Victor MeldrewRoyal Rother Blimey, how many ifs do you need to see us out of contention?
If Doyle and Bikey do go in January (notice you didn't mention SHunt!) then I think we will still have enough in the current squad to make the play-offs at worst, but with part of the likely £10m to come from those 2 (if sold) invested in a couple of new players (shut up Jay, just shut up) I'm confident we would have enough for Top 2 in most balanced assessors' minds.
(Of course if Brum, Sheff Utd, Wolves, QPR all go out and spend £15m each without selling anyone then that might change, but that's extremely unlikely.)
RR,
I couldn't give a toss about Hunt-the other two are of prime importance to our team.
Do you really feel that we would have the strike power in our current squad and a centre-back fit enough to replace Bikey?
Do you really think that the club would re-invest anything significant from incoming transfer fees ?
Oh ye of greater faith than many.
Would that you are right.
I have every confidence that, should Bikey and Doyle go in January, a combination of the existing squad and however much of the £10m incoming funds might be reinvested, would be enough to maintain a challenge. It's what Coppell does so well after all.
Pearce, Duberry (granted, fitness an issue) and Cisse are probably as good/better backup for CB than any of our competitors have at their disposal.
If anything is going to ignite Lita's passion in our colours it could be Doyle going. With Long and Mooney (plus Church and Bignall) in reserve plus a bit spent then, again, I suspect most other clubs would be envious of the talent / resources at our disposal.
Many of us thought (with very good reason) that MM would be a shining star in the Championship and he hasn't done anything yet, so with him finding his way back, Kebe improving all the time, competent squad back up in midfield in Karacan and Gunnarsson and other youngsters gaining valuable experience out on loan, once more, I think most other clubs would love to be in our position.
Obviously I'd rather our best players were not sold, (and personally I doubt they will be) but we are in a financial position where we don't NEED to sell in January to balance the books; I'm not sure the same can be said for our rivals for promotion (QPR excepted of course) who probably would feel they have more cause for caution in their optimism than Reading.
