Doctor Zaius Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 The usual tropes in that Reading thread. Tin pot nothing club from one of the dullest places in the country. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack j Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Why the fuck are there so many newcastle fans saying he'll get them to a lower half Premier team Will he fuck. He was handed a top 6 club up here and took us to a lower half team with a couple of relegation No chance is he getting reading promoted 2 leagues Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_R Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 2 hours ago, Nobody said: there is absolutely no chance he makes a League 1 club into a PL side. That's not really what I was saying though. I wasn't talking about him turning Reading into what we were, more turning them into an upper Championship club who might have a pop at promotion occasionally, maybe even successfully. They'd go down again, for all the reasons you stated, but he could get them into a position to occasionally challenge promotion in the Championship, I'm sure of that. And for Reading fans, right now that's a dream scenario. Not every club's barometer of success or failure is the same. Suggesting Ashley would make Reading worse than they currently are is hubris and wishful thinking on our part, when he could sort out many of their problems with what is to him effectively pocket money. We were nothing but a cash cow for him. Reading could never be that in their current state, so he won't be buying them as such. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Nailed on to get them in the cup next year Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 What evidence is there to say that he’d be a success there? I agree that success would be stabilising in the championship. There’s absolutely zero evidence that he can run a football club effectively. We were destroyed by him in most measurable ways. He’s not going to spend any money to improve their squad, he’s going to sell any of their best players and he’s going to look for the cheapest possible solutions without any footballing plan for how to make Reading a success. He will absolutely destroy them. They might think things are bad right now, let’s check in on them in two year’s time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_R Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) 10 minutes ago, gbandit said: What evidence is there to say that he’d be a success there Neither side of an argument can have any evidence about any future outcome of any topic without building a time machine. Everything is, by necessity, speculation. Edited October 31, 2023 by Chris_R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 11 minutes ago, gbandit said: What evidence is there to say that he’d be a success there? I agree that success would be stabilising in the championship. There’s absolutely zero evidence that he can run a football club effectively. We were destroyed by him in most measurable ways. He’s not going to spend any money to improve their squad, he’s going to sell any of their best players and he’s going to look for the cheapest possible solutions without any footballing plan for how to make Reading a success. He will absolutely destroy them. They might think things are bad right now, let’s check in on them in two year’s time Think he can stabilise them in the Champ. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Surprised that people think he can stabilise them at a higher level than where they are currently but not going to argue about hypotheticals. We’ll see how it plays out and whether he can achieve it or not Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 35 minutes ago, Chris_R said: Neither side of an argument can have any evidence about any future outcome of any topic without building a time machine. Everything is, by necessity, speculation. Previous performance is pretty solid data for estimating future performance. On the basis of what he did at NUFC, I wouldn’t be overly confident of him making a success of Reading. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_R Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said: Previous performance is pretty solid data for estimating future performance. On the basis of what he did at NUFC, I wouldn’t be overly confident of him making a success of Reading. Reading is not Newcastle. The aspirations of the two fanbases are a long way apart, and success for one would be failure for the other. What he did with us can't really be used as a yardstick for whether he'll similarly fail at a far smaller club. I say this as I think when he took over us he really did have the best of intentions. He wanted to be a success. He then realised he didn't have the means (or at least the will to commit such a high percentage of his means) to making it happen, so switched to just bleeding us dry. Reading is a different proposition and if he goes in with far smaller commitments needed to improve them, he could easily get them to a higher level than they're at now, a level which I think is basically a low ebb for them in recent history. We were a club at (or close to) our peak when he bought us, with big bills that he couldn't (or again, didn't want to) afford. Reading are massively underperforming and anything would feel like success to their fans right now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallsendmag Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 1 minute ago, Chris_R said: Reading is not Newcastle. The aspirations of the two fanbases are a long way apart, and success for one would be failure for the other. What he did with us can't really be used as a yardstick for whether he'll similarly fail at a far smaller club. I say this as I think when he took over us he really did have the best of intentions. He wanted to be a success. He then realised he didn't have the means (or at least the will to commit such a high percentage of his means) to making it happen, so switched to just bleeding us dry. Reading is a different proposition and if he goes in with far smaller commitments needed to improve them, he could easily get them to a higher level than they're at now, a level which I think is basically a low ebb for them in recent history. We were a club at (or close to) our peak when he bought us, with big bills that he couldn't (or again, didn't want to) afford. Reading are massively underperforming and anything would feel like success to their fans right now. He spat the dummy out when he realised that there was over £100m of hidden debt which if he'd done his due diligence checks he would have known about. He spent the next 14 years making sure he got every penny of that £100m+ back by bleeding us dry. He was lucky that even though we made very little revenue from advertising/sponsorship due to him plastering SD everywhere the club was still generating big money through other means, PL money, gate receipts etc which he could siphon off. He won't have that luxury at Reading with their 9k crowds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abacus Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Watch him go in and express astonishment at the financial state the club is in. Then state that the club needs to be able to wash its own face, appoint compliant fools as managers and impose a 10 year ambition freeze. What I don't get is that, unlike with us, he's unlikely to find a wealthy buyer to sell to and turn a profit from, nor the profile to advertise and promote his shoddy junk shops. