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1  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Portsmouth (a) on: Yesterday at 20:40:14
Just confirms that football can be a bottomless pit for money. That said though to still be paying out £1.5m in transfer fees in a season alongside making improvements to their ground costing £12m, spending £1.5m on their training ground and £3m on their "health and fitness club" at least they have something to show for their losses/owner cash injections. 

The owner has put £30m in but they are apparently "debt-free"...a far cry from the dark days when they were over £100m in debt and facing liquidation.

Our own accounts should be out any day now.......
2  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Reading (a) on: Yesterday at 20:18:48
As the season draws to a close we have a trip to one of the best stadia in the division, the 24000+ capacity Select Car Leasing Stadium, or as it is more commonly known The Madejski.

Reading have been in all sorts of turmoil in recent years, Premier League for two seasons 2006-08 and again in 2012 they were relegated from the Championship after 10 seasons to kickoff this season in the third tier for the first time since 2002.
They have faced numerous points deductions since 2021, a couple of breaches of the profit and sustainability rules and more lately for failing to pay wages on time as well as failing to pay HMRC. This season those deductions look like costing them in the form of relegation to League 2 however a turnaround in form of sorts currently sees them sitting in 18th place, six points above the drop zone despite 6 points deducted this season.

They have won six and lost four of their last 13 league games and have a decent home record with wins over Stevenage, Bolton, Wigan and Derby in amongst their 10 wins from 20 games. Last time out they hammered Cambridge 4-0 in front of a season high crowd of 15,644.

Sam Smith is their leading League scorer with 11 league goals including one in each of his last five games. The former Reading youngster rejoined the club after a decent season last term with Cambridge for whom he bagged 14 goals. Last season too he went on a scoring streak of a goal in six consecutive games, he obviously comes out of hibernation every Spring! Another former Cambridge man Harvey Knibbs has ten in the league amongst a total of 15 this season.

The managerial door was revolving fast at Reading a few years ago with the likes of Jaap Stam, Paul Clement, Jose Gomes and Paul Ince having short stints at the helm, current incumbent is Reuban Seles who himself has a less than impressive spell at Southampton (2 wins in 17) before joining the Royals for who he now has an equal 18 wins and 18 losses in 48 games.

48 wins for Reading and only 27 for The Cobblers in the head-to-head on the Soccerbase site, although the Cobblers have not been beaten in their four visits to the Madejski so far. A Dave Savage 89th minute winner gave us victory in our first trip back in April 1999, we followed that up with a 1-1 draw on New Years Day 2001...Gabbiadini giving us the lead in the 87th minute and Darren Caskey equalising in stoppage time for the home side.  2002 saw the sides play out a goalless draw in front of over 16000 fans, before our last visit came in 2010 for a Carling Cup encounter.

An entertaining 3-3 draw after extra time, Matt Mills scoring the his second for the home side in the 113th minute to seemingly seal the deal, only for the same player to score a 125th minute minute own goal which sent the tie to penalties. Oscar Jansson, appearing on loan from Tottenham between the sticks for The Cobblers, saved two penalties in the shootout with us scoring four out of four and booking ourselves a third round trip to Anfield. The other Cobblers scorers on the night were Andy Holt and Kevin Thornton. Michael Jacobs Cobblers career was just getting underway that season, he came on from the bench for the Reading game and scored one of the pens. Also on the bench that night was a certain Alistair Slowe!

Referee for Fridays game is Thomas Parsons. On his second year on the EFL list now he does seem to like his cards. 117 yellows with 4 reds last season have been followed up by 107 yellow an three red in 22 games this season. He booked ten on the first day of the season. His first ever EFL game was our 1-1 draw at Grimsby on the opening day last season, we saw him again at Harrogate for another 1-1 draw. Nothing from him since then for us and nothing at all for Reading.
3  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Reading (a) on: March 26, 2024, 20:28:09 pm
No, but I went there in 89 in October pisśed it down the whole game think we drew, they were doing roadworks on the A43 making it dual carriageway.

