Would you believe the Reading manager?

We Royals fans thought that manager Steve Clarke had done a 'runner'. To Fulham FC if you haven't read the news this week. BBC had even announced it so we thought it was a done deal.

But it all fell through. Let's take a look at the situation for a second -
we fans are told:

* We have wealthy new owners.
* They have great ambitions for Reading, both on and off the pitch.
* They have allowed Clarke to bring in the players he wants.
* Now if all that is true, why would a manager want to leave us for a club that is lower in the league and who, possibly, can't match what Reading has?
* Either Clarke knows things we don't, that it's not as rosy as the club would have us believe, or Fulham simply offered him a much better financial package.



and so to today -

Just seen London 24, here are a couple of quotes from them from Clarke's lips ...

“When I sat down and weighed it up - Reading was by far the best option. All I wanted was the chance to speak to another club and weigh up what is best for me. In my mind I was always closer to Reading than Fulham. But you have to go and find out what their plans are and what they are thinking. Could they offer something better? And the answer was no."

“The supporters are the most loyal people at the football club. I can understand the ones that were really angry. I’ve had a chat with the board. I’m not going to say everything is fine - it isn’t, they are a bit disappointed. But I believe I still have support 100% and now I want to get back to success on the pitch.”


So what do we make of this? Here are my questions, I'm asking for your gut feelings on the following:

Why did he feel he needed to have to talk to another club? Couldn't he trust his own feelings, so needed to see what others say? Is he really convinced at helping Reading? Because if you are why would you bother seeing what another championship club [below RFC in the table] offers or if it is something supposedly better? I'm not sure how many % of fans remain convinced by his commitment to the club but it does seem a small minority as far as I can see ...



OK, try to make some sense for us please!!!

Well, daibO me old mate, you could always start supporting a decent club....

Only in jest, honest.

Seriously though, anyone looking for any sort of loyalty to their club from owners, managers or even players is on a pretty lonely road nowadays - its all money, money money. By and large clubs are only bought by people looking to somehow get on the Sky money bandwagon. Managers all know they are only as good as their last half-dozen results, and that the old tin-tack can come even if they are performing quite well - you can hardly blame them for hedging their bets. And players... well, the majority are just foreign mercenaries.

We Hammers are pretty lucky in this respect. Our owners may be a dodgy pair of elderly pornographers, but I believe they do actually have a lot of affection for the club. We now have a manager that played for the club - no guarantee of success of course, but it seems to be working so far. And a few of our players are actually home-grown and loyal, to date at any rate. Actually, thinking about it daibO, you would be far better off......

if we don't go on a good run it could be curtains from our lot though ...

makes no difference anymore, got given the tin tack

Taxi for Clarke