Everyone's favourite tabloid journo confirmed for 23 Feb

[bigmike]

I suspect that Holt is actually HarLOLd and he is wetting himself at the moment as we all know how much he likes being the centre of attention

Maybe BBCRB can get Mr Hunt and Mr Sonko to make an appearance just to see how brave Mr Holt is when he cant hide behind the facade of a so called journalist ..

I bet he would fill his pants

[PieEater]

This is just silly broadcast entertainment - don't let him set you up

Treat it with the contempt it deserves - on no account call him youjust give him aplatform, imnagine how embarassed he would be if no one could be bothered to respond

I suspect he is actually doing "research" for his articles next week, so expect to read quotes from mindless people who phone in to be manipulated to suit his agenda next week.

[AthleticoSpizz]

OK if you wanted any other reason to totally ignore the attention seeking gimp then his latest offering should do the trick.

SO READING'S season is a fairy tale is it? Excuse me for a second while I decide whether to giggle or gag.

Okay, that wasn't too hard. I'll gag. Because I don't see any fairy story at Reading. I don't see romance, either.

I'll be honest. I don't like the club. I don't like what it stands for.

AdvertisementThat starts at the top with a self-satisfied poster boy of conspicuous consumption and Tory donor, chairman John Madejski.

I don't think you should ever, ever trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle, or a bloke who is complicit in having a stadium named after him. What a joke that is.

No doubt the board begged and pleaded with him to allow them to recognise his outstanding contribution to Berkshire life. No doubt it was absolutely none of his doing. But I don't care how much money he's poured into the club.

Name a stadium after Tom Finney or Stanley Matthews or Bobby Moore. Name it after Alex Ferguson, Paul Gascoigne or Bill Shankly. But not after a guy who made his money from a magazine flogging used cars.

Perhaps Madejski simply couldn't call to mind a famous Reading player. Come to think of it, neither can I.

But even Doug Ellis drew the line after naming a stand at Villa Park in his honour. He couldn't quite muster the hubris to go the whole hog and adopt the - entire ground.

But not Madejski. He's got all sorts in his name. Some Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts, too, apparently. Whatever they are.

I read an interview with him in The Independent last year. The reporter noted that a copy of the Rich List, in which Madejski figures prominently, was placed on a table nearby. Gag, gag, gag.

It's not just the chairman, though. I know times are changing fast but I could have sworn that fairy tales didn't used to feature skull fractures and concussions.

I don't care whether Reading finish sixth. You know what, even if they overtake Chelsea and Man United, romp the title and win the FA Cup as well, my abiding memory of their debut Premiership season will always be Stephen Hunt kneeing Petr Cech in the head.

That's their bequest to this campaign. The first team to disable two opposition keepers in the same game. Let's think of a name for the fairy tale that unfolded that day, shall we.

Snow White and the Seven Stretchers. Beast and the Beast. Barbie in It's a Knockout. Then, of course, Reading played the poor little underdog card, proclaimed their innocence and escaped scot-free. Gag, gag, gag.

A few months later their coach, Wally Downes, who really ought to be led to the dugout in a muzzle and restraints, had the gall to accuse Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock of urging his players to injure opponents.

Funny that, given that it was only a few seconds earlier when Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell produced another of the worst tackles of the season with an over-the-top lunge on Chris Armstrong.

I hope the FA throw the book at Downes when they get him down to Soho Square and tell him his tiresome Crazy Gang garbage went out with the dinosaurs.

Then there's Whispering Steve Coppell, another soul bursting with romance.

That's why he blew the chance to get his side into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday when he played his second team at Old Trafford.

There's more joie de vivre in a door mat at a funeral home than there is in the laughing boy in charge of Reading.

Coppell couldn't be bothered to attend the post-match press conference on Saturday night. He was too busy raving it up with a cup of tea in a room next door.

So he sent his man on earth and scorer of the Reading equaliser, Brynjar Gunnarsson, instead.

Gunnarsson hails from Iceland and, yes, I know it's unkind but a 2lb pack of Petits Pois from the deep freeze would have spoken with more animation than him.

The reporters, better men than me, who persevered magnificently in asking him questions, deserved commendations for endurance in the face of determined and desperate tedium.

The Iceman cometh and Iceman sendeth fast asleep.

I almost forgot the Reading fans. A contingent of them anyway. They're the rabid bunch who made it their speciality to behave in an especially unhinged fashion towards former managers.

Alan Pardew got the full treatment when he was leaving for West Ham. Mark McGhee was another treated with gratitude and respect whenever he returned.

And I think that's just about covered it. Except I've just remembered I'm doing a phone-in on Radio Berkshire on Friday evening.

