Predictions

[cmonurz]

I’m normally as negative as any, but I think we will be thereabouts this season. I think our awful form in the Premier League has done a disservice to the actual ability of some of our players – I think players like Bikey, Marek, Harper and Kitson will stand head and shoulders above most opponents they face next season, so let’s hope we can hold on to them.

That said, I don’t expect much transfer activity, and I am sure we will again see zero real chances for our young players. 4 or 5th, and a play-off semi-final defeat, I think.

And I think we'll win at Forest.

[brendywendy]

He is right though.

What is most damning is the five, six players that have been record signings. Other than short term successes with Lita and Convey, they have all been a bit poor. This coming at a time when we needed players to come in and improve the first team squad.

i dont know if lined up side by side there would be a huge ammount of difference in the two lists
but that is by the by.

seol was a short term success too

'greed about the the record signings

maybe what we need to do is make one horrendous cock up signing at ten million
then we wont have to worry about record signings for a good decade-leaving us to sign who we want without worrying about the "curse of the record signing"

Seol, Lita and Convey debatable. Just because Seol moved on, doesn't mean he was that successful here. Just because he was a fantastic dribbler and not all that bad a player, also, does not mean he was successful here. Convey has had one fantastic season then been out injured. That does not mean he was succesful here. Lita's Premiership career defines hit and miss.

They're not bad players, it's not a case of me 'hating' them. I just don't think you could ever describe the three of them as truly successful signings. Now, given they were all(or was Convey merely joint?) record signings, this isn't good reading, is it?

Its just that since we looked like going up, we have had 5 transfer windows and failed to bring in anyone, bar Duberry and maybe Matejovsky, who has really improved the side. That is 5 missed opportunities. Given that we went down, is there any point pretending that this isn't the case? Is the next, logical, step then to look at why this is the case?

id put bikey and rosenior in there aswell as improvements to the team
but i am aware that i may not be in the majority with my assessment of liam

[Sarah Star]

Coppell has already said he felt he was too loyal to some and didn't get in the quality players he should have done when the money was available. If he recognises these mistakes now then I expect him to do something about them before the season starts. If that happens, then I predict we will see some good new faces and some up and coming youngsters. We should also at least reach the play-offs so long as the team are confident and can play together as a team and get their passes right and shoot on target. In fact I don't see why we shouldn't if we keep the players we've got - Shorey and Fae excepted. I'd just like to see them play better because I know they can, they just need a bit more belief and a plan B in the face of adversity.

Anyway, it's up to the team to prove me wrong.

[brendywendy]

Preeictions ?? We will sell our most valuable assets and make a few millions maybe 12-15 and buy unkonown foreign guys coz they are cheap to buy and pay and use the alleged better academy coz they are cheap to pay.............................thus sums up Reading at the moment.............do anything as long as it is cheap !

i think the lack of a presence at euro 2008 shows we may well be looking to buy british players in this season-looking at the squad-if blatters 6/5 rule comes in we'd be fcuked if we brought a load of foreigners in again

[papereyes]

id put bikey and rosenior in there aswell as improvements to the team
but i am aware that i may not be in the majority with my assessment of liam

Really? Bikey's good but hasn't had an extended run in the side in about two years while Rosenior had his moments but also was responsible, directly responsible, for some absolutely shoddy goals conceded. Until Murty's injury, neither had really pressed for a starting position this season in spite of their ability.

And, importantly in the context of the post, the pair were neither record signings. But as ~ £1 million, we could count them, as well as Cisse. Who, again, for all the potential has not set the Madejski on fire.

All three certainly have the potential to, but really have not yet, have they?

Of course we needed probably one more player, but even then there we no guarantees.

I've just cut out the important bit, where you said you agreed with me. The rest was just window-dressing, wasn't it?

