GONE - Michail Antonio to Sheffield Wednesday

[Gordons Cumming]

Agreed Ian.

...........but will the supporters or the board give Adkins the time?

[CrispyRoyal]

The supporters will always give Adkins time, unless he plays Gunter in goal or something. It's the board I'm worried about. Remains to be seen how patient they are, read somewhere they've given him 3 years to get up? But I don't know how much truth there is in that. If they're expecting promotion this year they're in for a bit of a shock.

[Scutterbucketz]

With the players they've bought, it would be a tad unfair to expect promotion.

[Ian Royal]

Agreed Ian.

...........but will the supporters or the board give Adkins the time?

Yes, providing we don't have too horrific a season. Especially given the injuryshambles we have at the moment.

[winchester_royal]

I'll back up RR's statement and go one further.

Within 2 years Antonio will not be a regular Championship player.

I think within 3 years he'll be at a club that finish higher in the table than we do.

Lol @ me

[RockheadRumple]

I'll say it here and now - Antonio will never be a Premiership player.

I'll be happy to bump this comment in a few years.

lol

[sandman]

West Ham fans sitting behind the goal, "Heads".

[West Stand Man]

Humble Pie being served in large slices. Please queue for your share.

[andrew1957]

Not sure if I'm disappointed or not to see Antonio leave. I saw enough of him to suggest that there was potentially a Premier League player in there but his opportunities at RFC were so few and far between that there can be no real conclusion drawn on his talents based on his time in a Reading shirt. Given the players Saints and Sheff Wed fans have seen in the past I'm inclined to believe they know a good player when they see one so, given that combination, my gut instinct is we've lost a possible gem.

In fact, I'll say it here and now - Michail Antonio will be a Premier League player within the next five years.

At least someone on this thread wrote wise words!

[SCIAG]

The pessimists can hold their heads up high. Antonio's Championship performances weren't very good when we sold him. We got some money for a player who was never going to play in our first team.

"He'll never be a Championship player" was a very bold prediction which was spectacularly wrong. He's come on a long way, it wasn't especially reasonable to predict that improvement but it happened against the odds.

[Ian Royal]

Wouldn't have got his move by staying with us and not making the squad / sitting on the bench in the PL for a side that's getting relegated.

[RoyallyFcuked]

For me he always had the potential to become a PL player, but I don't really blame the club for selling him. His permanent move came in the summer of 2012 when we had just been promoted to the PL while he had just had a succesful loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday.

It could have been forseen that Kebe and McAnuff, despite having good seasons in the Chump, would soon be on the decline and even though we brought in McCleary and had an in form HRK to add to the wings I would have still said keep hold of Antonio as one for the future.

But I don't think he was prepared to sit around and wait to get in our team, which is why cashed in on him at the time and thats why I don't blame the club for selling him.

[RoyalBlue]

The pessimists can hold their heads up high. Antonio's Championship performances weren't very good when we sold him. We got some money for a player who was never going to play in our first team.

.

There was only the manager preventing him from making it in our first team, for some reason only known to himself. It turned out to be a bad call and sooner rather than later. I was one of quite a few supporters at the time who felt it was a bad decision to let him go . Antonio showed plenty of talent and he has now more than proven it.

[Cureton's Volley]

I'll say it here and now - Antonio will never be a Premiership player.

I'll be happy to bump this comment in a few years.

lol

[RoyalBlue]

So we let Antonio go because he wouldn't be good enough to play in the Premier League that year and then went out and bought Nick Blackman in the January transfer window?

Nothing against Blackman but Antonio clearly came good a bit quicker than him.

[Ian Royal]

So we let Antonio go because he wouldn't be good enough to play in the Premier League that year and then went out and bought Nick Blackman in the January transfer window?

I don't think anyone's ever said that the Blackman signing was a good deal.

[SCIAG]

The pessimists can hold their heads up high. Antonio's Championship performances weren't very good when we sold him. We got some money for a player who was never going to play in our first team.

.

There was only the manager preventing him from making it in our first team, for some reason only known to himself. It turned out to be a bad call and sooner rather than later.

It turned out to be a fantastic call. It got us in the playoffs, and then promoted.

Antonio's still a long way off being as good as Kebe at his best.

If we sold Blackman this summer for £1m, and in three years time he scores 15 goals for Ipswich and got sold to Stoke for £10m, would we have been wrong to take £1m? Absolutely not.

[Cureton's Volley]

Either way, Brian was still better than Nige x

[RoyalBlue]

The pessimists can hold their heads up high. Antonio's Championship performances weren't very good when we sold him. We got some money for a player who was never going to play in our first team.

.

There was only the manager preventing him from making it in our first team, for some reason only known to himself. It turned out to be a bad call and sooner rather than later.

It turned out to be a fantastic call. It got us in the playoffs, and then promoted.

Antonio's still a long way off being as good as Kebe at his best.

And in what way were the two things linked? We didn't need to sell Antonio (could have loaned again if really necessary) and he didn't need to make the first team as a regular that season. So it would be wrong to say he was never going to play in our first team.

As for Kebe at his best - not seen very often was it? Where is he now? I would rather have someone more consistent which Antonio appears to be.

[blueroyals]

We'll regret this in a few years.