Expectations

[LoyalRoyal22]

After last night we can all but rule out a top six finish. I think we need to accept that being mid table in the championship is just about where a club of our size belongs. If you are like me you will be frustrated wondering how such a talented group of players cant get near the top six.

I would say apart from the 106 team(with emphasis on team), this is the most talented group of players we have had, so why are we not challenging? This league is so tight a lot of results are just based on fine margins , I have heard DW say its the toughest league in the world, and he is probably right, its certainly the most competitive from top to bottom. If you look at Derby & Boro who have both spent £25m+, they are not exactly running away with the league, just doing enough to be in the automatic shake up. Can you ever see Reading spending that amount of money under our current ownership? No, & there is nothing wrong with that but we need to accept the club is doing well to break even most seasons and stay competitive. To buy a top proven forward in this league recent transfers have shown this will cost you anything from £7m+ really ( our transfer record is £2.5m)

The way I see it, we should just get behind Brian( Reading through & through) and appreciate the fact we have so many talented young players coming through year after year & just enjoy where we are.

[Sutekh]

The squad may be the most talented since 106 (or perhaps ever to a degree) but it isn't a team and therefore the sum of the whole is one of the worst since we moved to the Mad Stad.

Need consistency behind the scenes (should have started getting that now) and a manager being allowed to manage (no idea if that will fully be the case with Brian if Thais keep on scouting players for him).

Steve Clarke was a false dawn. Obviously realised he had made a mistake or two and felt he wanted out rather than deal with it . Now we have to rebuild the playing front from top to bottom with (rightly or wrongly) Brian.

Roll on the summer and more departures and arrivals. Not bothered who goes or who arrives as long as we get a squad that are together and giving promise for the coming seasons.

Here's to a top 10 challenge next year.

[Coppelled_Streets]

Even people at the club say they don't know what the Thai's intentions are yet. That can't breed any form of confidence from the top down. They obviously seem very keen to build properties and ice rinks, and take away parking at our expense, yet they seem quite tight-fisted when it comes to making permanent transfers; and their persistant interference in signing players above the managers head is something that really grates with me! It's not as normal as McDermott makes out, but fair play to him for going public on it - it helps deflect a lot of critisism away from him and back on to, and rightfully so, the owners! That and the debt not actually being paid off and simply just been moved and 'managed', leaves me feeling very nervous! They could make all their money on the land, decide the club doesn't make enough in the Football League (they have already warned us they would have to walk away if that was the case), and then they'll sell up and leave us in a far worse position than they found us. It might all be ifs and buts, but I have no confidence in them yet, and at the moment all I can see is us going backwards at an alarming rate!

Expectations this season: Survival

[genome]

I agree with your last bit. The fans are annoying me more than the team lately - I think Reading fans in general need to relax a bit and stop seeing things in black and white all the time. Enjoy yourselves a little more.

Brian's stopped the losing rot, we just need to try and pick up some wins now. It's unfortunate that the money we invested in (what looked like) quality signings hasn't worked out, but that happens, I think Clarke was too gung-ho with loan signings. You only have to look at Brian's history with us that he is more than capable of building a good Championship team so he needs a full season with us before judgement.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

No new owner will ever clear the debts, far better to leave them there and use the interest due as some sort of dodge. Can be offset against unexpected profits for a start

[floyd__streete]

8 points from the last 12 in the league suggests that the only realistic target now is staying in the division (should be an achievable objective thanks to the fast start that we made).

Whether mere survival is an acceptable state of affairs is a different matter given the vast amounts invested, mainly on short-termist signings. All those involved in the signing of and the signing off of all those very many loan players should be ashamed of their efforts. We built a short-termist squad which has abjectly failed in the short term

[Ian Royal]

Same expectation I had at the start. Mid-table to build a platform for next season. That was raised during our beief run of brilliance and the 'great on paper' summer signings.

As long as we're not down we always have a chance of going up the next year.

This season only feels awful because most our wins came at once and there's now a dearth. Distribute them better and we'd laregely be ok with where we are.

