The truth about Royston...

[Ian Royal]

Genuinely a bit that Reading fans are backing Drenthe after what we've seen this season.

Really? I'm not in the least surprised that the bed-wetting fleece-wearing sycophants who make up our fanbase continue to be excited by Drenthe given his exotic sounding name and glamorous list of former employees. His lazy performances on the pitch mean nothing to those drones who queue up for hours outside the West Stand hoping to get their picture taken with Shaun Cummings.

He could be really good. He's got clear skill, pace and desire to take people on. But he has to get himself fit, play for the team not himself and provide an end product.

His performances this season aren't a million miles from Kebe's first season in the Championship with us, where he had frustratingly limited end product whilst frightening defenders. Obviously it's not exactly the same. But if Drenthe could be harnessed he could destroy the Championship.

Preference is to offload him, but chances are we're going to be stuck with the waster so we may as well try to get the best out of him. Even as he is it's not like we've got much in the way of better wingers outside McCleary.

And he's one of the very very few players at the club who can lift the fans with the promise of possibly making a difference when he comes on.

[3points]

Think you may be right Ian. If we can't move him on, then we should embrace him and nurture his natural talent. Get him match fit and work on his end product / decision making. If McCleary is sold in the summer and with Jobi gone, he's then competing with HRK, Obita and Blackman (possibly Jake Taylor as a right midfielder) for the wide berths.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Just sayin'

Thought he has sometimes looked decent when he's been allowed to play.

Bit of a run, bit of backing, perhaps things coulda worked out better.

Telling him to go f uck himself the minute he gets here; can't see Emilio Estivez using that speech for motivation in Mighty Ducks, fwiw.

Not sure about that, it seemed he could do no wrong for the first 10 games, people couldn't get enough of him.

I'm all for giving him another chance as he does have ability and things can change.
The heap of expectation at the start of the season has made his season seem even more disappointing.
Also the way people overrated his performances at the start of the season in matches just because of his real Madrid connection probably didn't help

I'm not talking about the fans.

[Snowball]

Think you may be right Ian. If we can't move him on, then we should embrace him and nurture his natural talent. Get him match fit and work on his end product / decision making. If McCleary is sold in the summer and with Jobi gone, he's then competing with HRK, Obita and Blackman (possibly Jake Taylor as a right midfielder) for the wide berths.

THIS

If he is fit and "loved" by the club/fans, told he's important to the team, if he gets back to 2/3 of what he did before Real Madrid/Everton
he could be awesome in the Championship.

[Hoop Blah]

I thought we probably should've seen more of him this season when we were struggling to break teams down and create chances.

Finding a way of playing him in a free role and having a system built around him is probably the only way to get much of a return from his undouted talent. Can Adkins do that in a similar way to Warnock did with Taarabt a few years back? I'm not sure he wants to, but if we've got a massive chunk of our wages going on him and Pogrebnyak then we should try and make the most of them.

Drenthe obviously has a responsibilty to make it happen as well though, but it could make for an entertaining team at times.

[Cape Town Royal]

I thought we probably should've seen more of him this season when we were struggling to break teams down and create chances.

Finding a way of playing him in a free role and having a system built around him is probably the only way to get much of a return from his undouted talent. Can Adkins do that in a similar way to Warnock did with Taarabt a few years back? I'm not sure he wants to, but if we've got a massive chunk of our wages going on him and Pogrebnyak then we should try and make the most of them.

Drenthe obviously has a responsibilty to make it happen as well though, but it could make for an entertaining team at times.

Well lets be honest unless a buyout happens sharpish, we are unlikely to be investing / holding onto our better players, so as long as we do not go down then a season with "run-about Royston" could be alot of fun..

Maybe we should get him watching lots of Taz of Tasmania Cartoons over the summer and then Nigel can just say to him.... "Be that man" ([size=50]Tasmanian devil!![/size])

[melonhead]

id happily be shot of him


but id also happily watch him next season too if we cant.
he is entertaining

[Ian Royal]

I thought we probably should've seen more of him this season when we were struggling to break teams down and create chances.

Finding a way of playing him in a free role and having a system built around him is probably the only way to get much of a return from his undouted talent. Can Adkins do that in a similar way to Warnock did with Taarabt a few years back? I'm not sure he wants to, but if we've got a massive chunk of our wages going on him and Pogrebnyak then we should try and make the most of them.

Drenthe obviously has a responsibilty to make it happen as well though, but it could make for an entertaining team at times.

Probably True. But when you've got ALF giving a reasonable return on goals, Pog huffing and puffing and Drenthe fannying about, playing Pog upfront and Drenthe in the hole isn't really the obvious choice to get the best out of your attacking resources.

Then again, Drenthe's not likely to last 90 minutes so switching him for Alfie on 65mins and changing the shape wouldn't have been an awful system.

If only we'd had any sort of continuity in midfield.

[floyd__streete]

id happily be shot of him


but id also happily watch him next season too if we cant.
he is entertaining

LOL you are Indecisive Dave from the Fast Show.

[Royal Lady]

If a player is breaking the rules of his contract I assume it is possible to "sack" him? A player who someone suggests above smokes shisha, goes drinking etc is surely not following the rules of his contract?

[Uke]

If a player is breaking the rules of his contract I assume it is possible to "sack" him? A player who someone suggests above smokes shisha, goes drinking etc is surely not following the rules of his contract?

Except the contract cannot apply to his personal conduct when he is not breaking any laws or bringing the club into disrepute

Would you like your employment contract to limit your wine consumption and have it policed?

[Royal Lady]

1. Wouldn't bother me as I work for Schards
2. I'm not employed as a professional sportsperson.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Strange, my post has been deleted. But as I said, players are contractors. Terms of termination will have to be in their contract, otherwise you have to honour it.

[Royal Lady]

Yeah I know, just thought there might be a clause about looking after themselves so to speak, with regard to fitness, diet that sort of thing.

[melonhead]

he
is
not
fat

[soggy biscuit]

he
is
not
fat

[maffff]

I wish I were as fat as Royston Drenthe

[melonhead]

he
is
not
fat

?!

hes got the most ripped 6 pack ive ever seen
if anything hes been in the gynm a little bit too much imo

[Royal Lady]

His backside is neary as big as mine for a start When I say "diet" I don't mean that he should go on one, but that what he eats and drinks may not be conducive to the ripped body of a professional footballer. #justsayin

[andrew1957]

I wonder what Drenthe's contract says - it was stated as being 2 years plus an option for a third.

That is ok if the option is in favour of the club - as we would not have to take it up - but what if the option is in favour of Drenthe if he plays so many games. If so one would imagine that he would have to play next season in the under 21's so that a third year is not triggered. When he was dropped earlier in the season it did occur to me that this issue could have something to do with it.

So we might have seen the last of him in the first team already. One can only hope that he does the decent thing and leaves this summer but that seems very unlikely.