Feels to me that CB should be one of the more straightforward positions to recruit into, especially at L1 level and there’ll be plenty of opportunity to loan in from the leagues above. We just need to identify the new Matt Upson who can excel with us then become an international regular!

Talking of former players, Tom Ince is barely getting a look in at Watford at the moment and might be out of contract (he signed a 2 year deal in 2023 with an option to extend for one year which I doubt will be taken up). Even at 33 he’d be a cut above in L1 and would also be a great role model for ...

Harsh on The Rouge, he was consistently decent for us.

Drenthe was unbelievable on his debut but then was useless after that.

Fezza
Lino missed that their target man was always offside from a goal kick (happened every time).

You can’t be offside from a goal kick.

Felt in the first 5 minutes we were going to struggle in this game, vibe just felt off - I’ve not checked the stats but seems like we always find it difficult to get going after international breaks? CBC really should be out on loan making those mistakes somewhere else and learning from them before ...

Very comfortable win and great to start the season with a cohesive team of players rather than a group of strangers trying to gel. Worst Wigan team I can ever remember though, no fight or quality in the side and expect they will struggle. Thought Savage was superb today, all-action and using the bal...

Agree on Elliott, too lightweight for this league at the moment - I was amazed he didn’t get hooked at HT given he was on a yellow. JP played well, especially the one-on-one after Elliott’s mistake. I feel like the defence has more confidence in him and is more settled as a result. Azeez just wasn’t...

tmesis Let's go formal....The Reading Football Club.

I think that’s already the official name of the club? I’m sure I’ve seen it on a letterhead before.

Not sure Upson was underrated, remember Pardew saying at the end of his loan that he would go on and get England caps, certainly one of the most dominant CBs I’ve ever seen play for us. I tend to think Cureton was underrated as his all round game was a bit lacking but I’ve never seen a more natural ...

Stoke have released Nick Powell, Sam Clucas and 40 year old Phil Jagielka today - Powell has a decent 1 in 3 strike rate over previous seasons and Clucas seems like a solid midfielder who would probably be a cut above L1 standard. Jagielka likely too old for a full L1 campaign but might make a good ...

Elm Park Kid
I'm not a fan of clubs using their owners money to out compete everyone else. But, if we're talking about positives of relegation then this could potentially be one.

ANNOUNCE MESSI

The owner doesn’t need to know anything about football but they need the self-awareness to understand this and then to bring in people who do know what they are doing - look at the Wrexham owners. Another person licking Parkys feet? Nothing to do with Parky; if you watch the documentary series, one...

The owner doesn’t need to know anything about football but they need the self-awareness to understand this and then to bring in people who do know what they are doing - look at the Wrexham owners.

Shame that Gareth Ainsworth looks to be on his way (back) to QPR, as a semi-regular watcher of Wycombe, I’ve always thought he could do a good job for us - tactically pragmatic, engenders fantastic team spirit, has an eye for a transfer bargain and used to working with an extremely tight budget.

Does anyone know what the picture looks like for us if the transfer embargo is lifted? What can we realistically start spending in the summer window? Ince has done a better job than I expected him to, but I don’t see him as someone who is going to build a team from the ground up with a view to break...

Forgot to mention that I thought NGW was excellent today, comfortable on the ball and always looking to get forward and do something positive.

Agree that Hutchinson got away with a really poor challenge in the second half. A nailed on yellow. Did anyone else celebrate when it seemed Ince's free kick had gone in near the end of the first half? Plenty of us in the ED thought it was in. Yep - I think the entire SJM stand thought that FK was ...

That was a very solid, if unspectacular, performance and one that makes me think we really don't need to be worrying about relegation this season (points deductions for financial irregularities notwithstanding). Andy Carroll bullied the Hudds defenders - at times he looks like a dad joining in with ...

Worst to me for a reason other than violence: Arsenal. I've only seen a few games against Arsenal and there's always been the same pattern - almost total silence from the fans. I know, Reading are often hardly much better, but where it really stuck out to me was at the FA Cup semi final. It should ...

I also left with 20 mins to go; entirely obvious we were never getting back into that game once their third went in. Genuinely baffled by where that performance came from - the polar opposite of the performance v Stoke. No passion, commitment or understanding between the players. Sunderland weren’t ...