Prima donnas - Fae & Sonko suspended by club

[andrew1957]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful. It is just now that we are in the PL it is much harder for players to make the step up.

To be fair though some of the criticism is justified in the sense that we simply haven't made the signings necessary to immediately improve our 1st 11. Fae was high profile for us and looks sadly as though he will be a failure ( i say sadly because from a technical point of view i thought he looked a decent player).

The simple truth is that generally we don't/won't/can't buy players that will have an immediate impact and galvanise the 1st team and unless we approach things differently then thats likely to continue to be the case. Thats not to say that the likes of Bikey, ,Matejovsky Cisse are bad signings, in fact in time i think theres every chance they'll prove to be good ones. Its just that the way we approach things we're looking to slowly intigrate them into our team which means we're noy likely to see the best of them until a while after they've joined.

I don't think we disagree at all. I think that even SSC was lulled into a bit of a false sense of security at the half season when we were 12th with 22 points and genuinely thought we would survive comfortably BUT this has proved not to be the case.

I am sure that if we survive we will be buying proven PL players this summer as the old building up slowly approach has not really worked since Jan 08. I will not criticise SC for this however as I was one of those who genuinely thought we would stay up comfortably with what the squad we had.

[RoyalBlue]

This is the best outcome for Reading. Fae breaches club rules, asks for transfer, we say yes, off he goes back to France and we recoup some of our initial outlay.

Let's face it he was never good enough for the Premier League and if we do go down I can't see him exactly shining in the Championship.

Good riddance and put it down to experience...

Just how do you think we will recoup anything? He is in effect saying that he is going to go on strike, we have made it quite clear that we don't want him, why would any other club need to make an offer - other than to take him off our hands for nothing?

Put it down to an extremely poor signing and/or poor management.

clearly he should have found space for these two incompetents in the 1st team somewhere

what was he thinking!

others in the squad seem to deal with his appalling man management pretty well

rosenior displayed the exact attitude we want when he wasnt in the team

The list of players responding well to his appalling man management appears to be shortening every day. And even those who are supposedly responding well aren't delivering the goods required e.g. the Irish golden boys!

[Vision]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful. It is just now that we are in the PL it is much harder for players to make the step up.

To be fair though some of the criticism is justified in the sense that we simply haven't made the signings necessary to immediately improve our 1st 11. Fae was high profile for us and looks sadly as though he will be a failure ( i say sadly because from a technical point of view i thought he looked a decent player).

The simple truth is that generally we don't/won't/can't buy players that will have an immediate impact and galvanise the 1st team and unless we approach things differently then thats likely to continue to be the case. Thats not to say that the likes of Bikey, ,Matejovsky Cisse are bad signings, in fact in time i think theres every chance they'll prove to be good ones. Its just that the way we approach things we're looking to slowly intigrate them into our team which means we're noy likely to see the best of them until a while after they've joined.

I don't think we disagree at all. I think that even SSC was lulled into a bit of a false sense of security at the half season when we were 12th with 22 points and genuinely thought we would survive comfortably BUT this has proved not to be the case.

I am sure that if we survive we will be buying proven PL players this summer as the old building up slowly approach has not really worked since Jan 08. I will not criticise SC for this however as I was one of those who genuinely thought we would stay up comfortably with what the squad we had.

But does Coppell want to buy these players?
Is JM prepared to stretch the wage bill much further ?
Even if the answer to both is yes, can we even attract these players if they believe we're just going to be fighting a relegation battle ?

If by getting Rosenior,Bikey Matejovsky and possibly Cisse in the last 12 months or so we now have ready made players to make an impact next season then you could argue that our policy has worked to a certain extent. Obviously the major caveat to that is theres little point in buying these players and prepare them slowly to make an impact for us in the premiership if in doing so we end up getting relegated.

[andrew1957]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

Name the successes since January 2006 and I'll name the failures and point out precisely why you are wrong.

Seol - success - helped give us a great start to PL and sold for same as we purchased
Sodje -failure but we may yet get our money back
Federici - success - good cover and will become number 1
DLC - success good cover and role model
Bikey - success
Mate - injured never had a chance
Bennett - jury out
Duberry - success good cover
Halford - neutral - made a profit
Bozanic - jury out
Cisse - jury out - I think he will make it
Fae - failure
Rosenior - success
Matejovsky - success
Kebe - jury out

A very good record in my book. Every manager has some failures.

[loyalroyal4life]

After his comments made, Fae can FCUK off!!

[RoyalBlue]

To be fair to Fae, i probably would have done the same in his situation.

