Kitson signs for Stoke for £5.5 million

[Fat Leather Jacket]

What does it matter if we sell him for 5 million of £50. Does the supporter actually think we are going to see the money from sale plowed into strengthening the squad or passing savings onto the supporter?

[Drew_3]

http://www.rivals.net/forum/pgePosts.as ... &clubId=77
maybe kitson should read this before he signs anything!!!

[Royal Lady]

Add to Kitson leaving, the fact that Fed and now Bikey are going to miss the first 2 games of the season, at least, due to competing in the Olympics and our team is getting ever weaker. OK Fed's the reserve goalie, but we're going to have to wrap USA up in cotton wool to avoid any sort of injuries but we'll miss Bikey for sure.

[Leamington Royal]

Excellent, lucid post Dirk.

As they say, past performance is no guarantee of future performance, and at 28 I can only see Kitson having further stretches of injury. When he plays well he works really hard defensively - something we saw a lot less of this season. £5m is a good deal for RFC and will give Coppell some room to freshen up the squad whilst there is still time.

I think Kitson has been an outstanding player for the Royals in the last 5 years and along with Little he was one of my personal favourites, but sometimes it is time to move on.

[rotherwick_royal]

http://www.rivals.net/forum/pgePosts.aspx?threadId=157797&boardId=104&clubId=77
maybe kitson should read this before he signs anything!!!

yeh, they're not best pleased!

Who the hell did they expect to sign???

[rhroyal]

I'll hate to lose Kits but I'm trying to take some crumbs of comfort from it. If we do get £5m it's a good deal for an injury-prone 28-year old. Is Kits past his best as some suggest? I'm not so sure, but he has lost the hunger. Maybe a move is the best thing for him, but I still think he would have done a great job for us next year.

I'm wondering if all this talk of Marek being the main man and maybe building the team around him fits in with the departure of Kitson. MM excels in through balls behind the defence for fast strikers to run on to. I can see Long and Doyle, and maybe even Lita being able to take advantage of that. DK excelled when we had wide men providing, lets face it we don't play like that any more. Part of the problem with Kit's performances in the back end of the season was that he was roaming around everywhere looking for the ball and when he was needed in the box he wasn't there. That was only down to his frustration to his not seeing the ball enough if stayed in a central position.

Aye, I think you've hit the nail on the head about changes in style. When we went up our creativity was based around an outstanding Glen Little, Nicky Shorey (the top 2 assist makers in the Championship that season) and great play by Convey down the left. We'd put teams under intense pressure down the flanks and load crosses in. This was perfect for Kitson, Doyle was pretty useful in the air too and it worked.

Now Little has gone, Shorey will probably go, Convey is never fit and even when he is we play Hunt, who cannot cross as well as him. Instead we have Matejovsky in the centre who will be capable of playing clever through balls and seeing passes nobody else does. This requires movement up front, which was never Kits' strong point. It would work much better with Lita, Doyle and Long. On the wing Hunt is more likely to run into the centre and move in on goal and provide more of this movement, he found himself in goal scoring positions quite a lot this season (all he had to do was stick it in against Blackburn) and Kebe looks like he's more about pace and trickery than he is about quality crossing, which would also suit Matejovsky in terms of movement in front of him.

My worries about this is we'd be relying heavily on the fitness of Matejovsky if we revert to this, as there is nobody else at the club who can pass like him. It's like in 2002/03 we relied on Forster in the 4-5-1 and when he went off against Wolves in the play-offs it was game over, although the squad in general is better this time round. I think we either need to find another passer of Matejovsky's standard, which we won't do down here, or we need to get in another target man so that we can revert back to the old way if plan A fails.

[Focher]

http://www.rivals.net/forum/pgePosts.aspx?threadId=157797&boardId=104&clubId=77
maybe kitson should read this before he signs anything!!!

i posted that yesterday on this thread, bunch of inbred clayheads.

[Platypuss]

http://www.rivals.net/forum/pgePosts.aspx?threadId=157797&boardId=104&clubId=77
maybe kitson should read this before he signs anything!!!

i posted that yesterday on this thread, bunch of inbred clayheads.

Again, if you want intelligent discussion, why go to a Rivals board?

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards27.com/ for a more balanced view.

[papereyes]

On the one hand, I know exactly what DG is saying. On the other, it reads like one of the messages last summer when people went to great lengths to say that we would not miss Sidwell.

Quality is quality and Kitson has something about him.

But, as I said, if we reinvest and move on, this could not be as much of a backwards step as it looks at first glance. rhroyals post about the style of play also makes perfect sense.

