For Those Of You Interested…
By: jacob |
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First off, kudos to the Royals for winning a Anti-Racism award from KickIt Out. It really shouldn’t be necessary to say that Racism has no place in Football (or anywhere, for that matter), but, people being people, you still have to combat it actively at every turn.
So, for those of you interested, the new season’s schedule is out. Reading will begin the year on the road, taking on just-promoted Nottingham Forest on the 10th of August. The home opener will be on the 16th against Plymouth, with matches at Charlton and home against Crystal Palace rounding out the month (along with a League Cup fixture against the mighty Dagenham & Redbridge. Yes i’m being facetious). Read the rest of this entry »
A Little Here, A Little There
By: jacob | Add Comments
Sorry if i’ve left you out there in readerland in the lurch, but, there hasn’t been too much to harp about. Of course, yes, there is the fact that Mr. Coppell is staying, which i’m pleased with. After trawling through some YouTube highlights of the 07/08 season, and watching the jubilation following Barnsley’s victories over Liverpool and Chelsea, I do wonder about Reading’s decision to tank the FA Cup in favor of the Premiership, given how well that obviously turned out. I wonder, would relegation have gone down better if the club had made the Quarter/Semi-Finals of the FA Cup?
No. No it wouldn’t have.
So, club Director of Football Nick Hammond says the club won’t have to sell their best players to keep the wage bill steady. He’s right, I think. We won’t have to, but I can’t imagine the whole team staying, unless Coppell has some truly astonishing powers of persuasion.
One small upside to all of this is that Reading fans aren’t without anyone to support this summer, as Marek Matejovsky is off with his countrymen from the Czech Republic at Euro 2008. Admittedly, he went unused and may not see much time this summer, but it’s something to root for (not to mention rooting against the hated team of your choice. For me it’s Spain, not because I really hate them, but because serial failure is always hilarious).
Hey, and Bikey scored for Cameroon! In African World Cup qualifiers! Erm…
Well, in the meantime, i’ve been watching a lot of my recent subscription to Setanta Broadband, which has allowed me to see more Aussie Rules Football than I have ever seen before in my life (that’d be any, obviously). And watching one game, got me thinking about Reading, relegation, and the Premiership.
The game I was watching featured a team called Essendon, who certainly had the work ethic, but apparently had nowhere near the talent to beat their opposition. They could be workmanlike, but frequently were bereft of attacking ideas, and spent a fair amount of time focusing on increasingly desperate defending. Sound familiar?
As great as Reading were in 06/07, looking at the three teams going up in our stead (West Brom, Stoke and Hull) I’m beginning to wonder if the gulf between the top, say, 15 teams in the Premiership and everyone else in English football is becoming too vast to cross. Nice as it is to see Hull City finally go up, I don’t think there’s a person alive who’ll say that any of those three look certain to avoid relegation (Fulham’s continual flirting with the bottom three aside). And even if Reading manage promotion at the first attempt, will that team be good enough to stay up again?
Reading are probably in one of the best positions of the relegated clubs, but I hope that the club will look hard at the cautionary tales of teams like Leeds and Leicester, clubs arguably “bigger” than Reading who’ll be playing in League One next year. A year of post-Premiership “consolidation” can lead to another age of mid-table mediocrity, although this time in the Championship.
All of this is to say that, once you fall out of the top flight, there’s really not that much going on. Enjoy tooling around in FIFA 08/Football Manager 2008 while you can, it’s the last time we’re going to see Reading in the Premiership for a bit of time.
Category: Odds n' EndsSome Post-Relegation Notes
By: jacob | Add Comments
First off, congratulations to Portsmouth for putting the final touch on a wonderful 07-08 FA Cup. I know I may be in the minority here, but to be honest, I’m reaching the point where i’d rather see a matchup like that rather than Big Four Side v. Big Four Side. Shame for Enckleman though, but that’s how the game goes.
So, some familiar names are being shown the door. Of them, the only one i’ll miss is John Oster, who wasn’t all bad I think, and was coming on as the season went along. Of course, as he was coming on, the team was getting relegated, so you can look at that another way as well.
I hope (and believe) Little will sign. Were we in the Premiership still, I’d say that he might be deadweight, as much of a favorite as he is at the club, but in the Championship, there’s another year left in those legs.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hahnemann isn’t pleased about relegation, and, while not naming any names, did blast his teammates a bit. I think it’s mostly frustration, I have no doubt that players like Shane Long, Stephen Hunt and James Harper wanted to do everything in their power to stay up. But it takes a team to stay up and a team to go down. Probably most problematic for Reading, it takes strikers to score, and, while it may sound harsh, I just don’t think anyone outside of Kitson is very quality. At least, not on recent form.
