Tommy Smith - Gazumped by Pompey - Thread

[79Royal]

Russo has taken a few lessons from the 'Mike Ashley Book of Being a Football Chairman' as far as I understand it, so I think he's put some spin of his own on it. He mentions himself the fees we've bought in, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Watford have moved the goalposts on this.

If THAT is the case then we were right to pull out of the deal and move on to other targets. We can try again in January if we still want him.

[Royal Lady]

He ain't coming said before - fact...if I was Smith id telling Reading to shove it up their arse as well

And as said before, that's opinion and not fact.

Hmm. Seems it was more fact than opinion. You going to apologise Jay?

[Deathy]

He ain't coming said before - fact...if I was Smith id telling Reading to shove it up their arse as well

And as said before, that's opinion and not fact.

Hmm. Seems it was more fact than opinion. You going to apologise Jay?

No because it was his opinion, and he had no more than that. Look back, he said it a few times pre weekend.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

In Brendan's post match interview yesterday when asked about targets he seemed very frustrated. When we had Coppell we knew that he would take things in his stride despite the obvious lack of help he received from Madj. Brendan however, who has more of an ego than Coppell may well walk at some point if it becomes too much to handle. I genuinely think that if we don't sign anyone before September then Madj will have a lot of trouble on his hands.

[Platypuss]

But in all seriousness, we are in such a mess it's untrue. £1.8m and outright is not a lot for such a telented player, and 29 is not fecking old!! There's 3 quality years in him. Unbelievable.

And yet.....

And Watford want more than a million for him? Hold your ground! £1m tops!!!

Keep it up, Indecisive Dave...

To be fair, there appear to be quite a few people who are now berating RFC for not dancing to Russo's tune, but who also said a few months ago that £1.8M for a 29 y-o striker was Watford taking the piss...

[Madstad to Nadderud]

Tommy Smith probably doesn't want to come here now anyway as Reading could be heading in the opposite direction to the Premiership.

[Muskrat]

I'm not convinced about this. We know Russo is playing this out in the press because he thinks it's to his advantage but it's put him and his club in a very poor light.

And how does he know how much we got for Doyle, Hunt and Bikey, as all three fees were undisclosed??- he has no right to speculate at all on that any more than BR did about TS's future. Looks like a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

[Deathy]

In Brendan's post match interview yesterday when asked about targets he seemed very frustrated. When we had Coppell we knew that he would take things in his stride despite the obvious lack of help he received from Madj. Brendan however, who has more of an ego than Coppell may well walk at some point if it becomes too much to handle. I genuinely think that if we don't sign anyone before September then Madj will have a lot of trouble on his hands.

'greed, but Mr Madj already has trouble on his hands. The home support turned on him and they will get louder and more will voice their feelings in the next game and games, if we continue to struggle. The majority of fans see past it being Rodgers fault, and the young team. They are all looking at one man, John Madejski.

[fozziebear]

http://www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetai ... 22,00.html Looks like JM has pulled out of the deal.

[ROKERITE]

I'd like to think Smith will still be a Reading player before the transfer window closes. If the Watford Chairman's version of events is true then it would be hard to defend Madejski this time. However, it could well be that Russo is twisting the truth slightly.

[Deathy]

http://www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~1766022,00.html Looks like JM has pulled out of the deal.

Page 37.

[cmonurz]

"The guaranteed fees they proposed were less than what was acceptable and the rest of their bid was based on "jam tomorrow" add-ons which included a hefty proportion based on Reading achieving promotion to the Premier League."

"We cannot let other clubs take advantage because they feel they can exploit the financial position that the previous regime has left us in. We showed in our dealings with Ipswich and Tamas Priskin that we understand the value of our players and that we are fair in our dealings. It is exactly the same with Reading and Tommy Smith. We have to give credit to Marcus Evans at Ipswich for backing his manager and negotiating with us in a quiet and discreet manner. It eventually produced a suitable and appropriate deal for Ipswich, Tamas Priskin and Watford."

