A warm hello to all Canaries fans as always â for those who donât know me, well itâs a Royals fan 100% in peace here. Please do see the âNot 606â Reading board for our in-depth news and preview on the game â http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/177682-Reading-v-Norwich The fullest respect is always shown to Norwich City with full information produced equally for both sets of fans â but in all honesty far more on your team. Weâve also given a high recommendation for the Not 606 Norwich board. It would be really interesting for us to have any comments from you put up here (or there on the Reading thread), like how you see the game going and general thoughts on your own team, and your (honest!) opinion of Reading. I know some people donât particularly like other fans producing a shopping list of questions to answer, and I perfectly understand that, so I leave any comments freely and totally with you. But if you like, these simple following points might be used as a very basic guide in case youâd like to write to something slightly longer, but donât feel at all pushed to go along this road if it doesnât suit you: A] What are currently the strongest areas of YOUR squad, and who should Reading individually look out for / fear most? B] Any young stars coming through the academy that we should keep an eye on, now or in the future? Any thoughts on the new U21 league? C] Despite some people too quickly writing you off in the close season, itâs clear that Chris Hughton is making a positive impact. Realistically, where do you hope Norwich might finish if all goes more-or-less well? D] How strong do you see the general level of the premier this season, and any general opinions of the current (difficult) plight of Reading FC and our current football? - either for or against (you can be honest!). Any advice to us from your experiences last season? Many thanks, hereâs to a good game! daib0
my view would be (although i'm not a regular visitor to Carrow Rd) a) the defence / spine of the team this year - so Bassong, Tettey and Holt b) we have a young striker called Loza who is banging them in for the U21s. I'm very pleased we have joined the Academy Elite programme. Reading U21s look very good this year! c) i hope we will finish 12th or 13th. Hughton has stamped his mark on our team now. Realistically, despite some good results in the last 3 games, there's a long way to go and we'll be in the battle all year. I think we will finish 16th. d) i think it's slightly harder this season - Bolton, wolves and blackburn were pretty dire and although yourselves and saints are struggling now i think you are a little better. Also teams like wigan and WBA, who i thought would struggle, have improved here's to a good game on saturday, i'll be there. Remember the last one we played at the mad stad - 3-3? i don't think it will be that high scoring as we are less open. The pressure will be on Reading as you strive for that first win, but i'm confident we will get something out of game, so 1-1 for me.
a) agree with max - the spine of our team is very solid now. john ruddy, although he hasn't actually had that much to do this season (which may come as a surprise when you see how many we've conceded) is a calm, reassuring figure. bassong a good leader, tettey gives the energy and awareness, hoolahan the quality and creative spark and holt the finishing and focal point. its a better spine than most other teams in the bottom half. b) along with loza we have hall-johnson who is a good midfielder and jed steer who is an exceptional young keeper for his age, but the two outfield players who are closest to making the breakthrough are our england under 19 twins jacob and josh murphy. jacob tends to play wider and josh down the middle. both have pace to burn and an eye for goal. c) i felt we'd finish 15th pre-season and i still think we'll finish 15th. or 16th d) tricky to tell. before the season started i felt the three coming up were a lot stronger than the three coming down. not so sure now! i do think there are now around 8 or 9 teams which are very closely matched ability wise. norwich are one of those so if we can finish above three of them we'll be absolutely fine. i tipped reading for survival before the season started. i'm surprised you've not got that elusive win on the board yet but i do think you are a good side. i think you may be suffering slightly from the same thing saints do and norwich did early last season - you're a bit too nice! once you've figured out that diving around, feigning injury and just generally mixing it up wins games you'll be fine, but i'm not sure if you have that in the locker. i think reading will finish below norwich - i will leave that to you to decide whether that will be enough for survival
I haven't seen Reading this year except for the Chelsea game where you looked quite good. I do read nearly all the Prem reports every week and it seems that you're playing quite well and I read that you still have good spirit despite not getting a win under your belt. Spirit is all important in the bottom half of this league. You obviously need to get that win, of course - I just hope it doesn't happen on Saturday As for us, I agree with the other posters above about the spine of our team. Just to add that we have been in a process of change. A new manager, obviously, but a new approach and style of play. On three occasions we have looked awful - as teams sometimes do when they are changing style - and then we seemed like certainties for the drop. On the other seven occasions we've looked solid and disciplined and hard to beat. Just like to finish to say thank you for such a nice friendly post. It seemed typical of the Championship (apart from the fans of a few clubs who think they are big clubs who are somehow better than everyone else). I think although we're very happy to be in the Prem, many of us on here miss the Football League a little. Everything seems a little less cut-throat there. Best of luck for the season, except for Saturday and the return leg.
