January window

[Zip]

I’d say the plan is not promotion this season, although we’ll give it a go.
I think the plan is to establish a tight group of players bought into a way of playing in order to be real contenders the following season.
Unless we finish this season we’ll adrift of the top 6 I can’t see the owners wanting to cash in on key players. They might sell in order to reinvest but they won’t do soif it weakens the team.

According to SKY the owners have made it clear to Paunovic they want promotion this season

Not the vibe Paunovic has been giving.
It would be incredibly gung ho to expect a brand new coach to immediately transform a struggling side into a promoted one with no major changes of personnel !
It simply doesn’thappen.....

It’s unrealistic but according to the SKY commentator that’s what Paunovic has been told by the owners.

[Snowflake Royal]

According to SKY the owners have made it clear to Paunovic they want promotion this season

Not the vibe Paunovic has been giving.
It would be incredibly gung ho to expect a brand new coach to immediately transform a struggling side into a promoted one with no major changes of personnel !
It simply doesn’thappen.....

It’s unrealistic but according to the SKY commentator that’s what Paunovic has been told by the owners.

And it pretty much fits with their approach so far. Demand immediate results. Run the finances into the red unsustainable. Etc etc.

If they wanted to take a steady building approach there was no point sacking Bowen.

[Zip]

Not the vibe Paunovic has been giving.
It would be incredibly gung ho to expect a brand new coach to immediately transform a struggling side into a promoted one with no major changes of personnel !
It simply doesn’thappen.....

It’s unrealistic but according to the SKY commentator that’s what Paunovic has been told by the owners.

And it pretty much fits with their approach so far. Demand immediate results. Run the finances into the red unsustainable. Etc etc.

If they wanted to take a steady building approach there was no point sacking Bowen.

January will be interesting. If we are still there or thereabouts I can see Dai Yongge wanting to strengthen and really go for it. Obviously FFP constraints will still apply.

[Nameless]

Not the vibe Paunovic has been giving.
It would be incredibly gung ho to expect a brand new coach to immediately transform a struggling side into a promoted one with no major changes of personnel !
It simply doesn’thappen.....

It’s unrealistic but according to the SKY commentator that’s what Paunovic has been told by the owners.

And it pretty much fits with their approach so far. Demand immediate results. Run the finances into the red unsustainable. Etc etc.

If they wanted to take a steady building approach there was no point sacking Bowen.

Depends why they wanted to move Bowen to DofF....
Have they demanded immediate promotion or immediate progress ?
And they didn’t run the finances into the red, they were in the red before they arrived, and before the Thai’s, and before Anton......

[Nameless]

It’s unrealistic but according to the SKY commentator that’s what Paunovic has been told by the owners.

And it pretty much fits with their approach so far. Demand immediate results. Run the finances into the red unsustainable. Etc etc.

If they wanted to take a steady building approach there was no point sacking Bowen.

January will be interesting. If we are still there or thereabouts I can see Dai Yongge wanting to strengthen and really go for it. Obviously FFP constraints will still apply.

Paunovic has said he isn’t wanting to add players for the sake of it.
Do we actually know what FFP looks like now ?

[Pepe the Horseman]

It’s unrealistic but according to the SKY commentator that’s what Paunovic has been told by the owners.

And it pretty much fits with their approach so far. Demand immediate results. Run the finances into the red unsustainable. Etc etc.

If they wanted to take a steady building approach there was no point sacking Bowen.

January will be interesting. If we are still there or thereabouts I can see Dai Yongge wanting to strengthen and really go for it. Obviously FFP constraints will still apply.

We were told that's what they were gonna do in the summer, but luckily it seems like ffp stopped them.

[Zip]

And it pretty much fits with their approach so far. Demand immediate results. Run the finances into the red unsustainable. Etc etc.

If they wanted to take a steady building approach there was no point sacking Bowen.

January will be interesting. If we are still there or thereabouts I can see Dai Yongge wanting to strengthen and really go for it. Obviously FFP constraints will still apply.

Paunovic has said he isn’t wanting to add players for the sake of it.
Do we actually know what FFP looks like now ?

I really don’t know. The last accounts made for very grim reading so we are still in a very difficult position and as Pepe says we were prevented from spending last summer and I suspect the same will apply in the New Year.

[Hound]

Not sure what you’d go for in this window tbh. We’re pretty strong everywhere and actually adding players would likely unbalance more than anything else

I mean you wouldn’t break up Moore and Morro, Laurent and Rino or the front 4. No one would want come as back up

Prob keep as is and use the loans for cover

[Pepe the Horseman]

Not sure what you’d go for in this window tbh. We’re pretty strong everywhere and actually adding players would likely unbalance more than anything else

I mean you wouldn’t break up Moore and Morro, Laurent and Rino or the front 4. No one would want come as back up

Prob keep as is and use the loans for cover

Wouldn't be surprised if Everton recall Gibson (and then never loan us anyone ever again). Would be good to have a proper back up for Richards, but one of the right backs could probably cover if need be. Guess it'll largely depend on what the injury situation is like in Jan, or if we're suddenly able to shift a Baldock or Aluko.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not sure what you’d go for in this window tbh. We’re pretty strong everywhere and actually adding players would likely unbalance more than anything else

I mean you wouldn’t break up Moore and Morro, Laurent and Rino or the front 4. No one would want come as back up

Prob keep as is and use the loans for cover

Keep an eye out for a left forward.

