A loan again (naturally)

[floyd__streete]

Discussing Leigertwood on another thread, I was wondering whether he might already be our best loan player ever?

[brendywendy]

its between upson and ledge for me. i just remember always being struck by how much classier he was than the rest of th eteam in every game.
but by the end of the season ledge will have outstripped him i reckon, & if he signs he'll never be caught.

[floyd__streete]

Dishnonourable mentions for some absolute duffers: David McDonald, Ray Wallace, Nick Colgan, Michael O'Neill, Andy Wright, Tony Thorpe could go on and on here.....

[Jackson Corner]

Was Goerge Shipley a loan signing at the end of the 78-79 season? Played in the 12 games we didn't lose nor concede a goal went on to win the league.

[RobRoyal]

Upson's record for us in league games was P13 W9 D2 L2 F15 A5. We kept 7 clean sheets in a row. After he left we immediately lost three games in a row and he was soon in the England squad.

Leighertwood has had nowhere near the impact Upson had and is nowhere near as good a player as Upson was then, or is now.

I've barely seen a player so obviously head and shoulders above Championship level as Upson, at least not in the hoops.

No contest.

[Aubery Boyce]

everything is relative... Upson was considerably better than any of our players at the time and also any opponents. he was a man mountain and looked quite out of place.

See him in the premier league and he doesn't look that special. But for us at the time he was awesome

David Lee fits that description too. Came down 2 divisions and was noticably MUCH better than everyone else. Some of the goals he scored were incredible. (considering he was effectively a Centre-back or Defensive midfielder.)



As good as Leigertwood is, he's not in this bracket in terms of impact of loan players.

[Radders]

From that list, Matthew Upson. As said above, he was head and shoulders the best player on the park, even at left back!

I would just like to mention Chris Casper though, as he looked the same when he was here on loan.

[Hoop Blah]

I don't think he's in the class of the others listed to be honest.

He's doing a good job for us yes, but I just don't look at him and think wow, he's better than the rest like you did with all the others.

How come Mark McKeever isn't on the list?

[mikey0406]

Wasn't Glen Little on loan to us before we signed him???

[papereyes]

Yeah, but didn't do that well. We signed him and Chadwick (iirc) in the run-in of 02/03 but they had to leave before the playoffs themselves.

I've gone for Upson but I hold a teensy piece of my heart out for Leighton. I think it was McGhee's first season and we were mediocre (ho-hum) and then suddenly we had a proper player in there for us. We did alright for a few months and he left but it was the first moment when I got the idea that Reading could do things, as opposed to wear rubbish kits and be a bit rubbish.

[Colin Cheeselog]

John Humphrey.

[Croydon Royal]

I've gone for Upson, but an honorable mention to John Salako - he was a revelation when we signed him on loan.

But agree with a previous poster who said that Upson was just so far ahead of the rest of the Championship it was unbelievable. Reminded me of when Jermaine Defoe destroyed us single-handed in that 3-3 game against Bournemouth when he was on loan from West Ham. You could just see that he was so much better than anyone else out there on the pitch that day (including even Keith Jones).

[Bandini]

Wright >>> Upson

but an honorable mention to John Salako - he was a revelation whenever he had to play for his contract

Corrected.

[Hampshire Royal]

I voted for Steve Death, simply because he was the first really outstanding loan signing I had seen at Reading.

[super darren caskey]

I voted for jim leighton coz hes a goalkeeping legend and was great to see him grace elm park in a reading shirt.Thats my only reason really

[Broxroyal]

No contest. Steve Death in his loan spell, simply the best. He was pretty good once he had signed permanently but, in his loan spell, out of this world.

[No Fixed Abode]

Lee. Definitely.

[The Rouge]

Upson's record for us in league games was P13 W9 D2 L2 F15 A5. We kept 7 clean sheets in a row. After he left we immediately lost three games in a row and he was soon in the England squad.

Leighertwood has had nowhere near the impact Upson had and is nowhere near as good a player as Upson was then, or is now.

I've barely seen a player so obviously head and shoulders above Championship level as Upson, at least not in the hoops.

No contest.

agreed.

[No Fixed Abode]

Remind me of David Lee's scoring record for Reading from Centre Back.....

[Huntley & Palmer]

Mark McKeever, mainly because he was the highlight of a pretty awful spell for us having just been relegated to Div 2. Provided me with hope that there were better things to come, shame we bottled it post Man City that season, as I remember walking away from the Bournemouth away game with Magic Mark McKeever having scored the winner thinking we had a sniff of the playoffs