Long to WBA

[Handsome Man]

Sidwell to Chelsea = Long to Liverpool. One season of occasionally making the bench and some Carling Cup cameos before going to sign for the club he should have signed for in the first place.......... Would be hard to say no to, but Suarez, Carroll, and even Ngog (possibly?!) > Shane Long

But Sidwell didn't cost Chelsea anything.........i cant see Liverpool paying £8m for someone they would never play

They paid £20 million for Aquillani and Henderson

[Ian Royal]

Got to say, his reaction last night to a shout of "Shane, don't go to West Ham it's a shit club!" was reassuring - he had a right old chuckle at that - gives me confidence that he won't go there.....

They can offer him what they like in wages they won't be able to pay it if they don't go straight up.

[roadrunner]

Got to say, his reaction last night to a shout of "Shane, don't go to West Ham it's a shit club!" was reassuring - he had a right old chuckle at that - gives me confidence that he won't go there.....

They can offer him what they like in wages they won't be able to pay it if they don't go straight up.

4 years 'chute payments says otherwise.

They can ponce about throwing money around for 2 summers before they need to start readjusting sensibly.

[The Prisoner]

Sidwell to Chelsea = Long to Liverpool. One season of occasionally making the bench and some Carling Cup cameos before going to sign for the club he should have signed for in the first place.......... Would be hard to say no to, but Suarez, Carroll, and even Ngog (possibly?!) > Shane Long

But Sidwell didn't cost Chelsea anything.........i cant see Liverpool paying £8m for someone they would never play

Sidwell probably got a bonanza signing on fee because he was on a free. And I would expect that if someone of Liverpool's calibre came in and offered the same package as West Ham (i.e. £5m up front) we would find it harder to turn away as the player would have something to say about it.

Liverpool have a track record of paying out for players "for the squad" and "with potential" - Henderson, Shelvey, Sterling etc

[Hoop Blah]

I'm going to be unusually bullish about this. There is no way on this planet Long will go to West Ham, whatever package they might offer him.

He likes Reading. He wants to play in the PL. If no PL club come in for him just yet he will get his head down, show what he can do, and wait for the right offer from a PL club which will surely come if he maintains anything like his form of the last 5 months of 2010/11.

(Floyd will be hoping he goes now, just so he can quote this post for the next 5 years!)

I think the carrot of waiting until January or next summer and going on a free is the biggest factor that would come into play.

I'm certainly not as convinced as you are though RR. Looking at it from a players perspective West Ham would offer quite a bit over Reading (it pains me to say). Irrespective of the extra £500k a year plus (guess work) they would probably be offering they are also a club that will, rightly or wrongly, put their money where their mouth is and won't give up an opportunity for progression or success because of the balance sheet.

As a player that must be quite appealing. As a fan I want the club to survive and be healthy, but all a player is really interested in is how much they'll get paid and what they might be able to win. I think West Ham trump us on both.

They can also offer playing infront of larger numbers and with a higher profile. He's much more likely to get a BIG move playing for West Ham than he is Reading.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect or want him to end up at West Ham, I can just see why he would leave us for them if that's all that was on offer.

[Cypry]

I'm going to be unusually bullish about this. There is no way on this planet Long will go to West Ham, whatever package they might offer him.

He likes Reading. He wants to play in the PL. If no PL club come in for him just yet he will get his head down, show what he can do, and wait for the right offer from a PL club which will surely come if he maintains anything like his form of the last 5 months of 2010/11.

(Floyd will be hoping he goes now, just so he can quote this post for the next 5 years!)

I think the carrot of waiting until January or next summer and going on a free is the biggest factor that would come into play.

I'm certainly not as convinced as you are though RR. Looking at it from a players perspective West Ham would offer quite a bit over Reading (it pains me to say). Irrespective of the extra £500k a year plus (guess work) they would probably be offering they are also a club that will, rightly or wrongly, put their money where their mouth is and won't give up an opportunity for progression or success because of the balance sheet.

As a player that must be quite appealing. As a fan I want the club to survive and be healthy, but all a player is really interested in is how much they'll get paid and what they might be able to win. I think West Ham trump us on both.

