Congrats Reading

CSF

Great achievement for Brian McDermott & co. Honestly reckon they're more likely to do a Swansea or a Norwich next season than a QPR.

markie29

CSF wrote: »

Great achievement for Brian McDermott & co. Honestly reckon they're more likely to do a Swansea or a Norwich next season than a QPR.

Ian harte back in the premier league....well done reading

Paul Tergat

Stunning second half of the season from them. Fully deserved

cgpg5

They'll be tough to beat next season. Delighted for them was sorry for them after P/O final last year. Soton all but certain to join them. Two exciting sides who will hold their own next season imo

kevohmsford

Great to see Reading back in the big time.

CSF

I'm equally delighted that it looks increasingly like West Ham won't be coming back up too, cannot stand West Ham.

cgpg5

CSF wrote: »

I'm equally delighted that it looks increasingly like West Ham won't be coming back up too, cannot stand West Ham.

Play awful football too. Hope Blackpool get up via play-off's they've momentum too!

Nuri Sahin

Few games back in January aside, they've been brilliant since November. Good to have them back in the EPL.

CSF

cgpg5 wrote: »

Play awful football too. Hope Blackpool get up via play-off's they've momentum too!

I can see it being Brum. Tempted to go to one of the playoff semis.

donfers

great to see so many irish players coming up

noel hunt

jay tabb

alex pearce

ian harte

karl sheppard


but with Reading having a rich sugar daddy now, they'll spend big next season and some of these lads will be jettisoned, if they spend really huge and they may - then we could have another champions league contender, you heard it here first now down to the bookies with youz

cgpg5

CSF wrote: »

I can see it being Brum. Tempted to go to one of the playoff semis.

Hope not. Could be right. Play-off's are always tough to call. None of Burnley, Blackpool, Hull, Swansea, Derby and Watford were expected to win the play-offs in their respective seasons. These are the past 6 winners. However a trend among these (aside from derby) is that all had momentum coming into the play-off's from their last few games of the regular season. Can be crucial.

GLaDOS

donfers wrote: »

karl sheppard

Has he played at all?

donfers

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Has he played at all?

no

the've a ton of strikers, three on the bench tonight

hunt and roberts first choice, they also have welsh international simon church, lower league prolific scorer adam le fondre and a lad on loan from arsenal afobe, so sheppard is maybe 6th in line at the moment - not sure if he's been injured or not though

monkey9

Reading are the new Wolves with all the Irish there!! They've done great this season and after the heartbreak of the play off final defeat last season, i'm delighted for them!

I was saying in the Championship thread, McDermott could maybe be a future Irish manager?

donfers

monkey9 wrote: »

Reading are the new Wolves with all the Irish there!! They've done great this season and after the heartbreak of the play off final defeat last season, i'm delighted for them!

I was saying in the Championship thread, McDermott could maybe be a future Irish manager?

oh absolutely and he has said he'd love the job too

applehunter

My old flatmate was from Reading.

What a dull prick he was.

the realpigiron

Reading have stormed through to promotion over the last while, they've been the form team in that league. Happy to say I had them in a treble with Cardiff and Bayern Munich tonight:).

3greenrizla's

congrats Brian McDermott & Reading. A great run that has led to a deserved promotion.

now - what reading players will you put in your fantasy team?
I might look at the goalie & Kebe.

monkey9

applehunter wrote: »

My old flatmate was from Reading.

What a dull prick he was.

Luap

Know a lad who plays for the youths, hopefully he can break into the first team soon enough.

noodler

Delighted for them.

Really like that club.

Ian Harte to bang in a few goals in the EPL at the old age of.......(what age is he again?)

cgpg5

noodler wrote: »

Delighted for them.

Really like that club.

Ian Harte to bang in a few goals in the EPL at the old age of.......(what age is he again?)

Will he surplus to requirements I wonder? Kinda like Connolly for Sunderland in 07? I hope not, I hope he does a Stephen Carr!

Royal Legend

Congrats to the Royals, I hope that they light up the EPL like they did previously.

noodler

cgpg5 wrote: »

Will he surplus to requirements I wonder? Kinda like Connolly for Sunderland in 07? I hope not, I hope he does a Stephen Carr!

I am sure he is getting away with murder defensively because it is the Championship but his goals ratio (not to mention assists from set-pieces) since he joined last season has been pretty amazing for a Left Back.

EDIT: Apparently it was another Harte FK asisst tonight for the winner!

3greenrizla's

cgpg5 wrote: »

Will he surplus to requirements I wonder? Kinda like Connolly for Sunderland in 07? I hope not, I hope he does a Stephen Carr!

& Connolly for Saints in 2012, hopefully* - although I wouldn't be that surprised if DC wasn't offered an extension, he's done a job when called upon. 6 goals in 17 league appearances (9 as a sub) this season. He scored some vital goals last season too, however new signings have pushed him down the pecking order, so I wouldn't be that surprised if he was let go.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10280~15450,00.html

Sorry to bring this off topic,

Congrats to Reading, but, I hope you party hard & turn up at Birmingham with hangovers & give Saints a chance of winning the League.

castletownman

Kevin Doyle to return to the club where he made his name?

noodler

castletownman wrote: »

Kevin Doyle to return to the club where he made his name?

