RUMOUR - Harper to Middlesborough

[Y25]

in a double bid for Shorey - so the EP says today

[Platypuss]

Might as well keep all the rumours regarding a player to a single thread.

[ElmParker]

If a player gives outstanding service to a club and then decides, for the good of his career, that he wants to face a second relegation battle in two years, you can but shake his hand and wish him the best of luck.

[RoyalBlue]

Happily I couldn't see Essex 'Mummy's Boy' moving up to the extreme North East on his own.

Sadly, I think West Ham will be a far more attractive prospect for him and we are likely to lose him.

Hope we screw the barstewards for as much a possible for his transfer.

Will be sorry to see him go - he has always given his absolute all to the club and is a far better player than many give him credit for.

[winchester_royal]

If we can get 3 million for Harper then great.

He is not suited to playing with Marek......and i'd rather we build our midfield around our czech maestro.

[toppy]

Kaka would be a great replacement

[PEARCEY]

Happily I couldn't see Essex 'Mummy's Boy' moving up to the extreme North East on his own.

Sadly, I think West Ham will be a far more attractive prospect for him and we are likely to lose him.

Hope we screw the barstewards for as much a possible for his transfer.

Will be sorry to see him go - he has always given his absolute all to the club and is a far better player than many give him credit for.

Totally agree RB. Will be sad to see him go and a bit surprised. I thought Shorey, Hunt and Lita would all go but not Harps. If he does leave for £3 million its decent business for a player who has been there during the darker days at the start of the millennium

[chilipepper91]

Kaka would be a great replacement

Deco refuses to comment on his future

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Kaka would be a great replacement

Deco refuses to comment on his future

The shorey one to middlesbrough is rubbish as he's said he would only consider a move to the north-east with newcastle

[2.8 lita injection]

West Ham making a bid??

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/articles/744203.html

http://www.clubcall.com/index.jsp?storyID=340030

http://www.reading.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=112182

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

In an ideal world I'd say swap him for Mullins. But I think Mullins has become more of a regular in the West Ham side.

Still £3m for Harps could see us get a decent replacement for him and a proper partner for Marek.

Of course we'll prob end up with Bryn as a new centre mid for next season, again.

That's what worries me about selling players, will Coppell replace them or once again 'make do'??

[Ian Royal]

In an ideal world I'd say swap him for Mullins. But I think Mullins has become more of a regular in the West Ham side.

Still £3m for Harps could see us get a decent replacement for him and a proper partner for Marek.

Of course we'll prob end up with Bryn as a new centre mid for next season, again.

That's what worries me about selling players, will Coppell replace them or once again 'make do'??

I imagine he'll do what he has always done and bring in a replacement. Whether he brings in one good enough is open to debate.

Or do you think losing 1 midfielder and buying 1 + 2 who can play there or centreback is not bringing in a replacement?

Just becuase 1 was utter shit and another really dissapointed doesn't mean he didn't try replacing them. Oh and of course he then bought another one in January.

[Arnie_Pie]

In an ideal world I'd say swap him for Mullins. But I think Mullins has become more of a regular in the West Ham side.

Still £3m for Harps could see us get a decent replacement for him and a proper partner for Marek.

Of course we'll prob end up with Bryn as a new centre mid for next season, again.

That's what worries me about selling players, will Coppell replace them or once again 'make do'??

Marek & BK centre mid. The enforcers

[Ian Royal]

So what happens when one gets injured? Or in Bikey's case suspended?

I'd still like to see us try and switch to a 4-5-1 come 4-3-3 Like this:

..................Hahnemann
Murty Ingimarsson/Duberry Sonko/Cisse Rosenior
......................Bikey
......... Matejovsky......Harper
Lita..................................Doyle
....................Kitson

Not including new signings and assuming Shorey goes. Hunt isn't a great crosser so could play in that style IMO, Long could also do it. Allows quick change from attack to defence and vice versa and it means we don't have to rely on Convey and Little finding fitness or Kebe, Henry and whoever else coming good.

[brendywendy]

So what happens when one gets injured? Or in Bikey's case suspended?

I'd still like to see us try and switch to a 4-5-1 come 4-3-3 Like this:

..................Hahnemann
Murty Ingimarsson/Duberry Sonko/Cisse Rosenior
......................Bikey
......... Matejovsky......Harper
Lita..................................Doyle
....................Kitson

Not including new signings and assuming Shorey goes. Hunt isn't a great crosser so could play in that style IMO, Long could also do it. Allows quick change from attack to defence and vice versa and it means we don't have to rely on Convey and Little finding fitness or Kebe, Henry and whoever else coming good.

im not sure about all this stuff about bikeys suspect temperament, going on about suspensions etc

he has never had such a rush of blood when playing competetive games for our 1st team that i remember, dont remember him serving bans for yellow/red cards etc

may be remembering it wrong though, i do smoke alot of marajuana

[Ian Royal]

Even if he stays calm he is going to pick up a lot of yellows for niggling fouls and being nails. He's not exactly played that many games in any period of the season so far has he!