He had to sit on the bench during the first part of the season and watch Bryn put in shite performances over and over again, he has a decent ACoN for IC, comes back, looks very sharp according to KD and WD, plays well in the limited time he gets as a sub, then gets axed from the squad completely

The way he has been treated by Coppell is typical of the way SSC treats people who are not in his 'untouchables' (eg Lita, and BK during start of season) which is unacceptable for a modern day manager.

There are always going to be players with big ego's in football, and if we stay up, and start spending bigger money on better players, then that is something both the manager, and the fans, will have to get accustomed to.

Sonko, however, has been crap this season, has wasted his chances (which fae did not get), and deserved to be in the reserves.......therefore i have no sympathy for him

Bullshit. Doesn't matter how badly you think you may have been treated, whether you should have had a chance, blah blah blah. You are being paid lavishly to do an easy job, the least you can do is play when your club tells you to. There is no defence for his actions.

Clearly a Thatcher baby!

How dare any workers stand up to what they perceive as mistreatment/injustice!

As in most trade disputes, I suspect both parties have some responsibility for the break down in relations. As with any industrial action, it will be the paying customer who loses out!

[Vision]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

Name the successes since January 2006 and I'll name the failures and point out precisely why you are wrong.

Seol - success - helped give us a great start to PL and sold for same as we purchased
Sodje -failure but we may yet get our money back
Federici - success - good cover and will become number 1
DLC - success good cover and role model
Bikey - success
Mate - injured never had a chance
Bennett - jury out
Duberry - success good cover
Halford - neutral - made a profit
Bozanic - jury out
Cisse - jury out - I think he will make it
Fae - failure
Rosenior - success
Matejovsky - success
Kebe - jury out

A very good record in my book. Every manager has some failures.

Hmmm. I'm all for being positive but i reckon you're being more than generous with some of those. Of all of those players only Seol made an immediate positive impact to our first team but soon faded away.

Rosenior & Bikey are only now starting to establish themselves as 1st team regulars whilst Matejovsky definitely suggests he could be a great signing whilst Cisse is more than useful as squad back up.

It merely underlines the point that we just haven't been able to get players to improve our 1st 11 immediately. Obviously last season it wasn't a problem but looking back on this one its clear that for whatever reason we haven't got in what we needed. I actually believe the overall squad is stronger in terms of back up players but our best/most regular line up is worse than last season.

[Vision]

To be fair to Fae, i probably would have done the same in his situation.

He had to sit on the bench during the first part of the season and watch Bryn put in shite performances over and over again, he has a decent ACoN for IC, comes back, looks very sharp according to KD and WD, plays well in the limited time he gets as a sub, then gets axed from the squad completely

The way he has been treated by Coppell is typical of the way SSC treats people who are not in his 'untouchables' (eg Lita, and BK during start of season) which is unacceptable for a modern day manager.

There are always going to be players with big ego's in football, and if we stay up, and start spending bigger money on better players, then that is something both the manager, and the fans, will have to get accustomed to.

Sonko, however, has been crap this season, has wasted his chances (which fae did not get), and deserved to be in the reserves.......therefore i have no sympathy for him

Bullshit. Doesn't matter how badly you think you may have been treated, whether you should have had a chance, blah blah blah. You are being paid lavishly to do an easy job, the least you can do is play when your club tells you to. There is no defence for his actions.

Clearly a Thatcher baby!

How dare any workers stand up to what they perceive as mistreatment/injustice!

As in most trade disputes, I suspect both parties have some responsibility for the break down in relations. As with any industrial action, it will be the paying customer who loses out!

Poor downtrodden abused £15k a week Emerse Fae.

[andrew1957]

[/quote]Hmmm. I'm all for being positive but i reckon you're being more than generous with some of those. Of all of those players only Seol made an immediate positive impact to our first team but soon faded away.

Rosenior & Bikey are only now starting to establish themselves as 1st team regulars whilst Matejovsky definitely suggests he could be a great signing whilst Cisse is more than useful as squad back up.

It merely underlines the point that we just haven't been able to get players to improve our 1st 11 immediately. Obviously last season it wasn't a problem but looking back on this one its clear that for whatever reason we haven't got in what we needed. I actually believe the overall squad is stronger in terms of back up players but our best/most regular line up is worse than last season.[/quote]

I never said they all "immediately" made a success. Even Ronaldo had a fairly ordinary first season at Man U. People were wondering if he was going to make it - now look at him.

I stand by my comments and you have not disagreed with any of them specifically.

