Entirely ceremonial, to supporters you'd normally only see the club president leading the Remembrance Day ceremony. For over 50 years it was Monty Seymour until his passing aged 102, Ivor Beeks was appointed to the position in 2017.
Thought it was a really good Q&A. Don’t agree with everything Rob says or does, but impressed he is always so willing to do these kind of events and say so much at them.
My sympathy for fans of Derby, Reading etc is very limited. Football family - we pay our bills, you pay yours. That way we are all equal in the family. We cut our cloth accordingly you do the same. We pay our taxes even though it means having 12 players in the squad, you do the same.
NO
We want elite facilities. We want top players. We all the lovely stuff. And we want your sympathy and for you to bow your heads in respect.
Not for me I'm afraid.
If there's a bucket for a Bury etc it will get my love. The self-appointed elites wanting to finance a lifestyle they cant afford an do one.
Fans of the bigger clubs seem to lash out more and look to blame others for their woes. Smaller clubs such as ours know (and don't expect) there's no help from elsewhere so tend to take matters into their own hands to save their club.
Think of what Blackpool did to us! Can you imagine the furore if we did something similar to Derby or Reading! Yet I don't think we've ever held any animosity towards them as a club. It was their owner (was it Royston at the time?) who stitched us up, nothing to do with their fans. If I remember our correctly, our frustration was directed more towards the Trust for being duped. It's clear that Blackpool's owner had taken advantage of our situation to make a very large amount of money that would've been an absolute godsend to Wycombe at that time. Far worse than a proposed property deal between 2 companies when we'd actually agreed to pay Reading's bills for them to stop them getting further points deductions.
Turned out we were right in our valuation. One went on to play for his country, play in the Premier League and captain his club. The other went on to play the vast majority of his career in Non League.
@Malone That does ring a bell, I think you're right! That said, I don't think we got much money from Peterborough for either of them. Not sure Martin's valuation was higher than Torres though? It was more a case that they were the same, which at the time we felt was underselling Torres and overselling Martin.
And yes, Torres never really made the grade in the Championship, whilst Russel Martin went on to have an outstanding career at the top level. Don't think either made much of an impact at Peterborough though. Martin's career took off after he joined Norwich, who I think were League 1 at the time (I could be mistaken).
Please don't tar everyone with the same brush. As in all walks of life, it is the minority who have the loudest voices. It seems as though you have seen/read comments on social media,, but how many? If you work out the percentage of the real Reading fans, what would that percentage work out? Some Royals fans are indeed mindless (you only have look at Hobnob Anyone?) to see how some of our fans are downright rude to other fans of the same club, on that Fans Forum.
Absolutely agree mate. While all clubs have their idiots, the vast majority of football fans are perfectly decent people who just enjoy the game at the club they have chosen to support. You have conducted yourself well on our forum and you are very welcome here. I am sure the vast majority of our supporters would not wish any ill on Reading FC.
They are dragging your club through the gutter, threatening violence and disruption.
Rob Couhig has been completely open and honest about the Bearwood scenario and is a genuine and gracious man, who, despite his nephew being threatened with his life was willing to help your club and refuses to blame them in any way.
I totally believe Rob when he says the initial monies for any Bearwood deal were targeted to pay off some of the Reading FC debts, thus allowing your club to operate until a buyer was found.
I am personally glad Bearwood fell through as I feel we can find something closer to our club and build what we need. One thing that seems to be obvious about all this though is that the hooligan element of Reading FC supporters have probably stuffed your club and put you at a real risk of going out of business prior to the end of this season.
Was thinking about last nights and the HP12 podcast interviews and musing over the apparently polarisation in regards to how Rob was received.
Wycombe fans seem, in the whole, that it was a fairly open and honest interview.
The vocal Reading fans seemed to think every thing he says is a lie and he’s trying to save face.
I’ve surmised that, given the current Reading owner, the Reading fans are probably in a position where they have been lied to and let down so much over recent years that there default is to not believe any thing any owner of any football club has to say, particularly if it has something to do with RFC. Can’t blame them too much really.
Problem with social media is you can have a dozen people who can make a lot of noise. I've cringed plenty of time looking at posts from our own supporters on Facebook! I don't have any issue with the vast majority of Readings fans, they're in a horrible position at the moment. One we're all too familiar with ourselves and it's not nice. There's an element amongst their support that are doing their club no favours though and they really need to be bought into check by the decent majority, otherwise they could end up doing huge amounts of harm to their own club.