Many thanks indeed for the very thorough replies so far guys - really delighted. Unfortunately the Not 606 Reading board is very underposted (one of the few premier boards without their own mods) and although I put up quite a few match threads or match chat topics most of the comments our side are from our own specialist forum posters who also occasionally post on here (see 'RR' below in signature). But we're not really an arrogant lot - to be truthful promotion almost took us unawares last season, especially if you consider that this time last year we were still floating around the relegation places in the championship, before that wonderful second half of season burst. I know some premier fans say we're too 'plastic', and we're obviously going to pick a few up, but believe me quite a few of us remember the old third and even fourth division days. Just to be in the premier at all - only the third season ever (and we were formed in 1871!) is marvellous; last thing we're thinking of is winding you up!! If it's not pushing it - could I possibly refer you therefore to a much more detailed piece on the Reading v Norwich match and 85% of this is on Norwich: http://royalsrendezvous.co.uk/topic/9754931/1 However, I'm not sure of your rules, if it's against house rules to give outside links on Norwich, just tell me and I'd edit it out, no problem (it's for chat, not spam!)
During the 80s, I lived very close to Reading, and followed them very closely, during the days of Senior, Dixon, Steve Cherry etc, and that great start to the season, and also the Symod Cup trip to Wembley. Many a happy afternoon and cold evening spent at the the Tilehurst Road end, waiting for my half time pie and Bovril, then a few pints in either the Albion or The Spread Eagle. Happy days indeed. Always had a soft spot for the Royals
daib0, do some of your royals rendezvous members not fancy joining not606 as well? don't you miss the cross-team discussions being on a specialist reading-only site.
Good question! Well, we try, in fact the only two sites that we now recommend and publicize are Not 606 and Sports 262 (much smaller site, but 'family' orientated). Most others seem to have bitten the dust, or or without posters from so many teams now. Hopefully we'll get more on Not 606 through the season - I'll keep pushing it. Interesting that the initial core block of 50 'RR' members were regular posters on the old BBC606, but gee, did we suffer from wums, multiple identities you name it! Many a story I could tell. I think the transfer over to a single club forum was basically to escape that. However, yes, a bit of chat is important to them, but at least we've developed a successful 'Rivals, but Friends' section where non-registered fans of any club can post, so perhaps they're slightly lazier now and let other fans come to us rather than vice-versa. Generally going onto other sites there is no problem at all if you give respect and a bit of credit where it's due, but there have been occasionally a few odd ones (**cough cough ** Bristol City, West Ham, Birmingham, Arsenal - but won't mention what sites exactly!). Maestro - we may well have rubbed shoulders without knowing it! But I was a South Bank lad myself, about half-way along, and a third up ... when a club changes stadium it inevitably leaves a nostalgia; for all the bad things that Elm Park was, there were some magical games, especially the mid-week games on a Wednesday (our favoured day then). And I was just old enough to have witnessed virtually all of Robin Friday's home games, but that's another story to occupy another five topics!!
Daib0, everyone suffered from those issues on bbc606, but it's much better on here (although individual boards vary). i do keep my eye on your message board from time to time to see what is going on, as i'm occasionally at the reading games with my children - obviously i will be in the South Stand away this weekend!
Will never forget that penalty shootout in the Symod Cup. Steve Cherry was brilliant that night That night almost came close to our semi final win over Ipshit in the milk cup
I lived in Caversham for a few years and trotted along to the old ground. Can't say I ever got behind them, and I guess I want a result of the last game played in a traditional ground in reading: A 1-0 victory to the canaries. I may have mis remembered this though
Many a drunken night and even more drunken gropes at the bridge. Happy days....and some horrors as well I have to admit
Sorry to say the Norwich allocation for the match is completey sold out ... if anyone wants to go in with the Reading lads, please consult here: http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article/norwich-ticket-news-387899.aspx cheers ...
Some of the "big team" supporters seem to be of the opinion that the "little teams" don't belong in the premiership. Every new season it's the same old thing, the teams promoted last year will get relegated this year! Well we've proved them wrong, it can be achieved without huge resources, belief, team work and a good manager helps. Reading are a good team and I like the way your manager conducts himself, for those two reasons alone I hope you stay up. Norwich are a strong team all over the pitch, Chris Hughton has really built a really strong back four and in recent games got the midfield well organised, if we have a weakness it's putting away the chances, we a little goal shy at the moment. I don't honestly think this will be your first win of the season, like most of us I want 3 points but unless we start knocking the chances in a draw is more likely. We are going to keep improving throughout the season and will finish where we did last year 12th! Good luck for the season, you've earned and deserve your place in this division!
It doesn't directly affect yourselves, but here is a VERY good article, worth sharing ... The Guardian The back or sack dilemma for chairmen at Reading, Southampton and QPR http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/07/reading-southampton-qpr-sack-chairmen Brian McDermott, Nigel Adkins and Mark Hughes are all in a precarious position as the men with the power of hire and fire decide whether to stick or twist
It does take a while to get used to this division, so I would stick with McDermott and Adkins as they are still learning about life in the top flight. Hughes has had long enough and spent a fortune, he needs to go before he takes QPR down.
