RUMOUR - Harper to Middlesborough

[Southbank Old Boy]

Personally, I'd look at how good a player he was and what he might be able to do for me in my side, not what he was able to do for someone else potentially using him in a different way and definitely with different players.

[Roger the Rabbit]

Nope, and it really isn't arbitary. His Premiership games are going to be the ones freshest in the memory and also the ones which would have the most impact simply due to the 'hype' surrounding the league. They would also be, rightly or wrongly, the ones that show most strongly his ability and aptitude to continue playing in the Premiership.

Just the nature of the beast, isn't it?

I suspect being a part of a team that absolutely wiped the floor with the Championship is still fairly fresh in the minds of managers and would have had much more impact than our poorish season just gone. To ignore everything pre 2006-7 suggests Harps has had 50% of his career doing well and 50% doing not so well which doesn;t represent him at all. It's just a highly selective personal view rather than an objective assessment.
No problem with the idea that the most recent season is important but just ignoring anything before the Prem that is daft. On that basis you'd not expect there to be any interest in Schevchenko or Ronaldhino ....

[brendywendy]

If I was a manager of a mid-ranking Premiership team, I'd pay a lot of attention to how he performed when things weren't going his way as opposed to a season in the division below when the whole team was going great guns, wouldn't you?

Unless, you think, like what happened to Sidwell, a team nearer the top-end of the Premiership are going to go for him.

I agree.

LOL

sorry

i meant to write:
no, i would look at how he played during the championship season, the 8th place finish season
and the season in a struggling team where he managed 6 goals and some assists never let his head drop, always displayed a proffessional attitude, and never stopped running or working for the team, and never uttered a negative word.

then i would look at other options, and buy harps for 4 million

[papereyes]

Personally, I'd look at how good a player he was and what he might be able to do for me in my side, not what he was able to do for someone else potentially using him in a different way and definitely with different players.

But how can you work out the former without having to use the latter as some evidence for that?

No problem with the idea that the most recent season is important but just ignoring anything before the Prem that is daft. On that basis you'd not expect there to be any interest in Schevchenko or Ronaldhino ....

I would not be surprised to see Shevchenko, as your picked example, make what would be perceived as a step down in the grand scheme of things. There would not that much interest at the top level of the game, imo.

And to suggest that Premiership managers would overlook Championship performances for Premiership ones? Makes sense. You'll be looking for how well they play in the league that you're playing. A manager wouldn't ignore that solely to concentrate on the Championship season. Maybe they would, but I doubt they'd last long in management.

At the heart of it, I said that:

Just because he had one successful season doesn't mean that the weaknesses of last season didn't happen.

You take in a whole career but in the modern English game, the Premiership distorts things. It's just a fact of life. It's not my fault, it's not Harpers fault, it's not Coppells fault. Just is.

And Harper's performances are going to be irrevocably linked to those of the club last season, when the game was going against us. Which was the essense of Royalee's less than eloquent original point.

[brendywendy]

i never saw harps form dip in any way last season-still scored 6 goals, still did teh same things, still had a top attitude
and the season before when we finished 8th?
what did he do wrong then too?

if anything, in many ways he stepped up his game in sidders absence
just not enough to fill the gap

[Roger the Rabbit]

And to suggest that Premiership managers would overlook Championship performances for Premiership ones? Makes sense. You'll be looking for how well they play in the league that you're playing. A manager wouldn't ignore that solely to concentrate on the Championship season. Maybe they would, but I doubt they'd last long in management. .

Just a string of rubbish there really, not a great debating tactic to make up stuff that hasn't been said.

At the heart of it, I said that:

Just because he had one successful season doesn't mean that the weaknesses of last season didn't happen.

You take in a whole career but in the modern English game, the Premiership distorts things. It's just a fact of life. It's not my fault, it's not Harpers fault, it's not Coppells fault. Just is.
.

Glad you concede that past successes are worth including in his CV, no manager is going to ignore recent success. And it's not just Premiership performance that counts. If it was then how do managers manage to pick up such huge numbers of foreign players with no Premiership experience whatsoever ?

[Southbank Old Boy]

Personally, I'd look at how good a player he was and what he might be able to do for me in my side, not what he was able to do for someone else potentially using him in a different way and definitely with different players.

But how can you work out the former without having to use the latter as some evidence for that?

By watching what he does. Imagining what else he could do if you let/asked him to.

Yes you might watch him over time and assess his contriubtion to a teams success or failure over that time, but more realistically I think you just take what you see of him in isolation and make a gut feeling judgement on what he might be able to do for you.

