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Come on you Royals!

Rants and raves (but mostly rants) about following a 2nd division team.

I am often greeted with the reaction of “Really?  Why?” when I tell people I am a Reading fan.  And it’s not the easiest explanation really.  Reading are toiling around in the relegation zone of the Championship this season, after flirting with immediate promotion back to the Prem last year.  So how did I become a fan of a mediocre 2^nd division team?

It all started in 2005-06.  This was the year I really started following the EPL as a league instead of just catching which ever game happened to be on TV that week.  As I  was watching West Brom, Sunderland, and Birmingham go down, I started to take note of Reading who had been tearing up the 2^nd division.  The Royals eventually finished first, with a record 106 points, losing only 2 games in the whole season. 

As 06-07 rolled around, I began shopping for an EPL team as my interest in the league grew.  Not satisfied with just cheering for quality football, I wanted to ride the highs and the lows (and now the very lows) with a team.  I wanted to give high fives when we scored and roll my eyes and look to the sky when we lost.  But I’ve never been a front runner.  I couldn’t just go out and choose a Big 4 team so I would be on board with a proven champion.  So here is a scrappy promoted team, off to a good start in the Prem in the beginning of 2006.  And I said why not?  They have two Americans?  Even better.

So as the 06-07 season evolved, it seemed like Reading were a team built to stay in the first division.  They exceeded all expectations by finishing 8^th, just one spot out of UEFA Cup qualifying position.  Steve Coppell seemed like a Premiership level manager.  And they played some gritty, positive soccer, generally not throwing all 11 guys behind the ball.  So I did it.  I bought my blue and white hooped jersey and joined the Royal faithful.

And then the 07-08 season rolled around.  We started the year brightly, and were mid-table in January.  But after a few embarrassing results (a 7-4 loss at Portsmouth) and a horrible string of home defeats, we found ourselves in the relegation zone on the last day of the season.  Despite beating Derby 4-0, we went down on goal differential when Fulham managed a 1-0 win to stay up.  And then I thought to myself, “shit, well now what?”  I wouldn’t be able to see Reading play on TV at all.  And I would have a tough time even wrangling up video highlights.  But, I had made my choice.  And fans don’t abandon their teams just because they have a lousy season.

So since then, I have seen a total of two Reading games.  Watching both online, on my computer.  The 2^nd game I managed to catch was Reading’s 0-2 home defeat to Burnley that gave them a Play-off Final berth and ended Reading’s promotion hopes.  Since that, the last game of last season, the manager has left, along with almost every player from the Premiere League season.  They have no Americans, with Bobby Convey now stinking it up in the MLS and Marcus Hahnemann moving to newly promoted Wolverhampton.  But I remain loyal to my Royals.  Following match reports online.  Cursing the terrible job gaffer Brendan Rodgers has done (all without seeing a game he has coached).  And still dusting off that blue and white jersey once in a while.  I’m just hoping I get to see them in the Prem again sometime soon.

Reading lost away to Derby 2-1 on the weekend.  I caught the game report on BBC.  We're currently in 22nd place, just outside the relegation zone.

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Coventry 1 Crystal Palace 1 - Gimme Gimme Gimme

So we played a whole load better than we have done over the last couple of months, but still couldn't manage to win. Interesting.

Having stormed out in a huff at the final whistle on account of Coleman appearing content with a draw at home, I've now calmed myself and will reflect on things in a more placid nature. If I'd written this immediately afterwards, the post would be entitled Swineathon 2009, I'd be crucifying Clinton Morrison again, and the FC Coventry City Mönchengladbach Saint-Germain dream would be back in motion.

But I listened to fans after the match, many verging on delirium that we'd not lost, and it shocked me. I couldn't help but wonder; maybe I'm expecting too much? Maybe, even with all our players whom I swear can perform far better, we're still only a bottom 8 team?

I hope not.

