Value on Long's Head?

[brendywendy]

I think you will find my £3million tops may even prove to be excessive.

We paid £2m for Matt Mills.

^^^^^^^^THIS, THIS, oxf*rd this^^^^^^^^



of course paying millions for anyone is wrong, but in the world of football finances, if there is someone willing to pay it, then that is a fair price.the end.
a 20 goal a year championship striker, who already has two years of prem experience, will go for 3 million +, and 3 million would be a pretty low estimate

[brendywendy]

I would suggest that BM will be the one to convince JM that Long is more valuable to RFC than £3m, we know that Long and BM are close. Then again if we are at this level and a lower Prem team come in for Long at £3m, should we stand in his way?

he wont leave reading to go sit on a prem teams bench, & i doubt hell leave reading for a club that could go down next year.


plus we'll be in the prem anyway, so itls all pointless discussion

[Rex]

The question will come as to what team will pay the most, what is relevant for Shane and if he wants first team, gets regular first team, and is not a bench warmer.
But that is dependent surely on us playing out the rest of the season and seeing what pans out.

[Hoop Blah]

If, as with the likes of Hunt and Sigurdsson before him, we've already set a value on Long's head it won't come down to who wants to pay us the most for him. We won't really have a choice in the matter.

As for Johnson going for £11m and Bent £18m.

Johnson actually went for £8.5m and had scored 20 goals in the Premiership in a relegated side plus 30 goals the season before. Thats the same amount of goals in 2 seasons that Long has in his career.

Bent went for less than £18m and was only a Championship player in name. He didn't actually kick a ball in the Championship as he was sold in the summer after they were relegated. He'd scored 31 goals in 68 games for Charlton, all in the Premiership. When he moved to Charlton from Ipswich for £2.5m he was probably more of a direct comparison to Long is now, a player coming off the back of a 20 goal season.

[Snowball]

Hoop, don't forget there has been massive footballers' price inflation

35 Million for the kid from Newcastle? Is he really NINE times better than Long?

[Maguire]

Transfer prices don't reflect some unitised commodity that I shall name "talent".

Players are worth whatever people are prepared to pay for them. How much for Long with his star currently in the ascendency? 4 million maybe, which given his overall performances for Reading is a price I never thought he'd go for.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Hoop, don't forget there has been massive footballers' price inflation

35 Million for the kid from Newcastle? Is he really NINE times better than Long?

No, but it was essential for the sake of peace on the Kop that Liverpool spent big money to replace Torres. So it was a seller's market and Newcastle saw them coming all the way!

[Snowball]

Curious, what value now?

[rhroyal]

JM and NH do have a habit for negotiating brilliant deals for our club, so I'd hope we can pull off somewhere between £4m and £5m for Long. Anybody know when his contract is up? If he has another few years then great. If he can come out saying words to the effect of "I'd love to play in the Premiership, but if I stay here next year I'm really happy at Reading too and will try to help them go up" then even better.

[Millsy]

At the mo he's great - 4-5million minimum. Better than Doyle and Kitson.

However only seemed to be able to provide the goods when every last piece of the RFC jigsaw was put in place.

I'm not sure if anyone can really dig too deep in their pockets for an "in the right conditions only" player, who was unable to score from free play in almost half a season

How many Reading players have gone on to be just as good/better without RFC around them? He'd be better off staying with us for the foreseeable future because BM has created the "right conditions". At the moment he's awesome - for us, in the right conditions.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Just spoke to my guy at the club. If we go up he should stay. If not the club are expecting between £5m-£6m for him

[Ian Royal]

Curious, what value now?

Same value as he's been since he signed his last contract, seeing as that's when we'd have agreed with him a price we'd let him go for.

[bobby m's syrup]

I would go as far in saying he is better than Doyle.

Perhaps not, he has only found real form comparatively recently. Give him 2 yrs at current levels of achievement and who knows?

[SpaceCruiser]

We'd want more than £4m. It doesn't matter if any idiot on here doesn't think he's worth that, the most important consideration is how much would we need to replace him, no striker who scores 30 goals in one season is going to be cheap.

[Ian Royal]

We'd want more than £4m. It doesn't matter if any idiot on here doesn't think he's worth that, the most important consideration is how much would we need to replace him, no striker who scores 20 goals in one season is going to be cheap.

Kitson was. Cureton was. Long was. Doyle came close and was.

[SpaceCruiser]

Nice edit on my post.

Yes, you can find cheaper strikers from the lower leagues, but they're not always easy to find, plus they're always a gamble. Spending big on a proven striker might make it less of a gamble as you know what you're paying for.

[Ian Royal]

Nice edit on my post.

Yes, you can find cheaper strikers from the lower leagues, but they're not always easy to find, plus they're always a gamble. Spending big on a proven striker might make it less of a gamble as you know what you're paying for.

30 goals is stupid to say because it'svery very rare, 20 is rare enough. And Long hasn't got 30 either.

So you accept you can find cheap strikers who can score 20, or in Curo's case 30 goals in a season? Unless we go up there is very little chance we'll be able to spend enough to secure a proven 20 a season man, because they'll be going to the Premier League. And any signing is always a gamble.

We don't tend to buy big named established players because we can't afford it. We pick up rough diamonds mainly and polish them over a season or two.

[rhroyal]

Nice edit on my post.

Yes, you can find cheaper strikers from the lower leagues, but they're not always easy to find, plus they're always a gamble. Spending big on a proven striker might make it less of a gamble as you know what you're paying for.

I think spending bigger money or signing "big names" can be just as much a gamble. Just look at the big names in the Leicester team we beat last week. Charlie Austin was a bigger signing for Burnley; he's barely made an impact. Less than Manset anyhow.

Just as there are suspicions that Long is flourishing in a team that brings the best out of him, there would be similar concerns about Holt, Graham or any other striker who is performing consistently at this level.

I'm sure you barely need reminding of our track record with bigger money signings either. I remember being excited when we signed Goater at this level; proven 20 goal a season striker at this level. That didn't pay off.

You'll say he was on the way down in his career. You need to maintain a sense of realism. It needs to be a player on his way down or a punt on a hopeful prospect. If there is a player performing consistently at this level, reaching the peak of his career, a Premiership club would be in for him.

The only relatively cheap, proven striker at this level I think we could go after is Marlon King, with Coventry's dire financial situation. I wouldn't want to be seen dead in a Reading shirt if we sign that piece of scum.

We won't be signing a big name if we sell Long. We'll follow the same policy which has allowed the likes of Doyle, Kitson, Shorey, Hunt, Long, Kebe and Sigurdsson to flourish here.

My suspicion is that we'd have already signed Long's replacement, with a pre-season to work on Manset so that he can step up and fill the potential we're seeing.

[Snowball]

At the mo he's great - 4-5million minimum. Better than Doyle and Kitson.

However only seemed to be able to provide the goods when every last piece of the RFC jigsaw was put in place.

I'm not sure if anyone can really dig too deep in their pockets for an "in the right conditions only" player, who was unable to score from free play in almost half a season

How many Reading players have gone on to be just as good/better without RFC around them? He'd be better off staying with us for the foreseeable future because BM has created the "right conditions". At the moment he's awesome - for us, in the right conditions.

2WW, think of it like this.

In SIX seasons, Long has only had ONE period where he was unable to score in open play. A whopping 13 games. And he was winning penalties and scoring them

Then check and see Doyle's longest few blank runs for RFC

[Snowball]

Just spoke to my guy at the club. If we go up he should stay. If not the club are expecting between £5m-£6m for him

That's where I think he is. 6M is quite reasonable