RUMOUR - Danny Graham?

[Blackbag]

I cum in my pants if Ashavin came here i tell ya f..k Danny Graham no better than wot we got

[Royalwaster]

I cum in my pants if Ashavin came here i tell ya f..k Danny Graham no better than wot we got

Ashavin is supposed to be lazy according to my Arsenal friend - can't imagine him fitting in at RFC then.

[Victor Meldrew]

I cum in my pants if Ashavin came here i tell ya f..k Danny Graham no better than wot we got

That would mean Brian leaving Jobi out which would never happen .
As for Graham,on a par with Grant Holt and better than Shane Long IMHO-yes I would have him and he is much better than what we have got.

[SPARTA]

I cum in my pants if Ashavin came here i tell ya f..k Danny Graham no better than wot we got

That would mean Brian leaving Jobi out which would never happen .
As for Graham,on a par with Grant Holt and better than Shane Long IMHO-yes I would have him and he is much better than what we have got.

Arshavin in the hole behind the striker most likely, as part of the 4-5-1.

[blythspartan]

The People said that Swansea want £5m for him, so I can't see this one happening. The owners will want at least 5 players for that sort of outlay.

[Divvy]

The owners will want at least 5 players for that sort of outlay.

More idiotic claims about the new owners from minions that have no idea what money has been, or is available.

[Royal Bahamas]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

^^^^Agree entirely

[Royal91]

I don't want him.

[Royal Rother]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

^^^^Agree entirely

And isn't it fascinating that the entire tone of the board can change after one plucky and (possibly) unfortunate loss?

Still, posters whose opinion can be turned around by one single game are probably not the ones I'd look to for balanced and rational analysis.

[cmonurz]

And isn't it fascinating that the entire tone of the board can change after one plucky and (possibly) unfortunate loss?

Well that hasn't happened in the main.

What you've got is fans seeing an improved performance with the team set up exactly how many have been advocating for some time.

In a situation where it appears McDermott is bullet proof, it's not a massive surprise given the change in tactics to something resembling what many on here have been calling for for weeks, that there is a little more positivity on here at the moment. But just a little.

[Cypry]

That the academy seems to exist primarily to supply the lower leagues with cheap young players ?

I guess you really believe that the academy is suddenly going to start producing premiership quality players

What fruits exactly do you expect the investment in our academy to bear?

Chelsea have had what, one player through their youth ranks into the first team in a decade? Liverpool two or three, one more if you include Sterling, but he's QPR really.

The problem is, you're both looking at academies historically, and not considering the future....(although given that Pearce, Karacan, Siggy, McCarthy and more are all products of our academy I'd argue that it's been pretty productive in recent years anyway).

EPPP is starting to ramp up, and the future for clubs with CAT1 academies is very bright indeed. It's worth considering why EPPP exists in the first place....it's nothing to do with making life better for the players, rather it's a reaction by the Premier League following on from their failure to make their mini-league a "closed shop" by doing away with relegation. It's purely designed to give established Premier League (rich) clubs, a massive advantage in the future, by allowing them to cherry pick the best young players from all over the country....in the event of relegation to the Championship, it should make it significantly easier for those clubs to "bounce back".

On the other hand, for clubs such as Reading, with good academies that do not make CAT1, the future is bleak. Look at our academy at the moment, we're at, or near the top of the leagues in most age groups. We have some excellent prospects, but those prospects could so easily be tempted away by those clubs who do have CAT1 status, with next to no compensation for us, and the quality of our academy would effectively be dealt a blow from which it may never recover...

I KNOW that this is the way the club is thinking at the moment. I also KNOW the cost of some of the infrastructure that the club needs to put in place in order to achieve CAT1 status and if anyone suggests that the club has not been investing, then they're very wide of the mark indeed...


The view is, that unless we can achieve CAT1 status, then the dream of establishing ourselves as a Premier League side will remain just that, a dream....and with that in mind, it's seen that it is far more important to achieve that goal, than staying up this year. Obviously the ideal scenario is to do both, and I'm sure we'll see some limited investment in players in January to give us half a chance at survival given our current predicament, but the focus will, and should, remain at getting that all important CAT1 status, allowing us to retain the best players we have in our academy today, and to sweep up the best prospects from non-CAT1 academies to further bolster our strength in that area....