So rather than indulge myself in a bitter and ruthless analysis of the game which has become the norm over the last month or so, I'm going to keep things brief and simply run through the positives and negatives of Saturday's game.

Positives

- As a whole, we played better than we have been doing.
- Barnett and Wood both look pretty athletic as a defensive pairing.
- Michael McIndoe finally had a decent-ish game.
- Leon Best scored again.
- The shape of the team looked a lot more solid.

Negatives

- We have dropped more vital points at home.
- The attitude of the players and manager appeared to indicate that they were content with holding on for the point.
- Gunnarsson is still a shadow of the player we know he can be.
- Morrison is struggling to have any sort of impact.
- The referee - who thought that he could stop the game every 20 seconds to wag his finger around - only gave 3 minutes added time.
- Flaming wind and rain blowing in my face.

As happy as I am that we didn't have to endure the same twaddle we've been used recently, my immediate concern is that it's only November and we're already lumbered in and around the bottom of the table.

Couple that with the fact that even if we were to do the unthinkable and win 3 in a row, we'd realistically only move up to about 13th - things aren't as rosy as many fans would have you believe.

Not after 1 home draw, that's for sure. Ipswich will vouch for where draws in this league get you.

Lord help me for daring to suggest that I'm still not satisfied after Saturday; but I want more than a point at home to Crystal Palace. Yep, I really do.

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France v Ireland Handball Debacle Demands Instant Replay

FIFA'a failure to apply its discretion in a manner befitting the integrity of the game- they were quick to deny a replay between Ireland and France- calls for prudent measures that could not only prevent future blunders, but also any accompanying conspiracy theories (with the French going through, Platini and Blatter have certainly had their wish granted following their dubious last minute reseeding of the European World Cup qualifying playoffs). 

Rather than assault the purity of the game, the judicious use of instant replay would help to maintain it. Certainly it would have to be limited to two very simple items: whether the ball crossed the goal line and if the ball was improperly played in scoring a goal (i.e. handball). Given that match officials are inadequate to get it right at all times (remember the '86 World Cup or that match in the English Championship last season between Reading and Watford where a goal was awarded for a ball that rolled wide of the post) it seems a necessary step. And rather than following the NFL's idiotic example which leaves us wondering if the referee is peering off into Narnia as the minutes tick away and play is stopped, FIFA should adopt something akin to the NHL's policy. In a game of 90+mph slap shots it's not uncommon for a puck to enter and exit the net while escaping the notice of players and officials. A bounce off one of the inner metal supports is mistaken for a redirection off the crossbar and the game carries on- that is until the signal comes down from the league press booth that instant replay shows it was a clear goal.  Yes, common sense can save the day. 

A team of 3 match trained officials could sit in a press booth while having direct contact with officials on the field who in turn could signal the match officials in the unlikely event that a crucial aspect of the match has escaped their perception. But, unlike the NFL, by no means could any appeals be directed to this proposed salve. There would be no 'slippery slope' as instant replay's scope could be kept severely limited. In that manner, the only thing to change is that phantom goals and  "the Hand of God" would be relegated to the past instead of awaiting the next scandalous moment that lowers the sport a peg while infuriating those who truly love the game.  And with European soccer facing its second major scandal in the last three years, instant replay could go a long way in making it harder to fix a game, even if your name is Platini or Blatter.

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Derby 2 Coventry 1 - What are your intentions, Coleman?

Coleman said: "I thought it was a marked improvement from last week although we were found wanting in defence yet again.

I thought in the main it was a much gutsier performance because we bossed it in the second half and could have scored more".

What game was that then Chris? I'm sorry, but that post-match analysis isn't going to fly with me, sonny jim.

Contrary to any of the nonsense you may have heard from Coleman over the last couple of days, we were yet again, completely and totally outplayed. Let's get that absolutely clear.

What makes this all the worse is that we were outplayed by a Derby team that was utter bullshine themselves, by anyone's recognition. That's embarrassing. At least it is for me. If Ward and Morrison's appearance on Soccer AM is anything to go by, the players couldn't give a monkeys.

