The Kraken

Have you actually read any of this thread?

Not neccessarily; that's just spin and speculation from the article, it offers no different quotes other than those we've already seen, so it's still utter speculation whether they want to use him or are trying to extract a transfer fee.

Christ, is there any chance of this thread not turning into the usual SOG v Alpine borefest? Please? Your continual tedium of baiting him and his continual monotony of responding turns every other thread on here into a complete waste of time.

It could go either way. Puncheon has been brought in and Pardew is clearly intent on having a reprisal of the Fabrice Fernandes role (a left footer even more one-footed than I am playing on the right). Saying that, Antonio is a great impact player and he is more direct in terms of running at defenders with pace than anyone else we have. So who knows...

I've already stated a page or two back that it's pointless speculating about what will happen until Reading's intentions are known, so I won't do that. But Antonio obviously has a choice to make; whether to carry on with a side that has, as you say, improved his game (and at just 19 he's only going to get better). Or whether to take a chance with his previous club at a higher level and risk getting less game time than he got here and therefore potentially hindering his progress. Like I say, without knowing Reading's intentions its an impossible one to call. I hope he stays, but if its set up for him to return to Reading's first team squad then you maybe wouldn't blame him for leaving for a higher standard of football. I hope he stays put. But either way, if we do lose him I have full faith in AP replacing him adequately.

Being as Reading offered him barely any football whatsoever other than for another club, I think we just might possibly be covered on that one...

Until Reading's intentions are known it's complete guesswork as to where Antonio will be next season. Reading may have seen his progress as a positive and want to give him a chance at a higher level. They may want him to come back to us on another long term loan with a view to retaining his services following on from that. Or they may just be being business-like and, knowing that we want him, have signed in so they can negotiate a transfer fee with a rich club rather than claim compensation. I hope he stays, but the signs aren't great; if they didn't rate him we could have just come to a financial agreement that they would have opted out of the one year extention. With Antonio on Reading's books (the Reading OS seems to state that he definitely is) then they hold all the cards.

Personally I'm much happier seeing the owner of the club stay in the background; there are too many self-publicists in football as it is. You only have to look at the gobsh!te nature of David Sullivan, Dave Whelan, Phil Gartside, Mike Ashley etc etc to realise that we are very lucky to have an owner who carries himself with an air of reserved dignity.

True. The 6 nations gets pretty tasty as well.

Yet on the flip side it can have worse repercussions....

Semi, agreed. But Harding has been excellent all season, and is far better than "OK" for this level. I'd be more than comfortable with him at left back in the Championship.

I'd just like to see them actually get punished for their financial irregularities and criminal financial mismanagement. So far, all they've had is a minus 9 deduction which is going to make no difference at all as they'd have gone down anyway. The scale of their debt is that ridiculous (and clearly shady) that I'd like a few things to happen: The club to get deducted further points next season unless all creditors are paid back in full. Peter Storrie to serve a prison term and to be barred from football for life. As much as we should be patting him on the back for totally screwing them over, the man is an odious, obnoxious and incompetent turd. Harry Redknapp to be implicated in the financial irregularities and also serve a prison term. The club to be wound up and AFC Portsmouth formed in the nether regions of non-league.

Wise or not, it has been common knowledge since he was brought in that AP would be judged after 18 months. I doubt very much that he's been set an actual target to hit by a particular date. But clearly NC will take a decision around Xmas time, and if he feels we are too many points away from 1st and 2nd I fully expect him to wield the axe. How many points that will be, or exactly when, only Mr Cortese knows.

It's in the article linked. AP: "The owners have said to me I'd be judged after 18 months because obviously they want to get out of this division and I've never waned from the belief that I will do that."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all disappointed with this season, just the opposite. I think given all that's happened to us, the turnaround in the club has been extremely impressive and I think AP has done a fantastic job. I said that it looks like the season will come up a tiny bit short, but only for what I HOPED we could potentially do, and not what I EXPECTED. At the start of the season the aim was certainly for the playoffs, but that for me was certainly more hope than expectation. Still, those hopes were there and in that regard alone we'll come up a bit short. However, in saying that, the team will certainly have exceeded my expectations. It sounds a bit **** eyed I know. Anyway, I certainly didn't mean it to sound critical of the team at all, as for me this has been a great season.