[winchester_royal]

Good ppost, and it is that sort of long term vision that I hope the club have in mind.

[Esteban]

The problem is, you're both looking at academies historically, and not considering the future....(although given that Pearce, Karacan, Siggy, McCarthy and more are all products of our academy I'd argue that it's been pretty productive in recent years anyway).

EPPP is starting to ramp up, and the future for clubs with CAT1 academies is very bright indeed. It's worth considering why EPPP exists in the first place....it's nothing to do with making life better for the players, rather it's a reaction by the Premier League following on from their failure to make their mini-league a "closed shop" by doing away with relegation. It's purely designed to give established Premier League (rich) clubs, a massive advantage in the future, by allowing them to cherry pick the best young players from all over the country....in the event of relegation to the Championship, it should make it significantly easier for those clubs to "bounce back".

On the other hand, for clubs such as Reading, with good academies that do not make CAT1, the future is bleak. Look at our academy at the moment, we're at, or near the top of the leagues in most age groups. We have some excellent prospects, but those prospects could so easily be tempted away by those clubs who do have CAT1 status, with next to no compensation for us, and the quality of our academy would effectively be dealt a blow from which it may never recover...

I KNOW that this is the way the club is thinking at the moment. I also KNOW the cost of some of the infrastructure that the club needs to put in place in order to achieve CAT1 status and if anyone suggests that the club has not been investing, then they're very wide of the mark indeed...


The view is, that unless we can achieve CAT1 status, then the dream of establishing ourselves as a Premier League side will remain just that, a dream....and with that in mind, it's seen that it is far more important to achieve that goal, than staying up this year. Obviously the ideal scenario is to do both, and I'm sure we'll see some limited investment in players in January to give us half a chance at survival given our current predicament, but the focus will, and should, remain at getting that all important CAT1 status, allowing us to retain the best players we have in our academy today, and to sweep up the best prospects from non-CAT1 academies to further bolster our strength in that area....

Do you know when we might hear whether or not our application for Cat 1 status was successful or not? It's gone very quiet on that front.

[Hoop Blah]

The problem is, you're both looking at academies historically, and not considering the future....(although given that Pearce, Karacan, Siggy, McCarthy and more are all products of our academy I'd argue that it's been pretty productive in recent years anyway).

We're doing pretty well but the higher you go the less youth products you're going to get into a first team.

As an aside, it could be argued that Church, Karacan and Sigurdsson aren't products of our Academy as they came here quite late in their development and we were more just a finishing school for them.

[jpember16]

no thanks, he is rubbish and very over rated

[Millsy]

That the academy seems to exist primarily to supply the lower leagues with cheap young players ?

I guess you really believe that the academy is suddenly going to start producing premiership quality players

What fruits exactly do you expect the investment in our academy to bear?

Chelsea have had what, one player through their youth ranks into the first team in a decade? Liverpool two or three, one more if you include Sterling, but he's QPR really.

The problem is, you're both looking at academies historically, and not considering the future....(although given that Pearce, Karacan, Siggy, McCarthy and more are all products of our academy I'd argue that it's been pretty productive in recent years anyway).

EPPP is starting to ramp up, and the future for clubs with CAT1 academies is very bright indeed. It's worth considering why EPPP exists in the first place....it's nothing to do with making life better for the players, rather it's a reaction by the Premier League following on from their failure to make their mini-league a "closed shop" by doing away with relegation. It's purely designed to give established Premier League (rich) clubs, a massive advantage in the future, by allowing them to cherry pick the best young players from all over the country....in the event of relegation to the Championship, it should make it significantly easier for those clubs to "bounce back".

On the other hand, for clubs such as Reading, with good academies that do not make CAT1, the future is bleak. Look at our academy at the moment, we're at, or near the top of the leagues in most age groups. We have some excellent prospects, but those prospects could so easily be tempted away by those clubs who do have CAT1 status, with next to no compensation for us, and the quality of our academy would effectively be dealt a blow from which it may never recover...