But compound this with the fact that it was on Sky, and according to Twitter, the match was even being watched by a selection of celebs. Cricket's David "Bumble" Lloyd being one of them, no less.

The very shame of it.

Actually coming out and saying that we "bossed it in the second half" leads me to one conclusion; Coleman has gone quite, quite mad. Over the course of the 90 minutes we managed to string 2 passes together about 3 times. The only time we looked like we might come close to even scoring again after the early goal was in the final 5 minutes when Derby for some reason felt they needed to drop deep. This of course, giving us a bit more time to boot the ball into their keeper's hands.

Frantic, possibly. Bossing it? Never. Absolutely no chance.

Run through the team, and there were a mixture of mediocre performances scattered among a wide selection of utter tosh. I personally thought that the 2 centre-backs Barnett and Ward were the only 2 who had reasonable games. Granted, both had moments of utter lunacy (Ward's tackles in the first half for example), but at least I also saw moments of passion, strength and rather crazily for our players, quality.

Gunnarsson, Clarke, Eastwood gave fully useless performances however. Never coming close to the level of performance they should be giving.

But if they were bad, don't even get me started on Cork and Morrison. I've never seen such ineffective performances. Cork, once more playing like a frightened school kid, while Morrison did absolute bugger all throughout. I found myself wishing he'd actually given Savage a slap after Clarke was red carded, if only to get himself sent off too, and as far from the pitch as possible.

So quite where Coleman thought the "marked improvement" was, I'm struggling to see. I can only assume he forgot that the game was on TV and thought he could get away with pretending it was better than it was.

Don't worry, I'm not really cynical enough to actually believe he'd do something like that (I am).

What I really can't get my head around is what Coleman's intentions for our club actually are. I'd like to know what the plan is, because 18 months he has been here, and the only impact I see on the footballing side of things is how we're now playing very, very poorly, with players who have no desire to move the club on from the shocking level we're currently at...

and what's the most worrying is that he appears to be accepting (and encouraging) it.

It's not worth my time to whine about how poorly our players keep playing any longer. But Christ almighty, it's so difficult to find positives or even excuses for some of the performances just lately. The bar is so low and I'm very worried.

If you praise mediocrity Coleman, there's only one thing you're ever going to get.

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Yankee's Parade

I've lived in NYC for over 12 years now and have been here for 3 of the World Series Champions, but not once did I make it to the ticker tape parade. This year there was not going to be an excuse or way out of it, besides my job was only blocks away and half the folks at work went. These are a selective few photos from that day.

                     

Click here to download:

Yankees_Parade.zip (1947 KB)

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Coventry 1 Reading 3 - You bring it on yourself Coleman.

Lack of urgency. Poor decision making. Hiding from the ball. No cutting edge. Lacking in quality.

Just a few sentences to describe the performance in the Reading game. All very similar to previous games this season.

Sometimes when things go wrong in football, it's all too easy to blame the manager. You lose a couple of games on the spin, and as a fan you lose all perspective of what that manager actually brings to your team.

That happens at Arsenal when they go 2 or 3 games without winning. Carlo Ancelotti was under pressure after he lost his first game at Chelsea. I know plenty of Villa fans who are straight on Martin O'Neill's back whenever they lose. Even last season when Alex McLeish was leading Birmingham to promotion, there were question marks about his job every time they lost a game.

The thing about each of those scenarios however is that each manager has a strong case as to why they are in actual fact "achieving" what they set out to do in their jobs. A couple of defeats, while bloody annoying, shouldn't detract from that. Eventually after the dust has settled, everyone realises this.

Now, let's look at Coventry's situation after the match yesterday.

