January shopping list

[WestYorksRoyal]

I'd actually say there is not much here.

Send back Jacob and O'Mahony, replace them both with better options. The two replacements are key; we want a first choice LB and a L1 standard CF to help take the pressure off Marriot.

Retain R. Williams.

Assess Lane injury and bring in loan cover if needed.

Potentially move on Elliott, who it seems we have given up on, but only if a suitable replacement is available.

That's all I would be trying to do.

[morganb]

I'd actually say there is not much here.

Send back Jacob and O'Mahony, replace them both with better options. The two replacements are key; we want a first choice LB and a L1 standard CF to help take the pressure off Marriot.

Retain R. Williams.

Assess Lane injury and bring in loan cover if needed.

Potentially move on Elliott, who it seems we have given up on, but only if a suitable replacement is available.

That's all I would be trying to do.

https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2026/j ... hull-city/

Matty Jacob Loan Deal Ends.
Reading Football Club can confirm that defender Matty Jacob has returned to Hull City.

[Snowflake Royal]

Cover for Marriott to replace MOM
Cover for Dorsett to replace Jacob
Extend R Williams

I feel we need to do something about the plethora of lightweight wide players we have... Lane, Ritchie, Kyerewaa, Williams, Ehibhationhan, Camara, Garcia. Plus Doyle who is in a similar vein but central, and then the likes of Osho in the youth side. It's just too many. Williams is the obvious one to trim numbers, but he's actually looked one of the most effective.

Garcia could use game time, so a loan could do him good, go tear up L2, alternatively maybe we need to cash in if he's now behind Camara in the pecking order. Probably the biggest value player vs smallest impact on first team football given his lack of game time.

Would also like to see a loan for Stickland. One wouldn’t hurt for Ahmed either now we have Yids fully fit to compete with Abrefa.

Doyle and Burns seem to be improving, so should stay, I guess.

[Hound]

Not too much to add really, depends on budget and how LR sees the team shaping up going forwards

Probably like to see more go out (on loan) than come in. Big strong striker is a must - and I’d consider another one as well actually. Both KE and Marriott are playing well at the moment but to cover injuries, loss of form etc. obvs MoM needs to go back

Happy enough with Doyle and burns staying on, though not a huge fan of Doyle tbh but he’s getting goals and assists now

Thoroughly bored of Elliott so prob best he moves on and loans for a load of youth players who aren’t getting a sniff - Sackey, Spencer etc

[morganb]

Cover for Marriott to replace MOM
Cover for Dorsett to replace Jacob
Extend R Williams

I feel we need to do something about the plethora of lightweight wide players we have... Lane, Ritchie, Kyerewaa, Williams, Ehibhationhan, Camara, Garcia. Plus Doyle who is in a similar vein but central, and then the likes of Osho in the youth side. It's just too many. Williams is the obvious one to trim numbers, but he's actually looked one of the most effective.

Garcia could use game time, so a loan could do him good, go tear up L2, alternatively maybe we need to cash in if he's now behind Camara in the pecking order. Probably the biggest value player vs smallest impact on first team football given his lack of game time.

Would also like to see a loan for Stickland. One wouldn’t hurt for Ahmed either now we have Yids fully fit to compete with Abrefa.

Doyle and Burns seem to be improving, so should stay, I guess.

Could be tricky as Stickland has been on the bench for the last couple of games so looks like he's currently seen as our fourth choice CB therefore I doubt he'll go on loan unless we get someone else in to take his spot on the bench (or promote one of the other Academy kids to 4th choice so Stickers can get loan experience which could be more beneficial for him in the long run)

[Snowflake Royal]

Cover for Marriott to replace MOM
Cover for Dorsett to replace Jacob
Extend R Williams

I feel we need to do something about the plethora of lightweight wide players we have... Lane, Ritchie, Kyerewaa, Williams, Ehibhationhan, Camara, Garcia. Plus Doyle who is in a similar vein but central, and then the likes of Osho in the youth side. It's just too many. Williams is the obvious one to trim numbers, but he's actually looked one of the most effective.

Garcia could use game time, so a loan could do him good, go tear up L2, alternatively maybe we need to cash in if he's now behind Camara in the pecking order. Probably the biggest value player vs smallest impact on first team football given his lack of game time.

Would also like to see a loan for Stickland. One wouldn’t hurt for Ahmed either now we have Yids fully fit to compete with Abrefa.

Doyle and Burns seem to be improving, so should stay, I guess.

Could be tricky as Stickland has been on the bench for the last couple of games so looks like he's currently seen as our fourth choice CB therefore I doubt he'll go on loan unless we get someone else in to take his spot on the bench (or promote one of the other Academy kids to 4th choice so Stickers can get loan experience which could be more beneficial for him in the long run)

True, but if you have LB covered you can push Dorsett in there if needed and CBs rarely come on as subs anyway.