[LoyalRoyal22]

8 points from the last 12 in the league suggests that the only realistic target now is staying in the division (should be an achievable objective thanks to the fast start that we made).

Whether mere survival is an acceptable state of affairs is a different matter given the vast amounts invested, mainly on short-termist signings. All those involved in the signing of and the signing off of all those very many loan players should be ashamed of their efforts. We built a short-termist squad which has abjectly failed in the short term

Fair comments, but, we raised roughly £7m combined from the sales of Hector & Blackman, so you cant really suggest vast amounts have been invested when most or more likely all of it has come from the player sales.

[floyd__streete]

^ Fair riposte.

[genome]

Have we ever recovered since that Fulham collapse?

[Lower West]

so why are we not challenging?

Everybody else has got stronger too. Look at the Premiership. Established names are struggling to even remain the division.

Still a young squad with much to learn and experience. Personally I'm quietly optimistic. Just need to find the right blend.

[Royal_jimmy]

Expectations now are to surely get 5 more wins as fast as possible and anything extra is a bonus. Then a big clear out this summer.

[Forbury Lion]

My expectations are to see continuous improvements on the playing side, to avoid relegation and finish the season strongly with a team of players with the belief that they can win every game and that can hold it's own and challenge for the playoffs the following season.

I'm hoping the cup run will have a positive effect on the league form, as is usually the case for Reading, However if we get another sniff at Wembley and our league position looks safe I'm all for prioritising the cup.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I want to see us:

Win more than we lose at home.
Over 50% of our players being academy products.
Stay in business
Not get relegated.
Have a few good cup runs and maybe kick a few top Premiership teams out.

I don't want to see us:

Play tedious football with no passion or commitment.
Filling a team with expensive journeymen with no link to the club or fans.
Buy our way into some top flight division where we get beaten most games just because the owners of other clubs have more money than our owners.

My expectation is that things will turn out more like the first list than the second.

[RoyalJames101]

I want to see us:

Win more than we lose at home.
Over 50% of our players being academy products.
Stay in business
Not get relegated.
Have a few good cup runs and maybe kick a few top Premiership teams out.

I don't want to see us:

Play tedious football with no passion or commitment.
Filling a team with expensive journeymen with no link to the club or fans.
Buy our way into some top flight division where we get beaten most games just because the owners of other clubs have more money than our owners.

My expectation is that things will turn out more like the first list than the second.

I pretty much agree with all of this.

As good as it would to be promoted and become an established PL club, realistically we would only ever be trying to avoid relegation in the PL which would become tedious, I would much rather be challenging for promotion/play-offs in the Championship each season with the odd chance of going up.

I would miss the feeling of being drawn against a PL side in the Cup with the chance of causing an upset. No ridiculous ticket prices, minus the odd few. Saturday 3pm KO's and Tuesday night games. More academy players coming through the side instead of overpaid mercenaries (Drenthe, Halford, Fae etc).

[wingnut]

I just don't buy this "most talented squad ever" bollocks. There's not one of last night's starting eleven I'd take over their 2005-2007 counterpart.

[Augem]

I think we have had a lot of bad luck recently and I am still optimistic things will come good if not before the end of this season then for next season.

[LoyalRoyal22]

I just don't buy this "most talented squad ever" bollocks. There's not one of last night's starting eleven I'd take over their 2005-2007 counterpart.

Agreed but, I would have this seasons Norwood over Harper. Also if you compare the benches, the one we have now is probably stronger.

[LoyalRoyal22]

I think we have had a lot of bad luck recently and I am still optimistic things will come good if not before the end of this season then for next season.

Agreed with the bad luck, but normally you would not notice it as much, it is a lot more evident now due to how tight the league is & most games settled by fine margins. Bad luck now is more costly in this league than it used to be.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Expectations now are to surely get 5 more wins as fast as possible and anything extra is a bonus. Then a big clear out this summer.

Another big clear out? We have had a big clear out the past two summers. Surely time for some stability. We have a pretty good base to work from.