Dave Kitson > Shane Long > Kevin Doyle

[Brogue]

Do you agree? Discuss...

[Hendo]

Hard to say, all very different players.

Although I'd say that Kitson is probably the best all-round striker I've ever seen play for us.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Purely on ability:

Kitson > Kermorgant > Doyle > Long

On contribution:

Kitson .> Doyle > Long

On how much I like them as players:

Kitson > Kermorgant > Long > Doyle

How much I like them as people:

Kermorgant > Long > Doyle > Kitson

[Snowflake Royal]

Hard to say, all very different players.

Although I'd say that Kitson is probably the best all-round striker I've ever seen play for us.

Yeah. Doyle was consistently better than Long, who had one good season here, a couple including elsewhere.

Quinn should be in the conversation.

Prime Joao was as unplayable as I've seen, even if it only lasted 6 months.

[Tinpot Royal]

Hard to say, all very different players.

Although I'd say that Kitson is probably the best all-round striker I've ever seen play for us.

Yeah. Doyle was consistently better than Long, who had one good season here, a couple including elsewhere.

Quinn should be in the conversation.

Prime Joao was as unplayable as I've seen, even if it only lasted 6 months.

Jimmy Quinn I would say was better than all of these.

But for these 3 it's Doyle>Kitson>Long when playing for Reading, Long possibly goes ahead of Kitson in total career.

But Trevor Senior will always be my favorite!

[Snowflake Royal]

Hard to say, all very different players.

Although I'd say that Kitson is probably the best all-round striker I've ever seen play for us.

Yeah. Doyle was consistently better than Long, who had one good season here, a couple including elsewhere.

Quinn should be in the conversation.

Prime Joao was as unplayable as I've seen, even if it only lasted 6 months.

Jimmy Quinn I would say was better than all of these.

But for these 3 it's Doyle>Kitson>Long when playing for Reading, Long possibly goes ahead of Kitson in total career.

But Trevor Senior will always be my favorite!

It's all opinions obviously, but I can't agree Doyle over Kitson.

Doyle had some quite lack lustre runs in amongst his great performances. But Kitson did it every season until he left, season after season, despite getting injured a lot and having a poor attitude to training. And he added a lot defending set pieces. The one season Kits didn't get a respectable goal tally it was because Riggott tried to end his career.

[LUX]

Doyle by a mile for me. A class player.

Friday and Dixon from my youth

[From Despair To Where?]

Kitson > Doyle> Long.


Easy to forget that for the 2 seasons before 05/06, Kitson was the one player that made us worth watching.

[Whore Jackie]

Yeah that. Obviously longevity is a key attribute in looking back, but what nudges Kitson above Doyle and Long, is his performance against West Ham. Probably the best game by a Reading player I've ever see. Single-handedly tore them apart. Utter class.

[leon]

Kitson > Doyle> Long.


Easy to forget that for the 2 seasons before 05/06, Kitson was the one player that made us worth watching.

This.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Kitson is the best striker we've ever had and it's not even close.

[Tinpot Royal]

Kitson is the best striker we've ever had and it's not even close.

Seems you're forgetting Paul Brayson & Keith Scott!

[SCIAG]

Hard to say, all very different players.

Although I'd say that Kitson is probably the best all-round striker I've ever seen play for us.

Yeah. Doyle was consistently better than Long, who had one good season here, a couple including elsewhere.

Quinn should be in the conversation.

Prime Joao was as unplayable as I've seen, even if it only lasted 6 months.

The only player I'd compare to Joao is Jason Roberts, but even then Joao's ceiling was so much higher. Christ, what a player.

Anyway, the subject of the topic...

Out of the three, Doyle was the only one who couldn't (and never had to) "carry" a team. He was never a star player, although he had some nifty finishes over the years - the main thing about him was that he fit perfectly into Coppell's system and had a good understanding with the players around him (Kitson, Convey, Little and Sidwell at first, then over time it was more about the Hunts and Kebe).

Long is probably the fastest striker I've ever seen us have. He had an extremely limited game but he was so bloody good at it. In his last (proper) season for us, we just had to put the ball in behind the defence and he'd score. Helped that we had Kebe around as well, who could create chances from poor positions.

Kitson had five years with us, and for three of them he was head and shoulders above the rest of the team. Top scorer four years out of five despite a pretty poor injury record. Generally had more strings to his bow than the other two, extremely two-footed, a better striker of the ball. He wasn't quite as easy on the eye as Joao and Roberts, but he balanced that out through sheer weight of goals over an extended period of time, and rarely having "poor form". I guess it took him a while to get back to his best after the Riggott challenge, that's the closest thing I have to serious criticism of him.

For me, Kitson>Doyle>Long.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Kitson is the best striker we've ever had and it's not even close.

Seems you're forgetting Paul Brayson & Keith Scott!

I remember the emotional rollercoaster of signing Scott. Was disappointed when I saw on teletext (iirc) that we were signing him, then relieved to see it wasn't happening, then absolutely gutted when it went through.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Hard to say, all very different players.

Although I'd say that Kitson is probably the best all-round striker I've ever seen play for us.

Yeah. Doyle was consistently better than Long, who had one good season here, a couple including elsewhere.

Quinn should be in the conversation.

Prime Joao was as unplayable as I've seen, even if it only lasted 6 months.

The only player I'd compare to Joao is Jason Roberts, but even then Joao's ceiling was so much higher. Christ, what a player.

Anyway, the subject of the topic...

Out of the three, Doyle was the only one who couldn't (and never had to) "carry" a team. He was never a star player, although he had some nifty finishes over the years - the main thing about him was that he fit perfectly into Coppell's system and had a good understanding with the players around him (Kitson, Convey, Little and Sidwell at first, then over time it was more about the Hunts and Kebe).