What do I think the team need this summer? Well obviously a striker, and a true, creative midfielder would be wonderful. A right back wouldn’t go amiss either, nor would a more dynamic presence on the wing…
…well, let’s just say “quite a bit” and stick with that then, shall we? In the meantime, I suggest we all drown our sorrows in whatever Footy game lights your fire and imagine a world where Reading are up their in the top tier of the table. It looks like that’ll be the closest we’ll be for a while.
When A Win Is Ultimately A Loss
By: jacob | 1 Comment
So.
I think it goes largely without saying the weekend of May 10th, 2008 won’t be fondly remembered in Berkshire. I think I, like many others, was hoping that the feared “Second Season Syndrome” would result in a 15th place finish at worst. This was…. less than pleasant.
Credit to Reading, who performed as admirably as I wish they had for the rest of the year, albeit, in all honestly, beating Derby 4-0 should be a basic competence test in the Premiership. If you can’t, go home, please try again. So kudos there. If only the team had gotten some desperately needed points in any number of other crunch games (against Bolton, or Sunderland, or Wigan, or surrendering 16 goals to Pompey and Tottenham).
What does this mean for next year? Well, no word yet on whether or not Mr. Coppell will stay with us. I understand this year as a failure, and that his transfer policy, or lack thereof, can be called in to question, along with questionable tactics since, say November. That said, I still have faith int he man as a manager. I don’t thin the man who helped Reading to such an astonishing showing in the Championship last time around is suddenly useless, moreover, this isn’t a situtation like, say, Leicester, where it is all but the end of the world.
That said, Coppell’s position is still up to Steve. As of this writing, he still hadn’t made a decision, but if he stays, this Royals fan will welcome him and tell him to get us the hell back to the Premiership.
Players? Well, i’m caught here. We’re going to lose a few, assuredly. Greg Oster, Stephen Hunt, Nicky Shorey, even Dave Kitson may leave (I can imagine the ginger beanpole being Roy Keane’s style). I hold nothing against them. I wouldn’t even mind if we kept Lita, because while he absolutely isn’t Premiership standard, he’ll bang them in in the Championship, I’ll bet.
Of all the teams that were in danger of relegation, I think the ones that did go down were the best equipped for it, so to speak. Fulham or Bolton going down might’ve almost killed both teams, both certainly could’ve “done a Leeds” and just kept on falling. Even though Mr. Madjesky is actively looking to sell, sell, sell, I think Reading is still built to take this trauma, to absorb it, and to come back. Will we come back stronger? Well, that matters on whether we buy and buy smart, and realize that the gap between the Championship and the Premiership is vast and deep, and that it takes a great eye to find what few diamonds haven’t been snapped up already.
Watching your team get relegated, you wonder, “Why do I do this?”. This is especially trenchant for American fans I think, as the concept of relegation is so foreign to us. Not to mention that it puts us (myself included) in a difficult position regarding following our teams. What is a Darlington, or Bradford fan to do if they don’t live in the UK? One would imagine that, at this point, the English FA would’ve smartened up and done its best to broadcast matches from the Premiership, and say, select matches from the Championship on the Internet, but i’m sure there’s a rights wrangling issue at hand there that would make the morass of watching a game in Spain at the moment look simple.
I’m not jumping ship on Reading. I’m dissappointed, i’m disheartened, I’m not as angry as I was on Sunday, but i’m not jumping ship. They are my team, and although my links to them may not be as strong as those I have to teams I grew up nearby, and supported all my life, I know that by continuing to support them, by standing beside them throughout all of this, my affection will grow deeper.
Relegation also makes me wonder about the nature of the Premiership today, of all the major leagues in Europe. I don’t think it’s at all unfair to suggest that the Premiership has three leagues running, the four-team mini-league for the title, another 5-6 teams fighting for the UEFA Cup scraps leftover, and everyone else battling against relegation and hoping for a middling 11th place finish (I’m looking at you Middlesbrough). I know that, unless another Abramovic shows up, Reading aren’t going to be challenging for the Premiership and European honors anytime soon. I have no doubt that I will turn 30 (at least) and never see Reading touch the Premiership trophy.
But I follow these teams because I do believe that for those who follow, Portsmouth, or Hull City, or Huddersfield, or Grimsby Town or any other teams not named Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United, those brief moments of success, when silverware finally arrives at the club means so much, much more. They say that the more a man is deprived of something, the more he is told he cannot have it, the more he covets it, the sweeter it is when he finally gets it.
So that’s why i’ll be watching Reading take on Watford (Ugh) and Plymouth next year. That and total, unabashed, unrealistic hope. Because if you don’t have any hope for the future, you don’t have a reason to follow anyone outside of the big four.
So, i’ll be back this weekend to look at what when right, what went wrong, and where we go from here. Then comes the summer transfer circus, through the prism of the Championship.
Hoo-boy.
