Still confused about the Tommy Smith saga.

[Southbank Old Boy]

He is a player more than capable of scoring 10+ goals a season though, playing from all sorts of attacking positions

Thats exactly what we are missing at the moment

I think that makes it understandable why people make the link between him coming in and and probably improvment in our results, especially when rodgers got so much out of him last season (like he did McAnuf, and to a lesser extent rasiak)

[Ian Royal]

Can someone pleae clear this up for me.

Much as I'm in gloating heaven right now after the total failure of Rodgers, a part of me can't help thinking that had we got Tommy Smith things might've been very different indeed.

A lot of us agree that the finishing was a big problem and it is fair to say that Rodgers was fairly certain of bringing his man Tommy with him. We also know that Rasiak was NOT a replacement for TOmmy Smith but was planned anyway IN ADDITION.

This means that poor old Rodgers was left with a gaping hole in his plans for us.

It is therefore arguably the case that his failure, and our woeful league position, is largely (if not almost wholly) due to our inability to sign the vital part of Rodgers' jigsaw.

Yes. TS was absolutely integral to his plans from the start.

Who exactly was to blame for this? Was it NH? Ws it Madman? Was it Rodgers? Or was it just plain bad luck and we should have had a backup? I know there were many threds on this but I'm still unclear about this and regard it as quite an important issue.

Blame Pompey for gazumping us in this.

As soon as money was freed up by the sale of Hunt (I think!) we made an offer to Watford that matched the price they'd quoted to us. They immediately upped that price, and we matched that new price 2 days later and the deal was agreed.

Then Pompey stepped it - they may well have done the same regardless of the timing.

They'd have struggled seeing as they had a transfer embargo.

Sign of an idiot manager is piling your whole season on one player.

Would we be better off With TS? Yes. Would we be significantly up the table? I doubt it. If he'd have played centrally on his own I can't see him scoring enough more than Rasiak and Church have got to make up for them not playing. If he'd have played wide, we'd still have the same problem of one striker not scoring enough. Yes he'd have probably bagged a few. But enough? I doubt it.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

basically there was very little to no interest in Stephen Hunt until Hull came in for him. Hunt made it clear he wanted to go, and Smith was the replacement for him. The trouble was we had no money, and could not have Smith and Hunt on the same wage bill.

The other problem was Watford named their £1.8m price. we were naive and never bid that right until the last minute. He also trained with the players in the morning and we were due to unveil him in the afternoon. Portsmouth bid the same and he went there after training. If he hadn't trained we wouldn't have had this scenario.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

:roll: Yes, I know they're in the Prem. But until the last couple of games, they've been pretty poor themselves and wouldn't have looked out of place in the Championship!

He started for Pompey and then appears to have been dropped - probably because he's not actually that good. I think far too many people are using the Tommy Smith saga as an excuse.

How well did he start the season at Watford (who play in the same division as us) then RL? Was he also dropped and deemed 'not good enough' there too?

[RoyalBlue]

Blame Pompey for gazumping us in this.

As soon as money was freed up by the sale of Hunt (I think!) we made an offer to Watford that matched the price they'd quoted to us. They immediately upped that price, and we matched that new price 2 days later and the deal was agreed.

Then Pompey stepped it - they may well have done the same regardless of the timing.

Oh come off it!! Talk about trying to justify the unjustifiable!!

Why the hell would Pompey have hung around waiting for us to make a higher bid just to have the pleasure of gazumping us?!

Given they are PL and we are not, they could have put in a bid in the early stages and secured Smith. All things being equal in terms of price, he was always likely to opt for the lure of PL football.

However, IIRC they couldn't even afford to pay their players, let alone outbid us at the time that Hammond was dicking around with derisory offers. Had we offered sensible money at that stage, Smith would have signed on the dotted line and be training with us long before Pompey loomed over the horizon.

As for waiting for the Hunt deal to go through, just how many players did Madejski want to sell before being prepared to make a decent bid for Smith? Given he had irons in the fire with both Hunt and IIRC Bikey, he could surely have taken a slight flier on Smith, particularly as we have since been told there was always an intention to get McAnuff and Rasiak as well.

There is just one person to blame for us failing to get Smith and failing dismally in front of goal ever since as a consequence. He is also to blame for Rodgers failing.

Come out and take your usual bow John Tightarse Madejski!!

[AF2]

Can someone pleae clear this up for me.

Much as I'm in gloating heaven right now after the total failure of Rodgers

stopped reading here coz i knew the rest would be utter shit

[North Somerset Royal]

Reading make deadline £1.8M offer for Tommy Smith which is accepted.
Offer comes too late, Smith's head is turned at the last minute by the lure of Premier league football (higher wages)
Rodger's key transfer target is lost.

What deadline? Pompey gazumped us on Wed 26th August, 5 days before the deadline.

And how can you be so sure that Pompey wouldn't have gazumped us whenever the deal was done?

Pompey were not in a position to sign anybody until agrement was reached on the sale of the club and the completion of the takeover by Al Fahim Asia Associates. That did not happen until 26th August following which there was a flurry of activity by the club resulting in Smith and 7 other players being signed between 26th August and 1st September. It follows therefore that had Hammond offerred an acceptable price at the outset it would have been a done deal well before Pompey were in a position to gazump us.

