Tommy Smith - Gazumped by Pompey - Thread

[Snowball]

Looked a cut above any of our wingers on BBC highlights, scored, assisted

[Mr Angry]

Looks as if we have finally agreed to match Sheff Utd's £1.8M

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... ommy_smith

[CMRoyal]

Looks as if we have finally agreed to match Sheff Utd's £1.8M

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... ommy_smith

Offered far later than we should have done. A rare tactical lapse from Hammond et al letting themselves be dragged around like this. Let's hope Watford accept now so we can move on.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

We offer £1.6m last offer on 19/8 and a day later we up it to £1.8m to match Watford's valuation.

What a farce.

Now we are possibly in talks with the player we will probally have a wages problem.

[urz_1871]

We offer £1.6m last offer on 19/8 and a day later we up it to £1.8m to match Watford's valuation.

What a farce.

Now we are possibly in talks with the player we will probally have a wages problem.

How do we know if that was true though? As the Chronicle and the Post have constantly wrote over the summer how we are apparently on the brink of signing Smith.

[Alan Partridge]

Smacks a bit of desperation and also the problem with seemingly having all your eggs in one basket, in terms of Smith is the one we want and that's it.

Watford having been offered this amount by other clubs were never going to budge on it, Reading clearly had this to spend anyway but now we are desperate to sign him more so than before only now have we budged up to the asking price.

could have given them the money a week ago and had him playing at Newcastle but there we go.

[IMAMATEOFJOVSKY]

After all the fooking about by our tight-arsed board, we have finally offered what most other clubs were willing to pay for a player with a proven record of scoring/assisting

If we had stumped up at first time of asking, Smith would have had 3 games under his belt ,and just maybe, we'd have scored a few goals and have a few more points on the board

We've come out of this looking fooking stupid, and Watford can rightly claim a huge moral victory on this one - does show that we aren't so great with our negotiating, and that our derisory offers show us up for what we are - tight!

[Royalwaster]

Smacks a bit of desperation and also the problem with seemingly having all your eggs in one basket, in terms of Smith is the one we want and that's it.

Watford having been offered this amount by other clubs were never going to budge on it, Reading clearly had this to spend anyway but now we are desperate to sign him more so than before only now have we budged up to the asking price.

could have given them the money a week ago and had him playing at Newcastle but there we go.

As I said before - us doing so badly and clearly having no other options definitely weakened our bargaining position. We basically handed over control to Watford - if I were them I'd hold out for even more, because we don't seem to have any alternatives. The club could have helped itself by at least starting a false rumour for another player we could afford .... as Watford seem quite desperate to off-load one of their highest earners that might have helped us get him at a cheaper price.

[Focher]

i think its safe to say that whether we sign Smith or not, we have made a total and utter fuk up of this transfer, or possible transfer.

[Royal Rother]

If it hadn't become so obvious that we needed him we may well have got our man for less, but neither Rodgers nor Madejski could afford NOT to get him in the end and Watford knew that so played harder ball than they might otherwise have done.

Fair play to them.

We win, we get our man. (Presumably.)

They win, they get the big fee.

Everyone's happy.

Except Reading FC supporters of course who will look for the big negative.

[Isaac Hunt]

We offer £1.6m last offer on 19/8 and a day later we up it to £1.8m to match Watford's valuation.

What a farce.

Agreed, the whole saga has made us look ridiculous. Fair play to Watford if we end up signing Smith for £1.8m.....especially after RFC's "third and final take-it-or-leave it offer" & "formal bid of £1.6million, which is non-negotiable"

[Royal Lady]

Isn't a tamarind a monkey-type creature?

no its a some kind of herb or spice

its a road in Lower Earley on the herbs and spices estate

It's a tree. And also a type of monkey.

[sheshnu]

Agreed, the whole saga has made us look ridiculous. Fair play to Watford if we end up signing Smith for £1.8m.....especially after RFC's "third and final take-it-or-leave it offer" & "formal bid of £1.6million, which is non-negotiable"

Have you got a link for those quotes? It's unlike Reading to say things like that publicly.

Don't agree that that it makes the club look 'ridiculous' either.

[CMRoyal]

Isn't a tamarind a monkey-type creature?

no its a some kind of herb or spice

its a road in Lower Earley on the herbs and spices estate

It's a tree. And also a type of monkey.

Tamarind = tree. Tamarin = monkey.

[Focher]

Isn't a tamarind a monkey-type creature?

no its a some kind of herb or spice

its a road in Lower Earley on the herbs and spices estate

It's a tree. And also a type of monkey.

its a very popular ingredient to Indian food, and a natural laxitive

[Stranded]

We offer £1.6m last offer on 19/8 and a day later we up it to £1.8m to match Watford's valuation.

What a farce.

Agreed, the whole saga has made us look ridiculous. Fair play to Watford if we end up signing Smith for £1.8m.....especially after RFC's "third and final take-it-or-leave it offer" & "formal bid of £1.6million, which is non-negotiable"

Which we didn't make... the £1.8m is the 3rd and final bid.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Damn media, if they're not to be trusted to report the facts then who is?

[Isaac Hunt]

Agreed, the whole saga has made us look ridiculous. Fair play to Watford if we end up signing Smith for £1.8m.....especially after RFC's "third and final take-it-or-leave it offer" & "formal bid of £1.6million, which is non-negotiable"

Have you got a link for those quotes? It's unlike Reading to say things like that publicly.

Don't agree that that it makes the club look 'ridiculous' either.

Ok, not direct quotes from the club - they were taken from a recent paper article.

But we'll have to agree to disagree on 'ridiculous'. As i said, "if we end up signing Smith for £1.8m". We've known how much Watford were willing to accept for Smith for some time now. So IF this deal happens for £1.8m we've wasted weeks dicking around for a player that has quite clearly been a major target of ours all summer. A player that would have improved us (IMHO) in the opening three games when we've looked toothless in the attacking third.

[Royal Lady]

I wonder how much we originally offered for Mills.

[Hoop Blah]

I wonder how much we originally offered for Mills.

Don't know, but I bet Rodgers wouldn't have played him if Coppell had signed him...we all know he doesn't play any of Coppell's signings afterall...

It's a shame we dithered about on this for the sake of a couple of hundred grand, and as RR said earlier, our poor start to the season in front of goal has played right into Watfords hands. Not our best handling of a purchase, but as long as Rodgers gets his man it's a good result.