BFTG - Cardiff

[Vision]

Hoofball is just an idea that small twisted minds like RoyalBleurgh have grabbed a hold of and convinced themselves is a thing because it suits their strange prejudice.

Similarly there is no such thing as a "McDermott apologist" because, much like Steve Coppell and John Madejski there is nothing for him or anyone else to apologise for. There are things I disagree with him about, that includes persisting with Vydra when it's not working and not calling back Samuel but he deserves respect for everything he's done for this club and the good times he's brought here in his various roles at the club.

What he doesn't deserve is the sort of personal abuse he gets from people like RoyalBleurgh.

this, this in fcuking buckets

RoyalBlue seems to be a strange self loathing creature. He hates Madejski even though under his Chairmanship RFC had it's finest 20 years in it's long (very long) history of mediocrity. Of course Mr Mad made mistakes. But jesus, he's made some great decisions. Really great decisions.

But alas that's not good enough for RoyalBlue who loves hating the club he supports. Very odd

.If a random football fan read the Team Board they would think Reading fans were the biggest bunch of spoilt, self delusional ingrates, with no sense of their own history or reality.

They'd think we were Brighton fans.

He also made some effing awful decisions, I would suggest at least partly because he was too damn arrogant to listen to the advice and warnings of others. Those decisions could end up taking us back to where we started or worse. Meantime there are other clubs where chairman and boards have made far better decisions - Southampton, Watford, Stoke, Bournemouth, and they look likely to hang around the PL far longer than we did. Look at the respective positions of us and Leicester ten years ago and now compare them.

And I very much suspect that the random football fan would think that Reading fans are no worse, better or different from fans of other clubs throughout the country.

And just to clarify for you, I love the team that I support but have no time for some of the people running it - there is no contradiction in that. Unlike some (an ever decreasing number), I spotted the nature of the arrogant emperor's clothes a long time ago.

You're not seriously suggesting that overall the club you support even during a relatively lean couple of years isn't, in terms of infrastructure,/on-field success/size of support etc, still in far better shape than when JM took over? Seriously? You're not are you?

And before you start with the "people think the sun shines out of his backside" nonsense, as pointed out to you, of course mistakes have been made. Inevitable in a period of over 20 years. Surely though even you can see how much progress the club has made since he took over despite your rather weird personal hatred of the man.

Oh and with the exception of Bournemouth all of those clubs you mention above have had many many top flight seasons (and trophies in some cases) under their belt by the time Madejski took over here. The mere fact you think we should be their peers is proof of the impact he's made even if you refuse to acknowledge it.

[Maneki Neko]

You're not seriously suggesting that overall the club you support even during a relatively lean couple of years isn't, in terms of infrastructure,/on-field success/size of support etc, still in far better shape than when JM took over? Seriously? You're not are you?

he really is!

seriously

[SCIAG]

He also made some effing awful decisions, I would suggest at least partly because he was too damn arrogant to listen to the advice and warnings of others. Those decisions could end up taking us back to where we started or worse. Meantime there are other clubs where chairman and boards have made far better decisions - Southampton, Watford, Stoke, Bournemouth, and they look likely to hang around the PL far longer than we did. Look at the respective positions of us and Leicester ten years ago and now compare them.

Watford and Bournemouth are having good first seasons in the Premier League. They haven't yet achieved anything that we didn't - in fact, they've done considerably worse. They might manage themselves really well and establish themselves in the top flight, but you can't criticise Madejski because other clubs might do better than him.

OK, we're below Leicester and Southampton now, and we weren't ten years ago. What about twenty years ago?

Think it is strange to criticise someone for marching us up to the top of the hill and then marching us a quarter of the way down again. At least we're up, you know? We've experienced unprecedented success under Madejski, and without him we'd be Swindon.

[John Smith]

He also made some effing awful decisions, I would suggest at least partly because he was too damn arrogant to listen to the advice and warnings of others. Those decisions could end up taking us back to where we started or worse. Meantime there are other clubs where chairman and boards have made far better decisions - Southampton, Watford, Stoke, Bournemouth, and they look likely to hang around the PL far longer than we did. Look at the respective positions of us and Leicester ten years ago and now compare them.

Watford and Bournemouth are having good first seasons in the Premier League. They haven't yet achieved anything that we didn't - in fact, they've done considerably worse. They might manage themselves really well and establish themselves in the top flight, but you can't criticise Madejski because other clubs might do better than him.

OK, we're below Leicester and Southampton now, and we weren't ten years ago. What about twenty years ago?

Think it is strange to criticise someone for marching us up to the top of the hill and then marching us a quarter of the way down again. At least we're up, you know? We've experienced unprecedented success under Madejski, and without him we'd be Swindon.

Whilst you're right in your first point about Watford and Bournemouth not having achieved anything more than we did, I believe Royal Blue's point (if it isn't then I'm making it now) is that we surrendered our position in the Premiership far too easily, twice. We should have had stints in the UEFA Cup. We should have won the Mickey Mouse Cup. We should still be enjoying mid table mediocrity and pushing on in what this season has been a vastly wide open competition.