I thought Rob came across really well in the HP12 podcast. He was a bit more combative in the interview with Phil, but even so got most of his points across well. I'm quite sure some of the Reading fans are embarrassed that they have their little neighbours from up the road offering to help them out financially (whilst of course also helping themselves) and they're rather deny everything, than actually accept the situation they're in.
TBH @theRoyalBiscuit, a good listen on "my" newley discovered Heros of HP12 podcast would do many of your fans a favour. Basically sums up the view of many on here. "we want a fantastic training facility", "we want the best players regardless of the cost", "we want the cream of the youngsters", we want to be challenging at the top end of the PL". Well guess what, Reading FC can't afford it, particularly on the crowd numbers that go through the turnstiles. As such, until the loudest vocal few realise this and have outgoings according to incomings, Reading FC are going to plummet like a lead balloon.
I really don't want this for your club and really hope that RFC can survive, but my fear for you is at best L2 next season and hope that you don't crash and burn out of existence.
Just watched some (not all) of the Rob Q&A...as far as I can tell he does not fudge or spend ages having an uncomfortable think before answering the questions. I think he went into the deal with all the best intentions...it was offered for sale after all. But like Derby and Peterborough fans, it seems an element of Reading's fans don't want to deal with facts when they can use fiction to add extra bite to their coke fuelled anger.
Hopefully, if anyone did buy a ticket to Wembley to cause trouble it will be a waste of money and they will have a night in the cells.
All clubs have their idiots yes, however Reading seem to have more than most. They are not alone Derby, Plymouth , Bristol Rovers and the PNL seem to be similar. Unfortunately it’s down to arrogance that they believe that they are big clubs and anyone else is just a minion.
I think it was Ricky Gervais who said that if you spent much time on Twitter you'd imagine the country was gripped by civil war but a quick walk down the street reveals normal people are just going about their business, bothering no one.
I'm friends with a few Reading fans who I know through their music scene and they're all lovely. Hope their club survives and learns to live within its means. As for their furious fringe, they can work themselves up to an aneurysm for all I care.
Let me put your mind at rest. The only thing I agree with that list is number 1, so your 100% is wrong! Seriously, though, most, if not all, the blame is on Dai Yongge. Yes, he spent a fortune on the club to start with, but was ill advised by a certain "super agent" who was able to line his own pockets, from the players (of course, ones who were under contract to him) he advised Dai to bring in. These players proved to be useless and so the downfall of my club began. I do not even blame the EFL as at the time Dai took over he passed the EFL's test but he seemed to get bored as time went on and the Premier League got further away. It would not surprise me if the training ground "sale" was another one of his games to either delay the sale of the club or to encourage someone else to hurry up and make your mind up. It now seems as though another group has/is walking away, thanks to Dai once again moving the goalpost no doubt.
and here in lies the rub with football fans and clubs. The owners and the fans are one of the same when they are financing dream training facilities and players you can't afford. When they turn the tap off they are nothing to do with you. The majority of fans I have seen at protests and on socials are of course anti the owner but 'F the EFL' is your mantra which is coincidentally the mantra of Derby. And as I have said before I am yet to see a comment or message that shows any sign of humility or contrition. Yours is not a story of the plucky underdog who got unlucky yours is the story of Icarus.
Comments
Not sure if anyone else got this impression but I reckon Bearwood is still on the table for Feliciana.
RC mentioned that he was still trying to persuade a group to buy RFC and then later during the interview said ‘if we buy Bearwood’.
Entirely ceremonial, to supporters you'd normally only see the club president leading the Remembrance Day ceremony. For over 50 years it was Monty Seymour until his passing aged 102, Ivor Beeks was appointed to the position in 2017.
They’re really stretching my sympathetic muscles to the limit .
I wondered similar.
Thought it was a really good Q&A. Don’t agree with everything Rob says or does, but impressed he is always so willing to do these kind of events and say so much at them.
Mine reached the limit a couple of days ago. Was very sympathetic with them to begin with, now, stuff them !
