New Club Captain - Jem Karacan

[SCIAG]

Karacan will lead by example with the amount of effort he puts in, would've gone with Pearce personally but Jem is definitely a very good alternative.

Yeah, I agree with this. I would have preferred Pearce but Karacan was a strong second choice.

Karacan's "injury record" is partly down to style of play, and partly down to being targeted by opposition players (see also: Kitson, Dave). I don't remember him having any reoccurring muscle injuries or anything, he just needs to stop going in for challenges on the stretch (and maybe stop playing against Leeds).

But if he does keep getting injured, then fortunately he has a natural deputy...

[jazz]

He's a Turk by blood, resolute, committed and loads other good qualities. Perhaps now he'll calm down on the 50/50s and place more emphasis on mobility, recognising the need to stay on the pitch to lead. The only alternative for me would be Morro.

He's a Turk by blood? WTF does that have to do with it?! What an odd thing to say...

Ever heard the expression "Young Turk"? Says it.

[glass half full]

Should've been Pearce. Articulate, passionate, Reading boy. Comes across brilliantly on radio but I don't know how well he leads others.

Concern with Jem is he's injury prone.

One of his injuries was as a result of a diabolical Michael Brown tackle which would have laid anyone low.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

A surprise appointment considering he is still coming back from injury.

That said, Jem is a good team player who wears the blue and white hoops with pride.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Should've been Pearce. Articulate, passionate, Reading boy. Comes across brilliantly on radio but I don't know how well he leads others.

Concern with Jem is he's injury prone.

Tbf, he has been victim of two quite horrendous tackles rather than missing long spells with niggles and fitness.

[Nameless]

Wasn't the second one the result of his own poor tackle though ?

As for being a 'Young Turk', isn't he only half a young Turk ?

[BR2]

A good appointment.
One of ours in that he has come through the ranks and I don't know anybody (as fans) who dislikes him.
Pearce and Morrison on the other hand are not the most popular and ideally we will be replacing them anyway.
ON the pitch I feel that the position is massively over-rated but OFF the pitch there is quite a lot to do as the representative of the playing side of the club so good luck to him and it is good news that he will be fit for the new season-a limited player like Parky was ,all heart and passion, but good to have one of those in our side.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I think the important thing here is that he will always be in the side, regardless of formation.

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

I can't believe this thread has got to three pages and nobody has mentioned how utterly #FLAAAAAAAMMMMEEZZZZZ this is.

[handbags_harris]

when the Jury is very much out on something, it can hardly be described as #flamez can it? never struck me as captain's material, I certainly don't buy into the whole "he puts effort in so leads by example" theory. That is the very least he should be doing. Time will tell whether he's up to the job, I don't think it's agreat appointment at this stage but then again I didn't think McAnuff was a good appointment and he turned out to be one of the best captain's this club has ever had.

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

when the Jury is very much out on something, it can hardly be described as #flamez can it? never struck me as captain's material, I certainly don't buy into the whole "he puts effort in so leads by example" theory. That is the very least he should be doing. Time will tell whether he's up to the job, I don't think it's agreat appointment at this stage but then again I didn't think McAnuff was a good appointment and he turned out to be one of the best captain's this club has ever had.

My #FLAMES facetiousness didn't come across at all - forgive me.

I think he's got some great attributes as somewhere between a ball winner/box to box midfielder etc, but i'm also skeptical as to him being captain material (yes i'm pleased for him and he's an academy lad etc etc blah blah).

I've seen the multitude of video clips of him acting the clown (again, on it's own - fair enough...), but reading his twitter feed is like reading that of an illiterate 14 year old, coupled with a few stories I've heard of him acting like an ubertw@t on a night out (getting his mates to 'front up' to people who were looking at him 'wrong' etc), and i think overall he's probably a bit of a bell end.

Good luck to him though.

[maffff]

The stories about him fronting up and acting a bit of an oxf*rd are from quite a while ago. By all accounts he's calmed down most of that now.

Him and Morro would annoy the hell out of me to work with tbf, but different culture and environments I guess...

[Pepe the Horseman]

I expect the club will ask him to cut down on his twitter shit, so it's good news all round.

[JakeTheRoyal]

He's the leader of a group of footballers. If he is well liked then the players will want to play well for him. I don't see the problem if he's not the most literate of people, what footballers are.

[sandman]

when the Jury is very much out on something, it can hardly be described as #flamez can it? never struck me as captain's material, I certainly don't buy into the whole "he puts effort in so leads by example" theory. That is the very least he should be doing. Time will tell whether he's up to the job, I don't think it's agreat appointment at this stage but then again I didn't think McAnuff was a good appointment and he turned out to be one of the best captain's this club has ever had.

My #FLAMES facetiousness didn't come across at all - forgive me.

I think he's got some great attributes as somewhere between a ball winner/box to box midfielder etc, but i'm also skeptical as to him being captain material (yes i'm pleased for him and he's an academy lad etc etc blah blah).

I've seen the multitude of video clips of him acting the clown (again, on it's own - fair enough...), but reading his twitter feed is like reading that of an illiterate 14 year old, coupled with a few stories I've heard of him acting like an ubertw@t on a night out (getting his mates to 'front up' to people who were looking at him 'wrong' etc), and i think overall he's probably a bit of a bell end.

Good luck to him though.

How many people see a footballer on a night out and hang around and pester them, especially in a town like Reading?

So some people say he's done things on a night out, bet they don't say what they did themselves that could have led to that reaction.

[Maguire]

He's the leader of a group of footballers. If he is well liked then the players will want to play well for him. I don't see the problem if he's not the most literate of people, what footballers are.

Strikes me as a horrible chav bellend by then most footballers are so perhaps they'll enjoy being led by one of their own.

[melonhead]

Wow. Pleased for him but he has never struck me as a leader. For me, Pearce > Guthrie > Gunter > Morrison > Karacan in the leadership stakes. Hopefully Jem will rise to it, but I'm baffled by this decision. Who will be captain for the 30 games he isn't fit for?

Guthrie ? A leader ?

agreed lol

[melonhead]

Karacan, Guthrie, Williams in a 3 - that's the midfield sorted.

has the potential to be gr8

[melonhead]

Karacan, Guthrie, Williams in a 3 - that's the midfield sorted.

Unfortunately I don't think Karacan works in that set up. We need a proper defensive midfielder in there who can break up play and protect our one-paced center backs. Both Guthrie and Williams are too much of a liability to play that role and frankly would be wasted just sitting back.

I suppose it depends on our ambition, but ultimately we'll have to acknowledge that we need players with more than just heart, we need quality and proven ability to play at the higher levels.

IMHO, out of our squad only the below would be good enough for a Premier League team:

McCarthy
Williams
Guthrie
McCleary
HRK (on his day)
Pog

that IS karacan

[ZacNaloen]

He also fit enough to turn up late outside the box and bang one in from 20 yards though.