Long to WBA

[Snowball]

(Long's) only ever played well and successfully for more than the odd game or from the bench for about 4 months of his 5 years with us and those were two periods over two separate seasons with a load of poor performances in between them.

He's completely inconsistent. He doesn't offer much other than effort when he isn't scoring...

Never worth more than a £1m. But I'd happily emphasise his strengths and deny his weaknesses in a negotiation if I thought I could take some mug for more.

Thought this was worth a bump. Made me laugh.

Well done Ian - showing your encyclopedic football knowledge off again!

How things change in a year. Let’s not write off Hunt, Church, Manset or Robson-Kanu before the season even starts or we might regret it this time next year.

I think everything he said there was fair game a year ago. The "funny" part of that post is "never worth more than a £1m", but whilst that would have come back to bite us, it was also fair game at the time.

If Harte doesn't have the same success with free kicks next season, would you take kindly to me pulling you up on your comments about him, even though everything in Harte's career to date indicates that he's an excellent free kick taker?

Unsound logic. Harte has Premiership and Champions League pedigree and partly compensates for slowness with reading the game, and of course his crosses and free-kicks. His "qualities" are obvious and have been established over a decade or more. Now he's approaching the end of his career and we should expect a falling away.

The difference with Long is NOT that "he wasn't scoring goals". That was the huge error made by too many.
I went on and on and on about the fact that his goals-per-minutes-played had always been excellent and
that once he was given a seriously extended run in the team (and as he matured) he would get goals.

Too many were looking solely at "headline figures" like his actual goals tally without considering his
goals-per-minute, his shots-on-target ratio, his "deadliness" (percentage of on target shots becoming goals)

From my first-ever post on here I was saying that Shane Long would get 20+ goals in a Championship season (CORRECT)
and would be a Premiership player who could get 10+ goals per season.

You saying that Ian was "right at the time" because Shane wasn't getting loadsa goals merely shows that he was a perfect example of blinkered HobNobber.

[madreadingfan]

Just seen this on Latest transfer news on sky sports website.

10:32 News: West Ham United recently had a £7million offer for Shane Long turned down by Reading and the striker admits he would consider a move to Upton Park. However, ahead of the start of the new season, Long insists he is happy at Reading and is not 'dying' to leave the Madejski Stadium.

[SCIAG]

Now you're being a typical internet user and not reading what you quote.

Ian said that Long had only consistently played well when he started a match over two periods of a few months, and that he doesn't offer much other than effort when he isn't scoring goals. He didn't say "Long doesn't score enough goals".

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Just seen this on Latest transfer news on sky sports website.

10:32 News: West Ham United recently had a £7million offer for Shane Long turned down by Reading and the striker admits he would consider a move to Upton Park. However, ahead of the start of the new season, Long insists he is happy at Reading and is not 'dying' to leave the Madejski Stadium.

is he DYING something though

[Ian Royal]

Now you're being a typical internet user and not reading what you quote.

Ian said that Long had only consistently played well when he started a match over two periods of a few months, and that he doesn't offer much other than effort when he isn't scoring goals. He didn't say "Long doesn't score enough goals".

Indeed, he was poor most of the season we were relegated. I remember having the pleasure of watching him kicking the ball into touch again and again at Portman Road, his nadir as far as I can tell. He ended it well at Norwich of course.

Unfortunately he then came back awful whilst Rodger's was at the club, but in fairness he had fitness issues and had gone away to bulk up over the summer and taken it way way too far. That combined with Rodgers rejection of fitness training and he didn't have much chance to kick on I guess.

I still can't help but wonder if he'll go shit again when the season starts, given his recent history of only performing post Xmas. Then again the chance of him being with us for more than another month is limited.

[Snowball]

Now you're being a typical internet user and not reading what you quote.

Ian said that Long had only consistently played well when he started a match over two periods of a few months, and that he doesn't offer much other than effort when he isn't scoring goals. He didn't say "Long doesn't score enough goals".

Indeed, he was poor most of the season we were relegated. I remember having the pleasure of watching him kicking the ball into touch again and again at Portman Road, his nadir as far as I can tell. He ended it well at Norwich of course.

Unfortunately he then came back awful whilst Rodger's was at the club, but in fairness he had fitness issues and had gone away to bulk up over the summer and taken it way way too far. That combined with Rodgers rejection of fitness training and he didn't have much chance to kick on I guess.

I still can't help but wonder if he'll go shit again when the season starts, given his recent history of only performing post Xmas. Then again the chance of him being with us for more than another month is limited.

If Long is in the Championship this season, all season, he will be top ten scorer at the very minimum.

He will get goals for the whole season, very probably MORE than last season.

If he goes to the Prem and is more or less a regular starter he'll get 10

[Mr Cinema]

He's only ever played well and successfully for more than the odd game or from the bench for about 4 months of his 5 years with us and those were two periods over two separate seasons with a load of poor performances in between them.

