How we stack up against the opposition in terms of signings

[Royal Rother]

And if they don't they've jerked off another £10 million.... (or whatever)

Speculate to accumulate is all very well - I prefer intelligent assessment of what will truly benefit the team within a perceived value range, keep hold of your existing assets and build brick by brick as opposed to knock half of it down every 6 months and try again if it's not immediately working brilliantly.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I think Blackburn have done very well in the transfer market to be fair. The signings of Samba (free), Santa Cruz (£3., MaCarthy (£2.5m, Warnock (£1.5), Roberts (£3m) and Ooijer (£2m) all represent very good value for money and show Hughes has a good eye for a player.

Agreed, but I would imagine Blackburn are paying Benni McCarthy £50+k pw... and their average gate is less than ours.

They have a few big wage earners but they tend to remove them and replace them with people on the same money. Blackburn's wage bill is around £30 million if you believe their own fans, they probably have a handful of players that make really good money and they offload those on this if they need to attract someone. Hence why Bellamy, Savage et al are no longer there

[cmonurz]

And if they don't they've jerked off another £10 million.... (or whatever)

Speculate to accumulate is all very well - I prefer intelligent assessment of what will truly benefit the team within a perceived value range, keep hold of your existing assets and build brick by brick as opposed to knock half of it down every 6 months and try again if it's not immediately working brilliantly.

Can you explain to me how that statement, and signing three or four quality players, are the same thing?

[Platypuss]

And if they don't they've jerked off another £10 million.... (or whatever)

Speculate to accumulate is all very well - I prefer intelligent assessment of what will truly benefit the team within a perceived value range, keep hold of your existing assets and build brick by brick as opposed to knock half of it down every 6 months and try again if it's not immediately working brilliantly.

Can you explain to me how that statement, and signing three or four quality players, are the same thing?

RR in false dichotomy shocker.

[Stranded]

And if they don't they've jerked off another £10 million.... (or whatever)

Speculate to accumulate is all very well - I prefer intelligent assessment of what will truly benefit the team within a perceived value range, keep hold of your existing assets and build brick by brick as opposed to knock half of it down every 6 months and try again if it's not immediately working brilliantly.

Can you explain to me how that statement, and signing three or four quality players, are the same thing?

I think the point he's making is that most of the clubs listed spent a lot of money on a number of players in the summer. Those haven't worked out so they are doing exactly the same thing again, which may work or may not work.

We on the other hand have purchased two players who play in areas that we all agree required strengthening who may or may not do the job, and moved one of our summer buys into another role where he may end up becoming a star.

[Wycombe Royal]

Derby -
IN: Roy Carroll.

I don't think he has signed yet.

[RoyalBlue]

And if they don't they've jerked off another £10 million.... (or whatever)

Only it's extremely unlikely that the players they have invested £10M in will become worthless over night!

They might make a loss on the dealings (if they have to launch a fire sale)but it won't be £10M.

[Platypuss]

Derby -
IN: Roy Carroll.

I don't think he has signed yet.

Yeah, Derby formally announced it then had to backtrack when it turned out that Rangers weren't quite ready to let him go.

Couldn't be arsed to remove it yet as it will probably have to go back on again anyway.

[cmonurz]

I think I’ve finally worked out where people are coming from. Why am I so fed up with the current situation? Because we came 8th last season and I wanted to see us build on that. Those who regularly term me a ‘doom-merchant’ (ironic, as I was principle “RTG” in the Pardew days) seem to be those for whom 17th place is just fine and dandy, season in, season out. They have stopped wanting to see this side progress, it’s all about survival. That’s it, I’ve cracked it, and I get you all now – well and truly sucked into Premier League world, where if you stay up, you have ‘achieved’ something.

[Wycombe Royal]

I think I’ve finally worked out where people are coming from. Why am I so fed up with the current situation? Because we came 8th last season and I wanted to see us build on that. Those who regularly term me a ‘doom-merchant’ (ironic, as I was principle “RTG” in the Pardew days) seem to be those for whom 17th place is just fine and dandy, season in, season out. They have stopped wanting to see this side progress, it’s all about survival. That’s it, I’ve cracked it, and I get you all now – well and truly sucked into Premier League world, where if you stay up, you have ‘achieved’ something.

We could have spent £50m and I doubt we would have acheieved a position as high as 8th again. We over achieved last season and many teams were surprised with the way we played. This season we no longer have that "surprise" element.

[BR2]

I think I’ve finally worked out where people are coming from. Why am I so fed up with the current situation? Because we came 8th last season and I wanted to see us build on that. Those who regularly term me a ‘doom-merchant’ (ironic, as I was principle “RTG” in the Pardew days) seem to be those for whom 17th place is just fine and dandy, season in, season out. They have stopped wanting to see this side progress, it’s all about survival. That’s it, I’ve cracked it, and I get you all now – well and truly sucked into Premier League world, where if you stay up, you have ‘achieved’ something.

We could have spent £50m and I doubt we would have acheieved a position as high as 8th again. We over achieved last season and many teams were surprised with the way we played. This season we no longer have that "surprise" element.

Has the surprise element gone because we are putting out the same players?
If we had bought more and better couldn't we possibly have continued to surprise?
In business and in sport to succeed you cannot stand still and regrettably we are standing still whilst others have overtaken us and we are currently 2 points off relegation.

