Nick Blackman

[Extended-Phenotype]

When they were shit and deserved criticism.

[CountryRoyal]

Exactly. AFAIK snowers probs said that Karl Shepphard, Marcus Williams... Etc will "come good". If you say it enough one day you might be right.

[Ian Royal]

The poll was created before he started turning on the magic.

We all know the poll was created before and during Clarke's rebuild of the squad. But maybe it would make a better read to discuss things looking forward instead of trawling over the mistakes of the previous owners a that clown Adkins.

I agree. So lets talk about now.

Is there really that much to talk about other than agreeing that Blackman was played out of position in an unmotivated team going through hell due to ownership issues? Adkins playing at being a top flight manager talking the talk without the walk. Clarke coming in and having to play Pog to give us a chance of off loading him from the wage bill before his rebuild could really begin. All the while Blackman frustrated but Clarke confirming he was in his plans. This while Clarke last season had to manage "part of the furniture" players and back room staff having far too much influence over the dressing room. I watched as Clarke spent his time last season looking at the squad, running down contracts, spotting the competition's weaknesses in perpetration for promotion during this season. SC's main objective last season was to keep us in the division while the owners steadied our finances. Nick Blackman is and more than likely always has been very much part of this squad and SC plans.

The two things worth discussing now and going forward is when and who will replace Nick Blackman if his form dips and would you offer Blackman a new contract.

Sa for the main attacker role, McCleary for the right sided forward. If he's still doing this in December, yes. Obviously.

I don't agree with all of the rest of the post, but as I said, not much point in rehashing what went before.

[From Despair To Where?]

I'm sure most posters could trawl their posting history and find similar quotes from themselves about Blackman (yes, even Ian). I'm confident I could and I'm pretty sure they'd be a bit more positive and supportive than "that miss wasn't as bad as I thought".

There are very, very few posters who have been unrelentingly negative towards him. This run of form is long overdue and just because he is now playing well, it doesn't make criticisms of him in the past any less valid.

You reckon? Go try to find me ever saying he was sh!t.

Of course not every post on him by me is going to say he's Jesus Christ
but I AM on record of saying he will come good as far back as 2013.

Need me to quote you again?

Try reading the post you've quoted again.

I think we've all been here long enough to know that snowball only sees validity in his own little world view and and then dives into semantics when he has no comeback. Everyone else is always wrong, even when they're agreeing with him.

Personally, I'm usually pretty positive about all our players because if you look at anyone who's played for us in the last 10 years, compared to some of the dross that pulled on the shirt in the late 80's and early 90's, they're all worldbeaters.

[Snowball]

Exactly. AFAIK snowers probs said that Karl Shepphard, Marcus Williams... Etc will "come good". If you say it enough one day you might be right.

Except I didn't


Nor did I ever say I rated Church. I said he lacked courage.

And yes, I was in a lonely corner over Shane Long but I'm NOT saying the same over Blackman.

I merely answered the question, "Where were you when he was shit?" and pointed out that IMO He never was shit, just that he wasn't playing well (which is very different).

Now as a footballer *I* really am shit. Blackman isn't nor has he been over the last five years

[Woodcote Royal]

Literally who oxf*rd cares what you said 2 years ago.

Not those who were talking utter bollox 2 years ago

[SCIAG]

Nor did I ever say I rated Church.

In one of your most recent posts about him, you say he could score a goal every 180 minutes at this level with the right service. That's 23 goals a season. I think that constitutes "rating" him.

[CountryRoyal]

Exactly. AFAIK snowers probs said that Karl Shepphard, Marcus Williams... Etc will "come good". If you say it enough one day you might be right.

I merely answered the question, "Where were you when he was shit?" and pointed out that IMO He never was shit, just that he wasn't playing well (which is very different).

Now as a footballer *I* really am shit. Blackman isn't nor has he been over the last five years

If you are going to argue a point based on pedantry then at least do it consistently.

Are you suggesting that in no stage of Nick Blackman's life has he ever been worse than you at football, say even when he was in a diaper and you a grown adult?

Just saying.

When someone says a footballer is "shit" it's not only subjective, but entirely relative and circumstantial. Ftr everyone who said Blackman was shit before this season were perfectly justified in their opinion as he was producing very little to contradict it.

[RoyallyFcuked]

It's funny how when this thread was started the majority of us, including myself, said no we didn't rate him. Perhaps this was a little unfair as many of us could see that he had potential but hadn't really been given a run of games in the team in his favoured position. Then again when he had played he hadn't come close to proving he was good enough so we weren't exactly wrong to say it at the time either.

Often when a club gets some better quality players in and there's more competition for places it brings out the best in some players who were already at the club. Obviously it also helps to have better players around you and in this case credit has to go the manager for the transfer window, his system and his motivation of players like Blackman. I think all the players now know they are there because Clarke wants them there and believes they are good enough to part of the squad to take us back to the Premier League, and that in itself has been a massive boost.

Also noticed Blackman seems to have become more modest but still has that little bit of swagger and character about him which as long as your doing well is great to have and fans like it, it was just that the last couple of seasons he appeared to be a bit cocky without having much reason to be so and that's what fans don't like. You just have to say fair play to him because this season he has really shown what he can do and it's like having another new signing, so lets just be happy. I love Nick Blackman now.

