You Call The Shots...........

[wehateoxford]

All,

I have been reading with interest a number of posts criticising the Club for the lack of recent transfer activity. I too am a little frustrated, but that is not to blame the Club, but more the marketplace that we are operating in. Value for money and sustainable business no longer appears to exist thanks to Abramavich and co.

It begs the question though, what would YOU do if you are behind the scenes ??

you have 3 choices, assuming that you have around £8m at your disposal for the Summer, have a squad that broke all time Championship records last season, and are making the step up from the Premiership.

Do you:

A) Spend your £8m filling out your squad with a number of half decent Championship quality players , including some that never made the grade at Premiership level. These players are overpriced based upon the selling clubs knowledge of your £8m. These players are simple to acquire, and in plentiful supply.

e.g. Hulse £2.2 rising to £3m . Claude Davis £2.5m , Shittu £1.5 rising to £3m.


B) Acknowledge that , in order to improve, you need players of Premier quality that can take your club to the next level. These players can also be acquired but request spiralling wages that would smash your current structure, and risk upsetting the squad spirit that proved so vital in our success last year.


c) Acknowledge that, in order to improve, you need to find players of Premier quality , yet within the constraints of your salary bandings. Also these players have to demonstrate a desire to play for the Club.

Accept though, that this market for players is extremely limited, patience is required in abundance, and you run the real risk of frustration and not being able to acquire many , or any.... (you just don't know)


To date we've signed Seol for £1m, which I think will prove to fall within category (C), as he has international pedigree and desire to play for Reading. Sodje is a definite category (A) player, but hardly one that is causing the Accountants any concern.

The Club are evidently very active, making bids for Mensah, Whitehead, Emerse Fae etc. It hasn't happened yet, and Hob Nobbers are beginning to panic .

So should the message to the Club be " we're getting nervous, please go sign 5 championship players" or " keep plugging away with your targets ?"

Awaiting your thoughts.

you are steve coppell and i claim my five pounds

i think its obviously a question of getting C players, what i would do in this situation is maybe a little sneaky, 3 month loan with a view to purchase until jan window, at jan if they do up the grade, take em on, if they don't just let them go, pay a loan fee for incentive and hope we've upped our stature by jan, to get those C players we all so desperatley want

good post though, puts it all into the perspective fans dont necesarily see

[Hoop Blah]

I disagree, I think it was desperation as were Keown and Ferdinand.

Why?

[Stranded]

Too often players are bought in acts of desperation eg Murray and Goater.

Murray and Goater weren't bought in desperation. Surely you can think of a better example. Such as the magnificent seven.

I disagree, I think it was desperation as were Keown and Ferdinand.

How was Murray desperation when he'd been a known target for about a year? Goater was brought to score goals, which in his first season he did.

[West Stand Man]

Anyone who thinks that Scott Murray was a desperation signing clearly wasn't around at the time. The club had been looking at him for quite some time, and spent an inordinate amount of time doing the deal. He was bought to fill a specific role (wide midfield, with some goals too), and it was a planned buy. That he was not a success here was largely down to the individual and his difficulties in settling (I used to work with a close relation of his and they could tell quite early on that he wasn't destined to stay and fight for a place).

Goater was also brought in on the back of a reputation for goal scoring, and hardly a 'desperation' signing.

There is a stronger case for Keown and Ferdinand to be in the 'desperate' bracket.

[SpaceCruiser]

There is a stronger case for Keown and Ferdinand to be in the 'desperate' bracket.

Indeed, we were struggling for goals and the need to win games to stay in the play-off picture at that time.

Same as the magnificent seven, which I mentioned earlier. For those who don't know of them, they were the seven players Tommy Burns brought to the club on transfer deadline day as he was desperate to sign as many players to pad out the squad due to the number of injuries we had at the time and to beat the drop. I believe that only one of these players, the most expensive one, proved his worth. That was Jim McIntyre, though he had to change position and even then it wasn't enough to save his Reading career.

[The Insider]

What would worry me more (and this may be relevant to Sheff Utd) is that Sunderland last season were the perfect template of 'what not to do'.