I'm fairly certain he's been sent off for us at least once in the league as well.

You have to expect players to be out for at least a few games. Lose Harper and just rely on Bikey and Marek and if either get a serious injury we are totally stuffed. We don't have a whole lot for even the odd game out either.

[brendywendy]

'So down I felt like dying'
By Nick Ive
13/ 6/2008


James Harper admitted he took relegation so badly he felt suicidal and he fears the release of the fixture list next Monday will again hit him hard.

The midfield schemer is still struggling to come to terms with Reading’s heart-breaking relegation from the Premier League on the final day of the season.

He told the Evening Post: “I’m not sure if it has hit home yet. It will probably really hit home when the fixtures come out.

“I don’t mean any disrespect to the Championship, but if you are playing away at Barnsley as opposed to Manchester United it’s not the same.

“But we were obviously not good enough because otherwise we would still be in the Premier League. We were all so desperate not to go down.

“In the last game of the season at Derby we battered them 4-0 but ended up getting relegated and it was such a strange feeling.

“I flew off to Vegas pretty much straight away because I just had to get away.

“But the nine-hour plane journey was a nightmare because relegation kept going through my head and I wanted the plane to go down!

“I took it really badly because I live for my football. I had worked all my life to play in the Premier League and to have it slip away was awful.”

Despite Reading’s drop into the Championship, Harper believes he has learned a lot of positives about himself as a player.

He added: “I look back and think ‘if this or that had happened’, but it’s too late for that really. I would say I have learned a lot – about myself and my team-mates.

“When things are going crap and there is a crisis it’s easy to crumble. In football there is nothing worse than getting relegated, but I felt I dealt with the pressure we were under.

“I always stood up and was counted, I played every game and gave my all under a lot of pressure and I like that about myself. I like my character because I know I can handle pressure.”

Reading, who finished eighth in their first-ever season in the top flight, only went down due to having an inferior goal difference than relegation rivals Fulham.

Inflexibility

And Harper blamed Royals’ failure on their inflexibility and having just one way to play.

“Individually I don’t think we were that horrific, but on occasion as a team we let ourselves down and that is frustrating,” said Harper. “Being able to function as a team has been our strength in the past, but we didn’t always do that last season.

“We became easier to stop and we didn’t appear to have a Plan B because there was no other way of playing.

“We didn’t score enough, but we didn’t seem to recognise what the problem was and couldn’t change it as a team.

“People talk about second-season syndrome. I think there is some truth in that because teams have a better idea of how to stop you.

“In our first season we were unknown and teams didn’t know how to stop us. They got a better idea of us last season and found it a lot easier to stop us and score against us as we also conceded too many goals.”

Harper is being chased by Fulham, Bolton, West Ham and Middlesbrough although Reading have yet to receive any firm bids for the £3million-rated star.

I understand the midfielder has a clause in his contract which automatically put him on the transfer list once Royals were relegated, but the 27-year-old has not asked for a move.

Manager Steve Coppell is expecting to lose some of his stars and is already lining up possible replacements.

Swansea’s Ferrie Bodde, Sunderland’s Dean Whitehead and Dundee United’s Noel Hunt are all possible targets

yep

thats how we felt too james.


nice to see what it meant to the bloke
cant help thinking hes off

[Sarah Star]

So far I've seen Doyle, Hunt and Harper all saying they're happy to stay, yet everyone seems to take this as saying they're leaving.

[brendywendy]

So far I've seen Doyle, Hunt and Harper all saying they're happy to stay, yet everyone seems to take this as saying they're leaving.

cos they all say they want to play at the top level

they arent asking to leave, its up to the club etc

really if they wwanted to stay theyd be coming out saying, i love this club, and im going to spend the next season getting reading back to where they belong
my career can wait, i have a debt to reading FC and the fans to repay

what they actually say sounds to me like"come and get me" but without saying anything that will upset the fans if for somereason they end up staying

hope im wrong though, specially about harps, and doyler

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

So far I've seen Doyle, Hunt and Harper all saying they're happy to stay, yet everyone seems to take this as saying they're leaving.

cos they all say they want to play at the top level

they arent asking to leave, its up to the club etc

really if they wwanted to stay theyd be coming out saying, i love this club, and im going to spend the next season getting reading back to where they belong
my career can wait, i have a debt to reading FC and the fans to repay

what they actually say sounds to me like"come and get me" but without saying anything that will upset the fans if for somereason they end up staying

hope im wrong though, specially about harps, and doyler

I think in a strange way the ones who have been most vocal about staying, will actually be the ones looking hardest for a move.

Agree with everything said about Harp's. Him and Marek are not a partnership, for all the reasons I explained when he signed.