him which I can't see happening.

Nobody in England will buy him because they've seen that he isn't a goalscorer. To be fair, I don't actually mind him and he puts a shift in. He's just not worth what we're paying him.

I wouldn't mind seeing him and Samuel up front next season to see what that could do.

I would love to see us sign Mackie but apparently he has quite a big contract at Forest so unless he's willing to drop his wages (he might be) then that won't happen.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I like Pig but the reality is he's probably holding us back. You feel he has to play because of his effort and salary but we simply won't score many goals if he is our main outlet.

[melonhead]

we don't score when he isn't our main outlet either...tbf

[Royalcop]

Given Pog will be entering the last year of his contract I wonder if we'll have more chance of loaning him out to someone and paying a proportion of his wages. After all, he will now be looking for his next victim, er I mean club.

[Snowball]

we don't score when (Pog) isn't our main outlet either...tbf

0-4 Forest
1-0 Boro
3-2 Millwall
3-3 Wolves
0-0 Leeds
3-0 Rotherham
1-2 Cardiff
2-1 Norwich
0-0 Bolton
1-6 Birmingham
0-1 Watford
2-2 Brighton
2-1 Norwich
0-3 Huddersfield
1-4 Watford
0-1 Bournemouth

1-0 Huddersfield

Scored in 11games, FTS in 6.

W6 D4 L7 20-30

[Extended-Phenotype]

we don't score when he isn't our main outlet either...tbf

We might do if we had a different striker

[melonhead]

we don't score when he isn't our main outlet either...tbf

We might do if we had a different striker

well duh!

[melonhead]

we don't score when (Pog) isn't our main outlet either...tbf

0-4 Forest
1-0 Boro
3-2 Millwall
3-3 Wolves
0-0 Leeds
3-0 Rotherham
1-2 Cardiff
2-1 Norwich
0-0 Bolton
1-6 Birmingham
0-1 Watford
2-2 Brighton
2-1 Norwich
0-3 Huddersfield
1-4 Watford
0-1 Bournemouth

1-0 Huddersfield

Scored in 11games, FTS in 6.

W6 D4 L7 20-30

can you do just the ones under Clarke?

[Dr_Hfuhruhurr]

we don't score when he isn't our main outlet either...tbf

True, and we probably wont do if Clarke wont play Cox.

There are two things I know about Pog - (1) He has no future at the club bar next season and (2) He will never be a main contributor to a side getting into the playoffs.

For those reasons, I wouldnt play him. Ever. We are a club in transition, and will remain so until his wages go. So we exclude him/ loan him to Sheffield Wednesday / Sell him to China. We then use the fact that we are in transition to give experience to a new partnership up front. One of the inadvertent bonuses to this year is that once Adkins left, Pearce/Hector became an alright Championship back 2 - maybe we'll get similar luck with an untried front 2. At the moment that 2 is Cox/Samuel which looks cheap enough for a club in our position, or either of them + 1 Other should probably be within our remit. If it all goes wrong, loan somebody in halfway through the season.

Either way, its clear to me that Pogrebnyak's stock is zero and the decision to sell Le Fondre looks a bit silly to me now - even if you dont rate him, he would still be a different option to a formation not far from 4-5-1 with Pog up front, which is going to win us nothing.

PS. Yeah, we've deviated from the OP, but the point being is that we have a few extra problems than the players not trying.

[Norfolk Royal]

Fans deserve better, hmmm.

There's an argument to be had that fans always deserve better whichever club they support but leaving that aside.

Our average home attendance, 16,000 or whatever.

Would it actually make any difference to that synopsis if the home games were watched by just one person? You could still say that that one person deserves better.

In reality our fan base, which admittedly has grown impressively from the Elm Park days, is fickle, probably one of the most fickle in the country.

There are reasons for that of course, the proximity to London and lure of the big clubs, has always affected our likely attendances and is probably the reason why we seem to haul in double the home attendance for days out at Wembley, etc, ie all the fans of big clubs having a day out with their second club.

I would identify the paragraph above, and the lack of real regional identity for the fickleness of our potential fan base.

In Norwich, for instance, where I live, there is real regional identity and you rarely see anyone wandering around town with Man U or Chelsea tops on. You either support Norwich City or take a hike, in other words.

I don't think that feeling exists in Reading so much, would that it did.

Recognise that is a slightly off topic but just addressing the more philosophical part of the OP's statement hopefully.

[genome]

So we need a minimum amount of proper fans then to qualify for deserving better.

[Norfolk Royal]

So we need a minimum amount of proper fans then to qualify for deserving better.

Of course not silly, I said the proposition would be the same if the home attendance was 1.

[genome]

I'm not really sure what your point is.

[Norfolk Royal]

I'm not really sure what your point is.

Nor am I.

[Forbury Lion]

One of the inadvertent bonuses to this year is that once Adkins left, Pearce/Hector became an alright Championship back 2

I read a Hector interview and he said he was previously discouraged from playing his natural game (playing the ball out from the back etc) but the new manager has told him to do just that.

[melonhead]

we don't score when he isn't our main outlet either...tbf

True, and we probably wont do if Clarke wont play Cox.

.

one of our other non scoring strikers

[Silver Fox]

From what little info I've gleaned I'd say Cox is one of the people Clarke isn't overly fond of, to the extent that I'm surprised that he came on on Saturday

[genome]

From what little info I've gleaned I'd say Cox is one of the people Clarke isn't overly fond of, to the extent that I'm surprised that he came on on Saturday

From where have you gleaned said info?

[Silver Fox]

Sources close to the club

[GH Royal]

we don't score when he isn't our main outlet either...tbf

True, and we probably wont do if Clarke wont play Cox.

.

one of our other non scoring strikers

Bit harsh considering the amount of game time he's had since Clarke came in.. He was one of our top performers before Clarke and is still our leading goalscorer...