We're going to visit the queen

[Relentless09]

I regret watching the highlights but from the short clip of each goal you can make a call that all of them should have been dealt with better, however credit to Reading, some excellent strikes.

[Prufrock]

I've only just stopped drinking. My carefully thought-out reaction is that they can all f*ck off. That was so bad. So bad. I've never seen adults play football that badly. Ever.

I still think there is a good manager in Freedman somewhere but I'm well past defending him. As for the players...oh my. Some-one, I can't remember who, and this isn't a time for fact checking, said that courage in football wasn't a crunching tackle, but wanting the ball in front of the crowd even when you weren't playing well (that was the gist). There are too many cowards in that team. Too many whose heads go down when we are losing, who stop running, who stop showing for it. And on top of that, not one of them had the decency to get sent off for something to at least give us something to shout at. Dodgy penalties when it's already 3-0 don't count. We've got technically good players but who like the mentality completely to be successful. They're the opposite of SKD.

Of the team that started, Knight, Ream, Mark Davies, Pratley, Lee and N'Gog were part of the squad that whimpered to relegation. Mark Davies is the only one of those I'd keep. He has bad games, and make no mistake Saturday was one - the first three times he touched it his first touch was up around his own head - but he always wants the ball. The rest can feck off. It's got to the point where I'd rather we paid Knight and N'Gog their £20k a week not to play. Pratley is too busy trying to pick a fight as soon as we start losing (and he's still shit at football toom which doesn't help), Lee is f*cked, it's sad, but he's gone, and Ream, oh my.

The worst thing is that it's certainly not a lack of 'effort' per se. This lost the dressing room stuff is nonsense. They aren't players who don't care. They were pointing and shouting at each other, and they came over at the end, led by Spearing, and looked suitably chastened. They are just technically ok footballers, who aren't cut out to be competitors.

One thing is for sure, we can't keep losing £50m a year to be that bad at football.

I'm past caring about the manager. We've just conceded seven, and don't seem to be making any progress, so by all means sack him, don't think that's all it takes though. We need a thorough clear out of the playing squad. Some aren't good enough technically, some mentally, but of the XI who started I'd keep Mills, Lonergan, Danns and Mavies and lose the rest if possible. N'Gog and Knight even if not.

The game I enjoyed the most recently was Bristol City at home last year with Philips and Lee. If we could persuade them to have a go I'd be up for it. We aren't going up, the players aren't even nearly good enough, but at least we were fun to watch in that game!

PS. The fans were top on Saturday, and actually, in a perverse way, the last 20 minutes was great fun. As Kinty asked me at the time, 'is it still Schadenfraude if it's happening to you?'. Still singing, still chanting, and still, remarkably, mostly giving the players a never-less-deserved ovation at the end.

P.P.S. Lonergan should have saved the seventh, but it took a massive deflection you can't really see on that camera angle. Looped big time.

[bwfcdan94]

Great to hear!

But to an extent, it's business as usual for Reading season ticket holders (albeit with a handsome scoreline), but Bolton fans had travelled far, may have stayed over and would make the most of it as it's a big away day out! So I think that's mainly why you get the difference.

Switch the circumstances and Reading fans may have been similar.

Yesterday was far enough self-deprecation for the week. Embarrassed.

Nice to meet Dan, Kinty, Pru and Crayons though.

No you see that is where your wrong HMX, I went up on the Reading f.c travel coach to our home game against Reading and the whole way up there and the whole way back not one voice was raised let alone a song be sung, My 2 pals who I went up there with said that nearly everybody who was on the coach had been travelling to games together for years yet most of them didn't even talk to each other. I have long said to Reading fans at least your not as bad as Arsenal fans but in previous months my opinion has been changing and Saturday proved it for me that 95% of Reading fans are not passionate about football or their town in one bit.

[Worthy4England]

I've only just stopped drinking. My carefully thought-out reaction is that they can all f*ck off. That was so bad. So bad. I've never seen adults play football that badly. Ever.

I still think there is a good manager in Freedman somewhere but I'm well past defending him. As for the players...oh my. Some-one, I can't remember who, and this isn't a time for fact checking, said that courage in football wasn't a crunching tackle, but wanting the ball in front of the crowd even when you weren't playing well (that was the gist). There are too many cowards in that team. Too many whose heads go down when we are losing, who stop running, who stop showing for it. And on top of that, not one of them had the decency to get sent off for something to at least give us something to shout at. Dodgy penalties when it's already 3-0 don't count. We've got technically good players but who like the mentality completely to be successful. They're the opposite of SKD.

