Would you want Sidwell back?

[strap]

On a free? Yes. For the £5M rumoured to be the figure The Sham will be offering in the close-season? No. Would stick in my craw to pay the Cheatski crook a penny for a player they effectively stole off us.

[TFF]

If he'd come back (which won't happen, he's moved on) I'd happily see us pay £5million for him. Who could you buy that would offer better value?

[Woodcote Royal]

Only the unemployed would have time to compile such a long list.

I'm obviously not a fan of Sidwell but WTF has he ever done at this level to justify such a ridiculous fee?

[Schards#2]

If he'd come back (which won't happen, he's moved on) I'd happily see us pay £5million for him. Who could you buy that would offer better value?

That's never going to happen though, if Reading wouldn't pay the wages then, they're not going to pay the wages plus £5m now.

The only way he could realistically come back is through a long term loan with us meeting a proportion of wages and Chelsea the rest. For this to happen, he'd have to be no part of Chelsea's plans whatsoever and i'm not sure that would be the case.

But as a hypothetical yes/no, i'd love to have him back and i'm not surprised 70% odd agree.

[papereyes]

Oh. God. Yes.

Anyone answering "no" would be doing so for non-footballing reasons.

Its odd that it is such a big margin here when there were so many arguing that we wouldn't miss him over the summer and using all sorts of statistics to prove their thoughts.

[weybridgewanderer]

Were there any rumours of us selling him last January? I was wondering what he would have fetched in transfer fees a year ago January? We would not have finished 8th but I think it would be safe to assume we would have stayed up whether he was here or not from Feb forward. Hindsight is 20/20, but if we knew we could not afford him I wonder if the club had any discussions of cashing in.

Players on a Bosman generally don't leave clubs the january before their contract runs out

It is not in the buying clubs interest, why pay for a player when yoou can get him for free in the summer

It is not in the player or the agents interest - under a Bosman you can start taking to clubs after the January window closes so why give the selling club a couple of million that could be shared between within a few weeks of the close of the transfer window.

[brendywendy]

Oh. God. Yes.

Anyone answering "no" would be doing so for non-footballing reasons.

Its odd that it is such a big margin here when there were so many arguing that we wouldn't miss him over the summer and using all sorts of statistics to prove their thoughts.

personally i thought he was brilliant and we'd miss him
statistically, he wasnt that great last year, but he did offer alot that is unquantifiable statistically.

mostly we miss his innocuous fouls in their half that stopped their breaks from happening, giving us aloot more time to regroup ourselves

[Platypuss]

Only the unemployed would have time to compile such a long list.

I'm obviously not a fan of Sidwell but WTF has he ever done at this level to justify such a ridiculous fee?

From what we've seen so far,

Sidwell >>>>>> 2 Faes.

[Archie's penalty]

Oh. God. Yes.

Anyone answering "no" would be doing so for non-footballing reasons.

Its odd that it is such a big margin here when there were so many arguing that we wouldn't miss him over the summer and using all sorts of statistics to prove their thoughts.

personally i thought he was brilliant and we'd miss him
statistically, he wasnt that great last year, but he did offer alot that is unquantifiable statistically.

mostly we miss his innocuous fouls in their half that stopped their breaks from happening, giving us aloot more time to regroup ourselves

He increased the pace of our game and put other teams under pressure. This was exactly what we needed in what could have been a difficult first season in the prem.

Gunnarsson is not a bad player but you only have to look at games such as Portsmouth away and Spurs away to see how much we have missed Sidwell. Could you imagine those games happening with Sid in the team? No? Me neither.

Matejovsky while not being able to tackle does make fouls every now and again and has stablised us. I'm not so afraid teams will overrun our midfield anymore. Most importantly, as others have said, Marek is good for Harps who feels he has a worthy partner now.

Sidwell would still be welcome here though. I would definitely pay 5 million for a player we know and who knows us. For christ's sake he's still only 24! It would also be highly grating for West Ham to have him. We all know he would do a great job for almost all the teams in the prem and against us no doubt. He will also be much more visible the next move he makes as it will be to a team who will use him regularly.

[rotherwick_royal]

I'd have him back. Think he'd be the perfect foil for MM. Also respect him for the way he played even though he knew he was leaving.

But would RFC pay £5M to get him back? Even ignoring wages, I doubt it.

[royal tunbridge wells]

Drifting off the topic slightly....Who has made the most succesful return to Reading ?
Or indeed, how many players have done it at all ?

I can think of the obvious ones like Adie Williams and Trevor Senior...also Gary Peters but we're going back a bit here.

Senior and Williams did well on their respective return, though I personally never felt they reached their former heights....though it could be argued Peters was better the second time around...

