Simon Church

[Archie's penalty]

Stop the bitchiness there folks.

Church did very well in a high pressure environment in the last two games. He looks a good finisher and has a good touch, is pretty strong and good in the air. Some of those things would be good for us in our situation don't you think?

But yes I agree he hasn't done much yet in league football. Although I heard he had rave reviews at Crewe last year (which ain't bad seeing their history).

I think the best case scenario is a better team in league one saw the THREE goals he got against premiership defenders and got him on loan now before he goes back to Wycombe.

Did you watch the games AP? He impressed me I have to say.

Oh and he's not getting a game at Wycombe as he was sent off. HTH.

[Alan Partridge]

Stop the bitchiness there folks.

Church did very well in a high pressure environment in the last two games. He looks a good finisher and has a good touch, is pretty strong and good in the air. Some of those things would be good for us in our situation don't you think?

But yes I agree he hasn't done much yet in league football. Although I heard he had rave reviews at Crewe last year (which ain't bad seeing their history).

I think the best case scenario is a better team in league one saw the THREE goals he got against premiership defenders and got him on loan now before he goes back to Wycombe.

Did you watch the games AP? He impressed me I have to say.

Oh and he's not getting a game at Wycombe as he was sent off. HTH.

3 goals, blimey get him in!!

Lita got 14 goals in all competitions in the Premiership in his 1st season, but we need to forget about him.

He made 1 start for Wycombe (sent off) and 3 sub appearances.

2 Starts for Yeovil, 4 sub appearances

11 Starts for Crewe, 1 sub appearance

in that time....1 goal.

I didn't watch the game, fair play to him for getting the goals. I've seen him a couple of times in the reserves/youth team and he's looked ok but I suppose as with anything it's the trend to hop on a bandwagon and demand he starts next week probably

He needs to do what cox is doing, go to a club and start scoring goals, the problem being that once he starts doing that Reading will probably sell him for £50,000.

[Archie's penalty]

Stop the bitchiness there folks.

Church did very well in a high pressure environment in the last two games. He looks a good finisher and has a good touch, is pretty strong and good in the air. Some of those things would be good for us in our situation don't you think?

But yes I agree he hasn't done much yet in league football. Although I heard he had rave reviews at Crewe last year (which ain't bad seeing their history).

I think the best case scenario is a better team in league one saw the THREE goals he got against premiership defenders and got him on loan now before he goes back to Wycombe.

Did you watch the games AP? He impressed me I have to say.

Oh and he's not getting a game at Wycombe as he was sent off. HTH.

3 goals, blimey get him in!!

Lita got 14 goals in all competitions in the Premiership in his 1st season, but we need to forget about him.

He made 1 start for Wycombe (sent off) and 3 sub appearances.

2 Starts for Yeovil, 4 sub appearances

11 Starts for Crewe, 1 sub appearance

in that time....1 goal.

I didn't watch the game, fair play to him for getting the goals. I've seen him a couple of times in the reserves/youth team and he's looked ok but I suppose as with anything it's the trend to hop on a bandwagon and demand he starts next week probably

He needs to do what cox is doing, go to a club and start scoring goals, the problem being that once he starts doing that Reading will probably sell him for £50,000.

Well done for completely misreading my post. I said that the three goals would hopefully mean a top division one team would
come in for him.

I never demanded that he start. And I never compared him to your beloved Leroy.

To climb down from this ridiculous debate, I was just proud to see a product of our academy do so well on a big stage.

And the u21 games are a lot higher quality than division two games or the reserves.

[juanpablo]

i see where AP is coming from we do tend to jump on bandwagons here far to often , for and against players

[Archie's penalty]

i see where AP is coming from we do tend to jump on bandwagons here far to often , for and against players

Which AP?