They can also offer playing infront of larger numbers and with a higher profile. He's much more likely to get a BIG move playing for West Ham than he is Reading.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect or want him to end up at West Ham, I can just see why he would leave us for them if that's all that was on offer.

Unless West Ham "do a Pompey" in which case the players might not know whether they'll even get paid at the end of the month....

[Z175]

And Carroll.

Long to Liverpool would surprise me, but then so did Sidwell's move to Chelsea.

I hope Long doesn't get left with a choice of us or West Ham. As much as I still don't think he's as good as he's been made out to be I think it would taint his time with us if, like Mills, he ended up going to a Championship side. There can't be much doubt that West Ham would offer him a better package than we will and it would be hard for him to turn that down.

I'm going to be unusually bullish about this. There is no way on this planet Long will go to West Ham, whatever package they might offer him.

He likes Reading. He wants to play in the PL. If no PL club come in for him just yet he will get his head down, show what he can do, and wait for the right offer from a PL club which will surely come if he maintains anything like his form of the last 5 months of 2010/11.

(Floyd will be hoping he goes now, just so he can quote this post for the next 5 years!)

I agree with all that but sadly Reading will tell Long to sign a deal or they will sell him to highest bidder. Both will hope for the prem but it will be WHU if only they match our valuation. He won't want to go there particularly, but they're more likely to go up and its either that or commit to Reading for 3+ years.

[Svlad Cjelli]

And Carroll.

Long to Liverpool would surprise me, but then so did Sidwell's move to Chelsea.

I hope Long doesn't get left with a choice of us or West Ham. As much as I still don't think he's as good as he's been made out to be I think it would taint his time with us if, like Mills, he ended up going to a Championship side. There can't be much doubt that West Ham would offer him a better package than we will and it would be hard for him to turn that down.

I'm going to be unusually bullish about this. There is no way on this planet Long will go to West Ham, whatever package they might offer him.

He likes Reading. He wants to play in the PL. If no PL club come in for him just yet he will get his head down, show what he can do, and wait for the right offer from a PL club which will surely come if he maintains anything like his form of the last 5 months of 2010/11.

(Floyd will be hoping he goes now, just so he can quote this post for the next 5 years!)

I agree with all that but sadly Reading will tell Long to sign a deal or they will sell him to highest bidder. Both will hope for the prem but it will be WHU if only they match our valuation. He won't want to go there particularly, but they're more likely to go up and its either that or commit to Reading for 3+ years.

You're both wrong, I'm afraid. RFC would be delighted if he'd stay, and certainly don't need to sell him - but he's the one who's decided to move.

[Royal Rother]

Which bit am I wrong about?

[Simon's Church]

Genuinely can't see the point of him signing for West Ham, bar getting a bit more money for a season. If he goes there does well and they get promoted, fantastic he's in the prem but he's stuck at a crap club, whereas if he stays here and does well, even if we don't go up, he'll surely have a choice of 7-8 clubs seeing as he'll be free.

[Victor Meldrew]

Genuinely can't see the point of him signing for West Ham, bar getting a bit more money for a season. If he goes there does well and they get promoted, fantastic he's in the prem but he's stuck at a crap club, whereas if he stays here and does well, even if we don't go up, he'll surely have a choice of 7-8 clubs seeing as he'll be free.

When did logic ever come into transfers?.
I heard an agent on the radio the other day who suggested that 98% of transfers are down to higher wages.
Most fans' ideal world concept of players moving for glory or honours IMHO is often used by players as a smokescreen.
If we are paying Long £20,000 per week and West Ham or Leicester or anybody else offer him £35,000 he'll go.
If wages were not the issue I think he would have gone to Celtic.
I'm still hopeful of a West Brom deal with Cox coming to us.