[Sutekh]

Cover for Marriott to replace MOM
Cover for Dorsett to replace Jacob
Extend R Williams

I feel we need to do something about the plethora of lightweight wide players we have... Lane, Ritchie, Kyerewaa, Williams, Ehibhationhan, Camara, Garcia. Plus Doyle who is in a similar vein but central, and then the likes of Osho in the youth side. It's just too many. Williams is the obvious one to trim numbers, but he's actually looked one of the most effective.

Garcia could use game time, so a loan could do him good, go tear up L2, alternatively maybe we need to cash in if he's now behind Camara in the pecking order. Probably the biggest value player vs smallest impact on first team football given his lack of game time.

Would also like to see a loan for Stickland. One wouldn’t hurt for Ahmed either now we have Yids fully fit to compete with Abrefa.

Doyle and Burns seem to be improving, so should stay, I guess.

Could be tricky as Stickland has been on the bench for the last couple of games so looks like he's currently seen as our fourth choice CB therefore I doubt he'll go on loan unless we get someone else in to take his spot on the bench (or promote one of the other Academy kids to 4th choice so Stickers can get loan experience which could be more beneficial for him in the long run)

True, but if you have LB covered you can push Dorsett in there if needed and CBs rarely come on as subs anyway.

Re: CB’s (I would say the current pecking order is)

1. Williams, D
2. O’Connor, P
3. Burns, F (loan from ManC)
4. Dorsett, J
5. Stickland, M
6. Kanu, A (on loan at FGR)
7. Duah, P

Therefore indeed it would be a risk to loan out Stickland but if the club got a good offer I think it would be wrong to deny the opportunity to the player.

[South Coast Royal]

After much consideration (in reality thinking about it while walking for 20 minutes to and from the paper shop) I have reached the conclusion of "what is the point of signing anybody in the window?"

I presume the plan for the rest of the season is to avoid relegation and therefore keeping Wing and Pereira is a priority.
If the plan was to have a go at promotion this season we would need to bring in 5 or 6 players who look as though , or have proven, they could cope with Championship football.

There is no point IMHO scraping a flukey promotion place with what we have got (with maybe a couple of newbies this month) because we would then need a massive rebuild to even survive at Championship level.
Can the owners afford to do that, assuming there are no longer any major restrictions on spending?

The problem now is perception.
If nobody is brought in during this window then the manager with his statements and the earlier bombast of the owner would be seen as falsehoods and attendances would fall for the rest of the season meaning less income and a falling off of interest in the club.

If a couple are brought in then manager and owner can claim that we are making a big attempt at the play-offs and with this league being so tight a few wins and we could be close up but is there really any point other perhaps than saying that this is a start of a 2-3 year plan of steady improvement , building of a team ready to play at the next level.?
Who are those , apart from Wing and Pereira , that would be ready?
It takes quite a leap of faith to believe that some of our younger players will be ready, based on what they have shown so far , although an optimist would think that all of them will make the grade.

I wouldn't be too disappointed if we brought in nobody during this window and just hope that we win enough games to survive as long as in the Summer window, with the manager, having had over half a season to assess what he has got, hopefully be able to use his established connections in the game to bring in better players than we currently have.
In reality I expect a couple of loan players to be sent back and a couple of new loans brought in.

Maybe I should have spent more than 20 minutes thinking about it all and others will see things quite differently.

[Millsy]

After much consideration (in reality thinking about it while walking for 20 minutes to and from the paper shop) I have reached the conclusion of "what is the point of signing anybody in the window?"

I presume the plan for the rest of the season is to avoid relegation and therefore keeping Wing and Pereira is a priority.
If the plan was to have a go at promotion this season we would need to bring in 5 or 6 players who look as though , or have proven, they could cope with Championship football.

There is no point IMHO scraping a flukey promotion place with what we have got (with maybe a couple of newbies this month) because we would then need a massive rebuild to even survive at Championship level.
Can the owners afford to do that, assuming there are no longer any major restrictions on spending?

The problem now is perception.
If nobody is brought in during this window then the manager with his statements and the earlier bombast of the owner would be seen as falsehoods and attendances would fall for the rest of the season meaning less income and a falling off of interest in the club.

If a couple are brought in then manager and owner can claim that we are making a big attempt at the play-offs and with this league being so tight a few wins and we could be close up but is there really any point other perhaps than saying that this is a start of a 2-3 year plan of steady improvement , building of a team ready to play at the next level.?
Who are those , apart from Wing and Pereira , that would be ready?
It takes quite a leap of faith to believe that some of our younger players will be ready, based on what they have shown so far , although an optimist would think that all of them will make the grade.