I KNOW that this is the way the club is thinking at the moment. I also KNOW the cost of some of the infrastructure that the club needs to put in place in order to achieve CAT1 status and if anyone suggests that the club has not been investing, then they're very wide of the mark indeed...


The view is, that unless we can achieve CAT1 status, then the dream of establishing ourselves as a Premier League side will remain just that, a dream....and with that in mind, it's seen that it is far more important to achieve that goal, than staying up this year. Obviously the ideal scenario is to do both, and I'm sure we'll see some limited investment in players in January to give us half a chance at survival given our current predicament, but the focus will, and should, remain at getting that all important CAT1 status, allowing us to retain the best players we have in our academy today, and to sweep up the best prospects from non-CAT1 academies to further bolster our strength in that area....

Cypry your input is GREATLY appreciated, certainly by the likes of us who have been disillusioned for several years by the mismatch between investment and stated ambition having to hear total nonsensical rubbish from those who cant see past the good Madejski did in he past. This, if true, is more than enough to turn me from a board bashing pessimist to someone who will be quite happy with little investment even if go down to league 1. But something doesn't seem right so if you could answer the following three question areas that bother me I'd be delighted:

1) Why am I reading about this, quite by accident, on some obscure corner of a forum of HNA by a quite obscure (with all due respect) poster tucked away within a thread? Why is something as momentous and important as this not boldy stated in the team forum? Better still why is it not boldly stated by the club? Why are even players like kebe within the club adamant we should be investing more? Why is our MANAGER so unaware of what is happening by his constant unhappiness about the lack of funds? Surely people in the club should know about this and perhaps tell us, rather than people in the club saying to the media that they're unhappy with investment and some fans reading it by accident in an unrelated thread on an Internet forum. It sounds somewhat fishy. Either it's BS or you're ment to be keeping this quiet- so why are you telling us?

2) the income from getting to the prem is ENORMOUS, and staying in the Prem is just as ENORMOUS. A couple of freebies with their wages and agents' fees and a few wage increases obviously don't go anywhere close to using up this extra cash (as some muppets try to claim is the case, and your post basically dismisses) so I want to know how much it costs to develop the academy. If it is £2.5million a year that is a drop in the ocean compared to what we should/could be investing on players so how can it stop us investing in players? Can you quantify what sort of investment is required for the academy? If we're talking 10s of millions fair enough. Otherwise it seems nothing more than an excuse. An important excuse but nevertheless an excuse rather than the reason why we're not putting money into players. Again, an excuse is the sort if thing that might crop up on a forum by a club apologist rather than the bold truth, which should've categorically stated in the press to shut us all up.

3) Presumably having a cat1 status alone will not be enough to lure and keep good players. If academies are no longer catchment based why would any player choose our championship/league 1 cat1 academy instead of Man U's or Chelsea's etc etc? Surely it's only of use if we are a Prem team of some considerable reputation in the first place?

I want to believe you but it sounds fishy and doesn't add up, so please convince me.

[Royal Rother]

We've been down this sort of road many many times in the past - the accounts have been published on here, explained in as much detail as possible EXACTLY where the money has gone and you never ever accepted it.

Do you really think anybody is going to be stupid enough to enter the same debate with you all over again? I think not.

You don't get it, and you never will so please don't ask for explanations you will never accept. Just believe what you want to believe - it's easier that way.

[Hoop Blah]

Just believe what you want to believe - it's easier that way.

Mr Pot?

[royalsteve]

Actually, why do I bother trying to educate?

People will never ever listen.

Lose a few games, face a relegation and the muppets come out in force spouting their cliched ignorance, tragically unable to look further than the pimple on the end of their noses.

true, although i think we should have spent a bit more on better players but not going qpr/pompey mad - or even as much as west ham or southampton - £10m, maybe £15m in total - about half what west ham and soton spent in the summer

[royalsteve]

http://m.sportsmole.co.uk/football/reading/transfer-talk/news/reading-make-danny-graham-offer_60768.html

i absolutely detest these types of websites that prevent you, well try to prevent you from using the back button - hope they go bust, who the hell do they think they are!!!