Of the team that started, Knight, Ream, Mark Davies, Pratley, Lee and N'Gog were part of the squad that whimpered to relegation. Mark Davies is the only one of those I'd keep. He has bad games, and make no mistake Saturday was one - the first three times he touched it his first touch was up around his own head - but he always wants the ball. The rest can feck off. It's got to the point where I'd rather we paid Knight and N'Gog their £20k a week not to play. Pratley is too busy trying to pick a fight as soon as we start losing (and he's still shit at football toom which doesn't help), Lee is f*cked, it's sad, but he's gone, and Ream, oh my.

The worst thing is that it's certainly not a lack of 'effort' per se. This lost the dressing room stuff is nonsense. They aren't players who don't care. They were pointing and shouting at each other, and they came over at the end, led by Spearing, and looked suitably chastened. They are just technically ok footballers, who aren't cut out to be competitors.

One thing is for sure, we can't keep losing £50m a year to be that bad at football.

I'm past caring about the manager. We've just conceded seven, and don't seem to be making any progress, so by all means sack him, don't think that's all it takes though. We need a thorough clear out of the playing squad. Some aren't good enough technically, some mentally, but of the XI who started I'd keep Mills, Lonergan, Danns and Mavies and lose the rest if possible. N'Gog and Knight even if not.

The game I enjoyed the most recently was Bristol City at home last year with Philips and Lee. If we could persuade them to have a go I'd be up for it. We aren't going up, the players aren't even nearly good enough, but at least we were fun to watch in that game!

PS. The fans were top on Saturday, and actually, in a perverse way, the last 20 minutes was great fun. As Kinty asked me at the time, 'is it still Schadenfraude if it's happening to you?'. Still singing, still chanting, and still, remarkably, mostly giving the players a never-less-deserved ovation at the end.

P.P.S. Lonergan should have saved the seventh, but it took a massive deflection you can't really see on that camera angle. Looped big time.

About the only thing I could disagree with there is whether I'd keep Mills - if he was the second best of two CD's, then maybe...

That said, the performance against Forest, the week before was pretty competent, compared to some of the others this season. Why it went to shit on Saturday is anyone's guess. But if a 1-1 draw is the highlight of half a season's performances, then it's a poor show.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Thanks for that, Pru - a fascinating read.

For the record, schadenfreude literally translates as "harm-joy" so no reason why it shouldn't make sense when directed at oneself... although another word may be "masochism"...

[Prufrock]

Worthy- I mean keep at all! I'd like two better than him, but I'd not be aghast if he stayed/played.

DSB- Cheers. Oddly that is almost word-for-word my carefully considered response at the time . Ahem.

[borgetti_wanderers]

F*ck me we've had some low ebs in my 30 years as a white but this is up there.

The worst thing about it is we went in 4 down and seemingly showed no fight / interest to save face in the second.

I'm not lining the pockets of the overpaid chairman, management team or players any more. FA Cup games? feck off. Going to use my saturday productively next week instead.

We'll go down. We wont be able to shift players, and if we did dougie would sign shite. The players here havent got the fight for it and the staff arent clever enough. fecking wankers. Bin the lot of em in the summer. Cancel contracts. Start again.

Feel the same. Can't decide whether to go to the Cardiff game to show support for my club or stay away in case my attendance is viewed as backing for Phil & Dougie!

All due respect you don't turn up to a game to because you support Dougie & Phil.. you turn up because you love Bolton Wanderers! This isn't the time for fans to be little kids and not turn up to games. This is the time for every fan to turn up sing there heart out and support the lads.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Couple of questions...

1. Was it a penalty? Didn't look like deliberate handball or inside the area to me.

2. What did the home fans do to attract the attention of the Capslock delegation in the first half?

1) Not sure - if it was handball it didn't look inside the box on the replay.
2) Couldn't tell - just saw them running over and our fans in the area seemed to be taunting them. As the Millwall fans put it when we played them - "You'll run an you know you will".

Did we ever find out what (2) was about?