[Wycombe Royal]

I think I’ve finally worked out where people are coming from. Why am I so fed up with the current situation? Because we came 8th last season and I wanted to see us build on that. Those who regularly term me a ‘doom-merchant’ (ironic, as I was principle “RTG” in the Pardew days) seem to be those for whom 17th place is just fine and dandy, season in, season out. They have stopped wanting to see this side progress, it’s all about survival. That’s it, I’ve cracked it, and I get you all now – well and truly sucked into Premier League world, where if you stay up, you have ‘achieved’ something.

We could have spent £50m and I doubt we would have acheieved a position as high as 8th again. We over achieved last season and many teams were surprised with the way we played. This season we no longer have that "surprise" element.

Has the surprise element gone because we are putting out the same players?
If we had bought more and better couldn't we possibly have continued to surprise?
In business and in sport to succeed you cannot stand still and regrettably we are standing still whilst others have overtaken us and we are currently 2 points off relegation.

Not necessarily. The surprise element was more in our style of play than the players we used. And how could we have bought better? I'm sure that they were working their nuts off trying to bring in players who could have made a real difference, but this is Reading, and attracting players like that is not easy.

However it is easy for fans to assume that they didn't try.

[BR2]

Nobody said they didn't try Wycombe-they just may be not very good at recognising and bringing in Premiership quality players e.g Sodje,Bennett,Halls,Fae and ?Cisse(one good game so far).

[Wycombe Royal]

Nobody said they didn't try Wycombe-they just may be not very good at recognising and bringing in Premiership quality players e.g Sodje,Bennett,Halls,Fae and ?Cisse(one good game so far).

If you look at most clubs, the majority of players that are signed end up as squad players. I think a lot of the problem is that the "Premiership quality" players that would be attracted to us aren't actually any better than we have already got. When they do try to sign someone who is better we lose out on their signature - Lescott and Brown to name two that we know of and I'm sure there are many others we don't know about.

[papereyes]

Yes, we've got plenty of jack of all trades but how many masters in either position?!

Precisely my point. Scharner isn't a master in either position. SO he would just be another "jack of all trades" which you have already said we have plenty of.

You don't know what you are talking about.
Scharner IS indeed a smashing defensive midfielder. If you claim he is not a master of that position, then you are simply clueless.
The fact that he has sometimes been used as a defender should not count against him. He is a defensive midfielder and fcuking good at it!

If we could buy Paul Scharner, we would be laughing. That is all.

[andrew1957]

At the end of the day if Reading stay up then our policy of not panic buying will be successful and SC can set about developing the squad we have and buying where we need to at the end of the season.

If on the other hand Reading get relegated then all the negative hobnobbers will be delighted that they have been proved right and frankly SC and all at the club will deserve all the criticism they will undoubtedly get.

I actually see a lot of potential in the squad we have - many of our players are below 25 and can improve a lot yet. We look good going forward and just need to work out a settled back 4.

I am optimistic that we will stay up this season and that we will finish even higher up in the table at the end of 2008/9. Lets wait and see.

[cmonurz]

At the end of the day if Reading stay up then our policy of not panic buying will be successful and SC can set about developing the squad we have and buying where we need to at the end of the season.

If on the other hand Reading get relegated then all the negative hobnobbers will be delighted that they have been proved right and frankly SC and all at the club will deserve all the criticism they will undoubtedly get.

I actually see a lot of potential in the squad we have - many of our players are below 25 and can improve a lot yet. We look good going forward and just need to work out a settled back 4.

I am optimistic that we will stay up this season and that we will finish even higher up in the table at the end of 2008/9. Lets wait and see.

Grow up, FFS. There isn't a Reading fan on this board who would be happy if we went down.

[Platypuss]

If on the other hand Reading get relegated then all the negative hobnobbers will be delighted that they have been proved right and frankly SC and all at the club will deserve all the criticism they will undoubtedly get.

Please don't be stupid.

[Alan Partridge]

At the end of the day if Reading stay up then our policy of not panic buying will be successful and SC can set about developing the squad we have and buying where we need to at the end of the season.

If on the other hand Reading get relegated then all the negative hobnobbers will be delighted that they have been proved right and frankly SC and all at the club will deserve all the criticism they will undoubtedly get.

I actually see a lot of potential in the squad we have - many of our players are below 25 and can improve a lot yet. We look good going forward and just need to work out a settled back 4.

I am optimistic that we will stay up this season and that we will finish even higher up in the table at the end of 2008/9. Lets wait and see.

As a sort of member of the negativve nobbers, I wouldn't be 'delighted' to be proved right. Utterly gutted and disappointed more like.

Reading's transfer policy in the last 2 years has been absolutely wretched, it's starting to catch up with them now. What we are relying on is some f our consistant performers from last to season to actually show some balls, stand up and be counted for the rest of the season. Yes you Nicky Shorey, you Ivar, you Kevin Doyle, you Sonko, you Convey, you Lita. People that do have the ability to play at this level but this season haven't produced.

There's a lot of deadwood in this squad and people towards the end of their shelf life, hopefully we've got enough to survive this year, but next year regardless there needs to be an overhaul. Big changes like what Coppell did the summer before we went up.

[Wycombe Royal]

Reading's transfer policy in the last 2 years has been absolutely wretched

How do you know what Reading's transfer policy is? How do you know who has knocked us back? Maybe we just can't attract the players who are better than we already have without risking the financial future of the club.