My first visit to Elm Park..... Wednesday night, went on the train, got there about 4.30pm and there was an open gate near the away end, we snuck in and hid under the terrace for a couple of hours or so and waited until they opened the gates and then made our way up onto the terrace.... game finished 1-1. 8pm kickoff, game finished, back on the train and delayed for ages heading into Waterloo, by the time we'd got across to Euston we had missed the last train back to Northampton. Walked into the city and wandered round for a few hours, first train in the morning back to Teyn and pretty much straight to work!
4  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Derby County (h) 23.3.24 on: March 23, 2024, 14:05:46 pm
No Guthrie? Managing his minutes?  Cheesy
5  General Category / The Games Room / Re: GTA game 45 derby @ home on: March 23, 2024, 01:07:17 am
7710
6  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: League One 2023 Wage Bills on: March 22, 2024, 13:11:43 pm
Didn't KT say we were 18th or 19th?

Anyway, this annual list is flawed, includes loan players for whom we will never know what proportion (if any) we are paying for their wages, I think we can be pretty sure that NTFC are not paying Simpson £4.6k a week, or Leonard £3.9k a week.
7  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Derby County (h) 23.3.24 on: March 21, 2024, 17:25:39 pm
Surprised that the "sold out signs" have not gone up for this one yet.

A quick look at our ticketing site shows that we have left:

West Stand Upper : 0
West Stand Lower : 2
North Stand: 41
East Stand: 91

Hopefully not too many s/t holders feel like they dare not go to the game!!
8  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Reading (a) on: March 20, 2024, 13:13:34 pm
Tortuous in as much as it takes a while (just over 2 hours) with a change onto a crowded (usually) 4 coach Voyager at Coventry to stand up for an hour, and all at a time when people will be looking for other ways to get into London as the WCML is closed.
9  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Reading (a) on: March 20, 2024, 10:34:23 am
Not only is Good Friday but there is engineering work on the rails as per usual. No trains south of Milton Keynes over the entire weekend. There is a route to Reading via Coventry but its a bit tortuous and i'm sure Cross Country trains will be short formed and extremely busy!!
10  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Ups & downs on: March 20, 2024, 10:28:16 am
If KT had loosened the purse strings to bring in 2-3 better quality players in January it is highly unlikely he would have bought promotion because if we had reached the play offs we would not have progressed any further. We would still have lost games against the better teams but maybe not have conceded 4 or 5 goals in those games. He would probably have needed to bring in 5 quality players including a GK.

It is a slightly different scenario to Wrexham whose new owners come in and immediately start throwing their cash around attracting players to the National League by offering them better terms than they could get in Divisions 1 or 2. KT has been here about 8 years and if in the future we are in a position to fund the signing of better quality players I have no problem with that because it could not be termed as buying instant success.

Maybe you would make the playoffs, maybe you wouldn't, maybe you'd win promotion if you got into them, maybe you wouldn't...... but its more likely you'd end up winning a few games towards the end of the season, finish in a higher position and start the following season with a more settled side from the off (assuming those January signings had been brought in on 18 month contracts)

All hypothetical I know.....
11  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Reading (a) on: March 18, 2024, 20:56:30 pm
Wycombe have put the purchase of Readings training ground on hold after finding issues whilst carrying out due diligence, however Reading themselves are in advanced talks with an American consortium regarding a possible takeover deal, and there is interest from a Saudi based group too.
12  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Grade the Cobblers on: March 18, 2024, 20:50:25 pm
My opinion:

Players & Management - B  Sure there have been some good performances but they have been littered with the occasional dross too. Playerwise, again good with a bit of bad...Hylton for example, I mean whats that all about?! Too reliant on loan players, my personal view is that is bad for anything other than short termism, but we keep going down that road! The never ending injury situation shows no sign of improvement, despite reviews, new training facilities, more backroom staff than ever....and we just seem to have to accept that we will always have 4,5,6 players out for one reason or another.

Ownership - C  Again a personal view but i'm never going to be happy with owners who don't have the interests of the football club first and foremost, ahead of any land deal!

Facilities - C   Personally....I don't like Sixfields!! It was great in 1994....but here we are 30 years later with pretty much the same! Faded seats, tired facilities, crappy toilets, poor catering outlets......

Match Day Experience - As a general fan C.... for the reasons above, but as a sponsor/hospitality i'd give it an A. I sampled hospitality a couple of weeks ago for the Charlton game and I was impressed with the setup, the food , the room and Tom Cliffe who did an excellent job as our host. I don't know how I reached the age of 55 without playing stand up bingo before now!!