[Man Friday]

I've been reading the last few pages and the message coming across - particularly after Dirk's erudite post - is that we're probably better off without Kitson.

I have to say I disgree with this. He struggled in a struggling side those last 6 months. BUT he's a great player and a great asset to the club in my view. It is my belief that this will really threaten our prospects of going back up. I think in no time at all we'll realise that we miss him. We'll have to wait and see, but that's my view.

[readingbedding]

I've been reading the last few pages and the message coming across - particularly after Dirk's erudite post - is that we're probably better off without Kitson.

I have to say I disgree with this. He struggled in a struggling side those last 6 months. BUT he's a great player and a great asset to the club in my view. It is my belief that this will really threaten our prospects of going back up. I think in no time at all we'll realise that we miss him. We'll have to wait and see, but that's my view.

Our squad is now not as strong as it was 24hrs ago, but it's a very good deal for us.

We'll have to see whether Coppell sold too early.

Would you turn down a £5M odd bid?
I would see your point if Birmingham offered that, but if the player wanted to play Prem football and an offer like that came in, I would be suprised if any Club in our situation would turn it down.

It's a great deal for RFC, a good one for Dave Kitson, we'll have to see whether it's a good deal for Stoke.

[rhroyal]

We will miss Kits but £5mill is good money and we still have Doyle and Lita up there. We'll rebuild and move on.

[Fat Leather Jacket]

http://www.rivals.net/forum/pgePosts.aspx?threadId=157797&boardId=104&clubId=77
maybe kitson should read this before he signs anything!!!

i posted that yesterday on this thread, bunch of inbred clayheads.

Again, if you want intelligent discussion, why go to a Rivals board?

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards27.com/ for a more balanced view.

Re: Reading view of Kitson move
« Reply #4 Today at 12:45pm »

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Who the oxf*rd do reading think they are? Remember Stoke taking over Elm Park. They need to be reminded how small time they are.

[Hoop Blah]

Re: Reading view of Kitson move
« Reply #4 Today at 12:45pm »

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Who the oxf*rd do reading think they are? Remember Stoke taking over Elm Park. They need to be reminded how small time they are.

Having read some of the comments on this thread about leaving to 'only' go to Stoke I think that guy has a pretty valid point.

[Elm Park]

What does it matter if we sell him for 5 million of £50. Does the supporter actually think we are going to see the money from sale plowed into strengthening the squad or passing savings onto the supporter?

Why should the supporter see any more savings. I hope that some of the money is used to add another striker who will score goals this season and be capable of making the step up to Premier League football next season and that the rest is used to either improve the infastructure or our financial position, but that is all I would expect.

The club is still moving forward, we might have taken a step back by being relegated last season but that's just the playing side, other areas are still progressing and a good finish this season, even if we aren't promoted, will still IMHO be going forward.

[readingbedding]

I don't think Stoke fans are very happy about the amount of money that may/may not be paid for Kitson.

Frustrated I guess.

If he's going to go, get as much as we can!
We're in a good bargaining position, there's no bargain-basement sale here.

You want him? well you're gonna have to pay for him!

[Big Ern]

and we still have Doyle and Lita up there.

Lets wait and see about that.

But it's a sad refelction on this club. When we tried to sign Dean Whitehead from Sunderland when we were promoted and they were relagated, they refused. Then newly promoted Stoke City come in for our player and we sell. Says all about the so called 'ambition' of this tin pot club we support.

I take heart with the fact that WBA sold a few of their better players and still went up, but they invested the money they recieved in new players. I have no confidence in the club to invest any more than 10% of money they recieve in fees back into the squad.

[Mr Loyal Royal]

Pulis has confirmed the move, £4.5m

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3834198,00.html

[readingbedding]

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has confirmed the club are closing in on the signing of Reading striker Dave Kitson.

[To the De'ath]

Can't really understand why people are surprised that Kits would chose to leave for Stoke though.

We know he doesn't think he has long left in football as he's said so - and there is plenty of evidence that he's creaking a bit. So at 28 he might think he has 2 good seasons left. For any prof footy player the prem is where it's at - So do you stay at Reading and hope one of those seasons might be in the prem, or move to Stoke where at least one season is in the prem & maybe more?

Add to that he is not particularly loyal to football players (he said he doesn't like footy players), & he won't have particular loyalty to RFC - I don't think he would have to have thought too long about a move.

Nope - all ways round I think he was going to move at the first prem opportunity, so good business to get 4.5 million (if that's what we get).