By Mark Sugar
January 9 2004

Steve Coppell held his first official meeting tonight with Royals supporters at the STAR Fans Forum. Along with Coppell was Director of Football Nicky Hammond, who explained to supporters what his new role was about. Discussed was players, contracts and Alan Pardew. Overall a interesting evening. Steve Coppell certainly gave Royals supporters a lot to think about, and vice versa.

Opening the show was Coppell and he was asked questions about his playing days by the host Paula Martin. Interesting facts were revealed and did you know he holds the longest consecutive appearance for a Manchester United player. He went 4 seasons without missing a game and believes it will be a miracle if the record was broken. Early he discussed his days at Palace and recently more at Brighton and Brentford, and he even answered my question which was sent via email but with no name. It asked him "does it feel good to finally be able to concentrate 100% purely on football issues and not stadium issues etc at his previous clubs". He said it does but all the players put it out of there minds at other clubs and it was an issue for the board. It also bought the clubs supporters and players closer together

Next came Nicky Hammond, a good honest individual and another statistic was revealed as on February 13th, he will have been longer at Reading then he would have at our local rivals Swindon. A big round of applause was in order. He discussed the Director of Football role, which sees him work closely with Brendan Rodgers in the overseeing of the clubs academy and he will work on player contracts, he will offer Steve Coppell support in the board room when he feels a new player should be bought in. Also another issue that got a brief mention was the clubs new training ground, and how that will affect the players.

After that questions began swinging in from the 100 or so fans who tuned up and players who were mentioned tonight. (squad number order) Marcus Hahnemann with both Coppell and Hammond commenting on his form this season and admitted although his mistakes have been poor at least he's doing them for a positive reason.

Fullbacks Greame Murty and Nicky Shorey were mentioned with the recent change in style. Coppell insisted he hasn't given them new instructions.

Kevin Watson was mentioned with the words "is he still seeking for employment else where". Coppell replied that it again all depends on the contract situation within the summer but not a single enquiry was made about Watson from any club.

Scott Murray was mentioned with how difficult he has found life spending 4 hours every day on the motorway but delighted he has moved locally now and also has found his form within the last 2 games.

Shaun Goater was mentioned how vital it is to see "Goat" fit again after a long spell out.

Nicky Forster got mentioned how Wigan simply made an enquiry after somebody pretending to be his agent told Wigan boss Paul Jewell he was for sale at £750,000. Coppell said Forster is not for sale. He said with Greame Murty and Forster having 18 months to run on there current deals, these would be discussed after the future of the out of contract players was decided.

Andy Hughes got a mention with how he is still young and improving and is showing great signs of enthusiasm and gave today's training session as an example with how Hughesy was practising with half an hour before training officially started.

Dave Kitson was talked about as the first player with Coppell saying he hopes he doesn't feel pressure in his 1st few months, and hopes he makes mistakes and learns from them straight away.

Ivar Ingimarrson got a mention with how he will provide great value at £100,000 rising to £200,000 and he won't let us down.

Andre Boucaud, Peter Castle, Ahmet Rifat, Simieon Howell, Darren Campbell, Jamie Young were all mentioned eventually after Hammond not answering a question fully. Hammond says it will take 3-4 years for players to be properly emerging from the academy with regular first team football. He said its difficult with us chasing for promotion and trying to blood in youngster's.

Bas Savage was discussed in detail by Coppell and how he is still fairly young. He appreciates he isn't a right winger but says he'll learn more in the long run.

Jamie Ashdown is still highly regarded by Coppell and Hammond and he has gone on-loan because of lack of reserve team football. He feels it will give him confidence and new energy to properly challenge USA for a spot.

Nathan Tyson was talked about the same with Ashdown with Coppell saying he needs 1st team football.

Omar Daley is back in Reading despite a fan claiming has he left the country for good. Coppell says he has only seen him play twice and one was in a bad defeat to Brentford where we lost 4-1. Second time he did ok but Coppell wants him to add more in his game.

Finally Lloyd Owusu was praised for effort and him not letting anybody down. Coppell will assess the situation regarding a permanent move and will be in contact with Chris Turner.

Alan Pardew was discussed with Coppell saying he believed West Ham are a bigger club than RFC and says he can't wait till West Ham come to the stadium. Also said they are still in regular contact. Other issues raised by Coppell was it takes at least £20,000,000 to stay in the Premiership. Thanked the RFC fans for all there support.

Nicky Hammond got a bit angry when he was asked when will chairman John Madejski stop being a "2nd division" chairman and start being a 1st division. Hammond said that the current wage bill is between 7th-21st in the league and Madejski has done a lot for this club.

Overall rating

Coppell 9/10 and Hammond 7.5/10

We hope to be able to publish the official notes taken by a STAR member hopefully early next week