Back From The Game - Bolton

[melonhead]

Why wouldn't he leave for more money? It was a good move for the club. Shane Long, Gylfi, Kevin Doyle etc all got paid more when they left too.

And he "flicked the bird" when, in 2010? If you lot are still crying about that then you're the wankers, not him.

I thought Mills turned into a very decent player for us. Got us to Wembley, scored at Wembley, dumped Everton out of the cup, good stuff.

^^that


liked him.



dont see much wrong with a little pantomime booing though, as long as it doesnt enrage the player into superhuman performances

[RoyalBlue]

Very popular with both the coaching and community staff during his time at Reading. LOL at purely judging a player based on his match-day persona.

Not according to Mick Gooding on Saturday who illuded to a number of players not liking him because of his ego and comments to that effect from McDermott to him and Dellor as well.

It was the first time he'd come back to the Madejski having left us for more money and flicking the bird to the crowd. Of course he was going to get stick.

I was surprised to hear Dellor say (I think it was him not Ady or Mick) on Saturday that McDermott had told him that he had only made Mills captain again to keep him happy and stop him being a disruptive influence. I'm surprised if he did that because it is a coward's way out and normally results in making the troublesome one happy whilst pissing off considerably more people who previously have been very supportive. That would have been against McDermott's ethic (a good one) of the squad being more important than the individual.

[P!ssed Off]

Why wouldn't he leave for more money? It was a good move for the club. Shane Long, Gylfi, Kevin Doyle etc all got paid more when they left too.

And he "flicked the bird" when, in 2010? If you lot are still crying about that then you're the wankers, not him.

I thought Mills turned into a very decent player for us. Got us to Wembley, scored at Wembley, dumped Everton out of the cup, good stuff.

Don't think Long, Gylfi and Doyle left with a pay rise as their main motivation tbh.
I think all 3 would have liked to stay at Reading but left because of a) career progress and b) because the transfer fee income was in the club's best interests.

Was Mills's transfer to Leicester for career progress? No, their team was weaker than ours with a high player turnover and no promise of a first team place. Clearly a pay rise was his main motivation for leaving.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Leicester had been plugged as likely league winners that season, had dosh behind 'em, Sven as manager - you could forgive anyone (i.e. everyone) for thinking they might be a better prospect than Reading that year.

[P!ssed Off]

I couldn't give a monkey's that he gave the East stand the finger. I thought he was an over-rated, petulant prick with delusions of grandeur when he played for us, and I've delighted in his failure to succeed since he's left.

Some people, you just don't like. And for me, he's one of the footballers that fall into that category.

Meh. While he was with us he was one of our best players and people are only bitter towards him because they were pissed at losing a key man.

Nobody's bitter at the majority of key players we've lost over the last few years.
Who could be pissed at selling Mills for £4.5 million? It was an excellent piece of business for Reading.
He's just not a likeable character.
If he'd achieved success at Reading then he'd probably be remembered for that, but as it happened we lost the play-off final so he's just remembered for being a bit of a dick.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I couldn't give a monkey's that he gave the East stand the finger. I thought he was an over-rated, petulant prick with delusions of grandeur when he played for us, and I've delighted in his failure to succeed since he's left.

Some people, you just don't like. And for me, he's one of the footballers that fall into that category.

Meh. While he was with us he was one of our best players and people are only bitter towards him because they were pissed at losing a key man.

Nobody's bitter at the majority of key players we've lost over the last few years.
Who could be pissed at selling Mills for £4.5 million? It was an excellent piece of business for Reading.
He's just not a likeable character.
If he'd achieved success at Reading then he'd probably be remembered for that, but as it happened we lost the play-off final so he's just remembered for being a bit of a dick.

you remember him for sticking his middle finger up. I'll remember him for scoring against Everton, kick-starting the comeback in the PO final and having a solid season all-round.

[P!ssed Off]

Leicester had been plugged as likely league winners that season, had dosh behind 'em, Sven as manager - you could forgive anyone (i.e. everyone) for thinking they might be a better prospect than Reading that year.

Nah, the Leicester crazy train had already picked up speed by then.
Like QPR of the last few seasons, players were flocking there en masse for the payout, knowing full well that if they got promoted they'd be instantly replaced, and if they didn't get promoted they'd likely be replaced as well.

Mills was their 6th of 9 1st team signings that Summer. Madness.

[P!ssed Off]

Nobody's bitter at the majority of key players we've lost over the last few years.
Who could be pissed at selling Mills for £4.5 million? It was an excellent piece of business for Reading.
He's just not a likeable character.
If he'd achieved success at Reading then he'd probably be remembered for that, but as it happened we lost the play-off final so he's just remembered for being a bit of a dick.

you remember him for sticking his middle finger up. I'll remember him for scoring against Everton, kick-starting the comeback in the PO final and having a solid season all-round.

As if any of the defenders from the PO final left the field looking anything other than shit...

[Extended-Phenotype]

Khizanishvili – hacked Sinclair down for pen, 1
Harte – left for dead by Dobbie to cross for Sinclair, 2
Khizanishvili – deflected the ball into Dobbie’s path 3
Griffin – fouled Borini in the area for pen, 4

Not sure Mills had a lot to do with that series of disasters but perhaps a more partial spectator would remember otherwise.

[P!ssed Off]

Khizanishvili – hacked Sinclair down for pen, 1
Harte – left for dead by Dobbie to cross for Sinclair, 2
Khizanishvili – deflected the ball into Dobbie’s path 3
Griffin – fouled Borini in the area for pen, 4

Not sure Mills had a lot to do with that series of disasters but perhaps a more partial spectator would remember otherwise.

Captain goes down with the ship.