He's completely inconsistent. He doesn't offer much other than effort when he isn't scoring...

Never worth more than a £1m. But I'd happily emphasise his strengths and deny his weaknesses in a negotiation if I thought I could take some mug for more.

Thought this was worth a bump. Made me laugh.

Well done Ian - showing your encyclopedic football knowledge off again!

How things change in a year. Let’s not write off Hunt, Church, Manset or Robson-Kanu before the season even starts or we might regret it this time next year.

Why would anyone regret voicing an opinion on a football message board?. It's not like its something really important like organising petitions to save doomed cinemas.

Mind you,the chap who posted this might have a different view I suppose. Probably not posting on here anymore

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101599&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

I know some will say this is a knee jerk reaction but I am becoming increasingly concerned that our recent form risks us being dragged into the relegation struggle this year.

It was utter madness on every level to sell Sigurdsson at the end of August. I don't blame Brian at all. I think he has done wonders to get as many points as we have since Gylfi left, but I fear we are in trouble now and the chickens are coming home to roost so to speak.

]We are not creating nearly enough chances. The players we are left with are hard working, but there is no one apart from Kebe who has the creative edge. Kebe blows hot and cold (as we all know) so we cannot rely on him for 46 games. In the last two games Kebe has not been at his best and we have struggled. It is incredibly dangerous to be virtually 100% reliant on one mercurial talent.

The really worrying thing to me is that we are in 11th place but so far we have played 10 teams below us and just 2 above us in the table. In the last three games we have managed 1 point. When you consider that Preston and Bristol have managed just 8 points at home this season between them - 4 of these have been against Reading. Now it is hard to see many points being accumulated between now and Christmas as we have our hard games to come against the form teams of the division. We could easily go on a long run of games without a win. Sometimes playing the better teams does bring out the best in RFC, but if we don't find someone who can score goals regularly (and it is hard to see who this will be in the current squad) we could be in deep trouble by Christmas.

The Championship is an incredibly tight division and it is essential to have a creative player like Siggy. In my opinion his sale immediately took us from a promotion chasing team to a team in danger of relegation. I am concerned and feel extremely let down by the Chairman and the club. It looks to me as though the other players have lost belief. With Gylfi there we seemed to exude confidence - now that has gone and without a regular goalscorer, it is hard to see how the players can get it back.

[Ian Royal]

Can I also mention that I'm quite positive about Hunt, Church, Manset & HRK thanks.

[peterroyal76]

:lol:

Can I also mention that I'm quite positive about Hunt, Church, Manset & HRK thanks.

Prove it!

[tomrfcurz]

Allardyce ruled out a move for Long on Radio London tonight. Says they simply don't have the finances and will "probably be looking abroad for a new striker"

[SpaceCruiser]

Allardyce ruled out a move for Long on Radio London tonight. Says they simply don't have the finances and will "probably be looking abroad for a new striker"

Good!

[RobRoyal]

Allardyce ruled out a move for Long on Radio London tonight. Says they simply don't have the finances and will "probably be looking abroad for a new striker"

GTFI

[tomrfcurz]

Just in case you didn't believe that. The West Ham fans seem to have tuned in too

http://www.facebook.com/whufcsupporters ... 8917785607

[bigmike]

wet spam fans reckon its just a ploy and they are just letting reading know that they wont pay anymore in the hope that Reading have to sell.

maybe they will realise that Reading dont actually have to sell

[roadrunner]

wet spam fans reckon its just a ploy and they are just letting reading know that they wont pay anymore in the hope that Reading have to sell.

maybe they will realise that Reading dont actually have to sell

They're hopeful. We wont sell for anything less than our evaluation and more importantly don't need to either. The hole has been filled this summer and we wont see the money for Shane reinvested so we (as fans and a team) will be better off keeping him and risk losing him on a free next summer.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

SHANE LONG FUELS HAMMERS LINK

Reading's highly-rated striker Shane Long has admitted he would have to consider a move to West Ham.

The relegated Hammers have already had a £5million bid for the Republic of Ireland international rejected.

The 24-year-old said: "I'm staying out of it and letting everybody else get on with it.

"West Ham are a big club, so it would definitely be something for me to think about.

"But I would not be disappointed if nothing happened. I'm happy here and I like playing under Brian McDermott."

[Ferris]

Think that's an old quote isn't it? I reckon Leicester is the most likely destination now.

[roadrunner]

Think that's an old quote isn't it? I reckon Leicester is the most likely destination now.

Yes. Rehashed toilet paper.

[brendywendy]

bryan has on numerous occasions and said long wont be sold to a championship rival.
do you really think hell go back on that/be forced to go back on that?

[Royal Rother]

Originally posted up on here as being reported in an Irish newspaper on 28th July.