RUMOUR - Kebe to Leeds

[Upper West Ginger]

Let's not pick on Kebe for not playing at Peterborough.
After all, the 11 players who did start the match in a Reading shirt also decided not to bother playing that night.

[St. Brynjar]

Bit of context:

Kebe was the main target of boss Nigel Adkins' wrath in the aftermath of Tuesday's 6-0 hammering at League One Posh in the Capital One Cup.
Adkins claimed the 29-year-old was due to make his comeback at London Road after six months out with a groin strain, only to withdraw his services on Monday morning.
The incident clearly angered Adkins who then saw his side dismantled by Darren Ferguson's lower division opponents in Reading's heaviest defeat in 14 years.
Royals boss raged: "Jimmy was told last Friday that he was playing. He trained well on Saturday morning and left the training ground fully fit.
"The next thing at half past eight on Monday morning he declared himself unfit. Read into that what you want."
But Kebe, who is being strongly linked with a £1 million move to Crystal Palace, insists he was laid down with a fresh hamstring injury and feels he has been made a scapegoat for the team's lamentable cup defeat.
He told the Chronicle: "I trained on Saturday and tweaked my hamstring a little. I spoke with the physio and told him it was stiff and that it was better for me to stay away for a few days and probably miss Tuesday's game.
"I informed the manager about my hamstring and that I thought it was better to rest it. It's never been a big deal when I haven't played in the League Cup before, so why now?
"I told the manager I didn't think it was worth the risk now when it could make the injury worse as in a few days I would be fine."
While Adkins may have finally lost patience with Kebe, the ex-Mali winger insists he would never pull out of a fixture without a genuine excuse.
"It wasn't a good game for Reading and I feel they need to make somebody guilty for this result and maybe that's me," he suggested.
"The fans say 'Jimmy Kebe refused to play' and this sort of thing, but I would never do that.
"I've been at Reading for six years and never have I refused to play. Why would I now?
"If we had won on Tuesday night nobody would be talking about Jimmy Kebe. Unfortunately it was a horrible night."
Kebe returned to training yesterday morning and hopes to be in contention for Saturday's Championship clash at Yeovil Town (3pm ko).
"I will train and I will be available for Saturday, but I didn't make up this injury," he added. "I just thought it was stupid to take the risk on Tuesday when we have a big league game coming up at Yeovil.
"I thought it would be better I was fit for the league game as we need the points. I thought that would be better for the team.
"In my opinion it wasn't a big deal that I didn't play at Peterborough and I'm surprised this has happened."
Kebe also revealed he had been fully fit for the recent Watford and Blackpool Championship fixtures, but was overlooked by Adkins.
"I've been ready to play for two weeks now," he said. "Before the Watford game I told the manager to pick me at any time and that I was 100% fit and ready. But I wasn't picked for the Watford game nor the next game at Blackpool. I'm absolutely fine with that, it's the manager's choice. It was his call and I respect that."

[melonhead]

adkins froze him out, then tried to make him play in a shit game, kebe got the huff and refused, not least cos he knew he might be off.
It's all a bit tawdry, and I didn't enjoy us airing our dirty laundry in public at the time.
Bit pointless going over it again now though

[SPARTA]

Bit of context:

Kebe was the main target of boss Nigel Adkins' wrath in the aftermath of Tuesday's 6-0 hammering at League One Posh in the Capital One Cup.
Adkins claimed the 29-year-old was due to make his comeback at London Road after six months out with a groin strain, only to withdraw his services on Monday morning.
The incident clearly angered Adkins who then saw his side dismantled by Darren Ferguson's lower division opponents in Reading's heaviest defeat in 14 years.
Royals boss raged: "Jimmy was told last Friday that he was playing. He trained well on Saturday morning and left the training ground fully fit.
"The next thing at half past eight on Monday morning he declared himself unfit. Read into that what you want."
But Kebe, who is being strongly linked with a £1 million move to Crystal Palace, insists he was laid down with a fresh hamstring injury and feels he has been made a scapegoat for the team's lamentable cup defeat.
He told the Chronicle: "I trained on Saturday and tweaked my hamstring a little. I spoke with the physio and told him it was stiff and that it was better for me to stay away for a few days and probably miss Tuesday's game.
"I informed the manager about my hamstring and that I thought it was better to rest it. It's never been a big deal when I haven't played in the League Cup before, so why now?
"I told the manager I didn't think it was worth the risk now when it could make the injury worse as in a few days I would be fine."
While Adkins may have finally lost patience with Kebe, the ex-Mali winger insists he would never pull out of a fixture without a genuine excuse.
"It wasn't a good game for Reading and I feel they need to make somebody guilty for this result and maybe that's me," he suggested.
"The fans say 'Jimmy Kebe refused to play' and this sort of thing, but I would never do that.
"I've been at Reading for six years and never have I refused to play. Why would I now?
"If we had won on Tuesday night nobody would be talking about Jimmy Kebe. Unfortunately it was a horrible night."
Kebe returned to training yesterday morning and hopes to be in contention for Saturday's Championship clash at Yeovil Town (3pm ko).
"I will train and I will be available for Saturday, but I didn't make up this injury," he added. "I just thought it was stupid to take the risk on Tuesday when we have a big league game coming up at Yeovil.
"I thought it would be better I was fit for the league game as we need the points. I thought that would be better for the team.
"In my opinion it wasn't a big deal that I didn't play at Peterborough and I'm surprised this has happened."
Kebe also revealed he had been fully fit for the recent Watford and Blackpool Championship fixtures, but was overlooked by Adkins.
"I've been ready to play for two weeks now," he said. "Before the Watford game I told the manager to pick me at any time and that I was 100% fit and ready. But I wasn't picked for the Watford game nor the next game at Blackpool. I'm absolutely fine with that, it's the manager's choice. It was his call and I respect that."

