SHOULD WE RESIGN LITA?

[Royal Rother]

NHunt > Long > Mooney > Lita

I'd actually rate Lita better than Long and Mooney.

Before he started getting his kicks burning £50 notes he probably was.

[Barry the bird boggler]

No

[Royalee]

No, he's a lazy useless waste of space.

[Ian Royal]

I'd rather sign Jay.

[Snowball]

NHunt > Long > Mooney > Lita

I'd actually rate Lita better than Long and Mooney.

Lita 2 Reading goals in 2 seasons, Long nine goals in one season


I see the comparison

[Ian Royal]

NHunt > Long > Mooney > Lita

I'd actually rate Lita better than Long and Mooney.

Lita 2 Reading goals in 2 seasons, Long nine goals in one season


I see the comparison

Lita is a more talented player than Long. But his attitude and application for us in the last two seasons stank. Saying that, Long may well exceed Lita, but he's quite far from doing that at the moment.

[Terminal Boardom]

Ok. I take the bait. I meant delusions as in delusional which is what you are if you think that Lita can contribute moew to the team than Shane Long.

[windjammer]

NHunt > Long > Mooney > Lita

I'd actually rate Lita better than Long and Mooney.

Lita 2 Reading goals in 2 seasons, Long nine goals in one season


I see the comparison

Didn't Lita get around 7 in his Norwich loan spell, including a hattrick against Wolves?

[windjammer]

Absolutely not, anyway why would he want to come back here?

He seems very pleased to be coming back for the testimonial. Where's your 15 to 20 goals a season Royal at the moment? Long maybe but I wouldn't go above 10 for him.

Lita? 15-20 goals? At the moment?


I think not.

Read my comment again, I'm asking who of the Reading strikers at the moment is likely to get 15-20 goals this season. Not Long I think, Lita would stand a better chance. People seem to have selective memories about the 2005-06 squad and all too easily forget Lita's contribution. Yes he has been a big headed prat at times since but a change of regime ar Reading could be what he needs.

[windjammer]

next you will be saying shall we keep s.hunt and resign doobs

I won't miss SHunt if and when he goes but with Ingi still some way away from fitness and the possibility of Bikey going I thimk it was a rash move to let Doobs go. I think he would have taken a 1 year deal.

[Royal Rother]

Read my comment again, I'm asking who of the Reading strikers at the moment is likely to get 15-20 goals this season. Not Long I think, Lita would stand a better chance.

Okay, if you really want to drill down, I'd suggest that, seeing as Long is still a Reading striker and Lita isn't, Long actually does stand a better chance of getting 15-20 goals for us next season.

[Thaumagurist*]

NHunt > Long > Mooney > Lita

I'd actually rate Lita better than Long and Mooney.

Lita 2 Reading goals in 2 seasons, Long nine goals in one season


I see the comparison

Hmmm, Lita has scored more goals for Reading than Long has in the same amount of time they both have been at the club.

Lita = 32 goals.
Long = 20 goals.

[Ian Royal]

NHunt is capable of 15 - 20 goals.
Long may well come on and achieve that, I'm not expecting it, more 10 - 15, but I'm certainly not ruling it out.
Mooney is an unknown quantity and may be capable of 15-20 goals.

We're also looking for a striker and will probably get Smith, who is definitely capable of 15-20 goals.

I think Lita is a better player. But I never want to see him in a Reading shirt again.

[Plymouth_Royal]

No way.
he was outstanding in his first 2 seasons and there was rumoured interest from manchester utd.
But since then what has he done....
His attitude has landed him in trouble with coppell on a few occasions , his touch has deteriorated somewhat, he missed some absolute sitters in our relegation season, stoke penalty, did nothing to impress the charlton fans and we have some strikers who deserve a chance (mooney and church). Lita had his chance and didn't take it. mooney and church however, impressed elsewhere as well as long who went on a good run before being unfairly dropped.
Good player and im sure the right manager could get him back to his oldself but he's had too many chances and needs to find his feet elsewhere.

[Snowball]

Didn't Lita get around 7 in his Norwich loan spell, including a hattrick against Wolves?

7 in 16 starts = 8 in the season in more than 20 starts. Long (still improving) got 9 league goals in 13 starts

[Snowball]

Hmmm, Lita has scored more goals for Reading than Long has in the same amount of time they both have been at the club.

Lita = 32 goals.
Long = 20 goals.