[brendywendy]

predictions:

we sell shorey, hunt, harps, and doyle/lita for 10-15 million + players
we bring in some young, hungry british players
have a shakey start to the season, but come on strong at the end to finish well into the play off places

i disagree with the bikey comments

thought he never let us down
always looked good enough, sometimes awesome, and one of the biggest failings of coppell all season was not putting him in, and keeping him there sooner than he eventually did

i kinda agree that the rest are works in progress-im hoping that liam, cisse etc will really step up this season-but it is just hope

[papereyes]

i disagree with the bikey comments

thought he never let us down
always looked good enough, sometimes awesome, and one of the biggest failings of coppell all season was not putting him in , and keeping him there sooner than he eventually did

i kinda agree that the rest are works in progress-im hoping that liam, cisse etc will really step up this season-but it is just hope

which is basically what I just said, so how in the name of all that is holy can you disagree with it?

Bikey's good but hasn't had an extended run in the side in about two years

[Roger the Rabbit]

Of course we needed probably one more player, but even then there we no guarantees.

I've just cut out the important bit, where you said you agreed with me. The rest was just window-dressing, wasn't it?

I don;t think buying Mateyovsky was just window dressing, although clearly you don;t consider him of any significance !

The fact that even the highest profile manager with an unlimited budget is not guaranteed success is also hardly window dressing !

[papereyes]

Of course we needed probably one more player, but even then there we no guarantees.

I've just cut out the important bit, where you said you agreed with me. The rest was just window-dressing, wasn't it?

I don;t think buying Mateyovsky was just window dressing, although clearly you don;t consider him of any significance !

The fact that even the highest profile manager with an unlimited budget is not guaranteed success is also hardly window dressing !

Nope, that you agreed that we needed more players, but the rest of your post was an irrelevence to make it seem like you had something valid and important to say.

Which you still don't seem to ...

[brendywendy]

i disagree with the bikey comments

thought he never let us down
always looked good enough, sometimes awesome, and one of the biggest failings of coppell all season was not putting him in , and keeping him there sooner than he eventually did

i kinda agree that the rest are works in progress-im hoping that liam, cisse etc will really step up this season-but it is just hope

which is basically what I just said, so how in the name of all that is holy can you disagree with it?

Bikey's good but hasn't had an extended run in the side in about two years

so tetchy!

i meant i dont judge that as bikey being not good enough,he would have improved the team all season- (the only bit of disagreement i had)
it was only coppells failing -i dont think bikey ever looked anything worse than our second best CB all year

[papereyes]

i meant i dont judge that as bikey being not good enough

Neither did I.

Bikey's good but hasn't had an extended run in the side in about two years

However, you can say that he has not improved the side (as in the XI on the pitch) as for whatever reason, he has not made it onto said pitch as much as we'd hoped.

[brendywendy]

you can say that yes
i think he has always improved the side-not his fault if no one in th emanagement team thought so
but ok, i agree

[Vision]

and being SHOCKING in the transfer market. Coppell had 1 fantastic summer in terms of recruitment, Reading went up. Apart from that, his bad signings FAR outweigh his good ones.

Ingimarrsson, Convey, Kitson, Sonko. All pivotal members of our promotion campaign and bought by Coppell outside the timeframe you suggest. We had this discussion a little while back and all of Coppell's signings were listed. Not sure many actually concluded that his "bad signings FAR outweigh his good ones.

Seol, Lita and Convey debatable. Just because Seol moved on, doesn't mean he was that successful here. Just because he was a fantastic dribbler and not all that bad a player, also, does not mean he was successful here. Convey has had one fantastic season then been out injured. That does not mean he was succesful here. Lita's Premiership career defines hit and miss.
They're not bad players, it's not a case of me 'hating' them. I just don't think you could ever describe the three of them as truly successful signings. Now, given they were all(or was Convey merely joint?) record signings, this isn't good reading, is it?

Probably won't surprise you but i disagree

Frankly any signing that contributed to our promotion campaign and played even a bit part in the following seasons incredible 8th place Premier League finish is a successful signing in my book. Convey & Lita tick those boxes for me.

Its just that since we looked like going up, we have had 5 transfer windows and failed to bring in anyone, bar Duberry and maybe Matejovsky, who has really improved the side. That is 5 missed opportunities. Given that we went down, is there any point pretending that this isn't the case? Is the next, logical, step then to look at why this is the case?