Basically I think you're all over complicating it because you want something to argue over this afternoon.

[papereyes]

Basically I think you're all over complicating it because you want something to argue over this afternoon.

Maybe.



Look back and try to find what Roger the Rabbit actually disagrees with other than 'me'. It's a challenge!

[Drew_3]

i never saw harps form dip in any way last season-still scored 6 goals, still did teh same things, still had a top attitude
and the season before when we finished 8th?
what did he do wrong then too?

if anything, in many ways he stepped up his game in sidders absence
just not enough to fill the gap

Exactly brendy not filling his own position and sidders position at the same time is hardley a crime the fact he stepped up his game and tried to do that speaks volumes for him, i for one will be utterly gutted if we loose harps!

[Roger the Rabbit]

Basically I think you're all over complicating it because you want something to argue over this afternoon.

Maybe.



Look back and try to find what Roger the Rabbit actually disagrees with other than 'me'. It's a challenge!

Ever thought that 'discussion' doesn't necessarily mean there has to be a particular point of 'disagreement' ? I know you work entirely in black and white but there are whole shades of grey out there too !!

Although the bits where I suggest you've said something i don;t agree with are not hard to find...

[papereyes]

And to suggest that Premiership managers would overlook Championship performances for Premiership ones? Makes sense. You'll be looking for how well they play in the league that you're playing. A manager wouldn't ignore that solely to concentrate on the Championship season. Maybe they would, but I doubt they'd last long in management. .

Just a string of rubbish there really, not a great debating tactic to make up stuff that hasn't been said.

Where am I attributing it to anyone else? Look at the first two sentences - it is a summary, again, of what I said. And if you could explain to me what, if anything, is essentially wrong with that, other than the author, that would be nice.

Exactly brendy not filling his own position and sidders position at the same time is hardley a crime the fact he stepped up his game and tried to do that speaks volumes for him, i for one will be utterly gutted if we loose harps!

I think what we'll miss more than anything else is the character. He's not a player that is going to pick the game up by the scruff of his neck and, imo, needs a bit more of a physical presence beside him. Someone, somewhere suggested a 3 man midfield with Harps - Marek - Bikey. That would make some sense to me.

But I also think he's a lot easier to replace on the pitch than Sidwell and I genuinely believe that had we lost Harps but kept Sidwell last season, we'd not have gone down.

[Sarah Star]

Given the rumours surrounding other transfers, I don't suppose we're getting a swap and money for Harper?

[papereyes]

Basically I think you're all over complicating it because you want something to argue over this afternoon.

Maybe.



Look back and try to find what Roger the Rabbit actually disagrees with other than 'me'. It's a challenge!

Ever thought that 'discussion' doesn't necessarily mean there has to be a particular point of 'disagreement' ? I know you work entirely in black and white but there are whole shades of grey out there too !!

Although the bits where I suggest you've said something i don;t agree with are not hard to find...

Sorry, but what was your point again?

[Roger the Rabbit]

Ever thought that 'discussion' doesn't necessarily mean there has to be a particular point of 'disagreement' ? I know you work entirely in black and white but there are whole shades of grey out there too !!

Although the bits where I suggest you've said something i don;t agree with are not hard to find...

Sorry, but what was your point again?

Just tilt your head backwards slightly, you'll find the point up there somewhere.... just above you.

[papereyes]

No. That doesn't quite work.

Nice try though.

[Roger the Rabbit]

No. That doesn't quite work.

Nice try though.

Imitation, flattery.... I see where you are coming from !

[brendywendy]

stop it u 2
your making the children upset

[Roger the Rabbit]

hey bendy, it's just a bit of light hearted banter !!!

[Royalee]

"Harper showed in Reading's two-year top flight sojourn that he is a more than capable performer"
quoted from skysports
some of you would do well to listen and recognise that fact!!!!!!!

Some of you would do well to read the amount of tackles we made in midfield and look up our pass completion percentage instead of talking complete and utter rubbish.

youll be moaning about selling all our stars on another thread in a minute

LOL

Our stars are Shorey, Bikey, Matejovsky and our strikers - anyone else is dispensible as far as I'm concerned, especially when they can't tackle, can't find their own team-mates and have the positional sense of a retard.

[howser]

Probably a different view to some on this thread, but IF Harper goes then good luck to him, he has been a stalwart of our side for more than a few years now and fully deserves his chance to stay in the top league, very much the heart and soul of our side, always chearful and enjoying life, good luck to you son make the most of the opportunity and thanks............if this is the end of you and Reading, just wont be the same without you.