[Alan Partridge]

Beloved Leroy? No I just deal in facts and not silly internet stories or personal favourites. He has to be compared to Lita, Long and the others if he's going to play here. People forget easily, not just Reading fans but sports fans in general. If someone isn't doing it they are quickly discarded and forgotten about and it's all the rage to 'get xxxxx in now!' saw it in cricket when people demanded FLintoff to be dropped and forgotten about despite the fact he's England's best bowler. Lita is Reading's best finisher going through an awful patch, some can't get shot of him quick enough. As i said fair play to Church sounds as though he did very well in these two games. You were saying he didn't play for Wycombe because he was sent off, so i put up his stats and he started 1 game during his spell, he couldn't get a game there or at Yeovil.

Church needs to start doing something in club football before he could even be remotely considered for Reading, as it is he's done nothing to warrant selection over any of our forwards. Will he attract top league 1 clubs? Only if they are desperate I'd fathom. 'Top league one clubs' if that isn't an oxymoron in the first place, will have ample forwards and will only require one if an injury occurs, if they look at Church's previous loans they wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

[Archie's penalty]

Beloved Leroy? No I just deal in facts and not silly internet stories or personal favourites. He has to be compared to Lita, Long and the others if he's going to play here. People forget easily, not just Reading fans but sports fans in general. If someone isn't doing it they are quickly discarded and forgotten about and it's all the rage to 'get xxxxx in now!' saw it in cricket when people demanded FLintoff to be dropped and forgotten about despite the fact he's England's best bowler. Lita is Reading's best finisher going through an awful patch, some can't get shot of him quick enough. As i said fair play to Church sounds as though he did very well in these two games. You were saying he didn't play for Wycombe because he was sent off, so i put up his stats and he started 1 game during his spell, he couldn't get a game there or at Yeovil.

Church needs to start doing something in club football before he could even be remotely considered for Reading, as it is he's done nothing to warrant selection over any of our forwards. Will he attract top league 1 clubs? Only if they are desperate I'd fathom. 'Top league one clubs' if that isn't an oxymoron in the first place, will have ample forwards and will only require one if an injury occurs, if they look at Church's previous loans they wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

I never said get him in once.

I was just happy to see him do well.

And I hope that his performance over the two games will get him noticed. He played very well.

[Ian Royal]

I see What AP is saying, but he's taking the stupidest put him in right now statements from people who have made one contribution and ignoring the points of others.

Lita is a spent force at Reading. Outside the playing field there are numerous rumours of poor behaviour and disruption. Some which are completely confirmed. Some are obviously bullcrap tbf. On top of that he is a player who has scored 1 league goal for Reading (4 if you include Charlton) in well over a season now. In which he missed glorious chances galore and contributed virtually nothing else.

the only time he's consistently scored goals is at league 1 level. Other than that he has hit form over 2 to 3 fairly short periods. He has the talent. But he isn't producing the goods.

Rather than focusing on a player who is consistently failing to perform and has had numerous chances at the club. It makes a lot more sense to give experience end help develop a young and extremely promising home grown player. No one sane is seriously suggesting he is brought into the first team. But if he doesn't go back on loan, which seems unlikely. It makes a lot of sense to use him as a sub in the cup games, rather than wasting more time with Leroy "on his way out" Lita.

We should certainly be working Mooney into the team at a higher priority than Church. But Church should be getting chances off the back of these performances, preferably a significantly lengthy loan at a decent lower league team.

AP you are so obviously playing favourites with Lita it is unbelievable. Best finisher my arse.

[Alan Partridge]

Beloved Leroy? No I just deal in facts and not silly internet stories or personal favourites. He has to be compared to Lita, Long and the others if he's going to play here. People forget easily, not just Reading fans but sports fans in general. If someone isn't doing it they are quickly discarded and forgotten about and it's all the rage to 'get xxxxx in now!' saw it in cricket when people demanded FLintoff to be dropped and forgotten about despite the fact he's England's best bowler. Lita is Reading's best finisher going through an awful patch, some can't get shot of him quick enough. As i said fair play to Church sounds as though he did very well in these two games. You were saying he didn't play for Wycombe because he was sent off, so i put up his stats and he started 1 game during his spell, he couldn't get a game there or at Yeovil.

