madras

Well the closest recent example would be Villa, and they gave O'Neil plenty more time to turn things around. We at Reading had a similar poor run under Coppell when we blew our play off chances on a run of 11 games without a win. Yes there were rumblings amongst a small number of fans at the time but the owners stuck with him. Slightly different as he was their man in the first place but we were pretty dreadful! Allardyce did also spend a bit of money yes, I'm not trying to defend him, but was it that much relative to the current market place? You'll know the figures better than I will but I guess you were hoping for an impact similar to Sven's at City or O'Neil's at Villa but he didn't, from memory, have anywhere near the kind of money they had. I can understand the wrong man at the wrong club/wrong time arguement, and if he was the new owners man I'm sure it would've been different, but from an outsiders point of view it was a rash move. totally different as lerner (although he didn't own the club at the time) was the man behind getting o'neill in.

i personally think each country should have a limit of non-domestics who can be the starting 16.

The change in ownership certainly handcuffed Allardyce, but I was talking more about the fans reaction and expectations than that of the owner. The owner was obviously the one that pulled the rug on the manager but he does seem to be led by the feeling 'on the terraces.' On the special club comments...as a fan of a small club I've never really wanted Reading to be like any other club, I've just wanted us to the best we can. I can't say I like a lot of the rubbish that surrounds being in the Premiership but I can understand the arguement of the Barca's etc being more than just a football club because of the history of the region. That might mean a lot in terms of the scale of feeling and the numbers involved, but it doesn't really make much difference on individual level (although taking my club as an example, we only really have probably 5-8,000 proper hardcore fans amongst our 18,000 STH who have the club as close to their heart as perhaps your 50,000 (or whatever number you want to go with) Geordie nation addicts). You support a massive club, that make it speacial in it's own way, but all clubs are special in their own different ways. allardyce was given as much to spend on average as previous managers. he offered no hope of improvement....so i'll ask again,how long would any club with a new owner keep a manager in that situation ?

To be fair to Wacko, as another opposition fan that pops on here every now and again, I have to agree that the posts on this site do nothing to dispell the so called media stereotype of Geordie fans expectations and lack of patience. Even some of the replies on this thread trying to disprove it just add more weight to it. As painful as it can be to watch, at some point your going to have to give a manager time to actually build a team and see the job through, even if at times it doesn't look like it's going to pay off. I pity some of the football you've had to put up with under the likes of Roeder and Souness but you have to accept that it's a long process to rebuild, unless you get lucky AND throw lots of money at it like City have with Sven this season. yet the majority just want improvement. how long do you think a club with a new owner would give a manager who shows not even a hope of improvement ?

i think we had him on trial

but divers often get caught,and i'm not just having a go at the cynical hack. whati mean is cheating....is the dive as bad as the trip on a midfield break ?,they arent tret as such by refs or fans

I know they are on a bad run, I hope it continues. yet again i have had to stop myself from posting their fixtures

Reading are a strange one, they've lost as many at home as they've won 6 and 1 draw so they could expect to beat Blackburn, Birmingham have only won 3 at home. reading have the worst run in of all the bottom teams (when i say bottom i mean it)

you say diving or cheating......does that include the regular emre clip of heels when someone breaks past him or defenders putting arms round forwrds at corners etc *ie fouling. what i'm trying to do is equate the ronaldo dives with certainn defensive practices.

we all scream when a player dives, yet when a defender "trips" a forward we say he done the right thing. either way it's cheating and distorting the rules. at corners and free kicks we want our defenders to foul and cheat as much as necessary yet when ronaldo hits the deck its a heinous crime? discuss

Shearer wasnt better.....he was f****** way better!!!He pissed all over Ronaldo!!! different players,different strengths

don't milk it lads, a fantastic player(in his prime) has reached the end of his career,it's been on the wane for long enough.

his first couple of seasons at barcelona he was the best footballer in the world

When Roeder had more players to chose from we played worse and got beat more often, that's the sign of a s**** manager, Souness was the same. maybe we should have got roeder back till the summer then got keegan ?