[bwfcdan94]

From what I saw and from what a friend of mine who was sits in that corner of the Reading end said, there is 2 lads (aged about 40) who stand right next to the away fans and basically taunt the opposition fans all game, they are what some forum users would call chavs and they went through their usual routine of leaving 3 empty seats between them and the barrier that separates the home and away fans so as to be able to taunt in safety as if they go right up to the barrier then an away fan may punch them. Anyhow when the second goal went in they taunted our fans and a group of Bolton fans most in their 40s went right up to the railing and called it on with them, surprise surprise the 2 Reading lads made no effort to go any closer to this group of Bolton fans (so they kept 3 seats between them and the railing). It all ended in tears for the 2 Reading fans however was when one of the Reading lads was chucked out because the stewards realised who was causing the trouble and who was minding their own business watching the football until confronted by the 2 Reading fans. I commend the Reading stewards for removing the trouble makers rather than those who were not interested in confrontation until provoked. Unsurprisingly I didn't see the 2 Reading fans in question hanging around outside the Bolton end, in fact I didn't see any Reading fans singing after the game.

[daib0]

bwfcdan94, hi, and straight away I say I don't condone that behaviour at all by those Reading tw*ts. Chuck them out I say, as always a tiny minority causing a bad reputation for the many good fans that we do have, believe me. I've enjoyed reading this whole thread, and not because we won like that because that was a freak result I'm convinced, but because there have been many really good posts on here.
Are Reading fans passionate? Difficult to answer that, I think there is passion deep down but it's often difficult for it to surface. Maybe being so near London there's an inferiority complex, but morally I stand up to London, I see the Thames Valley as a region not a suburban area of greater London. Nearly all our history has been non-descript as they say, and I don't just mean as amateurs when you were towering giants right back in the 19th century. Of recent times we've just had a peek at the 'promised land'; two years under Coppell then that such a disappointing last season when we hardly ever left the relegation places. I'm - and others on RR - are well aware of the way you've maintained a top tier presence for so many of the last twenty seasons. Far from putting you guys down, as some appear to by what you say in posts, I'd definitely take my hat off to you. At the end of the day respect has to prevail; one year lady luck will touch you and another it may be our turn. I'd just like to say please count on me for a honest and fair view away from the stupid 'head in the sand' approach that affect some fans...
All the best guys, there's no way you'll go down ... says me!

[Harry Genshaw]

This is the time for every fan to turn up sing there heart out and support the lads.

Nah. It's January, it's wet and it's the FA cup. Now is definitely the time to take a day off. I'll be cheering from my armchair tomorrow

Top man Daib0 - Good luck to you lads for the rest of the season

[bwfcdan94]

bwfcdan94, hi, and straight away I say I don't condone that behaviour at all by those Reading tw*ts. Chuck them out I say, as always a tiny minority causing a bad reputation for the many good fans that we do have, believe me. I've enjoyed reading this whole thread, and not because we won like that because that was a freak result I'm convinced, but because there have been many really good posts on here.
Are Reading fans passionate? Difficult to answer that, I think there is passion deep down but it's often difficult for it to surface. Maybe being so near London there's an inferiority complex, but morally I stand up to London, I see the Thames Valley as a region not a suburban area of greater London. Nearly all our history has been non-descript as they say, and I don't just mean as amateurs when you were towering giants right back in the 19th century. Of recent times we've just had a peek at the 'promised land'; two years under Coppell then that such a disappointing last season when we hardly ever left the relegation places. I'm - and others on RR - are well aware of the way you've maintained a top tier presence for so many of the last twenty seasons. Far from putting you guys down, as some appear to by what you say in posts, I'd definitely take my hat off to you. At the end of the day respect has to prevail; one year lady luck will touch you and another it may be our turn. I'd just like to say please count on me for a honest and fair view away from the stupid 'head in the sand' approach that affect some fans...
All the best guys, there's no way you'll go down ... says me!

Best of luck to you for the remainder of the season although I wouldn't want to see Reading go up for obvious reasons of being where I live. I should mildly point out that we (Bolton) are in the shadow of Manchester and Liverpool. City are without doubt the best side in the country at the moment, Liverpool and Manure have dominated most of this countries footballing history. Reading IMO are lucky they have a whole county (admittedly a small one) to yourselves so most in the area should support Reading but as you and me both know Spuds and Chelsea steal a lot of local fans. maybe the lack of local rivalry is the reason for the lack of passion on display at Reading. Thank you for the great contribution you have made to the forum daib0, your welcome back in my opinion any time.