Church needs to start doing something in club football before he could even be remotely considered for Reading, as it is he's done nothing to warrant selection over any of our forwards. Will he attract top league 1 clubs? Only if they are desperate I'd fathom. 'Top league one clubs' if that isn't an oxymoron in the first place, will have ample forwards and will only require one if an injury occurs, if they look at Church's previous loans they wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

I never said get him in once.

I was just happy to see him do well.

And I hope that his performance over the two games will get him noticed. He played very well.

I never said you personally said 'get him in now' I am summarising the general theme of the thread and some earlier comments. I want to see Church do something in club football, all he's got currently is a few fleeting appearacnes and a record with equal goals to sendings off ratio.

[RG30]

Lita scored 6 in 9 games for England U21 (playing with a bunch of players with loads of experience of top level football) and Church has 7 in 10 games for Wales U21 (playing with Ramsay and a few lower league reserves).

Shame neither of them can score in Domestic football but, having seen Church's composed and mature finish tonight, I know who I'd rather see coming off the bench for us later on this season.

As a point of note, I understand that Wales' U-21 squad has been together for a while. They may not play top-level football but they're meant to be a decent U-21 squad at the moment. Wales realised that the only way of succeeding was to get continuity from youth all the way to senior level and are starting, slowly, to see the results.

Good article in this month's edition of WSC about the Wales youth team set up's under Bryan Flynn.

Nothing new about Simon Church, over a year ago Kevin Dillon commented in the EP I believe how he had come on leaps and bounds. Let's hope he can continue his progress, but he's got a long way to go yet.

[Alan Partridge]

I see What AP is saying, but he's taking the stupidest put him in right now statements from people who have made one contribution and ignoring the points of others.

Lita is a spent force at Reading. Outside the playing field there are numerous rumours of poor behaviour and disruption. Some which are completely confirmed. Some are obviously bullcrap tbf. On top of that he is a player who has scored 1 league goal for Reading (4 if you include Charlton) in well over a season now. In which he missed glorious chances galore and contributed virtually nothing else.

the only time he's consistently scored goals is at league 1 level. Other than that he has hit form over 2 to 3 fairly short periods. He has the talent. But he isn't producing the goods.

Rather than focusing on a player who is consistently failing to perform and has had numerous chances at the club. It makes a lot more sense to give experience end help develop a young and extremely promising home grown player. No one sane is seriously suggesting he is brought into the first team. But if he doesn't go back on loan, which seems unlikely. It makes a lot of sense to use him as a sub in the cup games, rather than wasting more time with Leroy "on his way out" Lita.

We should certainly be working Mooney into the team at a higher priority than Church. But Church should be getting chances off the back of these performances, preferably a significantly lengthy loan at a decent lower league team.

AP you are so obviously playing favourites with Lita it is unbelievable. Best finisher my arse.

I don't play favourites with anyone, I ahve said numerous times elsewhere that Lita's current form over the last year (when he's been given the opportuinites has been shocking) however for me he is the best finisher, natural insticnt finisher in the club. The amount of goals I have seen him score Preston away, Ipswich away, Preston home, hat trick v West Brom, United away, City away, classy top class finishing that sees him imo as the best finisher in the club. Not the best player, but similarly to Cureton he'll tuck them away given opportunites. Right foot, left foot, head, it doesn't matter. He'll miss them too at times but that's the type of player he is. Of course you can see all that sat by the radio!!!!

Lita is a spent force at Reading, at 24 years of age you have to seriously ask questions of that statement and how it's *possibly* come to that. consistently failing to perform, numerous chances, all i see is a player who would get 1 maybe 2 games and then be dropped for 3 months in all honesty. That was Lita last season, doyle went 18 games wihtout scoring and all season no goals with his feet until the last 20minutes at Derby, but we persisted with him and gave him FAR too long to rediscover his touch. Maybe had Lita, Long and Cox been given more of an opportunity we MAY have survived.