I hope they are very happy with their training ground when it's padlocked up and the grass is 3 foot high
Yet we still give Reading and their fans the time of day on this forum specifically the 2 threads
id be getting rid of this thread and the other one connected and change it to a more generic “where’s our next training ground”.
My sympathy for fans of Derby, Reading etc is very limited. Football family - we pay our bills, you pay yours. That way we are all equal in the family. We cut our cloth accordingly you do the same. We pay our taxes even though it means having 12 players in the squad, you do the same.
NO
We want elite facilities. We want top players. We all the lovely stuff. And we want your sympathy and for you to bow your heads in respect.
Not for me I'm afraid.
If there's a bucket for a Bury etc it will get my love. The self-appointed elites wanting to finance a lifestyle they cant afford an do one.
Fans of the bigger clubs seem to lash out more and look to blame others for their woes. Smaller clubs such as ours know (and don't expect) there's no help from elsewhere so tend to take matters into their own hands to save their club.
Think of what Blackpool did to us! Can you imagine the furore if we did something similar to Derby or Reading! Yet I don't think we've ever held any animosity towards them as a club. It was their owner (was it Royston at the time?) who stitched us up, nothing to do with their fans. If I remember our correctly, our frustration was directed more towards the Trust for being duped. It's clear that Blackpool's owner had taken advantage of our situation to make a very large amount of money that would've been an absolute godsend to Wycombe at that time. Far worse than a proposed property deal between 2 companies when we'd actually agreed to pay Reading's bills for them to stop them getting further points deductions.
But we are not "cutting our cloth" at the moment.
Didn't we once sell Torres and Russ Martin as a package and claim Torres was buttons so we could give Basingstoke ,(was it?) less of a sell on?
Turned out we were right in our valuation. One went on to play for his country, play in the Premier League and captain his club. The other went on to play the vast majority of his career in Non League.
Looks less of a scam in retrospect
@Malone That does ring a bell, I think you're right! That said, I don't think we got much money from Peterborough for either of them. Not sure Martin's valuation was higher than Torres though? It was more a case that they were the same, which at the time we felt was underselling Torres and overselling Martin.
And yes, Torres never really made the grade in the Championship, whilst Russel Martin went on to have an outstanding career at the top level. Don't think either made much of an impact at Peterborough though. Martin's career took off after he joined Norwich, who I think were League 1 at the time (I could be mistaken).
Please don't tar everyone with the same brush. As in all walks of life, it is the minority who have the loudest voices. It seems as though you have seen/read comments on social media,, but how many? If you work out the percentage of the real Reading fans, what would that percentage work out? Some Royals fans are indeed mindless (you only have look at Hobnob Anyone?) to see how some of our fans are downright rude to other fans of the same club, on that Fans Forum.
Absolutely agree mate. While all clubs have their idiots, the vast majority of football fans are perfectly decent people who just enjoy the game at the club they have chosen to support. You have conducted yourself well on our forum and you are very welcome here. I am sure the vast majority of our supporters would not wish any ill on Reading FC.
They are dragging your club through the gutter, threatening violence and disruption.
Rob Couhig has been completely open and honest about the Bearwood scenario and is a genuine and gracious man, who, despite his nephew being threatened with his life was willing to help your club and refuses to blame them in any way.
I totally believe Rob when he says the initial monies for any Bearwood deal were targeted to pay off some of the Reading FC debts, thus allowing your club to operate until a buyer was found.
I am personally glad Bearwood fell through as I feel we can find something closer to our club and build what we need. One thing that seems to be obvious about all this though is that the hooligan element of Reading FC supporters have probably stuffed your club and put you at a real risk of going out of business prior to the end of this season.
Was thinking about last nights and the HP12 podcast interviews and musing over the apparently polarisation in regards to how Rob was received.
Wycombe fans seem, in the whole, that it was a fairly open and honest interview.
The vocal Reading fans seemed to think every thing he says is a lie and he’s trying to save face.
I’ve surmised that, given the current Reading owner, the Reading fans are probably in a position where they have been lied to and let down so much over recent years that there default is to not believe any thing any owner of any football club has to say, particularly if it has something to do with RFC. Can’t blame them too much really.
Well I certainly blame them for their own threatening behaviour.
