January Window

[Stooper]

Reading owner Anton Zingarevich says the Royals are still hopeful of adding to their squad ahead of the 23:00 GMT transfer deadline.

"We've made some bids, so we'll see what comes out of it," he told the club's official website. "It's a difficult one - if you're a buying club, there's always a selling club. Nothing is really confirmed yet. In January everybody is a tough negotiator."

[ManchesterRoyals]

Reading owner Anton Zingarevich says the Royals are still hopeful of adding to their squad ahead of the 23:00 GMT transfer deadline.

"We've made some bids, so we'll see what comes out of it," he told the club's official website. "It's a difficult one - if you're a buying club, there's always a selling club. Nothing is really confirmed yet. In January everybody is a tough negotiator."

Maybe we should have done our business in the summer

[melonhead]

Reading owner Anton Zingarevich says the Royals are still hopeful of adding to their squad ahead of the 23:00 GMT transfer deadline.

"We've made some bids, so we'll see what comes out of it," he told the club's official website. "It's a difficult one - if you're a buying club, there's always a selling club. Nothing is really confirmed yet. In January everybody is a tough negotiator."

Maybe we should have done our business in the summer

most players in one window since the magnificent 7
most money in one window ever.

[ManchesterRoyals]

most players in one window since the magnificent 7
most money in one window ever.

yeah and were still looking at relegation

[melonhead]

one of the smallest clubs in the biggest league in the world
owner not a super mega rich nutjob

[super darren caskey]

The team has started to play really well so im not too worried if we dont get anybody else in.Knowing Reading we wont get anyone else and then play complete shit from Saturday untill May..I do think that if we stay up we will see lots of activity in the Summer

[bracksroyal10]

Zarate would be a really good buy if only we were one of those clubs after him

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... uro-Zarate

[Extended-Phenotype]

most players in one window since the magnificent 7
most money in one window ever.

Yeah? Well I'm gonna you. Even Brian admitted we should have done more in the summer.

[UpThePrem]

The team has started to play really well so im not too worried if we dont get anybody else in.Knowing Reading we wont get anyone else and then play complete shit from Saturday untill May..I do think that if we stay up we will see lots of activity in the Summer

Yeah, an extension to the stadium and no players in at all. A la Arsenal

[melonhead]

most players in one window since the magnificent 7
most money in one window ever.

Yeah? Well I'm gonna you. Even Brian admitted we should have done more in the summer.

but im not saying we shouldnt have done more if possible, im even saying id like one more in this window.
but people expecting ridiculous spending, and getting a whole new squad in one summer just arent living an a real world, and clearly dont really get RFC at all.

we got loads of players last window, weve got loads of players this window, weve spent more than we ever have before.
not sure what more you expected.

imo

[Extended-Phenotype]

Brenders, you are doing it again – magnifying the opposition argument into absurdity in order to find fault with it.

Not sure anyone has said we should have bought a whole new squad, or expected ridiculous spending.

I think people just expected promotion to be matched with more investment than was given.

We needed a quality creative force in the centre of midfield. We brought in a free transfer who struggled to get into the side and hasn’t met the requirements.

We needed to upgrade our fullbacks. We brought in a player who we’ve had to replace in the winter market, and a player on a free who isn’t much improvement, if any, on our current left-back.

Pog took ages to get firing, McCleary still can’t buy a start. This is not the investment people were hoping for and oh look, we are staring at relegation.

Bump those figures up a touch more, bringing in some real creative talent, better fullbacks, a CB who was ready to hit the ground running and players who are better than, rather than support for, our old team, and we stood a better chance.

That's what I expected. Not the moon on a stick or anything.

[MouldyRoyal]

The problem is, E-P, you do yourself no favours because you exaggerate your point of view to such an extent that few are willing to take it seriously. The above is one of the few times you've written something actually sensible because you're not trying to be funny.

[melonhead]

Brenders, you are doing it again – magnifying the opposition argument into absurdity in order to find fault with it.

Not sure anyone has said we should have bought a whole new squad, or expected ridiculous spending.