[brendywendy]

As for waiting for the Hunt deal to go through, just how many players did Madejski want to sell before being prepared to make a decent bid for Smith?

as many as it took to balance the books so we could afford smith?

at the end of the day, its his money to throw down th edrain, or not- i dont have the cash for it, nor do you
no one else is interested in buying the club from JM- and as it stands hes doing the right things to keep us afloat on our own.
until we get some magical rich investor- this is the future
get used to it, and leave off the JM out bollox lest we force his hand and he sells to some fly by night cowboy who ends up being like th enew pompey ownermark 2

[Yorkshire Royal]

Blame Pompey for gazumping us in this.

As soon as money was freed up by the sale of Hunt (I think!) we made an offer to Watford that matched the price they'd quoted to us. They immediately upped that price, and we matched that new price 2 days later and the deal was agreed.

Then Pompey stepped it - they may well have done the same regardless of the timing.

Oh come off it!! Talk about trying to justify the unjustifiable!!

Why the hell would Pompey have hung around waiting for us to make a higher bid just to have the pleasure of gazumping us?!

Given they are PL and we are not, they could have put in a bid in the early stages and secured Smith. All things being equal in terms of price, he was always likely to opt for the lure of PL football.

However, IIRC they couldn't even afford to pay their players, let alone outbid us at the time that Hammond was dicking around with derisory offers. Had we offered sensible money at that stage, Smith would have signed on the dotted line and be training with us long before Pompey loomed over the horizon.

As for waiting for the Hunt deal to go through, just how many players did Madejski want to sell before being prepared to make a decent bid for Smith? Given he had irons in the fire with both Hunt and IIRC Bikey, he could surely have taken a slight flier on Smith, particularly as we have since been told there was always an intention to get McAnuff and Rasiak as well.

There is just one person to blame for us failing to get Smith and failing dismally in front of goal ever since as a consequence. He is also to blame for Rodgers failing.

Come out and take your usual bow John Tightarse Madejski!!

You really are a tedious idiot.

[Dorset-Knob]

Word is out that he is having a medical at the Madstad, apparently!

[Cookie]

Can someone pleae clear this up for me.

Much as I'm in gloating heaven right now after the total failure of Rodgers, a part of me can't help thinking that had we got Tommy Smith things might've been very different indeed.

A lot of us agree that the finishing was a big problem and it is fair to say that Rodgers was fairly certain of bringing his man Tommy with him. We also know that Rasiak was NOT a replacement for TOmmy Smith but was planned anyway IN ADDITION.

This means that poor old Rodgers was left with a gaping hole in his plans for us.

It is therefore arguably the case that his failure, and our woeful league position, is largely (if not almost wholly) due to our inability to sign the vital part of Rodgers' jigsaw.

Who exactly was to blame for this? Was it NH? Ws it Madman? Was it Rodgers? Or was it just plain bad luck and we should have had a backup? I know there were many threds on this but I'm still unclear about this and regard it as quite an important issue.

I've often thought that. Now we'll never know.

[Millsy]

Can someone pleae clear this up for me.

Much as I'm in gloating heaven right now after the total failure of Rodgers

stopped reading here coz i knew the rest would be utter shit

What the bit where despite my admitted bias I (uncharacteristicly for HNA) play fair and do a better job of sticking up for Rodgers than the combined might all his apologists put together?

[Dorset-Knob]

Can someone pleae clear this up for me.

Much as I'm in gloating heaven right now after the total failure of Rodgers

stopped reading here coz i knew the rest would be utter shit

What the bit where despite my admitted bias I (uncharacteristicly for HNA) play fair and do a better job of sticking up for Rodgers than the combined might all his apologists put together?

Can anybody else smell sanctimonious?

[Blue_Elm]

Can someone pleae clear this up for me.

Much as I'm in gloating heaven right now after the total failure of Rodgers, a part of me can't help thinking that had we got Tommy Smith things might've been very different indeed.

A lot of us agree that the finishing was a big problem and it is fair to say that Rodgers was fairly certain of bringing his man Tommy with him. We also know that Rasiak was NOT a replacement for TOmmy Smith but was planned anyway IN ADDITION.

This means that poor old Rodgers was left with a gaping hole in his plans for us.

It is therefore arguably the case that his failure, and our woeful league position, is largely (if not almost wholly) due to our inability to sign the vital part of Rodgers' jigsaw.

Who exactly was to blame for this? Was it NH? Ws it Madman? Was it Rodgers? Or was it just plain bad luck and we should have had a backup? I know there were many threds on this but I'm still unclear about this and regard it as quite an important issue.

Rodgers arrives, and targets Tommy Smith as an essential part of his plans.
Reading offer £500K and Sheffield Utd offer £1.8M
Sheffield Utd offer accepted by Watford, Reading offer laughed at.
Smith does not want to go to Sheffield Utd and holds out for an acceptable bid from Reading.
Reading offer £600K, offer is rejected by Watford and they point out that they have received an offer of £1.8M which they say is acceptable.
Watford reject all pathetic offers from Reading while tapping their watch. I think this continues for two weeks.
Reading make deadline £1.8M offer for Tommy Smith which is accepted.
Offer comes too late, Smith's head is turned at the last minute by the lure of Premier league football (higher wages)
Rodger's key transfer target is lost.

We tried to buy Smith as cheaply as possble and used his desire to come to Reading as leaverage with Watford. If we had matched the Sheffield Utd offer at the start then Smith would be a Reading player. Who is to blame?

Chairman,
Brendan,
Nick Hammond,

APPLAUSE IS REQUIRED