Problem with social media is you can have a dozen people who can make a lot of noise. I've cringed plenty of time looking at posts from our own supporters on Facebook! I don't have any issue with the vast majority of Readings fans, they're in a horrible position at the moment. One we're all too familiar with ourselves and it's not nice. There's an element amongst their support that are doing their club no favours though and they really need to be bought into check by the decent majority, otherwise they could end up doing huge amounts of harm to their own club.
I thought Rob came across really well in the HP12 podcast. He was a bit more combative in the interview with Phil, but even so got most of his points across well. I'm quite sure some of the Reading fans are embarrassed that they have their little neighbours from up the road offering to help them out financially (whilst of course also helping themselves) and they're rather deny everything, than actually accept the situation they're in.
TBH @theRoyalBiscuit, a good listen on "my" newley discovered Heros of HP12 podcast would do many of your fans a favour. Basically sums up the view of many on here. "we want a fantastic training facility", "we want the best players regardless of the cost", "we want the cream of the youngsters", we want to be challenging at the top end of the PL". Well guess what, Reading FC can't afford it, particularly on the crowd numbers that go through the turnstiles. As such, until the loudest vocal few realise this and have outgoings according to incomings, Reading FC are going to plummet like a lead balloon.
I really don't want this for your club and really hope that RFC can survive, but my fear for you is at best L2 next season and hope that you don't crash and burn out of existence.
Just watched some (not all) of the Rob Q&A...as far as I can tell he does not fudge or spend ages having an uncomfortable think before answering the questions. I think he went into the deal with all the best intentions...it was offered for sale after all. But like Derby and Peterborough fans, it seems an element of Reading's fans don't want to deal with facts when they can use fiction to add extra bite to their coke fuelled anger.
Hopefully, if anyone did buy a ticket to Wembley to cause trouble it will be a waste of money and they will have a night in the cells.
That’s a wholly seperately point.
While the fans on social media don't represent 100% of the Reading fans it seems 100% of the Reading fans share the same opinion
1) Its the owners fault
2) Its the EFL fault
3) Its Wycombe's fault
4) Its Rob and his 'son' Pete's fault
5) Any disruption aimed at Wycombe is good and fair game
Hence why we might believe that Reading fans are not totally self aware when it comes to their current and future predicament.
I had thought my opinion of Reading fans was low enough before all this.
I was wrong.
All clubs have their idiots yes, however Reading seem to have more than most. They are not alone Derby, Plymouth , Bristol Rovers and the PNL seem to be similar. Unfortunately it’s down to arrogance that they believe that they are big clubs and anyone else is just a minion.
I think it was Ricky Gervais who said that if you spent much time on Twitter you'd imagine the country was gripped by civil war but a quick walk down the street reveals normal people are just going about their business, bothering no one.
I'm friends with a few Reading fans who I know through their music scene and they're all lovely. Hope their club survives and learns to live within its means. As for their furious fringe, they can work themselves up to an aneurysm for all I care.
Let me put your mind at rest. The only thing I agree with that list is number 1, so your 100% is wrong! Seriously, though, most, if not all, the blame is on Dai Yongge. Yes, he spent a fortune on the club to start with, but was ill advised by a certain "super agent" who was able to line his own pockets, from the players (of course, ones who were under contract to him) he advised Dai to bring in. These players proved to be useless and so the downfall of my club began. I do not even blame the EFL as at the time Dai took over he passed the EFL's test but he seemed to get bored as time went on and the Premier League got further away. It would not surprise me if the training ground "sale" was another one of his games to either delay the sale of the club or to encourage someone else to hurry up and make your mind up. It now seems as though another group has/is walking away, thanks to Dai once again moving the goalpost no doubt.
Yes probably @TheDancingYak 👍
Whilst I hope that they stay in business perhaps a big spoonful of league two will do them the world of good.
To paraphrase Mary Poppins “ A spoonful of league two helps the arrogance go down “
and here in lies the rub with football fans and clubs. The owners and the fans are one of the same when they are financing dream training facilities and players you can't afford. When they turn the tap off they are nothing to do with you. The majority of fans I have seen at protests and on socials are of course anti the owner but 'F the EFL' is your mantra which is coincidentally the mantra of Derby. And as I have said before I am yet to see a comment or message that shows any sign of humility or contrition. Yours is not a story of the plucky underdog who got unlucky yours is the story of Icarus.