[Extended-Phenotype]

[biff]

Mills will always be a legend for making his hollyoaks missus a regular away fan

[Ian Royal]

I couldn't give a monkey's that he gave the East stand the finger. I thought he was an over-rated, petulant prick with delusions of grandeur when he played for us, and I've delighted in his failure to succeed since he's left.

Some people, you just don't like. And for me, he's one of the footballers that fall into that category.

Meh. While he was with us he was one of our best players and people are only bitter towards him because they were pissed at losing a key man.

Not the case for me. I didn't like him, thought he was a walking liability despite his obvious talent, because he was a total dick. I was happy to see him go and amazed we'd managed to con profit out of Leicester for him.

I resent being told I don't know why I dislike him.

[Agent Balti]

Not the case for me. I didn't like him, thought he was a walking liability despite his obvious talent, because he was a total dick. I was happy to see him go and amazed we'd managed to con profit out of Leicester for him.

I resent being told I don't know why I dislike him.

I'm the same camp as Ian here. He was the antithesis of a Parkinson or a Murty; a pure mercenary with a massive chip on his shoulder. OK, mercenaries in this game we should be a lot more tolerant of as there are so many of them, but Mills never fit our mould. He does have talent, lots of it, but it goes to his head before his feet. If his talent matched his ego, then you could applaud him for being able to carry it off...but he's nowhere near that good.

I only laughed at his misfortune due to the sheer fact that he's done no better for himself in football (other than financially.) He pretty much looked down on the common fan, so yeah, it was derisory, meh...to me, he deserved it as he's a prize douche.

[NewCorkSeth]

Isn't it "flipped the bird" not "flicked the bird"?

I think you're mixing it up flicking the bean?

[Ian Royal]

I recall that I used to descibe Mills as having PL level physical attributes and League One mental attributes. Whilst I thought Pearce as a comparison, had League One physical attributes and PL mental ones.

I'd have rather seen Pearce and Khiz playing. It was no shock to me that Pearce stepped up to being a dominant figure in the team and candidate for PotS the year after Mills left.

[EarleyRoyal16]

McCarthy - 8: Made a great save at 1-0, game would have been a hell of a lot different without that stop. Distribution looked OK.
Gunter - 8: Solid, solid, solid.
Gorkss - 8: Great to see him get another goal, solid at the back, looks comfortable with the ball at his feet, our best CB. (Didn't think I'd be saying that at the start of the season)
Pearce - 6: Continues to look very dodgy to me, been quite poor all season for me. Morro has to start in place of him when he's back from injury.
Obita - 7: Looked very good at Left back again, got forward well, great set pieces and looked solid enough defending.
Williams - 9: Bags of energy, should have had a goal right near the end but for a great save by their keeper, would have deserved that goal as well.
Akpan - 8: His best game in a Reading shirt, worked hard, did the simple stuff well, and took his goal brilliantly, real transformation to the shambles of a cameo we saw vs Charlton last month.
Mcanuff - 7: Always gives 100% and Saturday was no different, always looked a threat, plays with passion and that's always good to see.
McCleary - 8: Personally thought he didn't look outstanding, but can't argue with his work rate to close down the Bolton defender for ALF's third and then to unselflishly square it. His 3 assists speak for themselves really.
Pogrebnyak - 9: Just brilliant. A complete transformation of the man he was in August, looked 100% committed, won loads of headers, holds up play well and took his penalty brilliantly.
Le Fondre - 10: Class, pure class. Fantastic finish for his first, and again for his Second, deserved the hat-trick, made loads of good runs and was causing their defense problems all afternoon, should have had a 4th in the second half but he can't finish every single chance, that would be unfair? Also a good gesture to give Pog the pen because he already had his hat-trick.

Blackman - 8: Another great game, looks a new man since the start of the year, despite the deflection still a good goal for him.
Taylor - 7: Looks a good little player, hopefully see more of him in the second half of the season.
Hector - 6: Good to see him make his debut, looked solid when he came on and didn't look like he was scared shitless every time he had the ball, good prospect.

[Whore Jackie]

Very popular with both the coaching and community staff during his time at Reading. LOL at purely judging a player based on his match-day persona.

Not according to Mick Gooding on Saturday who illuded to a number of players not liking him because of his ego and comments to that effect from McDermott to him and Dellor as well.

It was the first time he'd come back to the Madejski having left us for more money and flicking the bird to the crowd. Of course he was going to get stick.

I was surprised to hear Dellor say (I think it was him not Ady or Mick) on Saturday that McDermott had told him that he had only made Mills captain again to keep him happy and stop him being a disruptive influence. I'm surprised if he did that because it is a coward's way out and normally results in making the troublesome one happy whilst pissing off considerably more people who previously have been very supportive. That would have been against McDermott's ethic (a good one) of the squad being more important than the individual.

Only going on what I heard at the time. Surprisingly humble, quite shy, more than happy to do community stuff etc. Personally I didn't mind the fella, one of the those players who excelled in the big games, less so other times, who generated a profit at the end of his time here.

[3points]

Also a good gesture to give Pog the pen because he already had his hat-trick.

Not sure that was the case. Looked like Pog wrestled him for the ball. ALF had probably reached his maximum goals bonus after the hat-trick, so Pog thought he'd have one to earn a few more quid.

[RoyalBlue]

Also a good gesture to give Pog the pen because he already had his hat-trick.

Not sure that was the case. Looked like Pog wrestled him for the ball. ALF had probably reached his maximum goals bonus after the hat-trick, so Pog thought he'd have one to earn a few more quid.

I thought at the time that Pog had almost demanded the ball and what the big Russian asks for, he gets! I certainly wouldn't argue with him, even if he does seem quite a nice, mild-mannered guy!