Rather than buy anyone of premiership class , they bought en-masse players of Championship level ability. Jon Stead , Andy Gray , Kelvin Davis, Tommy Miller, Nyron Nosworthy, Rory Delap. (please do not argue that Jon Stead was a proven Premier League player....)

This is what I was more worried about. I didnt want Coppell to shell out all the cash buying good standard Championship players to fill out his squad. It has proven not to work in the past. I believe Sheff Utd and Watford have done exactly that this year.

Coppell talked at the last Fans Forum of the Premiership placing more emphasis on 'individuals' rather than 'teams'. In this respect he highlighted the need to have players that could turn a game on it's head, provide something different. Seol could do this, arguably so could Little on his day, but very few else.

It's about having a player or players that every fan 'worries' about a lwhen facing us. An example would have been Koumas at Cardiff last year. Unpredictable, inventive, sometimes anonymous. Someone that the opposition feel we 'must keep quiet' .
I still feel we miss someone of a higher calibre for this role. Someone to dictate the game. A focal point.

Maybe the likes of Emerse Fae was what they have in mind. Time will tell.

[Ian Royal]

Good points as always from the Insider.

I'd like to argue that we have several players who can turn a match. I'd agree Seol and little oin his day, but also argue that Convey and Doyle could perform a similar job.

Harper is another who on his day can change a game, he may be helped by the possibility of more space in the prem, depends on how he reacts and if he decides to play the holding role or not.

Personally I think we are right in trying plan C and that only if in the last week of the transfer window with no prospects of signing another quality defender should we look to bringing in a championship quality player to give us that little bit more cover 'til january. We can't afford to waste much of our cash on mediocre players. IMO we can afford to be patient.

If we are effectively relegated by january having bought no one else, then IMO having panic bought some championship players in August would not be enough to save us, we'd end up relegated anyway.

[Lower West]

I called Goater a desperation signing, in that at the time Reading had to buy a striker. I never criticised Goater while he was at Reading, as thought that he did ok but that he didnt fit into the team and style of play.

Murray for all his problems of not settling in etc was obviously not up to the job , and has slipped back into obscurity since.

My point was we could have bought a number of lower league players for the money and even if only a couple made the grade longer term that would have been a sufficent payback.

[Stranded]

I called Goater a desperation signing, in that at the time Reading had to buy a striker. I never criticised Goater while he was at Reading, as thought that he did ok but that he didnt fit into the team and style of play.

Murray for all his problems of not settling in etc was obviously not up to the job , and has slipped back into obscurity since.

My point was we could have bought a number of lower league players for the money and even if only a couple made the grade longer term that would have been a sufficent payback.

I can almost understand what you say with Goater but we had a need and bought somebody with a good scoring record in to do that job. It didn't quite work out though obviously.

Yes we could have signed some lower league players who may have done better jobs than the two mentioned, isn't hindsight a wonderful thing.

At the time we signed Murray he was seen as one of the hottest properties in lower league football and had been performing excellently for a number of seasons for B.City. The club had tracked him for a while and I can remember many discussions on here regarding getting him.

He also started pretty well and the fact that we changed manager shortly afterwards had an effect on him (as well as other factors). Sadly it didn't work out and that's always the gamble you take in buying players.

[Alan Titchmarsh]

What about the other option, players on loan? Look to take a chance on top quality young Premiership talent from the big clubs (e.g. Spurs) and give them the opportunity of being nearer 1st team football or take a chance with an older proven player or two for just the outlay of their salary (or part thereof) for 6 or 12 months.

[Ian Royal]

Hasn't Coppell previously said he doesn't really like loaning players? or am I mis-remembering something.

[Captain Sinbad]

Don't want to be pedantic but didn't TB2 buy M U R T Y?

Poor old memory might be failing me though.

Brink Caskey back!

[yorksroyal]

Don't want to be pedantic but didn't TB2 buy M U R T Y?

Poor old memory might be failing me though.

Brink Caskey back!

Not to be more pedantic but in Murty he thought he was buying a right winger.