[Royalee]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

Name the successes since January 2006 and I'll name the failures and point out precisely why you are wrong.

Seol - success - helped give us a great start to PL and sold for same as we purchased
Sodje -failure but we may yet get our money back
Federici - success - good cover and will become number 1
DLC - success good cover and role model
Bikey - success
Mate - injured never had a chance
Bennett - jury out
Duberry - success good cover
Halford - neutral - made a profit
Bozanic - jury out
Cisse - jury out - I think he will make it
Fae - failure
Rosenior - success
Matejovsky - success
Kebe - jury out

A very good record in my book. Every manager has some failures.

LOL take your head out of Coppell's backside

Seol - left after a season angry at Coppell - left us with no right winger for the majority of this season - failure.
Sodje - complete failure, he's not even good enough for the Championship
Federici - has barely played a game so the jury is still out
De La Cruz - back-up at best, hardly improving the team, therefore not what we needed.
Bikey - success after Coppell finally started playing him again
Mate - failure
Duberry - back-up, comparative success but would expensive for what he is.
Halford - failure
Bozanic - jury out but he's hardly looked like breaking into the team
Cisse - jury out
Fae - failure
Rosenior - success
Matejovsky - success
Kebe - jury out, but will need to improve a hell of a lot on his previous cameos.
Bennett - failure - how the hell can you still have the jury out on someone who's been plying their trade with a team three divisions below us?

You missed out Halls - failure and Golbourne - failure.

So out of 17 players the manager has brought in since January 2006, a mere 3 or 4 of them including Duberry can hold down a first team place.

Now I know your maths probably isn't that good, but that means Coppell's transfers have a success rate of just over 0.2 - how embarassing.

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

Name the successes since January 2006 and I'll name the failures and point out precisely why you are wrong.

Why pick that date? He's been around a lot longer than that. Judge him on his signings over his entire career, not just over some arbitrary period that fits where you think he's made bad signings. Why not say, name the successful signings made during the 2005 close season - it's just as arbitrary.

[papereyes]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

I would disagree, strongly, for the time period January 2006 onwards.

The fact that you regard Bennett as 'jury out' when he's never played a game for us, is a bit silly. Halford as neutral? Sorry but I'd disagree there as well.

De La Cruz is a success in the games he has played but hasn't really done that much - a few handfuls of games in two seasons and one great memory. That's a 'jury out', surely.

The only true successes are Bikey and Duberry. Rosneior and Marek might be, but they are not yet. Seol's a possible, but after the first 10 games of that season faded.

It merely underlines the point that we just haven't been able to get players to improve our 1st 11 immediately.

and we should have been looking to do that Jan '06, Summer '06, Jan '07, summer '07 and Jan '08. Our current position is certainly, partially, a result of failing to act adequately in 5 transfer windows. I'll add my usual caveat - if we genuinely could not get the players of suitable quality in order to do this, because of financial constraints, then I will withdraw my criticism. As yet, I've not seen that that was the case.

[Royalee]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

Name the successes since January 2006 and I'll name the failures and point out precisely why you are wrong.

Why pick that date? He's been around a lot longer than that. Judge him on his signings over his entire career, not just over some arbitrary period that fits where you think he's made bad signings. Why not say, name the successful signings made during the 2005 close season - it's just as arbitrary.

I'm showing which signings Coppell's made since it became apparent that we were going to get promoted to the Premier League, thus showing which signings he's made with that in mind.

However, if you like I can include Paul Brookers, Dean Morgans, Lloyd Owusus and Dean Gordons of this world also?

[Vision]

I cannot believe that any fan who has watched the last few seaosn can criticise SC and transfer policies. The vast majority of our buys have been successful.

Name the successes since January 2006 and I'll name the failures and point out precisely why you are wrong.

Why pick that date? He's been around a lot longer than that. Judge him on his signings over his entire career, not just over some arbitrary period that fits where you think he's made bad signings. Why not say, name the successful signings made during the 2005 close season - it's just as arbitrary.

Because it suits his argument, clearly. The team had unprecedented success between 2005/07 so it stands to reason anyone signed during that time isn't likely to have made a first team impact because the first team was doing so well. Of course don't expect the likes of Royalee to factor that into a sensible discussion.

[Royalee]

Why pick that date? He's been around a lot longer than that. Judge him on his signings over his entire career, not just over some arbitrary period that fits where you think he's made bad signings. Why not say, name the successful signings made during the 2005 close season - it's just as arbitrary.

