Bring on the youth

[Jeffers217]

Probably a good thing to do from a business point of view. We are probably gonna lose any or all of Long, Kebe, McAnuff and Feds over the summer. It would be wise to see what if anything of value we have to replace them from within.

Is McAnuff consistent enough to play in the premiership?! In fact could any of those players cut it up there? Looking at the quality of strikers in the premiership, I would say a definate no for Long

[Libertine]

As far as Long goes...as someone else noted here he'd probably take his chances riding the pine, waiting for his chance, with a PL league team rather than giving it another go with Reading. I am sure every player wants their shot at the big time and at this point I would doubt he'd turn it down if the opportunity arose. Which I feel it will over the summer.

I do think Feds is gone too. As far as Kebe and Jobi go...there might be a PL team who would be willing to take a punt on them. Or even a squad in our current league which just needs a bit more depth and talent to make the jump to the PL. The key was not improving the squad in the transfer window. If Long and or Feds leave without being replaced I think others will want to move to teams with a better chance of being promoted even if they can't hook on with a PL squad. SJM treats RFC as a business why wouldn't the players?

[Plymouth_Royal]

Good point, Victor. The key word in my post is, of course, 'potential' but Jem is one case in point. Let us hope that my faith in the future is justified.

Jem came from Wimbledon youth when he was 15 I think

[RFCMod]

And heres me expecting a thread on a call to arms for Big Foot

[Tony Le Mesmer]

So you believe our youth need a chance, but also that we should acquire expensive loan signings that would presumably be in the team ahead of our young players?

Leicester City Policy well well 18 points behind us in September where are they now prostak ?

sheffield utd policy for the last 3 years well well
look at them now

[leicsRoyal]

And Sheff Utd had about 30 million more than anybody else!

Now that would give us something to moan about!

[under the tin]

As far as Long goes...as someone else noted here he'd probably take his chances riding the pine, waiting for his chance, with a PL league team rather than giving it another go with Reading. I am sure every player wants their shot at the big time and at this point I would doubt he'd turn it down if the opportunity arose. Which I feel it will over the summer.

I do think Feds is gone too. As far as Kebe and Jobi go...there might be a PL team who would be willing to take a punt on them. Or even a squad in our current league which just needs a bit more depth and talent to make the jump to the PL. The key was not improving the squad in the transfer window. If Long and or Feds leave without being replaced I think others will want to move to teams with a better chance of being promoted even if they can't hook on with a PL squad. SJM treats RFC as a business why wouldn't the players?

^^^^^^^Totally agree.
They are ambitious competitive sportsmen.
I can still remember Nick Shorey saying after signing a new contract "this club's heading in the right direction"
Reading are in transition, at best treading water.
I've got a sneaky feeling that you couldadd Mills to that list as well. Shades of Rosenior there.

[SCIAG]

James Rowe - I think he's injured... not sure though.
Lawson D'Ath - Best player this season for the Academy but again needs league experience before having all that pressure on him in our first team.

Rowe is awful, if he ever plays for us then we are in big trouble.
I don't think anyone "needs" league experience. Josh McEachran has only played for Chelsea. Phil Jones has only played for Blackburn. Jack Rodwell has only played for Everton. If they can play in the PL, someone like D'Ath could be fine in the Championship.

Good point, Victor. The key word in my post is, of course, 'potential' but Jem is one case in point. Let us hope that my faith in the future is justified.

Jem came from Wimbledon youth when he was 15 I think

Jem had been floating around, having trials with loads of sides, between the ages of 14 and 15. He was with Man United when we signed him (though he had no contract or anything with them).

I'd like to see Taylor or D'Ath in the Gylfi role (preferably D'Ath because he seems to be in better form), Cummings given a run at right back, and Antonio being the substitute used from the bench instead of HRK. That's partly to give youth a chance, but also because Taylor or D'Ath would be better than a square peg like Hunt or Howard, Cummings has been better than Griffin all season, and Antonio looks more dangerous. It might even be worth picking McCarthy ahead of Feds, because we're going to sell Federici anyway.

[floyd__streete]

How times have changed!

A few years ago, we had such a paucity of young players with potential that we would have been unable to have a discussion. Thankfully we now have an enviable Academy setup which has a supply of decent players.

The future is bright; the future is blue and white hoops!

Good to see the club reading the forum and making the effort to register .

The Academy has begun to bear fruit, but do we really think that the likes of Karacan, Robson-Kanu and Julian Kelly are going to make top Championship players?