[brendywendy]

scored twice last night for them in preseason.

im starting to think that maybe they wont want to let him go

[Simon's Church]

When did logic ever come into transfers?.
I heard an agent on the radio the other day who suggested that 98% of transfers are down to higher wages.
Most fans' ideal world concept of players moving for glory or honours IMHO is often used by players as a smokescreen.
If we are paying Long £20,000 per week and West Ham or Leicester or anybody else offer him £35,000 he'll go.
If wages were not the issue I think he would have gone to Celtic.
I'm still hopeful of a West Brom deal with Cox coming to us.

Yeah, I'm probably being naive but I live in hope. I'd love Cox here but would he take the (probable) drop in wages as well as drop in division? Maybe the sway of first team football could bring him in.

[Hoop Blah]

When did logic ever come into transfers?.
I heard an agent on the radio the other day who suggested that 98% of transfers are down to higher wages.
Most fans' ideal world concept of players moving for glory or honours IMHO is often used by players as a smokescreen.
If we are paying Long £20,000 per week and West Ham or Leicester or anybody else offer him £35,000 he'll go.
If wages were not the issue I think he would have gone to Celtic.
I'm still hopeful of a West Brom deal with Cox coming to us.

I'm not sure Celtic were ever in a position to bid enough for the chance to offer him wages, although if wages weren't an issue perhaps they'd have been able to find the extra for the upfront fee.

Totally agree on the likelihood of Long moving to someone like Leicester or West Ham is they're offering a significant wage increase. As I said the other day though, I doubt it will get to the point where Championship sides like them are the only ones willing to meet our asking price and he'll eventually end up somewhere like West Brom, Wigan, Blackburn or Everton.

[Wycombe Royal]

From an Irish paper:

Shane Long has upped the anti in his bid to leave Reading by telling Sportsmail he would jump at the chance to join championship rivals west ham.The hammers had a million bid rejected yesterday. " I'm staying out of it and letting everyone else get on with it. If it was true they were interested, West ham are a big club, so it would definitely be something for me to think about" said the Tipperary native. His enthusiasm to sign for West ham is expected to see the londoners return with an improved offer over the next few day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63348795@N07/5984247592/in/photostream

[urz13]

From an Irish paper:

Shane Long has upped the anti in his bid to leave Reading by telling Sportsmail he would jump at the chance to join championship rivals west ham.The hammers had a million bid rejected yesterday. " I'm staying out of it and letting everyone else get on with it. If it was true they were interested, West ham are a big club, so it would definitely be something for me to think about" said the Tipperary native. His enthusiasm to sign for West ham is expected to see the londoners return with an improved offer over the next few day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63348795@N07/5984247592/in/photostream

Pobably just the press twisting his words in a bid for a decent exclusive.

[Ian Royal]

From an Irish paper:

Shane Long has upped the anti in his bid to leave Reading by telling Sportsmail he would jump at the chance to join championship rivals west ham.The hammers had a million bid rejected yesterday. " I'm staying out of it and letting everyone else get on with it. If it was true they were interested, West ham are a big club, so it would definitely be something for me to think about" said the Tipperary native. His enthusiasm to sign for West ham is expected to see the londoners return with an improved offer over the next few day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63348795@N07/5984247592/in/photostream

Can someone explain how "it would definitely be something for me to think about" becomes "I'd jump at the chance to go to West Ham and am enthusiastic about signing?"

If you're going to oxf*rd lie or twist a quote, don't put the unedited one in the same article for oxf*rd sake!

You could just as easily spin that as Shane Long is not enthusiastic about a move to West Ham and the club will need to work hard to convince him to move if a bid is accepted.

[Simon's Church]

They even have a quote later in the same article where he says he wouldn't be disappointed if nothing happens and he's happy here.

[Hoop Blah]

It does break the silence from him about all the speculation.

As with most football interviews and quotes it's very cliched and aimed not to upset or rule anything out because these guys will never say never.

It does kind of hint at him being open to such a move though, something that plenty around these parts seem to think won't happen because West Ham can't offer him Premier League football and that, apparently, is the only thing he'll leave us for.

[Terminal Boardom]

Leicester didn't offer Mills PL football but he still went there. West Ham is a bigger club and he would get far more exposure there than at Reading even though it hurts me to say it. But Reading will only sell when the right offer comes in and until that happens he will be wearing the half hoops.