[Ouroboros]

And yes, I was in a lonely corner over Shane Long

Some would call you a hero.

[Woodcote Royal]

Ftr everyone who said Blackman was shit before this season were perfectly justified in their opinion as he was producing very little to contradict it.

Err, no. They were expressing typical supporter "shit" about a player yet to enter the bosom of the East Stand.

Go find a post slagging off Shorey for having a bad game before he decided he wanted to go to West Ham. For many fans he never had one and Hughes rarely had a good one.

Blackman has been a revelation this season and I can't recall anyone predicting this would happen but there were always glimpses of genuine ability within generally disappointing performances.

Furthermore, and to be fair to him, he has always maintained that he is not a winger and in a side that usually struggled for goals even though we had at least 2 well paid strikers who rarely delivered, Blackman was never given a decent run in the side in what he considered to be his proper position.

The real plonker in all of this was the over promoted physio Nigel Adkins. The tactical pygmy who only had one way he wanted to play yet never got off first base in his attempts to put it into practice.

Adkins always said he wanted nice crisp passing throughout the side yet we mostly got the ball being passed amongst the back four until someone got bored and hoofed it aimlessly up field

I can't be alone in thinking that Clarke has implemented much of what Adkins always maintaned he wanted to see. Watch and weep, Nige

[Green]

Why is "having an opinion" positive?

You must be new around here.

It's a discussion board Snowball, it's kind of the point.

[winchester_royal]

The (not so) funny thing is though - Blackman really was never that bad a player. He's always shown quality in the time that he's been here. Granted that they weren't as frequent as they are in his current vein of form, but for me he was never deserving of the stick he used to get. He was just the the bloke who Reading fans most related to with the downfall of the club from Jan '13 onwards, and were therefore always willing to jump on his mistakes far quicker than those others made.

Saying that, the way he used to strut around the field didn't really help things as that was (IMO) misconstrued as bad attitude and laziness. Two things that Reading fans don't warm to, regardless of the ability of the player (see Seol).

HRK currently has the same issue. He really is never as bad as people try to make out, often puts in solid (if unspectacular) performances, but because he's the guy we all love to hate on atm he'll get plenty of stick irrespective of the performance he puts in.

Reading fans aren't alone in this of course, and I'm not really sure what the above post adds to the argument, I guess the main crux of it is that he was never that bad, his potential was always clear, and perhaps going forward we should abuse these young guys less just because they don't turn out to be world beaters straight away.

[Maguire]

Have people forgotten that Shane Long turned out to be shit?

Very modest scoring record for Reading, one decent season in which he scored a few pens, then probably no more than 30 goals in total since he left us.

Also missed a sitter in the p/o final.

[WoodleyRoyal]

so if HRK raises his game and keeps putting in performances like he has in his last couple of games, Blackman keeps his form going and bond grows in confidence, and starts looking solid between the sticks. Who will we turn on next?

[Extended-Phenotype]

Things must be quite good if the most people have to bitch at each other about is what their opinions were several years ago.

fcuk, we all currently agree with each other! I'm going to look up what you thought in 2013!

Shhhhhhhh.

[Forbury Lion]

so if HRK raises his game and keeps putting in performances like he has in his last couple of games, Blackman keeps his form going and bond grows in confidence, and starts looking solid between the sticks. Who will we turn on next?

This is why they hired an annoying PA announcer, he's the new target.

[Ian Royal]

For the record if i had to rank the problems i had with Blackman previously ability would be a distant last.

1) He cost over £1m
2) He was bought to try to keep us in the PL
3) His decision making / team play was poor - his opinion of his own ability based on the decisions he made was not remotely reflected in his performance
4) He didn't fit with any conventional position we had in our shape and style


Woodcote's comparison with Shorey is laughable. He certainly had poor games but he consistently put in excellent performances on a regular basis. Not even remotely comparable to Blackman's last couple of years.

Blackman is certainly doing the business now we're playing a completely different system and there are better players around him. But there's a reason he only got 30 odd starts across two and a half seasons and it wasn't because he was being unfairly ignored. It's because he was sub par. Now he isn't and we, he, and the club, are reaping the rewards.

[winchester_royal]

For the record if i had to rank the problems i had with Blackman previously ability would be a distant last.

1) He cost over £1m
2) He was bought to try to keep us in the PL
3) His decision making / team play was poor - his opinion of his own ability based on the decisions he made was not remotely reflected in his performance
4) He didn't fit with any conventional position we had in our shape and style


Woodcote's comparison with Shorey is laughable. He certainly had poor games but he consistently put in excellent performances on a regular basis. Not even remotely comparable to Blackman's last couple of years.

Blackman is certainly doing the business now we're playing a completely different system and there are better players around him. But there's a reason he only got 30 odd starts across two and a half seasons and it wasn't because he was being unfairly ignored. It's because he was sub par. Now he isn't and we, he, and the club, are reaping the rewards.

1), 2), and arguably 4) have nothing to do with him though.

3) is a common issue for younger players, and I'd say with his talent and physicality if his decision making was bang on then he'd be playing at a higher level than ours.

[Ian Royal]

Yeah, i didn't say it was all on him or fair. His decision making wasn't just not bang on, it was terrible.

It's not bang on now, but he's delivering the goods to make that unimportant. And it is much better.