It's not Madejski's fault as such that it happened but it is someone's.

[Maneki Neko]

im pretty sure it will be a massive mix of blame applied pretty evenly across the club and football in general as well as some random bad luck., rather than one individuals fault.

[Vision]

He also made some effing awful decisions, I would suggest at least partly because he was too damn arrogant to listen to the advice and warnings of others. Those decisions could end up taking us back to where we started or worse. Meantime there are other clubs where chairman and boards have made far better decisions - Southampton, Watford, Stoke, Bournemouth, and they look likely to hang around the PL far longer than we did. Look at the respective positions of us and Leicester ten years ago and now compare them.

Watford and Bournemouth are having good first seasons in the Premier League. They haven't yet achieved anything that we didn't - in fact, they've done considerably worse. They might manage themselves really well and establish themselves in the top flight, but you can't criticise Madejski because other clubs might do better than him.

OK, we're below Leicester and Southampton now, and we weren't ten years ago. What about twenty years ago?

Think it is strange to criticise someone for marching us up to the top of the hill and then marching us a quarter of the way down again. At least we're up, you know? We've experienced unprecedented success under Madejski, and without him we'd be Swindon.

Whilst you're right in your first point about Watford and Bournemouth not having achieved anything more than we did, I believe Royal Blue's point (if it isn't then I'm making it now) is that we surrendered our position in the Premiership far too easily, twice. We should have had stints in the UEFA Cup. We should have won the Mickey Mouse Cup. We should still be enjoying mid table mediocrity and pushing on in what this season has been a vastly wide open competition.

It's not Madejski's fault as such that it happened but it is someone's.

One bloke rather publicly got the sack so I reckon it was all his fault.

[Maneki Neko]

That depends really

[Vision]

And thank oxf*rd that bloke hasn't been around the last few seasons to impede our imperious rise back to the promised land.

[Ian Royal]

Having just watched (admittedly only) the highlights, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Looks like we just lacked a little in finishing - like that's news - otherwise more than matched a team going for the Play Offs and conceded an unlucky goal to miss out on all three points.

From reading HNA you'd have thought we got dicked 0-3 and McDermott had come and curled one off in some people's seats.

[tmesis]

...otherwise more than matched a team going for the Play Offs...

That would be a good point if they'd played like a team going for the play-offs.

They were crap, showing a minimum of effort for some reason. I was really worried when they equalised, as I thought that would snap them out of it, and have them playing with enthusiasm, but they stayed rubbish.


In other words, we had the majority of they play against a team playing poorly, yet still rarely looked like adding to the goal we had.

In some ways, the way we knocked the ball about in the second half, being patient and waiting for an opening, was quite commendable. It's just that knowing how to create a chance seems to have fallen completely out of our game.

[Ian Royal]

...otherwise more than matched a team going for the Play Offs...

That would be a good point if they'd played like a team going for the play-offs.

They were crap, showing a minimum of effort for some reason. I was really worried when they equalised, as I thought that would snap them out of it, and have them playing with enthusiasm, but they stayed rubbish.


In other words, we had the majority of they play against a team playing poorly, yet still rarely looked like adding to the goal we had.

In some ways, the way we knocked the ball about in the second half, being patient and waiting for an opening, was quite commendable. It's just that knowing how to create a chance seems to have fallen completely out of our game.

To an element, but we did clearly create chances. John, and Kermorgant both really should have scored an effort each.

[OldBiscuit]

The man is a footballer, not a freak show.

Simply being identified as black makes him a freak show?? WT actual F!

Where did you get that from? Read what I wrote?

[OldBiscuit]

Why would you think someone being black makes them a freakshow Oldbiscuit?

I don't. You should read the post.........carefully.

[Maneki Neko]

Having just watched (admittedly only) the highlights, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Looks like we just lacked a little in finishing - like that's news - otherwise more than matched a team going for the Play Offs and conceded an unlucky goal to miss out on all three points.

From reading HNA you'd have thought we got dicked 0-3 and McDermott had come and curled one off in some people's seats.

has been pretty much the issue for the last three seasons.
plenty of false tens, wingers who want to be strikers, and wide or attacking midfielders, but no one who can score goals regularly.
sort that out and the defence, and the midfield will suddenly look more than competitive.

easier said than done though. prolific championship scorers with proven track records are >5 million, more like 10.

[CountryRoyal]

Having just watched (admittedly only) the highlights, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Looks like we just lacked a little in finishing - like that's news - otherwise more than matched a team going for the Play Offs and conceded an unlucky goal to miss out on all three points.

From reading HNA you'd have thought we got dicked 0-3 and McDermott had come and curled one off in some people's seats.

has been pretty much the issue for the last three seasons.
plenty of false tens, wingers who want to be strikers, and wide or attacking midfielders, but no one who can score goals regularly.
sort that out and the defence, and the midfield will suddenly look more than competitive.

easier said than done though. prolific championship scorers with proven track records are >5 million, more like 10.

I think that's why we gambled on Vydra with the loan, unfortunately it, just like our season, turned into a total and utter catastrophe.