Otherwise look for people to take Baldock and/or Aluko off our hands with replacements already identified.

[SCIAG]

For me the ideal would be someone in the mould of Joe Mills - cheap reserve left back who could also play as an occasional left winger.

[Hendo]

Exactly. Plus promotion is not out of the question.

I’d say the plan is not promotion this season, although we’ll give it a go.
I think the plan is to establish a tight group of players bought into a way of playing in order to be real contenders the following season.
Unless we finish this season we’ll adrift of the top 6 I can’t see the owners wanting to cash in on key players. They might sell in order to reinvest but they won’t do soif it weakens the team.

According to SKY the owners have made it clear to Paunovic they want promotion this season

No they fucking haven’t - were the exact words which came out of my mouth after they said that.

[CountryRoyal]

It's close. Will Joao have suitors? How much should we hold out for if so? How screwed would we be without him?

It is, yes, £20m, very

Basically this.

I’d be surprised if our owners let anyone go though. Let’s face it, if any of the players who could command a substantial fee left, it would be season over, and I do mean ANY of them.

If we miss out on promotion their stock will still be high so can cash in, in summer.

In terms of recruitment I’d like to see a winger, striker. The latter won’t happen especially while we have baldock here.

Wouldn’t be the end of the world if we got nothing but I do think we’re so reliant on Joao, without him we look distinctly short on quality up top. Equally we’ve seen what happens when we’ve got Meite and Ejaria out.

[royalp-we]

Young and hungry loanees would be good to see. Like others have suggested a wideman or forward would do nicely. Liam Delap (Man City) or Ellis Simms (Everton) two promising players in PL2. We’ll probably look at Benfica / Porto / Sporting knowing our scouts though

[Nameless]

Young and hungry loanees would be good to see. Like others have suggested a wideman or forward would do nicely. Liam Delap (Man City) or Ellis Simms (Everton) two promising players in PL2. We’ll probably look at Benfica / Porto / Sporting knowing our scouts though

Not sure we’ll be going back to Everton for more of their youngsters....
You would think we’d be looking more at Man Utd as a source with our backroom staff.
I don’t think the Portuguese connection is related to any scouts we might have !

[Stranded]

Not sure what you’d go for in this window tbh. We’re pretty strong everywhere and actually adding players would likely unbalance more than anything else

I mean you wouldn’t break up Moore and Morro, Laurent and Rino or the front 4. No one would want come as back up

Prob keep as is and use the loans for cover

Wouldn't be surprised if Everton recall Gibson (and then never loan us anyone ever again). Would be good to have a proper back up for Richards, but one of the right backs could probably cover if need be. Guess it'll largely depend on what the injury situation is like in Jan, or if we're suddenly able to shift a Baldock or Aluko.

Gibson has been unfortunate that we started so well as his immediate pathway was blocked and now will be very hard to see him getting the minutes we pretty much all expected him to get.

[Stranded]

I’d say the plan is not promotion this season, although we’ll give it a go.
I think the plan is to establish a tight group of players bought into a way of playing in order to be real contenders the following season.
Unless we finish this season we’ll adrift of the top 6 I can’t see the owners wanting to cash in on key players. They might sell in order to reinvest but they won’t do soif it weakens the team.

According to SKY the owners have made it clear to Paunovic they want promotion this season

No they fucking haven’t - were the exact words which came out of my mouth after they said that.

I always take those sort of "quotes" with a massive pinch of salt. After all, there is no story in "Reading manager told club expect postive progress this season".

I have no doubt that the owners want us up sooner rather than later (and if we do this year, then great) but if Paunovic delivers a top 6 (poss top finish, pushing us close to promotion then he will be backed next year to take the next step.

[paultheroyal]

It's close. Will Joao have suitors? How much should we hold out for if so? How screwed would we be without him?

Read at weekend that Fulham were preparing a £25m bid for him in January, and i notice Sheffield Wednesday media and message boards are running that story on the back of a 20% release clause. Maybe the most important thing is keeping hold of players rather than getting new ones in.

[windermereROYAL]

Top players will always have interest, I`m very confident our owners won`t be letting anyone go. they are ambitious.

[tidus_mi2]

It's close. Will Joao have suitors? How much should we hold out for if so? How screwed would we be without him?

Read at weekend that Fulham were preparing a £25m bid for him in January, and i notice Sheffield Wednesday media and message boards are running that story on the back of a 20% release clause. Maybe the most important thing is keeping hold of players rather than getting new ones in.

I know it would probably kill our season but I'd snap someone's hand off for £25m