Happy (ish) Returns

The Beatles once sang Get Back to where we once belonged. How that meaningless title feels such harsh reality as Reading’s opening day in the Championship looked rather, to be honest, unimpressive.

There stuttering start and the lack of awareness of how this division plays. The squad will have to reminiscence about the good times but they soon have to realise this is a completely different campaign. Within twenty seconds, Marcus Hahnemann was under attack as Nottingham forest really took the game to us. It is a huge respect to the game having the double European cup winners back in the championship as the City Ground and those loyal and vastly gigantic supporting fans bases acquires a better standard of football.

As for Reading, I saw this as two points lost rather than one gained as we saw a goalless draw. We are still rusty and it does that we are stuck in Premiership mode still. We need to urgently drop that and lose the mental implications of the damaging favourite tags and take this league with dignity. Last time we were here, we were unstoppable to say the least but that will not be repeated. It is going to be a lot tougher as the standard of the league has improved significantly. There is more teams that stands a distance above the others, inevitably Queens Park Rangers will do in the future will the Formula One tycoons throwing money at worlds end to feud their Premiership ambitions.

As for the Reading performance, we set out with the same tactics for the last three seasons. Congealed in defence and use our dynamic flair and energetic urges to really get into the opposition. The only glimpse of that working today was a Kevin Doyle header from a Stephen Hunt cross that, somehow, Nott’s Forest goalkeeper Paul Smith managed to make a breathe taking save. That was ten minutes from times.

Ronnie Wood was not the only thing being fucked by a 19 year old as Forest midfielder Lewis McGugan ran a near perfect show. Experienced defenders Ivar Ingimarsson and Ibrahima Sonko were made to look ordinary and rather reckless. He looks like a frightening prospect that should fend well in this league before Arsenal snap him up as the next Freddy Ljungberg, but maybe he is a couple years too old for them before being heaped back in the wilderness.

Hunt is a great individual and there is not a man out there that will work harder for the cause but he is not suited at left back. Nicky Shorey’s transfer to Aston Villa has left us with a huge void in our starting eleven as well as our squad. Hunt needs to play left wing as Bobby Convey looked anything par inspiring today. He may be one of these players who are a flash in the pan in the Premiership before fading out like an ugly bird at a swinger’s party. Remember David Prutton? Or Michael Ricketts? There is always a possibility of a comeback as Hull’s Dean Windass showed. He makes a return of Lord Lucan a much more of a possibility.

Also with the news of Marek Matejovsky going to be out for at least six weeks manager Steve Coppell may be banging on John Madejski’s heavily paved office door. Noel Hunt is a sole capture this term and we need to fill a few gaps to ensure a swift return to the top flight. Undoubtedly, Coppell will have a few tricks up his sleeve; he has not seen us wrong so far. Emerse Fae anyone?

Currently, I am getting that all to be expected vibe, the realisation has kicked in, and I am over the moon. This will be a hard season but one in which we can be successful. I am not entirely sure whether the crowd will hold its own before the glory hunters come back like the plague.

Let us raise a beer (or that piss poor excuse for beer that sells at £3.50) to pastures new and to a new campaign and hopefully a successful one.