Agree and i think a lot of it comes down to Coppell's (lack of)communication with new signings particularly those that are record signings. They may expect to walk straight into the side yet Coppell doesn't work that way and certainly both Halford and Fae alluded to the fact that they were "record signings" and couldn't understand their lack of 1st team opportunities.

One thing I will add though is that although they're "record signings" for us its still pretty much small change when compared to the record signings of the clubs we were competing against. Seol is a good example in that 1.5m equalled our transfer record yet basically he was bought in as cover for Little & Convey. In an ideal world our "record signing" wouldn't have been considered 1st choice in Coppells best 11. He covered for Little at the start of the season and contributed fully in the first half of that season so whilst not necessarily a success as a record signing i'd still argue that he contributed in terms of being cover.

You only have to look at the player that we've failed to replace as an example of the difficulties Coppell faces. Despite spending most of the season in Chelsea's reserve team Sidwell is still the subject of the attentions of 3 top half premier league clubs all prepared to pay around 5m + i'd guess over 30k a week for his services. For whatever reason we're just not in a position to compete for that calibre of player.

[papereyes]

Just as a clarification, my point with 'record signings' is that, rightly or wrongly, they are going to be seen as players who should come in and directly challenge for a first team spot.

But I agree with most of your third point.

[Hoop Blah]

Just as a clarification, my point with 'record signings' is that, rightly or wrongly, they are going to be seen as players who should come in and directly challenge for a first team spot.

But I agree with most of your third point.

Although I agree with Vision that anyone who contributed to the two best seasons in the clubs history could be considered to be a successful signing, I think it all depends on the job they were bought in to do.

Seol was pretty much bought in as cover for our two outstanding wingers from the previous season and his contribution was pretty good. However, long term he'd still be considered a failed signing by many, and possibly rightly so, because hewasn't just bought to play a part for a few months and then become a pain in the arse for the manager.

[Roger the Rabbit]

Nope, that you agreed that we needed more players, but the rest of your post was an irrelevence to make it seem like you had something valid and important to say.

Which you still don't seem to ...

I wouldn't flatter yourself that any of this is 'important' !!

If you disagree with my comment it also doesn't make it invalid.

I'm also not going to get into personal insults, they are neither relevant nor valid.

[papereyes]

Nope, that you agreed that we needed more players, but the rest of your post was an irrelevence to make it seem like you had something valid and important to say.

Which you still don't seem to ...

I wouldn't flatter yourself that any of this is 'important' !!

I had read you posts and worked that out for myself. But thanks for the feedback.

If you disagree with my comment it also doesn't make it invalid.

No, the important thing about your Scolari comment was that it was irrelevent. But, again, thanks for taking the time to add it to your post.

[Roger the Rabbit]

No, the important thing about your Scolari comment was that it was irrelevent. But, again, thanks for taking the time to add it to your post.

You seem to confuse your inability to take comments on board with 'irrelevance'

never mind, I'm sure neither of us will lose sleep over the lack of real dialogue. I'll comfort myself with the knowledge that any irrelevance in my posts has been more than offset by the pointlessness of your follow ups.

Is an irrelevant smiley compulsory on these sort of tangents ?

[brendywendy]

No, the important thing about your Scolari comment was that it was irrelevent. But, again, thanks for taking the time to add it to your post.

You seem to confuse your inability to take comments on board with 'irrelevance'

never mind, I'm sure neither of us will lose sleep over the lack of real dialogue. I'll comfort myself with the knowledge that any irrelevance in my posts has been more than offset by the pointlessness of your follow ups.

Is an irrelevant smiley compulsory on these sort of tangents ?

of course

[papereyes]

No, the important thing about your Scolari comment was that it was irrelevent. But, again, thanks for taking the time to add it to your post.

You seem to confuse your inability to take comments on board with 'irrelevance'

No, it was irrelevent. At the heart of this, you agreed with my point and added a load of meandering, irrelvent rubbish. I merely pointed this out to you and you have been unable to drop it.

I think one should deal with that and move on, shouldn't you.