I wouldn't be too disappointed if we brought in nobody during this window and just hope that we win enough games to survive as long as in the Summer window, with the manager, having had over half a season to assess what he has got, hopefully be able to use his established connections in the game to bring in better players than we currently have.
In reality I expect a couple of loan players to be sent back and a couple of new loans brought in.

Maybe I should have spent more than 20 minutes thinking about it all and others will see things quite differently.

Fair arguments but I disagree. Rebuilding isn't something you can do in one window, needs time.

Start now, if it "flukes" us to promotion, so be it, we'll deal with that luxury 'problem' when we get there and will surely then build in the summer. It's not like you get promoted and then have to stick with the same squad.

Chances are it will just bolster us this season, help with perception as you say, and give us a solid foundation to build on over the summer.

[Brogue]

3 strikers Lyndon Dykes (6ft 2) , Sam Gallagher (6ft 4) and Michael Frey (6ft 2) have all been made available this month…

[Hound]

3 strikers Lyndon Dykes (6ft 2) , Sam Gallagher (6ft 4) and Michael Frey (6ft 2) have all been made available this month…

All should be of interest

[Hound]

SCR valid points but a) I do think we need at least a third striking option instead of MoM. We’re in trouble currently if KE gets injured/Marriott gets injured/stops scoring goals

I don’t want a load of signings but a couple to add to Rino and R Williams with MoM and Jacob going back and the likes of Stickland and Sackey going out on loan would be good I think

Also if we genuinely think there is a chance of promotion we should of course grab it - teams like Derby scrapped up with a poor squad but have managed to survive and improve each year and now they are comfortable again. It can happen

[WestYorksRoyal]

I kind of agree with a mish mash of everyone's thoughts. Building a strong team who can win the league and then step up to the Championship is better than fluking our way out through the play-offs this year. But I also agree every window is an opportunity to build it, not just the summer. January is a tough window, we won't go after star players of L2 teams or L1 rivals as you pay a premium to break up teams mid season (like Wrexham for Smith last year). But there may be a high potential option who is ready to leave a PL academy or for whom the Championship hasn't worked out as hoped (think like Lane in the summer). That could be an affordable way to get a 1st choice LB and a CF option who would leave us sustainably better. Loans are really not ideal unless there's a good chance they will become permanent. And we should not be falling for squad fillers or panic signings, even if it does lead to bed wetting about the lack of signings from some parts of the fanbase.

If this approach leads to us sneaking into the play-offs and winning promotion this season, you take it. But that's not the strategy. It's an upside scenario if we do this.

[rabidbee]

We shouldn’t panic buy, but as has been pointed out we need to start putting together a strong squad now for a project that might still take a year or two. Besides which, it’s so tight that most of the clubs in the league would get sucked down to the bottom with a run of only a few bad games. A strong push up the table would keep us safe, and hopefully make us a more attractive prospect for more new signings in the summer.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

A source on Twitter who has a reasonable track record, saying Elliott is off this month, MoM back to Brighton and Garcia & Stickland loaned out.

If Garcia is available we should really sell given he's out of contract at the end of the season.

[Snowflake Royal]

A source on Twitter who has a reasonable track record, saying Elliott is off this month, MoM back to Brighton and Garcia & Stickland loaned out.

If Garcia is available we should really sell given he's out of contract at the end of the season.

All sounds good, with the previso that Garcia gets an extended contract.

[Royalwaster]

I think it's a mistake to say that promotion is not a priority as it would take a huge rebuild at Champ level - it always takes a big rebuild as the gulf in class between the two levels is so huge. If you look at the likes of Oxford, Charlton, Portsmouth, Derby, .. they all made A LOT of signings after going up and still struggled.

[Orion1871]

A source on Twitter who has a reasonable track record, saying Elliott is off this month, MoM back to Brighton and Garcia & Stickland loaned out.

If Garcia is available we should really sell given he's out of contract at the end of the season.

No way the club doesn't have an automatic option for an extra year written into that Garcia contract.

[Hound]

I think it's a mistake to say that promotion is not a priority as it would take a huge rebuild at Champ level - it always takes a big rebuild as the gulf in class between the two levels is so huge. If you look at the likes of Oxford, Charlton, Portsmouth, Derby, .. they all made A LOT of signings after going up and still struggled.

We’d need a big rebuild if we went up this season or next so the sooner the better tbh

[Clyde1998]

3 strikers Lyndon Dykes (6ft 2) , Sam Gallagher (6ft 4) and Michael Frey (6ft 2) have all been made available this month…

All should be of interest

In terms of their footballing ability they probably should be, but would be concerned about wages for all three - even if it was loan deals for either of them. I imagine these players will have some interest from lower end Championship clubs too.