• We have just lost at home to a team who have the worst recent form in the Championship. (Their fans are overseeing arguably one of the most rapid falls from grace in the English Leagues over the last few years).
• Longer term, we've won 5 matches since 28th February. (8 months)
• 18000 is now considered a high attendance.
• We're currently 16th in the league.
• Last year we finished with 54 points (17th).
• Season before that, 53 points (21st).
• Season before that, 56 points (17th).

Those are the facts and figures - we're not doing very well at the moment and haven't been for a very long time.

I came away and listened to the phone-in and the usual discontent could be heard, whilst Clive Eakin tried his level best to defend the indefensible.

What intrigued me most was hearing the phone calls from fans who thought it was absolutely ludicrous to be calling for Coleman's head.

"You've got to give him time" proclaimed one.
"He's building something" cried another.

This argument got me thinking. Exactly what should it take for a manager to be sacked? Is there a benchmark which you can measure against, and if so, when should you apply it? Surely you have to take other factors into consideration too - how much money that manager had to spend; the application of the team; are their signs that things could change?

With all this going around in my head, I started looking a bit more at the stats and how the current team compares against it's previous incarnation (Dowie's tenure).

The following figures really jumped out at me :

Coleman (last 29 matches)
W 5
D 9
L 15
F 25
A 44

Dowie (final 29 matches)
W 10
D 4
L 15
F 34
A 43

29 games is an odd figure. But it's a long, long time. And it was apparently more than long enough for the board to look at Dowie's record and relieve him of his duties. You'd be entitled to ask yourself exactly where the real improvement on the Dowie team actually is.

If you felt those figures didn't do things justice and Coleman has been managing under tough circumstances, you may then wish to ponder over which manager had the best players to work with, and the most money to spend?

Coleman wins on both counts don't you think?

Funny thing is, I couldn't give a monkeys about all these stats providing there was real proof coming from the club that they were making efforts to improve and bring success to the footballing side of things. I don't want to see managers sacked all the time - tis bullshine.

But there are no signs that they are trying to improve the footballing side of things. And if there are, then they're trying in ways which are cryptic to me.

What winds me up the most is how there is such a lack of pressure at the club to actually succeed. I understand the need to protect the players, but all we hear after every match is more and more strange explanations as to why we played so badly. Coleman has even gone as far now to basically encourage it when we play poor football, because he believes that's the way to succeed in this league.

Let me tell you this, that is simply not possible.

No team in the Championship will get promoted on running around and passion alone. Agreed, not all of them will play "pretty football" like West Brom, but any successful team will be able to balance hard work and graft with an ability to win games by playing well.

They're not mutually exclusive elements. The formula is pretty simple: effort + quality = success. You won't get anywhere with just one of them, and I firmly believe that.

I assume when Coleman dreams of this as a route to success, he is imaging us playing in a similar fashion to Cardiff and Sheffield Utd who came to the Ricoh and absolutely battered us physically last year. I fear what he's neglected to acknowledge is that while those teams did destroy us and blitzed us with some no-nonsense tackles and defending, they were also very effective footballing teams, with real cutting edge.

The Reading game was the most stark indication so far of the team that Coleman is fast turning us into.

I don't want us to sack the manager. My first choice is for that manager to do things to turn things around. I just want one that is hard on the players, strives for quality, and isn't content to work towards what many of our fans are happy to deem "improvements".

Over 2 years, incremental improvements of a point a season are not acceptable. He's really got to up his game and realise that what he's currently doing just isn't enough. For any Championship team.

And he can't blame injuries or the quality of the players - we've seen enough of each of the players he has available to him in the squad to know what they're capable of producing. Even the kids. They can still play to a good enough standard to beat Reading at home.

It's Coleman's job to a) pick the right players and b) develop a style of play that is capable of winning games regularly. Until he does that, he's no different to any of our previous managers. And it's not unrealistic to expect that. You only have to look at some of the other clubs that are in the top 10 and some of the players they have playing for them.

He really needs to start giving us real footballing improvements.. and pronto.

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Coventry 0 West Brom 0 - It's alright when you don't win, if you try loads...

