Gaspode

9 hours ago, oldtimeram said:

Why do nearly all of these players have really odd/silly Christian names.  What ever happened to John, Dave and Alan?

They're all dead, Dave

5 minutes ago, Baj said:

If i'm understanding this correctly Forest were offered money for a certain BJ, they thought the BJ they had on offer was worth more and held out for a better offer for said BJ at a later time. Whichever way you look at their arguement it's a bit difficult to swallow.

That sort of argument just makes you want to spit….

1 hour ago, Wolfie said:

It's public sector procurement from central government right down to local councils that's just awful - as demonstrated by the post office / Fujitsu scandal as well. 

 

It's not just procurement - it's the management structure and the way things are done in the whole public sector....

Too many managers unwilling to make decisions (including way too many contract staff in senior positions who have no 'skin in the game'); lack of accountability; far too much "we've always done it that way" or "we're a special case" when changes are suggested; poor processes that encourage money to be wasted (fixed budgets every year for various departments with no clear plan regarding how the money will be spent - "we'd better spend it all before the end of the year or we'll get less next time"); ingrained laziness ands no management oversight to encourage things to change; etc, etc.....

Over the past 30+ years I've worked with both local and central government, the Royal Mail, and the NHS - there are the same issues apparent in all of them.....

41 minutes ago, Old Spalding Ram said:

The EFL have spoken.

As Reading FC supporters are only too aware, it has in recent months become increasingly clear that Mr Dai Yongge is no longer in a position - or does not have the motivation - to support the Club financially as he did following the change of control in 2017.     

In November 2023, the EFL called for the disqualification of Mr Dai following the failure to fund the deposit account to cover player and staff salaries following repeated breaches of EFL Regulations. This was ultimately rejected by an Independent Disciplinary Commission and a financial sanction was imposed instead.   

The EFL has now received confirmation that Mr Dai did not meet last Friday’s latest deadline to fund the deposit account as ordered, meaning he has been in default for nearly four months.  As a result – and as per the terms of the 15 December decision - a further £50,000 fine has now been imposed, taking the total to £80,000.   

His continued failings mean that once again the Club's hardworking staff have no reassurance as to payment of wages and demonstrates a clear disregard for his obligations as a director of the Club.   

In respect of this issue, the League will now consider all available options it has under the Regulations and will have no hesitation in bringing further charges against Mr Dai.  

In the meantime, and for the sake of the future of Reading FC, its staff, supporters, and local community we urge Mr Dai either to fund the Club adequately or to make immediate arrangements to sell his majority shareholding to appropriate new owners so everyone can move forward with renewed optimism.   

 For our part, we will work with Mr Dai, his team, and the Club plus any potential purchaser to navigate and meet the requirements of the Regulations as quickly as is physically possible and bring an end to this difficult period for all parties.   

 What followed the events at the end of last week were the unfortunate scenes on Saturday afternoon that led to the abandonment of the fixture versus Port Vale, and further demonstrated the impact the current situation is having on everyone associated with the Club.   

However, entering the field of play is a criminal offence and puts the safety of all participants at risk.  The EFL Board will discuss events at Saturday’s match during its meeting later this week as it has a responsibility to the League’s member clubs and the competition to ensure all 72 Clubs meet the requirements of the rules as previously agreed by EFL Clubs.   

……………….should be interesting next Tuesday night. 👍🐏

If he's failed with the funding again, does that mean they are likely to get another points deduction?

7 minutes ago, Red_Dawn said:

That doesn't mean they should just ignore it though. All the while chasing other apparent mischievous clubs who've committed a fraction of the reported breaches. 

 

Where did I suggest they ignore it? I'm just suggesting reasons why it may be taking so long for them to take action.

In your case, it's pretty straightforward rather tha 'apparent' - your owner treated prmotion as if he was on supermarket sweep - shovelling any old crap into his trolley no matter how expensive it was - enjoy those chickens when they come home to roost....

2 hours ago, David said:

I hear this is all historic and complicated, however we're talking about charges over a period of 14 seasons dating back to 2009, 15 years it's taken.

7 Premier League titles

3 FA Cups

6 League Cups

1 Champions League

All won during those periods, circling back to our own situation where we had Boro and Wycombe wanting to sue us for 'cheating' and costing them positions in the table, successfully getting paid off to go away and the EFL retrospectively changing the rules to throw the book at us.

All those clubs beaten twice by City going down by the 6 points.

All those clubs missing out on European football, titles, trophies. 

It's just insane to me that a club with 115 charges is still carrying on regardless 15 years after their first unpunished offence, you can bet your house that they won't face any retrospective punishment and pay a fine of a few million which will pay for a lavish PL bosses Xmas party.

Forest have been naive to think they can slide a transfer from one accounting period to another, yet in the grand scheme of things, seems a minor infraction whilst other state run clubs stick two fingers up and laugh from afar.

 

I suspect that the scale of the Man City issue is so huge that the authorities don't have a clue where to start - whatever decision they make will leave them wide open to action being taken by other clubs who believe they were disadvantaged by Man City's actions - any club that's missed out on a title; that missed out on qualification for European competions; that lost to them during a season and was subsequently relegated - there's an argument that every club that's been up against them during the period of their 'cheating' may have deserved more prize money - there's eveen arguments to be made that other clubs in the Chamions League deserve a bite of the cherry. It has the potential to bring the whole house of cards crashing to the ground.....