[brendywendy]

out of those id say karacan will

HRK may, and i have no idea about kelly

[Hoop Blah]

I agree with the general idea of using the end of this season to test out a few of the squad players, especially those youngsters we've not seen much of or who might be younger, quicker and longer term options. Players like Morrison, Taylor, even Obita.

We have to be careful not to make too many changes though or that will in turn take an edge of the general attitude of the squad anyway. That'll make it more difficult for the young players to perform.

Not sure I really agree with the idea that the academy is now producing better players because they're involved more. I think that's more down to the slow reduction in quality of the squad and team. Would many of the kids knocking on the door knocked on the door in the past?

That's not to say they aren't going to be decent players. Hopefully they are, but appearing for international age group teams and getting some rave reviews on the clubs website doesn't make them decent Championship players by default.

[under the tin]

I think a season like this is the ideal opportunity for any manager.
Brian needs to do some soul searching on how he sees the future Reading side.
That means (to me at least) that he has to decide who will form the spine of the side in years to come.
FWIW, I think that it is pointless for him to continue to play those who are approaching the end of their careers.
Gunnar, Ingi, Harte, even Griffin and Zurab fall into this category.
It is also no secret that he will have a very tight budget for the forseeable future, and will have to horse trade in order to get fresh blood in. These players mentioned are obvious candidates when looking at making savings on the wageroll.
On top of this, he will have to look at the squad as a whole. I think that most of us watching can agree that there are too many "squad" players on the books, who are not pushing hard enough for a starting place.
For me, HRK, Tabb, Howard, and Church fall into this category.

I think that most of us can reconcile the inevitability of the departure of a few of our stars in the summer.
I expect Brian is even more aware than we are of the changes coming, and I think that he's a better manager than those that would not exploit a dead rubber to start planning for the future.
He will have some tough decisions to make in the summer, and little in the way of funds.
Playing raw kids is not the way to go, but assessing the strength of the squad as a whole before deciding who will go, and who will stay probably is, IMO.

[loyalroyal7]

come the summer i would expect we will sell the decent players bringing in a at least 10-14 mill for long kebe karacan feds, with this i would love to see some put back into the team as its not going to cost loads to get playoffs as so many teams do nowadays i think why have a youth set up if chances are limited and even more so why but players who you wont even sit on the bench . it may be that yes mcd is a decent enough bloke who clearly knows his football but he isnt winning games maybe time for a change?

[Hoop Blah]

Is Karacan's contract up this summer?

I've had a quick search and I can't see anything to say he's signed a new one this season, and I don't remember it happening, so as far as I can tell he's going to be out of contract this summer. Obviously we'd get compensation if he were to leave, but that's never up with the market value, especially with the kind of fee's Hammond has been able to get for us, and obviously we wouldn't be in control of any decisions.

I think he's got limitations, but if he goes as well this year we're missing one of the potential mainstays of a young side.

[Snowball]

I thought Karacan extended just after Gylfi was sold?

[andrew1957]

I thought Karacan extended just after Gylfi was sold?

Correct -Karacan extended to end 2013.

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDet ... 48,00.html

[Hoop Blah]

Good!

[andrew1957]

It is often said that RFC are a "young" side but if you look at the respective ages of the starting 11's against Watford it does make interesting reading.

Watford played an 18 year old, three 19 year olds and two 22 year olds plus some older players - average age 23.45

Our youngest starters were Shane Long and Matt Mills at 24 and the average age was 27.64.

Maybe we could do worse than give some of the younger players more starts.

[floyd__streete]

out of those id say karacan will

HRK may, and i have no idea about kelly

I was of course being provocative in saying Karacan . And none of you really took the b8, I am finished.

In reality, whilst Karacan does my crust in with his wasteful distribution, he does the ugly part of the game better than anyone else. Bar Leigertwood*, sadly and there is the rub. Jem should probably take solace in the fact that the club will presmuably be 'unable' to secure Leigertwood's services full time after May. Unless we let QPR have McAnuff in part excahnge - hurrah!

* = might open a pub in town called Bar Leigertwood actually. Becoming one of our best loan players ever, isn't he.....

[brendywendy]

he'll be learning alot from him while hes here though.


i like to play the karacan Vs Ledge game when they play together, and monitor their workrates and end product
id estimate karacan gets through twice as much movement around the pitch, and at around twice the unfrenetic pace of ledge
but ledge ends up achieving twice as much.