[Ian Royal]

Don't want to be pedantic but didn't TB2 buy M U R T Y?

Poor old memory might be failing me though.

Brink Caskey back!

Not to be more pedantic but in Murty he thought he was buying a right winger.

he also wasn't one of the magnificent 7 as far as I recall. and spent most of his time under burns on a treatment table.

Wasn't Howie one of them.... he served us fairly well for a while.

[SpaceCruiser]

Don't want to be pedantic but didn't TB2 buy M U R T Y?

Poor old memory might be failing me though.

Brink Caskey back!

Not to be more pedantic but in Murty he thought he was buying a right winger.

he also wasn't one of the magnificent 7 as far as I recall. and spent most of his time under burns on a treatment table.

Wasn't Howie one of them.... he served us fairly well for a while.

Yes, you are right on both counts, Ian. Murty came in the summer and got injured at Livingston. Who is the fool that suggested Murty was a panic buy?

Howie came as one of the magnificent seven, he didn't do too bad, but wasn't good enough in the end. I know that Alan Pardew brought in Phil Whitehead because we were short of goalkeepers, but somehow he managed to bring in a quality keeper as a panic buy.

[Ian Royal]

Burns did manage to buy a few good players but with the exception of Howie and Brebner - who he then sold on for peanuts - none of them really had any impact under him. Worst manager we've had whilst I've been around by a country mile.

[Wycombe Royal]

Worst manager we've had whilst I've been around by a country mile.

You weren't around for the season with Terry Bullivant in charge then?

[SpaceCruiser]

Ian, I don't think Burns sold Howie.

[Henleyensian]

As well as those mentioned of the magnificent seven, Robert Fleck looked to be a good aquisition - but then he got injured and had to give up. To be fair to Burns he also bought Nicky Forster, but it was because of the panic buys in 1998 that he got a bad name for himself.

Then on top of that, he ostracised Jason Bowen, Andy Legg and Gareth Davies, all of whom, at that time, were as good players as most at the club.

[poohs pure]

All,

I have been reading with interest a number of posts criticising the Club for the lack of recent transfer activity. I too am a little frustrated, but that is not to blame the Club, but more the marketplace that we are operating in. Value for money and sustainable business no longer appears to exist thanks to Abramavich and co.

It begs the question though, what would YOU do if you are behind the scenes ??

you have 3 choices, assuming that you have around £8m at your disposal for the Summer, have a squad that broke all time Championship records last season, and are making the step up from the Premiership.

Do you:

A) Spend your £8m filling out your squad with a number of half decent Championship quality players , including some that never made the grade at Premiership level. These players are overpriced based upon the selling clubs knowledge of your £8m. These players are simple to acquire, and in plentiful supply.

e.g. Hulse £2.2 rising to £3m . Claude Davis £2.5m , Shittu £1.5 rising to £3m.


B) Acknowledge that , in order to improve, you need players of Premier quality that can take your club to the next level. These players can also be acquired but request spiralling wages that would smash your current structure, and risk upsetting the squad spirit that proved so vital in our success last year.


c) Acknowledge that, in order to improve, you need to find players of Premier quality , yet within the constraints of your salary bandings. Also these players have to demonstrate a desire to play for the Club.

Accept though, that this market for players is extremely limited, patience is required in abundance, and you run the real risk of frustration and not being able to acquire many , or any.... (you just don't know)


To date we've signed Seol for £1m, which I think will prove to fall within category (C), as he has international pedigree and desire to play for Reading. Sodje is a definite category (A) player, but hardly one that is causing the Accountants any concern.

The Club are evidently very active, making bids for Mensah, Whitehead, Emerse Fae etc. It hasn't happened yet, and Hob Nobbers are beginning to panic .

So should the message to the Club be " we're getting nervous, please go sign 5 championship players" or " keep plugging away with your targets ?"

Awaiting your thoughts.

what about...

the squad we have is good enough to hold its own in the premiership. the bottom 8 teams in the premiership are no better or worse than the top 8 in the championship. we have nothing to worry about so sit back and enjoy the coming season.