Sshh! It's how we operate.

[Stranded]

It was always going to be like this.

We're one of the few clubs who have completely changed their management team over the summer. They will have their ideas but want to look at the current squad too - any transfers in were never going to take place until this week at the earliest.

[Ian Royal]

It's not like we're especially in the dark about potential transfers and targets either.

We know we're after Smith. We know we're looking at Chelsea youngsters on loan. We know things are actively being done.

[Factfinder]

I've been prepared to be patient up to now, secure in the belief that our management team is carefully weighing up its options before signing the appropriate players, even if they have to be loan signings. But I have to say that as each day passes I edge a little closer to the fear that we will be hearing a Coppellesque "I think the squad's strong enough as it is" comment from Clodagh before the month is out.

That's exactly what I think CMRoyal.
The £1M bid for the Barnsley winger will probably come to nothing now, he is a Coppell type of player anyway. And Smith at £1.8M is way beyond our budget with Church and Bignall waiting in the wings.
Without Campbell-Ryce, Rodgers will certainly blood young Henry and try to unravel the Kebe riddle through good coaching. (Not that either of those are bad things)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/8140603.stm

[snapperjw]

Reading FC is certainly a football club that does not like to spend money..

Yes we have a new manager but surely from day one he would have thought about the players he would like to bring to the club. Our lack of activity within the transfer market is really worrying. If something doesn't happen soon Reading FC will be looking at mid table this coming season and the premiership will be a distant memory...

[Ian Royal]

Reading FC is certainly a football club that does not like to spend money..

Yes we have a new manager but surely from day one he would have thought about the players he would like to bring to the club. Our lack of activity within the transfer market is really worrying. If something doesn't happen soon Reading FC will be looking at mid table this coming season and the premiership will be a distant memory...

How can he make and decisions before he's spent at least a week getting to know the squad and seeing what he thinks he can get out of our players?

He'll have good ideas of who his targets might be for each area, but he needs to identify which areas are his priorities first.

He'd be a complete nob to make his decision based on the few games he saw of us last season and his general knowledge of the squad.

[Bath Hoops]

Reading FC is certainly a football club that does not like to spend money..

Yes we have a new manager but surely from day one he would have thought about the players he would like to bring to the club. Our lack of activity within the transfer market is really worrying. If something doesn't happen soon Reading FC will be looking at mid table this coming season and the premiership will be a distant memory...

How can he make and decisions before he's spent at least a week getting to know the squad and seeing what he thinks he can get out of our players?

He'll have good ideas of who his targets might be for each area, but he needs to identify which areas are his priorities first.

He'd be a complete nob to make his decision based on the few games he saw of us last season and his general knowledge of the squad.

His hand has been played alittle for him anyhow with the exit of Doyle and he knows he needs forward cover hence the Smith bid. Is a week long enough to help him make a decision ? Its interesting we've been linked with some left backs I suspect the injury to Armstrong is worse than we probably realise. Realistically though do you think the youth players are going to be good enough ? Pearce, Karacan maybe not so sure about the rest personally.

[Deathy]

.....I don't know about you boys and girls but I'm getting a bit fed up waiting for news of possible signings.

You need to learn some patience. And as somebody else has already said, try checking out the UR&G. The only problem with that place is that it is full of bullshit.

He'll have his news this week, apparently.

The £1M bid for the Barnsley winger will probably come to nothing now, he is a Coppell type of player anyway. And Smith at £1.8M is way beyond our budget

Exactly my thoughts but it looks as if a structured deal is close. Happy days!

[Woodcote Royal]

Start by taking a quick look at the Coca Cola Championship page on the BBC website and you'll see that everyone who's anybody in The Championship (and those who are not) are all in a frenzy of activity preparing for the new season. There is activity everywhere.

Even Blackpool! And they're close to signing Charlie Adam from Rangers, a player The Chronicle believed that we were on the verge of snapping up.

Wakey-wakey Reading.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/default.stm

Whilst it's clearly failed to register on your Richter scale, this club has already made it's most significant signings of the close season.

We've replaced Steve Coppell and his entire management team, who were nothing short of a disaster for this club over the last two seasons as they succeeded only in destroying the spectacular progress made in the previous two.

What we needed more than anything else this summer was someone who could get the best out of the remnants of our Premiership squad and the best bunch of youngster this club has ever had.....................that wasn't Steve Coppell and we should all be praying it's Brendan Rodgers.

The time to spend the bulk of the Doyle money will be in January, by which time, the inevitable injuries plus those failing to live up to expectations will need to be addressed.

In the meantime, it will be more a case of offloading those we can no longer afford and thanking Steve Coppell everytime we see Doyler in his Wolves kit. £1.5 million is a lot of money at this this level for a 29 year old striker but I suspect BR will get his man and that will be the major acquisition for now.....................who else do we need that won't deny the chances so many of our youngsters deserve?

It comes as a huge relief to me that I'm looking forward to sitting my seat for the first time in months having been force fed our appalling decline of the last 2 seasons....................bring it on.

[tee peg]

Good post.It will be nice watching players that want to play for the manager.

[Royalee]

Pretty much sums up my feelings also Woodcote.

[Thaumagurist*]

Just because newspapers and websites are reporting on activity from other clubs, it doesn't mean we aren't doing anything.

[Royalee]

Just because newspapers and websites are reporting on activity from other clubs, it doesn't mean we aren't doing anything.