Long is probably the fastest striker I've ever seen us have. He had an extremely limited game but he was so bloody good at it. In his last (proper) season for us, we just had to put the ball in behind the defence and he'd score. Helped that we had Kebe around as well, who could create chances from poor positions.

Kitson had five years with us, and for three of them he was head and shoulders above the rest of the team. Top scorer four years out of five despite a pretty poor injury record. Generally had more strings to his bow than the other two, extremely two-footed, a better striker of the ball. He wasn't quite as easy on the eye as Joao and Roberts, but he balanced that out through sheer weight of goals over an extended period of time, and rarely having "poor form". I guess it took him a while to get back to his best after the Riggott challenge, that's the closest thing I have to serious criticism of him.

For me, Kitson>Doyle>Long.

Yeh, I've always felt like Doyle was right place at the right time. There was nothing particularly special about him, but he hit the ground running and never looked back.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah. Doyle was consistently better than Long, who had one good season here, a couple including elsewhere.

Quinn should be in the conversation.

Prime Joao was as unplayable as I've seen, even if it only lasted 6 months.

The only player I'd compare to Joao is Jason Roberts, but even then Joao's ceiling was so much higher. Christ, what a player.

Anyway, the subject of the topic...

Out of the three, Doyle was the only one who couldn't (and never had to) "carry" a team. He was never a star player, although he had some nifty finishes over the years - the main thing about him was that he fit perfectly into Coppell's system and had a good understanding with the players around him (Kitson, Convey, Little and Sidwell at first, then over time it was more about the Hunts and Kebe).

Long is probably the fastest striker I've ever seen us have. He had an extremely limited game but he was so bloody good at it. In his last (proper) season for us, we just had to put the ball in behind the defence and he'd score. Helped that we had Kebe around as well, who could create chances from poor positions.

Kitson had five years with us, and for three of them he was head and shoulders above the rest of the team. Top scorer four years out of five despite a pretty poor injury record. Generally had more strings to his bow than the other two, extremely two-footed, a better striker of the ball. He wasn't quite as easy on the eye as Joao and Roberts, but he balanced that out through sheer weight of goals over an extended period of time, and rarely having "poor form". I guess it took him a while to get back to his best after the Riggott challenge, that's the closest thing I have to serious criticism of him.

For me, Kitson>Doyle>Long.

Yeh, I've always felt like Doyle was right place at the right time. There was nothing particularly special about him, but he hit the ground running and never looked back.

I still think that if we'd sold Doyle to Stoke instead of Kitson we'd have gone back up, first time of asking. That move ruined Kits. Although maybe that's ignoring the injury damage too much

[SCIAG]

Yeh, I've always felt like Doyle was right place at the right time. There was nothing particularly special about him, but he hit the ground running and never looked back.

I still think that if we'd sold Doyle to Stoke instead of Kitson we'd have gone back up, first time of asking. That move ruined Kits. Although maybe that's ignoring the injury damage too much

Oh, that's very interesting.

My gut reaction is that Kitson wouldn't have been able to do the job Doyle did in the team that season... but then that's a pretty bad point, because the team would have adapted. NHunt-Kitson doesn't feel like a natural partnership (both liked to drop off and get stuck in, both put their heads in stupid places, neither really stretched defences) but NHunt made all sorts of partnerships work. Kebe probably has a better season.

[Forbury Lion]

I hope Leroy Lita isn't reading this wondering if it is cos he is black.

We were so fortunate to have had 4 quality strikers in that side, hardly surprising we finished with 106 points. The fact that out of Lita, Kitson and Doyle we reportedly only had 1 game where all three were fit shows how important depth is and then to have a young Shane Long on the bench too

[JedMaxwell]

I liked those three equally, for different reasons.

Kitson was clearly absolutely top quality, despite a slightly slow start if I remember correctly. As others have said, for a couple of years he was head and shoulders above anyone at the club and always the first name on the team sheet. So unlucky with injuries and I always felt that if he'd have had a conventional path into the game he may well have gone on to England success and playing for the real top sides.

Doyle came in fully fit and ready to go, and was such an important player over our most successful years. I respected him for staying a year after relegation to try and get us back up, and he was always a class act in the years after he left. Every time he played, the other team's defence could never relax and if he didn't score he'd set up loads of goals and chances for others. Never acted like a big time Charlie even when he arguably was.

Long almost felt like Doyle's little brother when he signed, and I always thought he showed flashes of something special in his fleeting appearances. Struggled with the weight of being the number one striker until he went absolutely mental in 2010/11 and everything worked out for him. Since then he only dropped out of the Prem for one season, to end his career with us. Another very decent human being, which always felt like a hallmark of that 05/06 team.

I guess what I am trying to say from atop my three-sided fence is that I love them all for their contributions to our greatest ever team, and with the current state of things those days feel so long ago.

[stealthpapes]

That move ruined Kits.

Yeah, although maybe not unexpected?

I bumped into him on a matchday Saturday in the Arndale, maybe 2009ish, and he seemed absolutely broken.

Just looked at the season, as far as I can see, beat Birmingham last day of the season and we would have gone up? I was away on holiday and thought we had no chance, but the GD is massively in our favour.

Shane Long was great when he burst through, took a few seasons to find his way - being a starting centre forward came too soon for him - then had an insane season before moving on. At his best, untouchable.

Outside of this, Jimmy Quinn defines talismanic, Lovell and Nogan remind me of halcyon days, Nicky Forster used to hold one-man goal of the season competitions, Adam Le Fondre had a particular set of skills and Sam Smith in the second stint lead the line properly.