He isn't producing the goods, agreed and that's why he's onloan to hopefully rediscover a bit of form. It makes more sense to give Church more playing time and he should be getting opportunites on the back of 2 games? Blimey that is quite literally ridiculous in all honesty as pointed out. He couldn't get a game at Wycombe!!! and now you ARE saying he should be 'getting opportunites'. He should be getting opportunites when he starts doing something/anything at club level. Absolutely fair play to the lad for the 3 goals, good finishes looking at the videos but it's laughable that you dismiss someone with a fairly proven goalscoring record at club and u21 level who is 24 yet throughly endorse someone with absolutely no record at all.

good luck to Simon Church when he returns to Wycombe, I hope he does really well.

(I do apologise from turning it into another Lita debate, that was my fault, feel free to go back to original topic )

[pace=forster]

Does anyone know if he was actually any good while he was on loan? I seem to recall he was being played in center midfield while he was at Crewe...

[From Despair To Where?]

To be honest if the choice of benchwarmer was a young academy prospect keen to prove his worth or a demotivated, want away striker, irrespectve of proven ability, I know which one I'd pick. If Church wasn't considered of sufficient promise, the club would not have been given him a professional contract

[rg6royal]

Would like to see more of him in a Reading shirt tbh.

[andrew1957]

I have to say that I agree with AP about Simon Church. He has promise but there is no chance of him starting a game for RFC until he starts scoring regularly at lower league level.

In terms of the pecking order he must still be well below Robson-Kanu - who is regularly scoring for Southend (I know he plays left wing as well as up front before anyone says) and no one seems to be suggesting we bring Kanu back to play in the first team.

It is great to see a young player doing well at under 21 level but Church still has a long way to go before he plays for RFC first team.

The great news is that we have about 10 promising under 21 youngsters now - the Academy is delivering!!

[PEARCEY]

Would like to see more of him in a Reading shirt tbh.

Yes so would I but in the right matches, ie Cup games.
I have only seen him play once for Reading and that was against Forest Green Rovers in a pre season friendly and he was totally anonymous.
However Archie's Penalty is right in that Church played really well over both the Under 21 matches and took his chances superbly well. He was playing against a team with a lot of players with plenty of Premiership experience and certainly did not look out of place.
He is only 19 but there is no doubt clubs will be looking at him now. His profile has risen.

[Deathy]

More Church, less Long. Give Long to Wycombe.

[Royal Rother]

I have to say that I agree with AP about Simon Church. He has promise but there is no chance of him starting a game for RFC until he starts scoring regularly at lower league level.

I'm not going to check but I don't think anyone has suggested otherwise.

[Yellowcoat]

Rather than harbour a forlorn hope that Lita might actually score there are a lot of players I would play before him at the moment. In no particular order Long, Mooney, Church, Robson-Kanu and now even Bignall. All of these have looked as though they want to play for the club when given chances. I would even put the non playing subs and the trialist from the reserve game today in front of him at the moment.

[Victor Meldrew]

I agree with AP that on this site as soon as anybody shows a glimmer of form he is thought immediately able to play first team football-there is also a post in another section about the young boy scoring 3 goals against Bashley for Basingstoke at a level which is not much higher than park football.
Having said that I agree with him I'm going to add my name to those that think Church has a future.
I watched the whole of the 2 U21 games v Wales and was impressed with his hold-up play,touch and passing,runs and of course finishing especially bearing in mind he was up against Steven Taylor of Newcastle for much of those games.

Back in the summer I expressed disappointment that we weren't in for Sam Vokes who went for £400,000 from Bournemouth to Wolves especially as he is a strong lad still only 18 and would have provided a different type of option for us up front-whether we were ever interested I don't know but we preferred to go for another unprove Irishman instead in Mooney.We had of course let Bournemouth have 4 loan players the previous season so presumably we would have had first option on the young and improving Vokes who at 18 played for the full Welsh side and scored.
Oh well time will tell but likewise for Church-I like what I have seen of Church and hope that he progresses and yes I would put him in rather than Lita who I think has lost it.

Talking of church I saw this today outside a local church:-
What's missing from ch__ch? which I thought was quite clever.
Get it?