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stifler Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 16 minutes ago, Abacus said: Watch him go in and express astonishment at the financial state the club is in. Then state that the club needs to be able to wash its own face, appoint compliant fools as managers and impose a 10 year ambition freeze. What I don't get is that, unlike with us, he's unlikely to find a wealthy buyer to sell to and turn a profit from, nor the profile to advertise and promote his shoddy junk shops. Yeah it doesn’t make sense, especially when Sheffield Wednesday are effectively up for sale. At least there he would be getting a club with a bigger history, more fans, and people who actually want to go forward which he can pretend to do until he’s called. If Reading go down this season, then you would struggle to think of them ever being able to even reach the Championship again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big River Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 I don't mind this. couldn't care any less about Reading, so it might be nice to have a team to passionately root against again. imagine if he appoints Bruce we can just sit back and enjoy the ride. hopefully it ends in financial ruin or death Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphanage Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 1 hour ago, Stifler said: Yeah it doesn’t make sense, especially when Sheffield Wednesday are effectively up for sale. At least there he would be getting a club with a bigger history, more fans, and people who actually want to go forward which he can pretend to do until he’s called. If Reading go down this season, then you would struggle to think of them ever being able to even reach the Championship again. It'll be little to do with football . How much land does Reading FC stand on ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conjo Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 If he can't make money from stripping down everything to the bare bone while advertising his tat for free & make the club shop into a SD shop that won't benefit the club itself at all then he won't buy anything. 9 minutes ago, Big River said: I don't mind this. couldn't care any less about Reading, so it might be nice to have a team to passionately root against again. imagine if he appoints Bruce Honestly wouldn't wish him on anyone. I'd go as far as saying I wouldn't even get enjoyment out of it if he bought Sunderland. I just feel pity for anyone desperate enough to want him as an owner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stifler Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Reading have been hit with a winding up order. Looks like he’s going to get them super super cheap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paully Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Aww FFS - I'm always hopeful when this thread is at the top of the page - sadly not this time yet again! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 His ability is to make everything he touches Poundland. He bought us as House of Fraser and instead of returning us to former “glory” turned us into Poundland. So if you class Reading currently as “failing corner shop” there’s a chance he’ll improve it to Poundland. It will however be devoid of any soul or competitiveness with no ambition other than survival. That may be appealing to Reading fans currently but once Groundhog Day kicks in every season for a decade they may think differently Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 2 hours ago, Big River said: I don't mind this. couldn't care any less about Reading, so it might be nice to have a team to passionately root against again. imagine if he appoints Bruce we can just sit back and enjoy the ride. hopefully it ends in financial ruin or death Payback for the Pardew subs tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfcastle Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) The only money he'll allow to be reinvested into the club is whatever percentage of what they make anyway that he feels like at any given time. Doesn't even have the threat of losing Premier League participation money to motivate him which was the only reason he allowed anything above a pittance to be spent here. Their fans used to celebrate goals on the terraces like a boundary at the cricket - can only imagine the atmosphere when they realise the plan is to do the bare minumum forever. Edited October 31, 2023 by Wolfcastle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Has a club/fanbase ever poopoo'd our warnings and ended up right? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 29 minutes ago, Mike said: Has a club/fanbase ever poopoo'd our warnings and ended up right? It’s bizarre that other fans still do. No-one knows what went on at a club better than it’s own supporters - I tend to pay heed to what others say about owners/managers/players. You can approach things with scepticism, of course, but the noise coming out of Newcastle re Ashley should have been deafening. But the likes of Reading will be infused with regional-based bigotry and years of shite spouted by sympathetic elements in the press. The ‘deluded Geordies’ narrative. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 The funniest part will be the bit that the Reading fans don’t know. That’s that Ashley doesn’t know anything about football, and doesn’t appear to enjoy it very much. He learned nothing in a decade and a half at NUFC - the mistakes were the same, the philosophy was the same. Repeated failures punctured by two lucky breaks - Graham Carr’s scouting at the start of the 2010s, and Rafa’s approach in 2016. And that’s it - 14 and a bit years of the doldrums, having taken over a club which had a higher turnover than Spurs and Man City in 2007 despite finishing bottom half that year. He couldn’t be told he was wrong, and refused to learn anything. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abacus Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 His PR machine is certainly effective. Whereas when you live it as a fan you'll know it's like being waterboarded. Lost my love of going to the game for a while due to that total idiot. Caused rifts with match-going friends as a result at the time, while he tried to suck the lifeblood out of the club. Still think that's why we all celebrated the takeover so much, it was like being reborn. Now, the chat all round town is about who we play next, tactics, players, what we might be able to hope for - like it always was before and should always have been. I genuinely don't want any football fan to suffer that no matter how desperate things seem. At one point, I'd have taken the club going under just to be able to start again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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