Community - B  The club do a lot of good work out and about but it is still disappointing to see virtually nobody in the East stand for the game against Blackpool last week....there must be more we can do to promote the club and generate more interest. Make more of the links we already have, for example Lincoln offer their University students a number of tickets for a tenner a game, i'm not aware of what we do if anything with our main sponsor along the same lines.

Do I feel part of the club? - B  There is good work being done but a lot more that could be done....very little of it is within the normal fans gift though. I feel we are all waiting to see how the land and stand pans out, how if at all it pushes our club on and how if at all it brings an end to shopping in the injured players bargain bucket!!
13  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Relegation Watch on: March 16, 2024, 20:26:28 pm
Its highly unlikely we will get overhauled by so many teams that we end up 4th bottom, that said when you look at the teams down there and see they have a game or two in hand and if they win those it might make me a little more nervous!!

However, Port Vale are 14 games without a win so I don't believe they will win 6 or 7 of their last nine to overtake us. Fleetwood have one win in nine but need six wins from their last seven to overtake us. Cheltenham after a small uptick are now without a win in six and would need to win six of their last 9 to overtake us. Cambridge have no wins in seven and Burton none in 6.

As it stands the magic points total to be sure of avoiding relegation, taking into account the maximum any team below us can get and the fact some of them have to play each other is currently 57.
14  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Wycombe (a) Sat. 16th March on: March 16, 2024, 20:17:43 pm
No mate. Couldnt disagree more. Probably the most high profile home game of the season, and you want to chuck him in at the deep end, in front of a baying mob, hell bent at gaining promotion and hurling abuse at him? FFS not this game. There are six others to choose from after Saturday.
Adam Smith was never the same after his fcukup in the most high profile game of his career. Dont wish the same upon this lad.





I would tend to agree, but only because its Derby next. If we did make the changes and go and get hammered 7-0 then they young'uns would all be out again and the "old guard" will return. Much better to play our strongest available team against one of the strongest teams in the league, then make changes in the last six games with an eye on next season.
15  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Play-off watch on: March 16, 2024, 20:11:57 pm
The sad thing is that Lincoln didn't really do a lot in January either..... I mean its not like they splashed out thousands on transfer fees. They picked up a player upon completion of the League of Ireland season and therefore completion of his contract in Moylan, they picked up Joseph Taylor on loan from Luton after he had been recalled from his loan for the first half of the season at League 2 Colchester, and they got Conor McGrandles on loan from Charlton. They also recalled Freddie Draper from Walsall where he had been on loan and stuck him back in their team.

Since New Years Day and since making the squad changes above they are unbeaten in 13, have won 8 of the last 10, have scored 16 goals in three games, and attracted over 9300 to their home game against Bristol Rovers today.
16  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Wycombe (a) Sat. 16th March on: March 16, 2024, 19:35:25 pm
The only problem is that Springett probably won't be available next week as he's been called up by Eire U21's. That probably goes for Keiron Bowie with Scotland, although I haven't seen any confirmation of this. Maybe, Danny boy will be needed after all  Shocked

Edit: Bowie hasn't been selected for Scotland U21's. Strange, I thought he scored two goals the last time he played - unless it's something to do with his age.

According to this Bowie was/is selected for the upcoming game (Thursday)

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scotland-mens-under-21s-name-strong-squad-for-kazakhstan-qualifier/?rid=4413
17  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Play-off watch on: March 16, 2024, 19:19:23 pm
Our limited finances will be affected by the 1000 or so fewer fans through the gates per home game (excepting the Derby one) because form, results and performances have dropped off the cliff.
18  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: First season back table on: March 16, 2024, 17:43:14 pm
This is not looking very good now.



Wait a minute…..most fans think we are having a fantastic season…… Grin
19  General Category / The Games Room / Re: GTA game 44 Wycombe away on: March 16, 2024, 12:06:27 pm
4728
20  The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Blackpool (h) on: March 12, 2024, 22:24:23 pm
Don’t fancy trying to keep hold of Moulden?

I think we should...after all, the fans of a lower mid-table National League side thought he was the nuts!
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