Cox's future

[Yorkshire Royal]

Chelsea have the smallest squad in the Premiership, but please dont let the facts spoil a good post!

Right, apart from missing my point, that Chelsea had a better squad of players then Reading, but choose to play youth. I don't think anywhere did I say Chelsea had the biggest squad. Obviously what I should have said was that Chelsea had a larger selection of quality players which they choose not to play.

And btw, according to Soccerbase you are totally wrong. Chelsea, with Fulham have 26 players (assigned squad numbers), Reading has 24, but Charlton seem to have the fewest at 23. But then why let the facts spoil a pointless post...

[JimmytheJim]

Yorkshire Royal said:

For example Chelsea's squad is big enough to play a very good reserve team.

[Yorkshire Royal]

Yeah, so nowhere did I say Chelsea had the biggest squad.. It is big enough to play a decent reserve team.

Freaks the lot of you..

[Huntley & Palmer]

It's OK Yorkshire, winning the reserve league is seen as some sort of massive club achievement around these parts!

[Yorkshire Royal]

TBH, the reserve league is about the only thing I can see us winning in the next few years...

[Huntley & Palmer]

Do you know the route of the open top bus parade?

[Behindu]

The quality of the resreve league is patchy - certainly not as good as I had hoped it would be.

Are those expressing cynicism at us winning it the same people who expressed dismay that we didn't go all out to win the Cup ? If you are in a competition what more can you do than win it ?

It will be a significanyt achievement for a club of our size to finish above many clubs with far greater resources.....

[Huntley & Palmer]

Put out your best side, that's all I ask. In the Cup we didn't, in the reserve league we have due to the amount of non Academy players that start in it. Can't see that as any sort of achievement, had it been seven or eight Academy players playing every game and the league had been won, then that would be promising

[Yorkshire Royal]

Do you know the route of the open top bus parade?

Actually I think they are planning on using the "reserve route". As I understand it, this starts at the Pheasant in Winnersh and ends in Basingstoke...

[Behindu]

Put out your best side, that's all I ask. In the Cup we didn't, in the reserve league we have due to the amount of non Academy players that start in it. Can't see that as any sort of achievement, had it been seven or eight Academy players playing every game and the league had been won, then that would be promising

We haven't played our strongest side in all the reserve games (how can we when some of our best players are out on loan). No Pearce, no Goldbourne, no Cox, no Henry, no Osano.
There have been lots of Academy players involved alongside fringe players.
The cup line up is always going to split people but Coppell was adament last night that his selections have been the right thing for the club - and it's hard to disagree....

[When Hicks went up...]

TBH, the reserve league is about the only thing I can see us winning in the next few years...

I agree. These are truelly terrible times to be a Reading fan.

Not wanting to continue a perhaps pointless discussion too much longer, but the soccerbase numbers you quoted were wrong, as you forgot to count players that clubs had loaned in - i.e. Charlton have 4 players on loan. Chelsea do have the smallest squad.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Have a look at the results page on the official site, and then tell me how many games have not involved five or more first team players? It's exactly my point, those young players with any sort of talent are out on loan at league clubs as it offers a better level of football than the reserves league. The reserves league is just a chance to keep our fringe first eleven players fit, as such we are one of the only clubs to do this as most others play their academy in it. Any league win at this level is irrelevant

[Behindu]

You are simply wrong to say that all the talented players are out on loan...

Jem Karacan for a start has been pretty much ever present, captains the team and has developed enormously.

Nicholas Bignall looks good, Julian Kelly impresses and if you go through the U18 squad plenty have had a chance to play a part.

On the basis that you think winning this league is meaningless I assume you found last season pretty pointless as well - there is no kudos in winning something when it only happens because you put a better team out than the opposition is there !!

[Royalee]

Cox will be gone in the summer

League 1 is probably his level at the minute.

Through no fault of his own, the club (RFC) has progressed so much so soon that good young players like Cox just can't quite make the grade.

