I believe that Andy Ritchie is a very nice man. He has values. One of these is loyalty. Unfortunately his loyalty to this (his) group of players was taking us back to the alehouse league. I also have values. I think that when life presents an opportunity you must do your best to make the most of it. I was becoming very angry about the apparent willingness to let the chance to re-establish ourselves at a decent level of football be frittered away due to one man's apparent (misplaced?) loyalty. Also, although it is probably true, I did not want the manager of our club telling the world there is no chance of us ever getting back to the Premier League. To justify supporting a club like ours you need dreams. I harboured a dream for many years that was finally realised in 1997. I am pretty sure that Patrick Cryne and Gordon Shepherd shared that dream. The supporters of Reading are currently living it. The reality is that Andy Ritchie's agent will already be looking for his client's next job. In he meantime we have the novelty of a Barnsley FC chairman bemoaning the fact that the manager will not spend money. On balance, today's events, though unsavoury, are to be welcomed.