Because it suits his argument, clearly. The team had unprecedented success between 2005/07 so it stands to reason anyone signed during that time isn't likely to have made a first team impact because the first team was doing so well. Of course don't expect the likes of Royalee to factor that into a sensible discussion.

Has strap got a database of all the signings Coppell's made since he took over so that I can put you two fools out of your misery?

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

Well as you're so convinced that every signing he's made has been a complete failure, why don't you fill us in with the facts, or should it be FACTs?

[papereyes]

Well as you're so convinced that every signing he's made has been a complete failure, why don't you fill us in with the facts, or should it be FACTs?

Just trying to see where he's claimed that.

Struggling.

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

If it's not explicit, it's certainly an inference (if not an extrapolation!)

[Royalee]

Well as you're so convinced that every signing he's made has been a complete failure, why don't you fill us in with the facts, or should it be FACTs?

Where have I said that every signing he's made has been a failure? Go on, find the quote. Moron

What I have said (and indicated by outlining who we have signed and working out the ratio in decimal form)is that Coppell's signings with a view to establishing ourselves in the Premier League have been poor. His signings in the summer of 2005 were good, but by the same token his signings the season previous to that were diabolical. If strap has a list of all Coppell's signings, I may refresh some people's memories. My original point is nothing to do with Coppell's Championship signings as I believe him to be a reasonable Football League manager.

HOWEVER, at every one of the three clubs he has managed in the English top flight, Coppell has failed to bring in the players required to take his team to the next level - he reached a peak at Palace in his first season there before they slowly declined and went back down, he found the pressure of working with top players too much for him at a big club like Man City and now he's having trouble bringing in and working with foreign players or so-called 'big time Charlies'. Unfortunately for Coppell, in this modern era of the game footballers have large egos which need managing carefully - most of the best players have big egos and you need to be able to control them. Look at Redknapp at Pompey with Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Diarra and Kanu for example, who have all gone off the rails in the past.

Firstly, you need to be able to attract this calibre of player to succeed at this level, which our manager simply hasn't managed thus far, and then manage them, which Coppell is clearly having problems with given the words of Lita, Fae, Sonko and Matejovsky.

Add to this the man's dreadful team selections and lack of courage to change things early during games and it summarises exactly why we will never fully establish ourselves in the big time with Coppell at the helm.

[andrew1957]

LOL take your head out of Coppell's backside

Seol - left after a season angry at Coppell - left us with no right winger for the majority of this season - failure.
Sodje - complete failure, he's not even good enough for the Championship
Federici - has barely played a game so the jury is still out
De La Cruz - back-up at best, hardly improving the team, therefore not what we needed.
Bikey - success after Coppell finally started playing him again
Mate - failure
Duberry - back-up, comparative success but would expensive for what he is.
Halford - failure
Bozanic - jury out but he's hardly looked like breaking into the team
Cisse - jury out
Fae - failure
Rosenior - success
Matejovsky - success
Kebe - jury out, but will need to improve a hell of a lot on his previous cameos.
Bennett - failure - how the hell can you still have the jury out on someone who's been plying their trade with a team three divisions below us?

You missed out Halls - failure and Golbourne - failure.

So out of 17 players the manager has brought in since January 2006, a mere 3 or 4 of them including Duberry can hold down a first team place.

Now I know your maths probably isn't that good, but that means Coppell's transfers have a success rate of just over 0.2 - how embarassing.

Quite ridiculous - apart from being negative about everything you have ended up agreeing with many of my comments.

As for my maths you seem to fail to grasp the fact that we have a squad of 24 and can only play 11 at the start of the game. Of course all the signings cannot make an impact. A player like DLC for example has never let RFC down whenever called on. If Shorey or Murty had been injured for a whole season then he may well have played 50 games for us - which is why I said he had been good cover. We need two players for every position and if player 1 does not get injured player 2 will never get a chance. To then say player 2 is a failure is ridiculous as they have provide cover in case of injury.

Federici also falls into this category. You cannot say he is c**p just because he has not displaced our player of the season USA.

As for Sodje he has actually had a successful season at Charlton and is well thought of there. Bennett had a very successful spell at Southampton who wanted him back but RFC inexplicably sent him to Div 2 instead - that was an odd decision.

Mate was hardly a failure - just an unfortunate injury. I suppose you think that the management are responsible for all injuries as well.

Halford may be a failure from the playing perspective but was a great pieces of business.

Profuse apologies for not including Halls or Golbourne. I would say Halls has always tried but is probably a Championship player and as for Golbourne the jury is still out as he has had few chances.