williams- swooped!

[Royal_Delight]

Does he have the right DNA?

98% right apparently. Apparently that means he's a chimp, but McD wasn't dissuaded.

[floyd__streete]

Never heard of this bloke at all, so am just hoping that he isn't a bit sh*t. Good luck Martin Williams.

[LoyalRoyal22]

A Defender from the divisions leakiest defence. Nice One.

Like most, ive Never heard of him either.

How can you say its a good signing at this stage?

Bertrand was part of the Norwich team that leaked 70 goals the season they were relegated......its not just down to one player, there are 10 others that count

Didn't Bertrand play on the wing quite a lot for them?



Pleased with the speed with which we've done this. Bertrand wasn't exactly brilliant in defence so I'm not too worried about getting in a player who has room to improve there. Although it makes it more important to land Griffin for the experience and defensive quality on the other flank now.

McD is impressing in his summer signings already, and it doesn't really even feel much like Spring yet.

I agree. If we sign Griff, that would give us a nice balance to the defence.

[Wycombe Royal]

This a bit more of a reasoned critique from a Scunny fan:

Shame to see Marcus go, but was always on the cards. Been wanting a move away for quite a while. Brilliant on his day, saw an aggressive side of him this season which I've not seen before. Great at getting forward and has pace in abundance (think he was converted from a winger when he was younger...?) Not so great at defending but will do a job on the majority of wingers. Very laid back at times, but if he's up for it on the day you've got a hell of a player on your hands.

[wolsey]

Never heard of this bloke at all, so am just hoping that he isn't a bit sh*t. Good luck Martin Williams.

Unknown Signing from "Small Club" by a bloke who's spent far too much watching crap players not to know a good prospect when he sees one >>>>>>> 3rd Choice Reserve Full Back from "World Class" Team by a bloke who spent too much time reading his own publicity.

(Probably - could be wrong)

(In Brian We Trust)

[NR_Royal]

At the beginning of FM10:

Ryan Bertrand


Marcus Williams


Comparison


Griffin

[TBM]

How can he be weaker than Bertrand

[rob the royal]

Great to see a left back coming in so quickly. But I too will be reserving judgement.

I'm not going to read too much into what's on the scunny forums as some of it is bound to be sour grapes as he was there from 16 years old and then decided he was bigger than them an rejected their contract offer. But it does sound like he was one of their better players and there is an article that makes it sound like losing him and hayes in one day (and both for free) was like being done up the bum by king kong (although not in those exact words...)

Sounds like he could be another Bertrand or he could be another Rosenior... to be honest either way I'll be happy. I just hope he's not another Shaun Cummings - we need someone who is at the right level right now and confident, but considering his age and appearances for the club I would suggest this is less likely.

2 things I do wonder though... they say the player's agent spoke to no other club - are we to take that as other clubs tried to speak to the player but were turned down, or that we were the only interested party? I wonder.

Also they say that the reason he only spoke to Reading was because they knew it was the right move for him, with great facilities, a good fan base, nice bloke for a manager yadda yadda... or was it because we have one left back crocked, the other's gone back to Chelsea, leaving only a youngster to contend with - i.e. Julian Kelly.

Personally, if we fail to get Zurab and/or Griffin or we sell some fringe players or whatever the situation would have to be in order to allow the funds to get Bertrand back for another season I'd still do it if it were possible. If Armstrong doesn't come back from his injury and this new guy got injured for the season we'd end up relying on Julian Kelly - who I like as a prospect but wouldn't like to rely on for a whole campaign... That's my take on it anyway - it's a step in the right direction and very encouraging news but McD needs to follow this up and make sure our squad is capable of covering itself for all eventualites next season (which i might add is why keeping Bryn will be excellent for us).

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Agreed that even with the Williams signing we are short of left backs. Don't really want to see Kelly there, but I reckon we'll have to make do.

Lets just hope Williams is as tough as he looks...

[Ryn]

Good piece of business, in that we needed a left back and Maccie D has served us one up straight away.

Fingers crossed he will slot straight in and play well from the get go.

[rob the royal]

Agreed that even with the Williams signing we are short of left backs. Don't really want to see Kelly there, but I reckon we'll have to make do.

Lets just hope Williams is as tough as he looks...

Yeah in an ideal world i'd want two decent left backs in front of Kelly so we could send him on loan somewhere. Maybe Armstrong will make his comeback and sort this out for us, but as you say if we end up having to make do then fair enough...

At the end of the day if Armstrong doesn't come back and Williams got injured as well I reckon McD would probably give Kelly a go and then find a loan player if he wasn't up to it so if we don't bring another left back in this summer it won't be the end of the world. To be fair, if we'd lost Bertrand to injury Kelly would have had to do this year, so no reason why we won't do the same next season. But if it was me I'd be looking to find an extra left back and send Kelly out on loan.

[Ian Royal]

Welcoming the signing as being a good sign and positive action, and reserving judgement on the player until he's made a few appearances are not mutually exclusive.

There is no reason to be disappointed by this signing, unless you were being unrealistic and holding out for Bertrand, or are justing wanting to predict doom so you can crow if it turns out you're right.

There are several reasons to be positive about it.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Great signing. Top work McDermott.

[Hoop Blah]

it would be interesting as to know as to why everyone thinks this is such a good deal. Dont get me wrong, i very much hope this player is an adequate replacement for Bertrand and Armstrong, but on the basis that you probably only saw him play against us at home and Scunny were barely on the TV last year, how do you actually know he is any good????

I'm not one to get carried away, and have to admit I've never noticed this lad at all.

However, I'm positive about the signing purely on the basis that he sounds exactly the type of player we needed to fill one of the gapping holes in the squad and, unlike under Coppell and Rodgers, we appear to have gone out and been aggressive in the market to get a player we need.

I'll wait to pass judgement on him as a player until I've seen him a few times, but so far this has to be a good move and another example of McDermott going about things in a positive mnner.

[rob the royal]

There is no reason to be disappointed by this signing, unless you were being unrealistic and holding out for Bertrand, or are justing wanting to predict doom so you can crow if it turns out you're right.

Or if you'd seen the player play several times and thought he was poor! That'd be a good reason!

(Also I'm both pleased with this signing AND unrealistically holding out for Bertrand as well! Though the chances of him coming back are probably even lower now that we've made this signing than they already were!)

[PEARCEY]

Don't know anything about him but for a 24 year old he's made a lot of League appearances so hopefully he can sort out one of our full-back problems.

[FiNeRaIn]

Gotta be the end for armstrong then, sad news. He's not as good as bertie but easily one of the best left backs in this division when fit. The forgotten man is probably gone now we've signed this lad.

[PEARCEY]

Gotta be the end for armstrong then, sad news. He's not as good as bertie but easily one of the best left backs in this division when fit. The forgotten man is probably gone now we've signed this lad.

Not sure. Armstrong's still under contract. I don't know if he's definitely finished. Hope not. From POTS to nothing. Hope he can recover fitness.
Irrespective of that we did need another full-back.

[Archie's penalty]

Meh about this signing but hope he's good.

[Son of Len]

Judgement reserved as on all new signings, but he does sound like a perfect fit (based on playing 200 games and only 24) and, as has been written, In Brian We Trust.

The thing that caught my eye was that Williams called Reading a "big club." I'm not used to that. And it seems to me that the free transfers, which make up the early part of the close season, most often go to "big" clubs. So the groundwork that Coppell laid out for RFC and that McDermott has built on (not sure what effect Rogers had) has made us into a target for the players. They are wanting to come here now.

Take that Scott Brown.