I think people just expected promotion to be matched with more investment than was given.

We needed a quality creative force in the centre of midfield. We brought in a free transfer who struggled to get into the side and hasn’t met the requirements.

We needed to upgrade our fullbacks. We brought in a player who we’ve had to replace in the winter market, and a player on a free who isn’t much improvement, if any, on our current left-back.

Pog took ages to get firing, McCleary still can’t buy a start. This is not the investment people were hoping for and oh look, we are staring at relegation.

Bump those figures up a touch more, bringing in some real creative talent, better fullbacks, a CB who was ready to hit the ground running and players who are better than, rather than support for, our old team, and we stood a better chance.

That's what I expected. Not the moon on a stick or anything.

6 new players in summer
4 new players in jan

much more and i fail to see how could have been anything other than getting a whole new squad


marriappa, shorey, kelly, mcleary, pog
all good signings, all made an impact.

guthrie,gunter, hope look ok.

carrico, blackman etc unproven as yet


im happy with that.

i inow you arent, and youd have prefferred more.
oh well.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Brenders, you are doing it again – magnifying the opposition argument into absurdity in order to find fault with it.

Not sure anyone has said we should have bought a whole new squad, or expected ridiculous spending.

I think people just expected promotion to be matched with more investment than was given.

We needed a quality creative force in the centre of midfield. We brought in a free transfer who struggled to get into the side and hasn’t met the requirements.

We needed to upgrade our fullbacks. We brought in a player who we’ve had to replace in the winter market, and a player on a free who isn’t much improvement, if any, on our current left-back.

Pog took ages to get firing, McCleary still can’t buy a start. This is not the investment people were hoping for and oh look, we are staring at relegation.

Bump those figures up a touch more, bringing in some real creative talent, better fullbacks, a CB who was ready to hit the ground running and players who are better than, rather than support for, our old team, and we stood a better chance.

That's what I expected. Not the moon on a stick or anything.

6 new players in summer
4 new players in jan

It's not about numbers though, is it? I couldn't care if we signed 20 people in the summer and 127 in Jan. It's about quality and role.

The fact that only 2 of the 6 summer signings are making the first team suggests we did not improve it very well.

It looks likely that 1 of the 4 signed in Jan is going to improve the first team. So at best we have strengthened in depth, but I personally was hoping we'd upgrade the starting 11 that bit more in order to compete at the new level we worked hard to reach. I was hoping that, at the very least, we signed a much needed creative mid.

You are just happy counting the heads walking through the door. Bit simplistic for me, but oh well.

[Reading4eva]

Brenders, you are doing it again – magnifying the opposition argument into absurdity in order to find fault with it.

Not sure anyone has said we should have bought a whole new squad, or expected ridiculous spending.

I think people just expected promotion to be matched with more investment than was given.

We needed a quality creative force in the centre of midfield. We brought in a free transfer who struggled to get into the side and hasn’t met the requirements.

We needed to upgrade our fullbacks. We brought in a player who we’ve had to replace in the winter market, and a player on a free who isn’t much improvement, if any, on our current left-back.

Pog took ages to get firing, McCleary still can’t buy a start. This is not the investment people were hoping for and oh look, we are staring at relegation.

Bump those figures up a touch more, bringing in some real creative talent, better fullbacks, a CB who was ready to hit the ground running and players who are better than, rather than support for, our old team, and we stood a better chance.

That's what I expected. Not the moon on a stick or anything.

6 new players in summer
4 new players in jan

It's not about numbers though, is it? I couldn't care if we signed 20 people in the summer and 127 in Jan. It's about quality and role.

The fact that only 2 of the 6 summer signings are making the first team suggests we did not improve it very well.

It looks likely that 1 of the 4 signed in Jan is going to improve the first team. So at best we have strengthened in depth, but I personally was hoping we'd upgrade the starting 11 that bit more in order to compete at the new level we worked hard to reach. I was hoping that, at the very least, we signed a much needed creative mid.

You are just happy counting the heads walking through the door. Bit simplistic for me, but oh well.