Category: Team NewsSo This Is It
By: jacob | 1 Comment
In a little more than 12 hours time, Reading will line up at Pride Park and attempt to see if they’ll be in the Premiership next year. And honestly, on recent form, they may not deserve it (certainly not the strikers). I never thought i’d see a time this year when I was afraid of us not managing to get a result against Derby, but that’s how insipid we’ve been at the worst possible time.
However it happens, if Reading luck out and stay up, changes have to be made, that’s undeniable. Reading needs to strengthen its squad significantly, especially up front. There’s a fair amount of dross hanging around the squad right now, and some new blood needs to come in. I understand how Mr. Coppell can be loyal to the players who got the team here, but I think everyone understands now that there’s an enormous gulf between Championship standard and Premiership standard, and too many of our players fit into the former category.
But all of these things are worries for Monday. Monday we can worry about where we will be, who should stay, who needs to go. Monday we can start thinking about next year.
Tomorrow, Sunday, this team has to stand up and be counted, and hope that the fates are kind to them. It’s us, Birmingham and Fulham, and only one team is going to get the chance to experience the Premiership again next year. I’m hoping, i’m trying to stay positive, but the Reaper is behind us now, and that scythe is raised high.
Good luck tomorrow boys. You’re going to need it.
Category: Team NewsObviously, This Isn’t Good (Reading 0-1 Tottenham)
By: jacob | 1 Comment
It’s no longer in Reading’s hands now. And they can’t blame anyone but themselves.
Category: Team NewsHe’s From Metz? And He Hasn’t Scored Yet? (Wigan 0-0 Reading)
By: jacob | 3 Comments
This is Rudy Gestede. He plays for FC Metz in Ligue 1, and is the latest player to be linked with a possible move to Reading in the summer, £3m is the price. He’s appeared 13 times for Metz so far, hasn’t scored, and no matter how many back issues of World Soccer I scour, I haven’t heard word one about him until now. He isn’t even in Wikipedia yet. I’m not kidding when I say the only way I had to research him at all was to look him up in Football Manager, and that can’t be a good sign for £3m.
Oh yeah, the game. Do we have to?
Looking Down (Arsenal 2-0 Reading)
By: jacob | Add Comments
I said we’d stay up. I’m not so sure anymore.
Getting anything from Arsenal at Arsenal was always going to be an ask of the team. I was hoping that, given the horriffic few weeks that Arsenal have suffered that we could perhaps make something special happen, maybe get a point. Now, with Bolton, who i’d honestly assumed were dead and buried, getting yet another vital three points, we’re a point off relegation, ahead of Birmingham.
It wasn’t a contest, not in the slightest. Arsenal are the better team, and it showed from first to last. A 19-4 shot kind of shows that. It probably could’ve been as bad as Birmingham’s shellacking at the hands of Villa, but thank god for Marcus.
What this means is that next week is absolutely, incomprehensibly massive. Wigan are nearly safe, but not entirely so and will be desperate for the points, and we’re going on the road to boot. The good news is that Birmingham are against Liverpool next week. The bad news is that Birmingham have a habit of keeping it tight with the big four.
I think it’s entirely realistic to ask that Reading can go Draw-Draw-Win, get five points and stay up. I don’t think that’s outside the realm of possibility, and then the team can start considering what to do next year (Upside: Noone on Reading will be fatiguing themselves by competing in Euro 2008 this summer. Downside: Noone on Reading is good enough to compete in Euro 2008), like finding a reliable striker. Or midfielder. Basically, we need to just ensure that we’re not going toe-to-toe with Bristol City in the relegation battle next year.
I still have hope. But losing to Wigan is utterly unacceptable. Less than acceptable. Minus acceptable. This is the dogfight, this is what it is all about, like it or not. The last time we played them, it was September, and we won 2-1. By god, we can do it again.
Category: Team NewsMixed Loyalties (Reading 0-2 Fulham)
By: jacob | Add Comments
It would be just like Firefox to eat a nice, long post I had dedicated to today’s game.
Essentially, this may have been Reading’s most inept performance of the season thus far, managing no shots on target and being largely outplayed by a hungrier Fulham side. This was a more than slightly difficult game for me to watch, given that Fulham are #2 on my Favorite Teams list. Highlights (lowlights) below.
Category: Team NewsAll Good Things… (Newcastle 3-0 Reading)
By: jacob | Add Comments
In all honesty, this was probably coming. Great as Reading’s form had been up until today, it had largely consisted of home fixtures (three out of five in March were at the Madjeski). And while Newcastle are a side that have redefined “dysfuctional” over the past few years, I remember when they were flirting with relegation thinking that they were too good to go down. For a flash, I almost believed that might not be true, but no, they are. As maligned as Martins, Owen and especially Viduka are, all three are still (theoretically, at least) good strikers, and could flourish on the right team. All three could walk into Reading’s starting 11 as well (Lita always struck me as a poor man’s Martins anyway).
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Category: Game Recaps
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