Of course there is. This season there was much division between expectations; some were happy with just survival, some expected mid-table, and some expected play-offs. I was in the "mid-table with a late play-off push a bonus" category, so can probably say that the season will end just coming up a tiny bit short of my hopes. But for next season there does seem to be a general consensus that the top two is not only realistic, but what we should be expecting from our current set-up. I do think that AP is the man to deliver that, and that the rumours I keep hearing of a change of manager would only be a bad thing for us. But I think AP knows that if he does not live up to all these expectations we will see the ruthless side of NC again, and probably with some justification.

Or they could have easily avoided it by staying put and simply not acting like a bunch of moronic knuckle-draggers. I'm still at a loss to just how utterly stupid you have to be to throw stones from behind a police line and think you'll get away with it when its patently clear the police will have a multitude of cameras and CCTV out in full force.

I find it impossible to have any sympathy whatsoever with someone who is, quite frankly, that f*cking stupid. There's naive, and then there's just plain brain-dead.

And it rumbles on... For what its worth, I agree with CB Fry. Putting on a sub and then taking him off 27 minutes later is certainly worthwhile asking the question to the manager. You don't see it very often in footy and it's a justified question to ask, given that James didn't seem to be injured. Where I think we've lost it is that a lot of people made a snap judgement about what AP was supposed to have said (and how he said it) without even listening to the interview! Ridiculous. I read all of these posts about how AP was out of the order, then found the link, listened to it and wondered what all the fuss was about. Talk about mountains out of molehills. When AP was asked about his thinking behind bringing James on and then off, his actual answer was to say the following: So he's already answered the question; there was an accusation from another poster on here that he hadn't even done that, so that's cleared up. In explaining taking james off again, the easy thing for AP to would have been to say "Lloyd had an absolute mare, he was even worse than Paul Wotton in the first half, so it clearly needed changing again, I'm only upset with myself that it took me 27 minutes to figure out". But he didn't, even though it was clear to everyone who saw the game that that was the case; he closed ranks and will obviously have had some harsh words behind closed doors. I still can't understand the outcry that AP's response received for this; it was a fair question that AP gave a swift but fair answer to. Move on...

Exactly right; far to easy to blame the ref. We had enough chances and on another night could have scored 2 or 3, it just didn't fall for us. I didn't think the players looked tired at all, that's an easy excuse to make when you don't win. I think we just ran out of ideas and our attacking ploy of hoisting it to the far post almost every time was meat and drink for their meathead centre backs. We needed a bit of something extra to break through, and on the night couldn't do it. It happens. And seeing the Oldham players high fiving and celebrating after the final whistle shows they got exactly all they came for.

Delldays and Dibden; there's a perfectly good private message system on this board which, as full members, you're both entitled to use. Any chance of the pair of you continuing your tiresome playground spat using that, rather than boring the rest of us mindless with your inane drivel?

This is exactly what we were discussing last night; you would hope, perhaps expect, that the wages we're paying are somewhere near being in line with alot of teams of Championship standard. And, Lallana and Schneiderlin aside, its unlikely any Prem teams will come sniffing for our players (though one or two may look at a cheeky bid for RL, he's under contract and we'd want huge money for him). So it's just a question of ambition really, and whether for the player taking your chances with a new team in the Championship is actually any better than playing for the favourites for the title in League 1 at a well established club that's well covered in the media considering the division.

I must have watched a different game then, as Harding played as a left back and left winger all game, His work rate was phenomenal and he kept running at their defence right up to the final whistle, while still doing his defensive duties. Lambert didn't look particularly tired, he just didn't get an awful lot of change out of two big, strong centre backs, and didn't get an real support from midfield. Tiredness is too easy an excuse when you don't win; you don't often hear it trotted out when you win 5-0 though.

Well said Wes; the continual sniping from both sides on here of late has become quite cringeworthy and boring.

Are you being deliberately obtuse, or just missing the point? Question: You brought Lloyd James on and then took him off, what was the thinking behind that substitution? AP: Well I don't think that's the right question to ask me, if I'm honest because its obvious that we're trying to push for a goal. Lloyd James came on to move the ball for us and then we had to take chances.. How is that not explaining it? He replaced Wotton with James as he thought that James would pass the ball better through the midfield. James had a terrible game, it wasn't working so he changed it again. I guess in the blame culture that exists on here you'd rather Pardew came out and said "Well, Llloyd James was awful, couldn't pass for toffee and was well below par, so I had to change it again". AP chose not to directly criticise his player, which is actually quite laudable.