I doubt Le Fondre won't be starting anyway!

I just hope Doyle gets back to a team that plays 4-4-2.

staker

Another season near done:eek:

OT Hope Nigel Adkins isn't setting himself up for a big fall on SSS.:D
"Southhampton has been preparing for the premier League for the last 2 years".

Turtwig

Thoroughly deserved, hats off to them.

MickySticks

noodler wrote: »

Delighted for them.

Really like that club.

Ian Harte to bang in a few goals in the EPL at the old age of.......(what age is he again?)

He'll be 35 in August.

Good to see Reading coming up, have a soft spot for them. Also good to have a few more Irish players in the PL since Doyle, Hunt, Ward and Foley will be heading the other way.

Paully D

The Barclays Premier League (Coyle, Owen) will be very tough next year with Reading and Southampton there.

Both clubs very close to London, which is a huge advantage for promoted clubs trying to attract the next level players, decent stadiums and crowds, and promising mangers too.

That's before you even talk about the fact that West Ham might come up and they pay huge wages, and the same goes for QPR if they manage to stay up.

I think next seasons Premier League could be the toughest in quite a while in terms of mid-table to relegation places.

dreamers75

Their form since jan is mental.

Reckon Doyle will jump ship if they go down. More irish lads in EPL is good for us.


Hopefully Brum make it too.

stovelid

I think Doyle will go there for sure.

Hunty, Dolye, Harte and hopefully Shep: decent Irish contingent.

Should be fair amount of ex-LOI in the EPL: Doyler, Hunty, Shep, Hoolihan, McClean, Stevens, Sammon, Ward, Long, Coleman, and maybe Fahey.

Not bad for a pub league.

legendary.xix

Congrats Reading! I hope they sign Stephen Hunt. A few years ago I read an article where the Hunt brothers had a dream of playing in the same team in the Premier League. At the time it was a far distant dream. I think one was in League One and the other with a lower SPL club at the time. It'd be great if they finally complete the journey to realise that dream.

dreamers75

Last 28
L3
D1
W24 :eek:

noodler

dreamers75 wrote: »

Reckon Doyle will jump ship if they go down. More irish lads in EPL is good for us.

I think he'd be lucky to get a move to an EPL club!

That he needs a move is obvious though.

I definitely can't see Hunt getting a move.

djPSB

Would Kevin Doyle go back to Reading now? Since Wolves will be in the Championship. I reckon he could cost a bit though. I think Wolves paid £6-7 million for him.

Odats

Delighted for Noel Hunt and Reading. I hope he gets a run next year in the Premier League.

Don't think it would be the right move by Reading to take Doyle back.

cgpg5

noodler wrote: »

I think he'd be lucky to get a move to an EPL club!

That he needs a move is obvious though.

I definitely can't see Hunt getting a move.

Sure Hunt is better than McClean :pac:

Na I don't think Hunt is PL standard if I'm being honest, can't see anyone signing him. Wouldn't make Readings team. Doyle on current form would do well to be signed by anyone as well, performing poorly for the worst team in the league. Tbh I don't think they need many signings, the squad they have at the moment will stay up comfortably

EdenHazard

Are they really rich?

Paully D

cgpg5 wrote: »

Will he surplus to requirements I wonder? Kinda like Connolly for Sunderland in 07? I hope not, I hope he does a Stephen Carr!

Connolly would have been given his chance with us that season but he got injured again. That meant we needed to buy someone as there was very little firepower in the team. We ended up with Jones and Chopra who played really well that first year, and when Connolly was fit around January he couldn't get a look in.

The majority of Sunderland fans were disappointed when Connolly got injured though as it would have been very interesting to see how he got on as he was full of confidence after banging them in week in, week out in the Championship. Then again, maybe we'd have gone down if he'd stayed fit, impossible to tell really.

One thing it does show is the nature of football though. Score a mountain of goals to get the team promoted, pick up and injury and never get a look in again for them in the Premier League. Not many outside the club will remember the likes of Connolly and Edwards but they're a huge part of the reason we are where we are today.

grenache

Congrats to Reading. It just goes to show what happens when you stick by a manager who has brought you so close in the previous seasons. Forest did enough to win the game, nevermind draw it! But since we are now safe from the drop, i suppose i didn't mind in the end, Reading play great attacking football and are a sturdy well organised team. Probably greater than the sum of their parts though. I wish them well. Give me Reading and Southampton over the awful stuff played by West Ham any day.

If Blackpool reach the playoffs, they would be my bet to win it. Finding a bit of form at the right time, and like two years ago, know only one way to play - attack attack attack.

monkey9

Paully D wrote: »

Connolly would have been given his chance with us that season but he got injured again. That meant we needed to buy someone as there was very little firepower in the team. We ended up with Jones and Chopra who played really well that first year, and when Connolly was fit around January he couldn't get a look in.