Yeah, I suppose there has to be some truth in that statement.

Being entirely realistic about the match given the players we're missing, winning against a team of genuine footballing quality like West Brom was always going to be difficult. We don't have a huge number of options to come in at the best of times - when those missing include Kieren Westwood, Sammy Clingan, Gunny and Leon Best, you've got to say your chances of winning against top of the league diminishes considerably.

So settling for a point in that context (even if it is at home) has to be alright...ish. That I can understand and accept.

I have to say though, there is one common judgement I hear which I struggle to understand the reasoning behind.

"They gave 100% today, that's all you can ask".

Forgive the simplicity of this, but is giving 100% really a valid source of praise for any professional footballer?

When I watch a player, the one thing I expect as a given is that they will give 100%. Full effort and commitment by all the players should be the absolute norm when they are on the pitch, not the exception. If they don't, then they're automatically marked down in the fan's brownie-points column.

This is why I struggle to understand some of the praise that is being put the way of the players since Saturday. If you analyse the game properly, what you can say about our performance is that the players did work their socks off - but in terms of footballing quality, it was again very poor.

In every game a footballer plays, the one thing they should be able to say is that they worked their socks off / gave 110% / put a shift in /(insert any other effort-related cliché here). To me, this isn't an optional element and what they should ultimately be judged on is what footballing impact they are able to have on the match. Of course you could argue that this rule is more relevant for some positions than others, but I don't think any are entirely exempt.

Let's look at an example.

Since he has arrived at the club, Michael McIndoe has failed to bring any real quality to the team, and his impact has been minimal (aside from a couple of relatively straight-forward assists). His overall performance on Saturday was again, below-par for a Championship standard left-winger. That's the harsh reality of the situation.

His touch was clumsy, his vision was linear, he gave the impression of being scared and what is most troublesome of all, he doesn't have the pace we were all led to believe he had. (All points which can be attributed to every one of his performances this season).

So, the fact that he ran around quite a bit and "gave 100%" doesn't negate any of those points for me. Fact of the matter is, at the moment you could employ any player from a conference side to play instead of McIndoe, and they would offer you exactly the same effort and quality- only for a few thousand pounds a week cheaper.

I don't want to get on at him. I'm just using this an as example of the pitfalls that come with being blinded by workrate and thinking that will bring success. The very same could be said about Michael Doyle, Andy Morrell or Robbie Simpson. They would all run and run. But that should never be at the detriment of quality - especially in attacking positions. Absolutely not.

So while 0-0 draw at home to West Brom was acceptable because we worked very hard for it and defended resolutely, the overall quality of performance by many of the players was still a worry.

Quite early on, the team made a very obvious decision to bypass any passing moves through the midfield and focus the majority of their attacking play via long ball. As a tactic, I don't deny that sometimes this can prove the most effective. But there will still be many occasions during the game when an opportunity presents itself that requires a more precise build up. This is usually a counter-attack, or a mistake by the opposition midfield.

I couldn't see any indication that we would be able to capitilise on those situations on Saturday. I think that was the biggest disappointment for me.

Maybe I'm thinking too much like Roy Keane and have unrealistic expectations of the team. I don't know.

But I do think it's fair and reasonable to feel strongly about one thing; If we're ever going to achieve consistency in performance, the problem of inconsistent effort is something which should be easy to remedy and should come from each individual's desire to achieve with the club. Choose players with the right drive, that's half the battle.

The harder issue issue to solve is the issue of inconsistent quality, which is always the bit which will land you in trouble if you fall short.

What we need to remember is that the effort element is only what most of the teams in the league are doing as standard anyway. So as much as Coleman likes to preach it, that alone won't get you anywhere against the majority of teams. If you match them for that (which we HAVE to begin to do), in order to win you either have to have more quality.. or failing that, more luck.

I think it's obvious which of those factors we've got more chance of influencing so I'd love to see us address it somehow.