I think Akpan will be a regular too

[Extended-Phenotype]

I hope so. But he's not an attack mid that we desperately need to make the 4-5-1 competitive. Blackman could also be a good player, but why do we need another striker?

Just doesn't seem we've strengthened where we needed it most.

[MartinRdg]

I hope so. But he's not an attack mid that we desperately need to make the 4-5-1 competitive. Blackman could also be a good player, but why do we need another striker?

Just doesn't seem we've strengthened where we needed it most.

If Roberts doesn't play again this season, we would have had only 1 pog-type player for a 4-5-1 so surely Balackman is her to cover for injury or suspension to Pog.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I hope so. But he's not an attack mid that we desperately need to make the 4-5-1 competitive. Blackman could also be a good player, but why do we need another striker?

Just doesn't seem we've strengthened where we needed it most.

If Roberts doesn't play again this season, we would have had only 1 pog-type player for a 4-5-1 so surely Balackman is her to cover for injury or suspension to Pog.

Oh joy. What a sign of intent.

[melonhead]

I hope so. But he's not an attack mid that we desperately need to make the 4-5-1 competitive. Blackman could also be a good player, but why do we need another striker?

Just doesn't seem we've strengthened where we needed it most.

id argue the 4th striker was the most important cover needed after CM and RB

[maffff]

Here's a Norwich perspective on their transfer window:

http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... 7&posts=15

We all have various opinions on all matters Norwich City but it is generally agreed that CH is a cautious manager, selects defensive teams and is usually very late with substitutions and even then they are predetermined and like for like.

It would appear that the board employ the same sort of tactics during transfer windows.
I would imagine that virtually every City fan with be extremely upset and maybe even angry with the window that has just closed.
I would suggest that we have had the worst window out of all 20 premier league clubs and as a result are now in a worse position for the last 14 remaining games than we were for the games to date.

To sum up we have made the following changes :
* Replacing the Nr 2 keeper from a promising youth team product
to a championship keeper on a short term contract.
* Replacing a championship striker with another championship
striker at cost of £ 200k.
* Loaning an unknown striker / winger who is not available as yet
and will miss last 2 games anyway.

Our next 2 opponents have invested heavily in players and we will see what difference in the next 8 / 9 days.

In terms of the tactics of the board, we only have rumours and gossip to go on but I would imagine that the offer for Hooper was way short of £ 9 million, probably not much more than £ 5 million
but the issue here was more about the timing.
It was clear from the outset that Celtic would not want to part with Hooper as he is their prize asset, main striker and needed for the forthcoming champions league games.
If we had been serious about wanting him, the price required should have been determined in early January, a maximum offer
made and that would have given them a chance to find a replacement. If the events of last night are to be believed would McNally really be trying to get a deal with hours of window left when Celtic had no time to get a replacement and the only way Celtic had of stopping it would be raising the fee to an unacceptable level. We are not QPR and cannot meet overpriced fees and pay triple the current wages.
The whole saga played out the past month has not even revealed whether Hooper actually wanted to even sign for Norwich as he was not put in a position where he had to.
IF we had signed him it would have been at a massive cost and so was CH going to leave out a record signing or the club captain and crowd favourite or was he planning to play them up front together.
If he was going to play them together will the failing to sign a target actually dictate the tactics for the rest of the season.
It would appear so which is extremely worrying.

The pursuit of Graham was a waste of time. He was clearly only going to move due to go back to North East as there was not really any obvious footballing reason.

I believe that the club needed a boost and the overdue signing of a good striker ( that should have been here in summer ) would have been great for supporters in particular to watch him running out on Saturday at a crucial away game where the opposition will have many expensive transfer window players on show.
The run of poor results has to stop soon or we really will be in trouble and not only have we not signed good strikers but we appear to have wanted to and failed. This may be even worse than not trying at all as it shows that the manager needed one so badly they were prepared to do business in January window and pay over the odds. The result is that fans are going to be even more worried.

The window is shut so the management are now left with a strike force of Holt, Becchio, Jackson, Kamara and Kane.
We will find out if this is adequate in due course but it would appear that we have a championship strike force in the premier league.