This has embarassed the club, we look like both a shambles, and 'big-time' bullies trying to use our recent success as clout in negotiations.

Not only do we now have the club's relative inactivity over years in the transfer market, we have examples of the club being inflexible, and downright tight, in the negotiations it does choose to enter.

I'm fed up, and my support for Madejski is waning very quickly.

[Royal Lady]

Except "Rokerite" didn't Brendan say last night that although we'd offered the same amount as Sheffield Utd, Watford had refused to accept the offer?

He's probably been kept in the dark. Although our total offer was probably £1.8 million, the actual amount before add-ons for if we get back to the Premiership (lol) was almost certainly still viewed as derisory. I'll give BR the benefit of the doubt and think that he had no idea what the negotations were. Be interesting to be a fly on the wall in Madejski's office tomorrow morning.

[Deathy]

But in all seriousness, we are in such a mess it's untrue. £1.8m and outright is not a lot for such a telented player, and 29 is not fecking old!! There's 3 quality years in him. Unbelievable.

And yet.....

And Watford want more than a million for him? Hold your ground! £1m tops!!!

I never for one minute expected Reading to spend more than that on anyone this summer. Then we spent £2m on Mills and surprised almost all of us! Is he worth £1.8m? Everyone else seems to think so, and he's certainly performing for Watford, so yeah, I was wrong. Bust a oxf*rd gut and sign him.

[Royal Lady]

Deathy - Perhaps Imamateofjovsky knows people involved? Who knows. He does, however, appear to have been spot on and it's a brave man who makes that sort of "opinion" if he doesn't have any insider knowledge.

[Deathy]

Deathy - Perhaps Imamateofjovsky knows people involved? Who knows. He does, however, appear to have been spot on and it's a brave man who makes that sort of "opinion" if he doesn't have any insider knowledge.

Not in this case. Just an opinion that sadly is now the case.

[Compo's Hat]

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... th_watford

The Reading Post understands that any deal for Smith is still not totally dead in the water and expects the club to make a comment on the situation on Monday.

Once Sheff Utd made that offer then we knew how much we had to bid. I don't know why we messed Watford around after that as i bet they told us more than once how much was required. Considering the money we've got from transfers, saved on wages and a 2nd year of parachute payments then i'm sure £200,000 for what seems like Rodgers No.1 target is not asking too much. This "well run" club is fast making a joke of that phrase and for all the spin they put on their website they'll just make things worse now without being honest about what's going on behind the scenes.

Say what you want, but people who say "look at what Madejski has done for us" are sadly living in the past and not to the future.

[rotherwick_royal]

There's only one things that's changed in RFC's approach to transfers this Summer and that's the manager. If BR hadn't mouthed off about Smith being desperate to come here it would have all been kept private and any break-down in negotiations wouldn't have come out a.k.a. 'the Reading way', or at least used to be!

I think BR has been embarrassed by this, but don't forget he's a relatively new manager and he will learn from this. At least we know more this Summer about who really holds the purse strings (LOL at those idiots who thought SSC should have been spending more money when it's obvious now there wasn't any to spend).

[FiNeRaIn]

LMAO thats a SCATHING attack on RFC- fair play to them. I liked this bit.

"Given that the evidence available to us suggests that Brendan covets the player and Reading have netted circa £11m with the sales of Doyle, Hunt and Bikey - not to mention the huge wage savings that go with that, I have to say I was surprised when they said that they were no longer interested in signing Tommy because of a clause that is commonplace in transfers today."

Basically saying " you have money so don't pretend you don't, stop bothering us with terrible offers". Fair play to that whole article and the way we have gone about things has been embarassing.

[rotherwick_royal]

I'm not convinced about this. We know Russo is playing this out in the press because he thinks it's to his advantage but it's put him and his club in a very poor light.

You think so? The way I see it it's RFC that are looking like prats.