Same for Pearce? I hope not.
He really has come on bundles this season!

Absolutely not - Cox isn't in the same class as Pearce. Pearce'll be in the first team here before long.

[Yellowcoat]

Do not let facts get in the way of your irrational way of supporting the club. Tonight's team has 4 players with first team experience and if you exclude Shane Long the others only have 9 appearances between them. By and large this is the number played for most matches and it has been an opportunity for the better youngsters to be involved. The main reason for the loan deals for some of them has been the limited number of matches and the intermittent way they are scheduled. Still if you do not want to watch possible players for the future many more are keen to do so.

[Huntley & Palmer]

You are simply wrong to say that all the talented players are out on loan...

Jem Karacan for a start has been pretty much ever present, captains the team and has developed enormously.

Nicholas Bignall looks good, Julian Kelly impresses and if you go through the U18 squad plenty have had a chance to play a part.

On the basis that you think winning this league is meaningless I assume you found last season pretty pointless as well - there is no kudos in winning something when it only happens because you put a better team out than the opposition is there !!

Your last statement is a joke, you are talking about two completely different levels of football. There is no kudos in winning a reserves league, it is not played in the same way as a normal League season. There is not the same emphasis from all the other teams to make sure they put their best team out, it's used as a way of keeping players fit and playing academy players, do you really think the players go all out to win it? Below the first team there is only one competition that gains any sort of recognition and that is the FA Youth Cup, because you have all the teams playing their cream of up and coming players.

[Yorkshire Royal]

H+P, I think it is time to back away from the Team Board... it's getting scary again...

[Hoop Blah]

The Reserve league isn't so much about the relative first teamers playing, although gives a very good indication of how seriously it's taken, it's more about the intensity of the games.

I had high hopes that the quality would be better than it is to help our players progress but it's almost impossible to get reserve games close to the intensity of a first team game at any pro/semi-pro level.

As for Cox, I think he's done pretty well this season when he's played for our sides, and by all accounts has been good out on loan. I think he'll possibly become a half decent championship player but in order to do that he might have to leave this summer. He is still only about to turn 20 though, so he might get another year here, but if you've got to 21 and not made it, or at least look like displacing a first teamer, you have to move on, especially as an attacking player.

[Behindu]

Your last statement is a joke.

Well spotted !! [/quote]

Of course there is kudos in winning this league - and of course it is way below that of winning the FA Cup , the Championship or lots of other titles.

But given that you don;t bother going to watch games I'm not sure how you can be such an expert.

When we beat Cardiff in the last playoff it was obvious that there was great delight in being Champions. I have no doubt that if we get the point needed tonight every player who has worked hard in the reserves this season will be delighted to have finsihsed as the best reserve team in the south.

[brendywendy]

You are simply wrong to say that all the talented players are out on loan...

Jem Karacan for a start has been pretty much ever present, captains the team and has developed enormously.

Nicholas Bignall looks good, Julian Kelly impresses and if you go through the U18 squad plenty have had a chance to play a part.

On the basis that you think winning this league is meaningless I assume you found last season pretty pointless as well - there is no kudos in winning something when it only happens because you put a better team out than the opposition is there !!

Your last statement is a joke, you are talking about two completely different levels of football. There is no kudos in winning a reserves league, it is not played in the same way as a normal League season. There is not the same emphasis from all the other teams to make sure they put their best team out, it's used as a way of keeping players fit and playing academy players, do you really think the players go all out to win it? Below the first team there is only one competition that gains any sort of recognition and that is the FA Youth Cup, because you have all the teams playing their cream of up and coming players.

no Kudos at all?

what utter stuff and nonsense

of course there is

no matter what the quality of other peoples reserve team, if we win, we were still better than all other teams in our league, if we have managed to do this whilst finishing 9th(?) in the top flight, then there is kudos, it doesnt matter that the other teams handle it differently.


and what kind of a word is kudos anyway?