Christ, you make a good point for a change.

[Factfinder]

Reading FC is certainly a football club that does not like to spend money..

Yes we have a new manager but surely from day one he would have thought about the players he would like to bring to the club. Our lack of activity within the transfer market is really worrying. If something doesn't happen soon Reading FC will be looking at mid table this coming season and the premiership will be a distant memory...

Mid table but with loads of promising youths coming into the team, that's how some on here see the future and also seem happy with that.

We are, as I said above being prepared for the inevitable statement from the club indicating that the squad is already strong enough.

[Woodcote Royal]

The day Factfinder starts to live up to his name will be the time to push the panic button.

In the meantime, back on planet Earth, with just one pre-season friendly against the mighty Didcot under his belt, the FACT our new manager has yet to spend any of this seasons budget remains a source of comfort rather than alarm.

[WTRoyal]

Shhh...

Quite.

I had been among the "disappointed about transfer activity" fraternity until a conversation I had earlier this evening. Call me a gullible fool if you will and I know I have certainly taken one over the eight this evening (or perhaps I'd have managed to restrain myself against posting & risking making myself look a fool, or more of a fool than I already do) but as I now understand the "RFC situation" at the moment:
-- There are two "serious acquisitions" (my words) in progress, both of which I would hope and expect to come to fruition from what I hear. If they do, they will make a mockery of the "fans" who denounce our budget and/or our "signals of intent" as far as ambition goes.
-- There are a number of other "irons in the fire"/"offers on the table"/<hatey management speak>"Works in progress"</hatey management speak> which would significantly strengthen our depth <personal opinion> though maybe not our "flair/challenge"</personal opinion> that are well within the "budget of the Reading Way" (my words)
-- (great big fat paraphrase and interpretation, by me): "Although we do not wish to define ourselves as a selling club, we do have players at the club who are at a stage in their career where they could reasonably expect to be competing for a first-team place at a higher level than RFC currently play at. These players are being "offered career advice" and there may well be movements afoot which could cause the payroll staff at RFC a big sigh of relief"

Who have I been speaking to? ......yeah, right, like I'd be stupid enough to say. Therefore, source/validity? Well, UROG would probably have been a better forum had I not replied to an extant thread, however I'm lazy and over-optimistic. So, what to make of this? Probably nothing. I'm just pi55ed. Ignore me.

This could well be end of thread.

Still, +1, LOLz and all that.

[Vision]

The day Factfinder starts to live up to his name will be the time to push the panic button.

In the meantime, back on planet Earth, with just one pre-season friendly against the mighty Didcot under his belt, the FACT our new manager has yet to spend any of this seasons budget remains a source of comfort rather than alarm.

Yep its always puzzled me how keen fans are to see money being spent seemingly without any consideration to what positions actually need money spent on them. Seems to be a lot of them just want any signing whomever it may be, presumably so they can enlighten us all on how shit they are before they've even kicked a ball for us.

[West Stand Man]

Start by taking a quick look at the Coca Cola Championship page on the BBC website and you'll see that everyone who's anybody in The Championship (and those who are not) are all in a frenzy of activity preparing for the new season. There is activity everywhere.

Even Blackpool! And they're close to signing Charlie Adam from Rangers, a player The Chronicle believed that we were on the verge of snapping up.

Wakey-wakey Reading.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/default.stm

We've replaced Steve Coppell and his entire management team, who were nothing short of a disaster for this club over the last two seasons as they succeeded only in destroying the spectacular progress made in the previous two.


It comes as a huge relief to me that I'm looking forward to sitting my seat for the first time in months having been force fed our appalling decline of the last 2 seasons....................bring it on.

While I agree that the time had come for a change in management, you do hugely overstate the issue. To describe the last 2 seasons as a 'disaster' is a gross misuse of that word. To decribe the same 2 seasons as an 'appalling decline' is equally grossly wrong. We are still ahead of where we were when Coppell took over, and well ahead of where we were at the turn of the century. Last season was not as successful as we hoped for - but it was not a disaster, nor an appalling decline.

Get real and smell the coffee, as they say somewhere overseas!

[Royal Lady]

Surely most fans KNOW we need another striker and also a replacement for SHunt?

[Vision]

Surely most fans KNOW we need another striker and also a replacement for SHunt?

Do they though? There are plenty of people who are very critical of the fact that Simon Cox wasn't given a chance to prove himself and that was in the Premiership. By the same reckoning shouldn't the new management team have a little more than the few days they've had so far to determine whether Hunt,Long,Mooney & Church should be given the chance to prove themselves capable up-front particularly given the liklehood of playing a lot of the season with just 1 striker. Of course we already know who the manager wants to bring in as a striker if at all possible anyway.

Hunt is the same as Shorey last season. Until that wage is removed then its difficult to make a case to bring in a suitable replacement. Armstrong wasn't that shabby a replacement in the end was he?

Its mainly the "Its July and we haven't bought anyone yet" brigade that puzzle me as if buying anyone at all would make our situation any better. At least let the new bloke have a proper look at whats available to him before spending money on players he may not need.

[Royal Lady]

NHunt still injured and no appearance of Mooney yesterday. Could be injured also? Therefore, I maintain that we do still need a striker and we knew this before any mention was made by BR of Smith, that's what I meant.

It makes me laugh how people are saying "it's looking good for this coming season" on the back of a 5-1 win over DIDCOT.