No it hasn't, it's probably better than it would have been if they hadn't. sure it is, we're having our best and most exhilerating times since.......err......... the relegation struggle of 1992 perhaps ? Nowt too embarrassing though. and many would say we are in this position due the appointment of allardyce who was backed to about the same tune as the previous regime would do on average ?

David monologue Pleat always called Nikos Dabizas, Dabidas I can't recall a name that David Pleat pronounces correctly. officer johnson of the vice squad.

did i say christmas....make it summer

Rafa the gumbie has blown it and the yanks will use your clubs profits to fund their other enterprises. They don't give a f*** about you or your club, the quicker you lot make a stand the better. my prediction is that the yanks and rafa will be gone by christmas

wigan is as special to a wigan fan as barcelona is to a barcelona fan. some clubs "specialness" exists outside that

totally agree. Coupled with the lack of a leader in the side that raises spirits etc the side seem to just never shrug off going a goal down. not even a leader,we need more than someone who'll clap and shout,we need someone to spark something football wise.

no he's quite right,only liverpool ever gets a kicking. (oh and boris had a valid point)

i'm in the "it's not fitness" group. it's more that anything we have,confidence,belief etc disappears when we concede.

Hard considering I haven't looked at a copy in ten years. My opinions of you are mostly based on reading this board. While a lot of you obviously disagree, I still believe that Newcastle fans lack a bit of patience and have a high expectancy of entertaining football. For the record, I don't think, nor did I say, that NUFC had a crap defence under KK. I think I would rather win 5 - 4 one week and lose 5 - 4 the next week. Compared to the football I've seen in recent years this would be fantastic and in any case I dont suscribe to this winning at all costs mentality. For me Liverpool are one of the most negative and boring teams to watch in the premiership, particularly away from home, they are light years away from playing the sort of free flowing attacking football that Man U and Arsenal deliver on a regular basis and hopefully they will finish outside the top 4 this year No we're not. We're two or three top-quality attacking players away. We've absolutely demolished a few teams this season, but no-one seemed to notice. They were too busy swooning over Man U or Arsenal having beaten someone else by a lesser margin. I admit that Demento and Wenger are more attack-minded than Benitez, but let's not forget Arsenal defending their way to the CL final in 2006 or Man U coming to Anfield to defend this season. It's not as black and white as all that, and there's more to attacking football than passing the ball around in triangles in front of the opposition defence. so you gave someone a hammering while arsenal and man utd could only beat others......convinces me,liverpool are the best. I didn't say we're the best, I said we're not light-years away. Big difference. I expect to get some grief on an oppo board for some of the things I say, but is it too much to ask that you read my posts properly before diving in two-footed? you are light years away,your as far away from winning the league as we are from the champs league..to the casual observer you are going backwards. as for readig your posts before diving in i've read enough about us preferring to lose 4-3 than lose 1-0. you may take a look at other parts of the board,we have a villa fan, a citeh fan,a toffee,a couple of spurs fans,a gooner who don't appear to get their opinions out of the sun. i'm giving you grief because you post rubbish not because you support anoither club.

I think I would rather win 5 - 4 one week and lose 5 - 4 the next week. Compared to the football I've seen in recent years this would be fantastic and in any case I dont suscribe to this winning at all costs mentality. For me Liverpool are one of the most negative and boring teams to watch in the premiership, particularly away from home, they are light years away from playing the sort of free flowing attacking football that Man U and Arsenal deliver on a regular basis and hopefully they will finish outside the top 4 this year No we're not. We're two or three top-quality attacking players away. We've absolutely demolished a few teams this season, but no-one seemed to notice. They were too busy swooning over Man U or Arsenal having beaten someone else by a lesser margin. I admit that Demento and Wenger are more attack-minded than Benitez, but let's not forget Arsenal defending their way to the CL final in 2006 or Man U coming to Anfield to defend this season. It's not as black and white as all that, and there's more to attacking football than passing the ball around in triangles in front of the opposition defence. so you gave someone a hammering while arsenal and man utd could only beat others......convinces me,liverpool are the best. edit...expletive edited out. most fans of other clubson here have an idea what they are talking out. wacko reads like a 12yr old sun reader.

don't worry,a shorter skirt,some lippy and you will