Should be a lorra lorra laughs, as John Madejski's favourite theatre companion might say.

and to think.......some of you would rather forfeit the right to reply? bit of a shame really.

Mr Holt

Would you care to pass comment on the challenge to Edwin Van der Sarr that so nearly life-threateningly smashed his nose?

[Gav]

This is just silly broadcast entertainment - don't let him set you up

Treat it with the contempt it deserves - on no account call him youjust give him aplatform, imnagine how embarassed he would be if no one could be bothered to respond

Agreed.... Lets make it the quietest Phone in ever

Agreed. Just don't phone in, please.

I feel really let down by BBCRB on this one.

[M4 Junction 11]

I feel let down by all the nobbers using this as an excuse to increase their post count. Okay post a picture that best describes what you think about BBCRB/Holt



--------------------------------------------------------------
Reading 107, the official station of Reading FC

[Coppelloadofthat]

Agree, 1 hour of awkward silence please!

[Fife]

What time is this show broadcast?

[Royal Lady]

6.00pm - til 7.00pm - be sure to miss it!

[The 17 Bus]

are you on at last?

[bigmike]

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Dear All,

Whilst it is clear that Oliver Holt's work has provoked a strong response from yourselves it is only fair that he be given a chance to come on and have his say, explain the reasoning behind his views and also hear what loyal Royals have to say.

It should be an interesting debate.

You never know, you may well win him round !

All the best

Joel

He explains himself every fooking week Joel. Don't tell me Tim's going to be all nice and gentle with???

[STAR Voice]

Ollie, Tim & Joel.

A Question for Mr Holt :

"As BBC Berkshire has given you this opportunity to speak directly to Reading supporters, will you return the favour and allow STAR, on behalf of Reading supporters, the right of reply, within the Daily Mirror, to your comments?

This would be only fair, since section 2 of The Press Complaints Commission states :

"Opportunity to reply :
A fair opportunity for reply to inaccuracies must be given when reasonably called for."

Thanks.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Oliver,

Big fan of the column. Will you be covering Reading's games in Europe next season?

Edit- Actually scrap that. Having just looked at the Mirror website, here's how they describe their journo's:-

OLIVER HOLT - Sports Journalist of the Year
MARK LAWRENSON - FOOTBALL'S TOP PUNDIT

ROFL

[royal goof]

Everyone please Ignore the tw@t and Boycott Radio Berkshire on Friday.

Its a joke that they have got him on there, but sums up their sometimes amateur status as broadcasters.

If some of you do happen to succomb to the temptation of listening in, then please do not publicise anything he says!

[Only one Trevor Morley]

I can gurantee that there will be some halfwits who dont go on HNA and come on to BBCRB spouting a load of old rubbish. Some of us will ignore it - but that wont stop the usual stuttering questioners.

Can we elect someone from STAR/HNA with an agreed set of points/questions to raise. Ignoring this isnt an opition - so lets at least come up with some intelligent questions that put him on the back foot, For starters references to Stan Collymore and winning a bad award should automatically be on the list.....

[ElmParker]

One thing that went without comment after yesterday’s drivel from Holt was his mind-numbing views on other aspects of football.

After criticising Hunt remorselessly and calling Wally a thug, he then wrote (in the same column):

RIISE ABOVE CRAIG'S SLUR
Oliver Holt 21/02/2007

I'VE always been a fan of Craig Bellamy and nothing that is supposed to have happened last week in Portugal has changed that.

Whatever happened between him and John Arne Riise can't have been that serious if Riise's in the squad for tonight's game in Barcelona.

If Bellamy was a nutter with a putter, Riise's leg would be badly bruised or in a cast. There's no sign of either. By recent standards of sunshine breaks gone wrong, this one looks particularly tame.

Bellamy's an easy target because he's got form and he hasn't had a great season by his own high standards.

Criticise him for his football by all means but don't use a trifling incident in a bar late at night as a nine iron to beat him with.

So an accidental challenge is considered attempted murder while going for someone with a golf club is ‘a trifling incident’?

[Forbury Lion]

BBC Berks is our radio station, boycott Holt but not Tim, Ollie, Joel etc.

[PieEater]

Have BRB got a backup lined up in case he doesn't show up?

[RoyalBlue]

BBC Berks is our radio station, boycott Holt but not Tim, Ollie, Joel etc.

Disagree. The lads at BBCRB deserve to have their show boycotted on Friday for playing right into the attention seeking scumbag's hands. I also think they are playing with fire and it could even end up damaging their careers.

1) They will be extremely lucky if they avoid a caller or callers coming out with expletives, which lead to complaints to/against the BBC.

2) Mr Mad's lawyers may well have the tape running and they could end up being sued for libel if Holt repeats some of the things he has come out with since his Cechgate.

Boycott BBRB this Friday!