Ahhh, the simplicity of believing you can rely on our players to try week in - week out. What a world it could be.

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Cardiff 2 Coventry 0 - Once again, it's all too easy

Can't be bothered.

There's no analysis for this game. No judgements. No radical statements (new ones). What would be the point? It's all been said a thousand times before.

The game tonight pretty much summed up our inability to have any sort of impact on the league. All the signs are pointing to yet another nothingness of a season. At best.

Although, I do have a suggestion for our starting lineup on Saturday:-

GK - Stephen Wright
LB - Stephen Wright
CB - Stephen Wright
CB - Stephen Wright
RB - Stephen Wright
LM - Stephen Wright
CM - Stephen Wright
CM - Stephen Wright
RM - Stephen Wright
ST - Stephen Wright
ST - Stephen Wright

Mascot - Stephen Wright

Yeah, that'd definitely be brilliant.

The only silver lining is that it could be worse - I could support Ipswich. Christ they're having some luck.

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Sheffield Wed 2 Coventry 0 - The glorious saga continues.

These are getting harder to write with every game. My aim is always to analyse each performance on its individual merit, whilst keeping a level-head and refraining from any radical statements.

Fact is though, the club is rotten. There - radical statement 1. But as far as I'm concerned, it's a true statement.

Just to clarify, I don't base this on the performance. Just so happens that I've found myself in the know about a few things over the last week, which has left me with a totally different view of many of the players, and the club as whole.

It also just so happens that I'm a bit of a wimp. So while I'd bloody love to divulge some of this information in explicit detail, I'm going to have to tip-toe around it given the slim chance it might cause me grief if I started to shout my mouth.

All I will say is that it now comes as no surprise why we are where we are. And if things do get better any time soon, it'll be a bleeding miracle.

While it's probably not a surprise to anyone reading this, far too many of the players are focused too much on the lifestyle that being a footballer offers, and it'd appear the club are partly to blame for this by encouraging it.

Vague I know, but the culture around the club is very different to that of other clubs in the Championship - I just wonder if those at the very top of the club have any idea.

Right, leaving the cryptic and nonsensical rant aside, the game yesterday was pretty much all we've come to expect from the team over the last few years. Spineless start, leaving us with a mountain to climb, followed by bad luck which in many ways will divert a lot of the attention from where the fundamental issues lie.

Stephen Wright must go. There - radical(ish) statement 2. Actually, from the conversations I've had, I'm sure this is a pretty mainstream sentiment by now.

We're leaking goal after goal, and we have to work out a way of fixing this. Maybe I'm missing something, but removing the slow, small, poor-heading defender from the equation would surely be high up on the list of any manager looking to fix the issue?

I'll say again, I've got nothing against Wright as backup. But all season long he's been there, and all season long our defence has looked shaky. We need to look beyond rotating players to fit into the team around him, when he's at the heart of the flaming problem. No matter how great a "leader" he is, or how much he can shout, when a player is as slow as he is, there is only so much benefit he can bring to the team.

As far as I can see, bringing Cranie back in would immediately give us another player who at the very least, has a hope in hell of recovering when things go wrong or individual mistakes are made.

But with Wright in the team, all that appears to offer us at the moment is an experienced head. But in real-terms, what does that actually mean if that experienced head offers little in the way of footballing quality?

The more Wright plays, the more I see the huge hole Coleman has dug for himself by choosing him as captain. All we're doing is going down the Arjan de Zeeuw route again.

I remember that route vividly. That route was a shambles. That route made me very cross.

The disallowed goal also makes me cross, but I'm not one to bemoan luck. That's a side issue if you ask me. The big issue (as it has been for the last decade) is we're still desperately trying to find our feet and search for some sort of consistency. I just don't see where it's going to come from while we're still struggling along with our defence though.

And with Gunny and Sammy now out, the centre of our midfield looks as flimsy as its ever been too.

Anyone got Carlton Palmer's number, per chance?

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Penguins vs. Coyotes

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