The majority of Sunderland fans were disappointed when Connolly got injured though as it would have been very interesting to see how he got on as he was full of confidence after banging them in week in, week out in the Championship. Then again, maybe we'd have gone down if he'd stayed fit, impossible to tell really.

One thing it does show is the nature of football though. Score a mountain of goals to get the team promoted, pick up and injury and never get a look in again for them in the Premier League. Not many outside the club will remember the likes of Connolly and Edwards but they're a huge part of the reason we are where we are today.

I don't think Connolly would have done the business, imo. He was a bit like Anthony Stokes for me. Championship/Scottish league level, but no better than that!!

Mikeyt086

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6zy5ebtF8

One of my favourite football videos on the internet now, sorry if it has been posted. Captain Jobi McAnuff's reaction to the final whistle, and his reaction to finding out that Reading "are up" is one of the most authentic and brilliantly emotional reactions I've ever seen.

grenache

monkey9 wrote: »

I don't think Connolly would have done the business, imo. He was a bit like Anthony Stokes for me. Championship/Scottish league level, but no better than that!!

Don't drag the Championship down to the same level as that 'pub league' north of the border!!

The Championship is the 5th most attended divsion in Europe. It is a quality league, with some good teams and not at all predictable. It is everything the SPL is not!

amiable

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/reading/9217215/Chris-Samuelson-the-frontman-for-Anton-Zingarevichs-bid-for-Reading-denies-allegations-of-money-laundering.html

Chris Samuelson, who has been the spokesman for Anton Zingarevich’s bid for the newly-promoted club, denies the allegations. Samuelson, an offshore financier based in Switzerland, has been named in courts on both sides of the Atlantic as a key former associate of Arkady Patarkatsishvili and his business partner Boris Berezovsky.
According to one deposition uncovered by Daily Telegraph investigations, Patarkatsishvili accused Samuelson of being “a crook” and “a thief and a liar”. Samuelson counters that the sworn statement itself is wrong.
The claims come in the shape of a signed affidavit from the Russo-American lawyer Oxana Adler, who describes herself as having been Patarkatsishvili’s counsel for more than a decade. Adler’s written statement before the Miami division of the US Bankruptcy Court says: “Oxana Adler declares under the penalty of perjury as follows [the existence of] documents showing that Samuelson, for years, has been the subject of multiple high-profile money-laundering investigations in the US and Europe.
“Most prominent were the probes by the French Central Office for Combating Grand Financial Offences (OCRGDF) a principal French governmental agency investigating major financial frauds, and the Economic Investigation Service (FIOD/ECD), the Netherlands money laundering watchdog.
“In the early 2000s Samuelson was also investigated by the FBI in connection with the Bank of New York money laundering scandal.”

Samuelson responded to The Daily Telegraph: “I have no knowledge of being investigated as Adler claims” and described her statement as “farcical”.
The French judicial police, which houses the OCRGDF, said it could neither confirm nor deny Adler’s statement about whether it has investigated Samuelson, since it never passes comment on operational matters. The FIOD/ECD has not responded to the Daily Telegraph’s emails or calls about the allegations since Thursday.
He adds that Adler and her fellow New York lawyer Emanuel Zeltser are giving evidence against him due to the highly acrimonious nature of the dispute over the affairs and assets of the late billionaire Patarkatsishvili.
Denying the allegations, Samuelson says “I am involved in these cases as the trustee of assets that I am trying to recover.”
Three months have passed since the takeover deal was announced as having been agreed in principle with the club’s current owner, John Madejski, yet the buyout has still not been approved by the football authorities.
As revealed in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, Zingarevich’s Thames Sports Investment vehicle is now the subject of investigations by the Premier League. The Football League’s own inquiries into the new ownership have so far proved inconclusive, and the Premier League took an interest in the matter prior to the club’s promotion from the Championship.
But it is clear Samuelson has long been a close associate of some of the most controversial figures in the Russian super-rich. Samuelson provided corporate services for Berezovsky between 2000 and the time of Patarkatsishvili’s death in 2008.
Berezovsky admitted before the High Court to having been the subject of money-laundering investigations in Switzerland and Holland. He added: “All the investigations are closed because no one reason was finded [sic] that it was money-laundering.”
He claimed there had also been an investigation in France of allegations of money-laundering at a company unconnected to Berezovsky. That company’s affairs were, according to a statement Samuelson made to the New York Times in 1999, managed by Samuelson.
Offshore structures have played a major part in TSI’s attempted takeover at Reading, though, Samuelson states, Berezovsky is not involved.
Samuelson explained: “Thames Sports Investments Ltd is a Gibraltar company established to invest in the sports sector and its first investment is Reading Football Club.
“The beneficial shareholder is only Anton Zingarevich. The company is administered by Finsbury Trust, Gibraltar’s largest trust company. The ownership has been disclosed to RFC and to the Football League.
“Anton is not a UK resident and TSI will be doing other activities in other countries. Some clients want privacy and in some cases it can be mandatory. If you travel to such countries as Brazil or Mexico, you will appreciate that kidnapping and ransom are major concerns for high net worth people.”