Can this thread be shunted off to the 'Ex-Players' forum - where it belongs.....

13 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

As if VAR wasn't bad enough - leaving you unable to celebrate a goal properly - now we won't even be able to celebrate their relegation 

You speak for yourself - I'll sink a few when they get their just deserts.....

1 minute ago, richinspain said:

Or indeed to John-Jules' 😉

Did you have to correct it? I was quite enjoying our resident stato's tying themselves in knots over such a pointless argument...

43 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

After the past few months of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominating our news, the US and UK launching direct attacks on Houthi targets seems like noise - but I have a horrible  feeling that this is the next level in the escalation of violence/war

Houthi are backed by Iran and being paid to disrupt Israeli shipping. If we're directly attacking the foes of Israel for them - then we're well and truly in this war 😔

It's about a bit more than them trying to "disrupt Israeli shipping" - it's thought that a third of the shipping that would normally use the Suez canal is rerouting because of the repeated attacks. They also launched a drone attack on a Royal Navy ship which was always likely to cause a reprisal.....

Diagnosed with terminal cancer - says a maximum of 12 months but could be a lot less.....

29 minutes ago, Kernow said:

CBT would be a wheelie good signing.

Anybody know if CBT is any good at training?....

Guenther Steiner has left his role as Team Principal of Haas….

1 hour ago, Mostyn6 said:

based on several posts in here, I finally got around to watching KIN on BBC iPlayer.

Whilst it's my kind of programme, has a cracking cast, and I did enjoy it, I cannot help but think they missed something.

I cannot quite put my finger on it. Maybe they kept it too insular/isolated and needed to expand it more to make it at least feel more authentic and realistic. Posters compared it to Gomorrah, but Gomorrah was believable, you felt like that was actually happening on some rough estates a few miles away, and we need to stay away from there! Whereas I felt in Kin, it was such a small world, that it didn't feel that they could be believably successful criminal organisations. I feel they kept the production costs limited which in turn forced you to make assumptions about things, and then to bring an influential characters in that you've never heard mentioned, with no back story, seemed a bit disjointed.

I will watch S2 I reckon, but it's gone nowhere near my top 10, maybe not even my top 20.

Colin Kazim-Richards/10

Season 1 was a slow burner - Season 2 is a whole new ball game.....

52 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

That’s probably got more to do with getting the highlights on you tube, with no punditry at all. I’m sure ratings are dropping left right and centre, to be fair, with people watching TV on demand instead. I haven’t watched normal TV in yonks, but that’s just me. 

I dare say people either like punditry or they don’t. I suspect most people have stronger thoughts about that, than who the pundits actually are. 

You may be right, but it's an amazing coincidence that people's viewing habits all changed at the same time Dan Walker left as the main presenter....

9 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Point still stands though, as long as the ratings are up, the producers are happy. And it certainly implies that the majority of the viewers are happy. Don’t like it, don’t watch it. 

There were reports before Christmas that the Beeb are considering ditching Football Focus due to a huge drop in viewers - I wouldn't hazard to guess what have may prompted this sheedding of the traditional audience...

9 hours ago, inter politics said:

Niall Ennis, Blackburn forward, who had some success at this level with Plymouth, of interest to Barnsley, Bolton and Charlton on a loan according to Nixon. Should we be joining that queue?

Luc ky his name's not Paul - he'd probably be a bit of a c0ck...

29 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

….Still got Mel's freebie, but can't remember whether that was the B&W bar one I have, or the black one side, white on the other?….

 

 

It’s the black one side and white the other - I’d put mine aside in case there was another run on Andrex but have recently worn it to a couple of games

1 hour ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

https://www.arsenal.com/nomorered

Fair enough - a good cause….

I hate what’s happening with modern football - Arsenal playing in all white (at home) versus Liverpool all in purple. There may be a reason I’m not aware  of (perhaps Arsenal accidentally bleached their normal shirts) but at first sight it stinks of corporate decision making to fleece the fans for extra shirt sales…..

Can't this thread be moved to the Jim Smith room? - it's more of a pass-time than a sport after all....

Nuno wants a new centre-half and is happy to sell Worrall - heard that this lot are interested:

We Want Worrall

6 minutes ago, VulcanRam said:

......The evidence is right in front of us. Look at his injury record, both before he joined us and since he joined us, it's poor. As @Gaspodesays, we hope we have him sorted but are being extra cautious because of his injury issues in the hope he doesn't suffer a relapse. That tells you that we've got a player whose injury record worries our coaches......

Or it tells you that they want to do the right thing by the player and make sure that he's given the best possible chance to fully recover and have a long career in the game......

16 hours ago, richinspain said:

I keep seeing that he is incapable of playing 90 minutes, but has it actually been stated by someone at the club?

Nope - they said that they thought they’d got to the bottom of his injury issues and were therefore being extra cautious with him to make sure he didn’t suffer a relapse - though that doesn’t fit the narrative of some on here….

1 hour ago, Red_Dawn said:

He'd have to grow an extra finger or prove he was married to his sister before they'd let him in.....