Kebe who forced a move to Reading, forced a move to Palace. Shock.

[paddy20]

Bit of context:

Kebe was the main target of boss Nigel Adkins' wrath in the aftermath of Tuesday's 6-0 hammering at League One Posh in the Capital One Cup.
Adkins claimed the 29-year-old was due to make his comeback at London Road after six months out with a groin strain, only to withdraw his services on Monday morning.
The incident clearly angered Adkins who then saw his side dismantled by Darren Ferguson's lower division opponents in Reading's heaviest defeat in 14 years.
Royals boss raged: "Jimmy was told last Friday that he was playing. He trained well on Saturday morning and left the training ground fully fit.
"The next thing at half past eight on Monday morning he declared himself unfit. Read into that what you want."
But Kebe, who is being strongly linked with a £1 million move to Crystal Palace, insists he was laid down with a fresh hamstring injury and feels he has been made a scapegoat for the team's lamentable cup defeat.
He told the Chronicle: "I trained on Saturday and tweaked my hamstring a little. I spoke with the physio and told him it was stiff and that it was better for me to stay away for a few days and probably miss Tuesday's game.
"I informed the manager about my hamstring and that I thought it was better to rest it. It's never been a big deal when I haven't played in the League Cup before, so why now?
"I told the manager I didn't think it was worth the risk now when it could make the injury worse as in a few days I would be fine."
While Adkins may have finally lost patience with Kebe, the ex-Mali winger insists he would never pull out of a fixture without a genuine excuse.
"It wasn't a good game for Reading and I feel they need to make somebody guilty for this result and maybe that's me," he suggested.
"The fans say 'Jimmy Kebe refused to play' and this sort of thing, but I would never do that.


"I've been at Reading for six years and never have I refused to play. Why would I now?
"If we had won on Tuesday night nobody would be talking about Jimmy Kebe. Unfortunately it was a horrible night."
Kebe returned to training yesterday morning and hopes to be in contention for Saturday's Championship clash at Yeovil Town (3pm ko).
"I will train and I will be available for Saturday, but I didn't make up this injury," he added. "I just thought it was stupid to take the risk on Tuesday when we have a big league game coming up at Yeovil.
"I thought it would be better I was fit for the league game as we need the points. I thought that would be better for the team.
"In my opinion it wasn't a big deal that I didn't play at Peterborough and I'm surprised this has happened."
Kebe also revealed he had been fully fit for the recent Watford and Blackpool Championship fixtures, but was overlooked by Adkins.
"I've been ready to play for two weeks now," he said. "Before the Watford game I told the manager to pick me at any time and that I was 100% fit and ready. But I wasn't picked for the Watford game nor the next game at Blackpool. I'm absolutely fine with that, it's the manager's choice. It was his call and I respect that."

Kebe who forced a move to Reading, forced a move to Palace. Shock.

Palace came in for him after the Tuesday game not before - I do know thats true. All water under the bridge now. Just a shame that some might have the wrong opinion of his departure based on incorrect information. I think NA was very frustrated after the P'boro game and made a comment that was misinterpreted.

[RoyalBlue]

Kebe who forced a move to Reading, forced a move to Palace. Shock.

Palace came in for him after the Tuesday game not before - I do know thats true. All water under the bridge now. Just a shame that some might have the wrong opinion of his departure based on incorrect information. I think NA was very frustrated after the P'boro game and made a comment that was misinterpreted.[/quote]

You might know that Palace approached the club after the Tuesday game. You won't know whether they had approached Kebe and/or his agent a lot earlier.

People are less likely to give Kebe the benefit of the doubt, given the way that he had previously forced through his move to Reading by effectively threatening to strike. IIRC some may have expressed concern at the time that having done it to another club the time might come when he did it to Reading.

And what is abundantly clear from Kebe's own words is that he did believe he should have a say in whether he played or not and had decided himself that it didn't make sense to play in the cup game.

What is also clear is that he suffered from an awful lot of injuries and took longer than most other players to recover.

[paddy20]

Kebe who forced a move to Reading, forced a move to Palace. Shock.

Palace came in for him after the Tuesday game not before - I do know thats true. All water under the bridge now. Just a shame that some might have the wrong opinion of his departure based on incorrect information. I think NA was very frustrated after the P'boro game and made a comment that was misinterpreted.

You might know that Palace approached the club after the Tuesday game. You won't know whether they had approached Kebe and/or his agent a lot earlier.

People are less likely to give Kebe the benefit of the doubt, given the way that he had previously forced through his move to Reading by effectively threatening to strike. IIRC some may have expressed concern at the time that having done it to another club the time might come when he did it to Reading.

And what is abundantly clear from Kebe's own words is that he did believe he should have a say in whether he played or not and had decided himself that it didn't make sense to play in the cup game.

What is also clear is that he suffered from an awful lot of injuries and took longer than most other players to recover.[/quote]

I do know that he wasn't approached or knew about it until after the P'boro game. At the time he came to Reading he was on loan from his parent club (Lens) and at Boulogne. Lens farmed him out for one season as he wasn't needed by them. Reading made Lens an offer but Boulogne refused to release him from his loan arrangement. Was he to give up the opportunity to play in the premiership or stay on loan at a second division club in France - not even the his real club. If you look at B. Macs comments on Jimmy and his time at Reading you will see how much he thought of him. As to the question of him playing in the P'boro game, he knew about his injury and was perhaps best placed to know if it was a risk to play. Which was more important? a Mickey mouse cup game or an important League game? He never refused to play. Reading felt the offer from Palace was too good to refuse. They never tried to persuade him to stay and it was too good a business deal for them.