Except that 30 of those 32 were four seasons ago and 3 seasons ago

whereas Long (still improving) got nine goals last season

and Lita has started a lot more games than Long

[Snowball]

League Starts for Reading

30 Starts = 17 Goals = 1 goal every 1.76 Starts = LONG
60 Starts = 20 Goals = 1 goal every 3.00 Starts = LITA


League Starts for all clubs since joining Reading

30 Starts = 17 Goals = 1 goal every 1.76 Starts = LONG
84 Starts = 30 Goals = 1 goal every 2.80 Starts = LITA


If you factor in sub appearances for Reading and call a sub appearance 15 minutes

60 + 23 = 64 "Reading League Games" for 20 Goals = 1 Goal every 3.20 games LITA
30 + 70 = 42 "Reading League Games" for 17 Goals = 1 goal every 2.47 games LONG

The absolute reality is that Shane Long has only had 30 starts in four seasons, has had many
many sub appearances of 1-2-3-4-5 minutes and has effectively, in terms of league minutes
on the pitch, played ONE season.

In his first three years at the club he got 8 league goals from 17 starts.

In the most recent season one got NINE league goals from 13 starts.

He's the one showing real improvement and a really good attitude.

He came to the club a very, very raw athlete, a footballer who had not gone through the usual
apprenticeship. Last season he scored almost exactly 1 in 2 and that is real quality.

If he matches that, is a regular pick and plays a full season he will be on for 23 league goals

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

With our striking options limited at the moment and no sign of anything happening on the Tommy Smith front due to us annoying Watford and not wanting to beat the Sheff Utd offer how about resigning Leroy? Anticipating the negative response from HobNobbers let's consider these. A bad attitude problem? At times definitely but how much was due to the relationship between Leroy and the old coaching regime? We can't blame it all on Leroy and Coppell. A new order is in place now and who's to say that Rodgers, Lampard Snr and co couldn't remotivate him? During our Championship record breaking season Leroy was outstanding until his injury and after Kitson's Premier League clattering from Middlesboro's Riggot in the 1st game he again showed his worth, it wasn't all Doyle. He is still young enough to come good again but old enough to hopefully see the error of some of his past ways. We don't know how long Noel Hunt will take to get fully fit and we also don't know how he will react to his brother's possible departure or the the continual slagging SHunt gets on these pages. Long has still to fully prove his worth and in any case we can't put all of the striking onus on his shoulders. Church is promising but unproven, we don't know how a long season will affect him, likewise with Mooney, although I have a feeling he (Mooney)could surprise us all if given a chance. Anyway Lita could give us that experience, plus as we let him go we won't have to pay a fee to resign him. Rodgers has the chance at Murty's testimonial to sit down and have a good talk with Lita, but will he so keen on being the new broom that he will ignore any positives from the past?

LOL. Nice one!
Youre not serious, right?

Cureton could still do a job for us.....

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

With our striking options limited at the moment and no sign of anything happening on the Tommy Smith front due to us annoying Watford and not wanting to beat the Sheff Utd offer how about resigning Leroy? Anticipating the negative response from HobNobbers let's consider these. A bad attitude problem? At times definitely but how much was due to the relationship between Leroy and the old coaching regime? We can't blame it all on Leroy and Coppell. A new order is in place now and who's to say that Rodgers, Lampard Snr and co couldn't remotivate him? During our Championship record breaking season Leroy was outstanding until his injury and after Kitson's Premier League clattering from Middlesboro's Riggot in the 1st game he again showed his worth, it wasn't all Doyle. He is still young enough to come good again but old enough to hopefully see the error of some of his past ways. We don't know how long Noel Hunt will take to get fully fit and we also don't know how he will react to his brother's possible departure or the the continual slagging SHunt gets on these pages. Long has still to fully prove his worth and in any case we can't put all of the striking onus on his shoulders. Church is promising but unproven, we don't know how a long season will affect him, likewise with Mooney, although I have a feeling he (Mooney)could surprise us all if given a chance. Anyway Lita could give us that experience, plus as we let him go we won't have to pay a fee to resign him. Rodgers has the chance at Murty's testimonial to sit down and have a good talk with Lita, but will he so keen on being the new broom that he will ignore any positives from the past?

LOL. Nice one!
Youre not serious, right?

Cureton could still do a job for us.....

[Mr Angry]

Lita to return? No.

Bridges have been burnt, and before they were burnt, a lot of water passed underneath them.

A shame really, because I always felt that a club would get the best out of Lita if he was clearly the #1 striker and treated as such by the club; at Reading, he assumed he would be the #1 because of the transfer fee, but it was quickly seen that Doyle (and Kitson) were higher up the pecking order. He then had an excellent Premiership season (scoring at Anfield, OT and Stamford Bridge) and played a major part in the U21 Euro's that Summer.

Unfortunately, his attitdue upon returning from the tournament stank, and he was never the same player for us again; he performed at Norwich BECAUSE he was their #1 striker - some players need their ego's fed like that to perform - and his return from the loan was marked by agin being seen as a squad player. Then, when he had his chance as a starter, he blew it, and from then on his time at Reading was up.

Therefore, there is no chance of him returning here, and frankly, I would be disappointed if he did, because I feel that this is the time for the club to look forward rather than backwards; Murtz' testimonial is our chance to say "thanks for everything" to the greatest team RFC has ever had (and may ever have), but afterwards it is time for us all to move on.