[Leamington Royal]

Isn't it a bit oversimplifying things to attribute the difference in our league position to Sidwell leaving. I think it probably has far more to do with:

- No Little or Seol on the right, who were consistently our main attacking threat all last season.
- Lack of an effective centre back pairing (until the last 3-4 games). Sonko was a different player last season.
- The quality of some of the underperforming teams last season has improved (Citeh, West Ham, Villa, Everton). We got a lot of points of these teams last season.

He was also out for most of the early games last season, and we picked up plenty of points without him in the side.

For these reasons I don't think it would improve us to bring him back (except perhaps in terms of having greater squad depth - but that's about quantity, not quality). I certainly wouldn't bring him in for Harper. And Marek, well, he's different class. Would probably have a negative effect on the motivation of the rest of the squad too.

Sorry, it's a "NO".

[Woodcote Royal]

Only the unemployed would have time to compile such a long list.

I'm obviously not a fan of Sidwell but WTF has he ever done at this level to justify such a ridiculous fee?

From what we've seen so far,

Sidwell >>>>>> 2 Faes.

True, but how many Hunts, Kitsons, Doyles and Longs?

Sidwell's current value is no more than £2m and falling fast as he drifts ever further from first team football.

For every Fae, Coppell has signed several players for next to nothing who have gone on to to be good players in the Premiership......................so, suggesting Sidwell, at £5m, would be good value is nothing short of laughable.

[readingbedding]

I'd have him back yesterday
More chance of Coppell playing the next game on the wing than Sidwell returning.
He's moved on - if he had another good season with us, who would he be interested in next?

It will never happen.

[working class hero]

Funnily enough he was at the Madstad yesterday.

Could this be a coup by Coppell?







































Or was he just there for the Royal Families Darts Night?

[Archie's penalty]

I'd have him back yesterday
More chance of Coppell playing the next game on the wing than Sidwell returning.
He's moved on - if he had another good season with us, who would he be interested in next?

It will never happen.

I agree it will never happen but it would be great if it did!

And for people writing off a 24 year old midfielder who has consistently performed at a high level (championship + 1 season prem) shame on you (I basically mean Woodcote here).

Everton would be amazing if Sidwell were to go to them. A team capable of finishing in the top four on merit.

[readingbedding]

I'd have him back yesterday
More chance of Coppell playing the next game on the wing than Sidwell returning.
He's moved on - if he had another good season with us, who would he be interested in next?

It will never happen.

I agree it will never happen but it would be great if it did!

And for people writing off a 24 year old midfielder who has consistently performed at a high level (championship + 1 season prem) shame on you (I basically mean Woodcote here).

Everton would be amazing if Sidwell were to go to them. A team capable of finishing in the top fourth on merit.

Some people don't rate him, that's fair enough.
I do, that's good enough for me...

I don't think Everton would be 'amazing' if Sidwell joined them, they already have a decent Midfield, and whatever you think of Sidwell, he is not in the same league as Cahill or Arteta.

[Schards#2]

Only the unemployed would have time to compile such a long list.

I'm obviously not a fan of Sidwell but WTF has he ever done at this level to justify such a ridiculous fee?

From what we've seen so far,

Sidwell >>>>>> 2 Faes.

True, but how many Hunts, Kitsons, Doyles and Longs?

Sidwell's current value is no more than £2m and falling fast as he drifts ever further from first team football.

For every Fae, Coppell has signed several players for next to nothing who have gone on to to be good players in the Premiership......................so, suggesting Sidwell, at £5m, would be good value is nothing short of laughable.

Didn't Sunderland offer £5 million odd for Hunt?

On that basis a £5 million valuation for Sidwell is entirely realistic.

[Archie's penalty]

I'd have him back yesterday
More chance of Coppell playing the next game on the wing than Sidwell returning.
He's moved on - if he had another good season with us, who would he be interested in next?

It will never happen.

I agree it will never happen but it would be great if it did!

And for people writing off a 24 year old midfielder who has consistently performed at a high level (championship + 1 season prem) shame on you (I basically mean Woodcote here).

Everton would be amazing if Sidwell were to go to them. A team capable of finishing in the top fourth on merit.

Some people don't rate him, that's fair enough.
I do, that's good enough for me...

I don't think Everton would be 'amazing' if Sidwell joined them, they already have a decent Midfield, and whatever you think of Sidwell, he is not in the same league as Cahill or Arteta.

Maybe I was a bit strong with my language. Everyone has a right to their own opinion.

I think that Sidwell would improve Everton. He would replace the ageing (but still effective Carsley) not Cahill or Arteta. I think he would fit their style of play, help them out defensively and attackingly and is the kind of player that Moyes can trust.

This is just my opinion of course.

My brother is a Blackburn supporter and they would love to have Sidwell. I think the same could be said for fans of Villa, Newcastle and West Ham.

[Alan Partridge]

I winced when i saw this thread, another Sidwell 10pager with Woodcote on his one man crusade.

Anyone thinking Sidwell wouldn't improve Reading FC isn't worth wasting your energy replying to.