Positional coverage next season

[brendywendy]

hunts comments on the OS seem to point to him staying
its all talk of getting back for preseason , and "we" etc
i thought he would definately go, not so sure now

[rhroyal]

This is what I wrote on another thread yesterday:

Doyle and Hunt have made good noises and I'm confident that no Reading players will start winging about going down like Jermaine Defoe, but if they get a chance to jump ship to another Premiership club they will take it. The ball is in the court of those who survived and won promotion this season.

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I stick by that. It's very nice of Hunt to say things like 'we' but if Sunderland come knocking he won't hang around, and we can't really have any complaints with that.

[brendywendy]

to be fair i reckon whoever did enough to persuade prem clubs they were good enough would go, if 5+ million is offered for any of them

[chandog]

Maybe a GK for when Federici goes to the olympics. Possibly seen as a long term replacement for USA
LB for sure as shorey is off
At least one winger as convey and little are too injury prone. Also hunt may well leave
Maybe a CM if bikey or Marek leave
Also replacement strikers depending on if we lose doyle kitson or lita

[East Stand Ste]

totally disagree....if we hold on to most of our players we will be absolutely flying in my opinion.

Have to disagree. The squad needs strengthening with at least 5 players at or close to Premiership standard. Otherwise we will languish around mid table next season.

[Bimace]

For a siddy type midfielder, that Ben Watson does look good for Crystal Palace but i don't see palace letting him go and they prob offer him more money than us but if we could get him he would be a good replacement for sidders. Hes ginger aswell

[double d]

for a GK we are getting Dean Gherkin (?) app i think he will be cover for Fed at the olypics at least them on loan somwhere he is a decent keeper apart from made some shocking mistakes least season and hes young

[Tinrib]

Am I alone in thinking we shoudl not spend big and try out the younger boys....surely we need somebody to come through the damn academy who can make it at least CCC level..........if Henderson can etc

would love to see that

would be viewed by many as a lack of ambition though

You'll never win anythng with kids...

[strider026]

Have to disagree. The squad needs strengthening with at least 5 players at or close to Premiership standard. Otherwise we will languish around mid table next season.

The problem is we could not attract PL quality players when we were in the PL so how you think we will attract PL quality players now that we are not in the PL intrigues me.

Although the signings Reading have had fell short of the expectations of the fans they have improved the club. The only real loss from the team that dominated the Championship is Sidwell. This team (minus Sidwell ) is better than the one that dominated the Champ.

The point of attracting good players is well taken. If you can't get them when in the Premier how can you get them now?

[Platypuss]

Although the signings Reading have had fell short of the expectations of the fans they have improved the club. The only real loss from the team that dominated the Championship is Sidwell. This team (minus Sidwell ) is better than the one that dominated the Champ.

I think you are ignoring the significant impact of a further 2 years round the track on bodies; some of which were already in their 30s when we went up.

Coppell's recent quote is also rather illuminating:

“The squad does not need rebuilding, but I look back and would say now that I had too many players.
“I have always been comfortable with smaller, tighter squads and I had too many players.
“Due to the way we train and the intensity levels we never have many injuries.
“We certainly have never had an injury crisis and I look back and maybe think in the transfer window I made the error of having too many players.
“I would have been better off finding one significant signing of better quality.”

However, WAAAP.

Due to the rigid wage structure at RFC, it is far easier for us to recruit lots of mediocre players on average wages, rather than a single player on high wages. The money for big transfer fees is there, but the pay structure is not.

[papereyes]

Although the signings Reading have had fell short of the expectations of the fans they have improved the club. The only real loss from the team that dominated the Championship is Sidwell. This team (minus Sidwell ) is better than the one that dominated the Champ.

Did we not learn that was not the case this season?

[Vision]

Although the signings Reading have had fell short of the expectations of the fans they have improved the club. The only real loss from the team that dominated the Championship is Sidwell. This team (minus Sidwell ) is better than the one that dominated the Champ

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Although the signings Reading have had fell short of the expectations of the fans they have improved the club. The only real loss from the team that dominated the Championship is Sidwell. This team (minus Sidwell ) is better than the one that dominated the Champ.

Did we not learn that was not the case this season?

From most of the postings on these boards the answer is a massive, massive no.

Remember, wanting us to spend money and sign players, makes you less of a fan.

[Vision]

From most of the postings on these boards the answer is a massive, massive no.
Remember, wanting us to spend money and sign players, makes you less of a fan.

Really?.

[Ian Royal]

We certainly need to weed out some of the chaff

Keepers - 2
Hahnemann, and one of Federici and Anderson
Fullbacks - 3-4
Rosenior, Murty, ..., - assuming Shorey is going,
Centrebacks - 6
Sonko, Ivar, Duberry, Cisse, Bikey, Pearce
Central midfield - 4 + Cisse
Harper, Marek, Gunnar, ...,
Wingers - 4
Hunt, Little, Convey, ...
Strikers - 4
Kitson, Lita, Doyle & Long

+ Hamer, Golbourne, Henry, Robson-Kanu, Karacan, Bozanic, Davies, Church, Illguson

Already gone: Halls, Brown, Bygrave, De La Cruz, Oster & Stack
Shirley these MUST go: Stack, Sodje, Fae
I'd also get rid of: One of Federici & Andersen + Osano & Kebe

That would give us a squad of 20 + 9 youngsters before new signings or 24 + youngsters after new signings. ignoring t h epossibility of anyone important other than Shorey leaving. Of course we'll keep Kebe. But hey that's the way I see it.

Of course the following season we'd almost certainly need to clear out Doobs, Murts, Gunnar and probably Little as well, or at the very least bring in replacements so they are only fringe squad players. Possibly the same for Hahnemann.

My thoughts from another thread that seem to fit in here.

[Ian Royal]

Although the signings Reading have had fell short of the expectations of the fans they have improved the club. The only real loss from the team that dominated the Championship is Sidwell. This team (minus Sidwell ) is better than the one that dominated the Champ.

Did we not learn that was not the case this season?

Plenty of the players we have now are better than when we were in the championship last time. Some are as good, some are not. We need to plug the big holes with a couple of real quality players and get rid of some of the chaff that serves little purpose other than bulking up the numbers. Then with quality around them the players who suffered from very poor form will significantly improve and return to something like the form they are capable of. That will be enough for the championship.

Getting it right is the hard part.