2012-2015: worst signings

[CountryRoyal]

Yes, because if you do nothing and aren't selected, you aren't getting in the way.

Pog contributed a certain amount of goals, but his position in the club and the financial burden of his contract meant we couldn't afford to go out and get better strikers.

Blindly obvious to me.

Edit: no I don't RATE him higher, but the question wasn't which player you rate the least, it was who you thought the worst signing was. I answered and provided explenation as well.

I can read the question!

You have clearly not read it though. It is pretty clear that a signing who has never played has to be a worse signing than one who has contributed week in week out. On your logic if we signed Messi and he never actually played for us that would be a good signing. That is obviously nonsense. Sorry.

You sound like my ex.

Well done on your literacy. I see you can also make things up?

The question doesn't CLEARLY say anything. It says who's the worst signing. Floyd didn't stipulate what worst meant.

Tbh you're argument is a crock of shite because if we signed messi the amount of revenue and increased fan base it would bring to the club would still make him a good signing, regardless of he'd play.

Listen mate I don't know how I can spell this out for you.
So here goes..

I think Pogrebnyak was a worse signing than Ferdinand because the money paid for the pog could better have been spent on more players who contributed more. Ferdinand did oxf*rd all and never played and we think cost us oxf*rd all as well. It's not like he cost £35k a week, was our only recognized CB, and contributed less than he should.

But sweet Jesus Christ. It's my opinion and I explained, I don't know why you are getting so upset about it. Instead you should spend your time reading the actual question instead of inventing inference and getting worked ul when someone does the same.

Bore off.

[West Stand Man]

Yes, because if you do nothing and aren't selected, you aren't getting in the way.

Pog contributed a certain amount of goals, but his position in the club and the financial burden of his contract meant we couldn't afford to go out and get better strikers.

Blindly obvious to me.

Edit: no I don't RATE him higher, but the question wasn't which player you rate the least, it was who you thought the worst signing was. I answered and provided explenation as well.

I can read the question!

You have clearly not read it though. It is pretty clear that a signing who has never played has to be a worse signing than one who has contributed week in week out. On your logic if we signed Messi and he never actually played for us that would be a good signing. That is obviously nonsense. Sorry.

You sound like my ex.

Well done on your literacy. I see you can also make things up?

The question doesn't CLEARLY say anything. It says who's the worst signing. Floyd didn't stipulate what worst meant.

Tbh you're argument is a crock of shite because if we signed messi the amount of revenue and increased fan base it would bring to the club would still make him a good signing, regardless of he'd play.

Listen mate I don't know how I can spell this out for you.
So here goes..

I think Pogrebnyak was a worse signing than Ferdinand because the money paid for the pog could better have been spent on more players who contributed more. Ferdinand did oxf*rd all and never played and we think cost us oxf*rd all as well. It's not like he cost £35k a week, was our only recognized CB, and contributed less than he should.

But sweet Jesus Christ. It's my opinion and I explained, I don't know why you are getting so upset about it. Instead you should spend your time reading the actual question instead of inventing inference and getting worked ul when someone does the same.

Bore off.

Ooh, raw nerve or what.

[AthleticoSpizz]

WSM ( with all due respects sir) and Just for the hell of it....and because I'm bored

Are you factoring in Ferdies "behind the scenes" contributions, the possibility of him being involved in the future management team, or the unlikelihood/likelihood of him returning to starting line-up?

A non playing Messi would be a good marquee signing for us

As an aside, I mentioned Marriappa earlier, has anybody got anything pertinent to say about him and the actual OP?

[CountryRoyal]

Cracking reply.

[janesdaddy]

... When Blackman and Akpan are only poor enough for the 'Other' bench, you know the competition is stiff....

It is sad that most, but not all, of the recent signings can be said to be very poor. Akpan and Blackman would be the first ones I would try to shift out of the door, accepting that no other team will take the Pog off our hands. The Russian has scored a few goals, sure enough, but has not contributed enough to the team to justify his huge wages.

The likes of Anton Ferdinand (two subbed games last November), Zat Knight (2 games) and Jure Travner (1 appearance against his old club, Watford) surely can't be serious signings with serious prospects of playing for the club long-term. They're like "novelty signings" or something (not being paid with novelty money though, I'm sure). Financial Fair Play probably had a lot to do with that though. In my mind, they are not really displacing a "good" player. They will rarely play, and therefore do little damage to the club's overall results.

Hope Akpan (24 appearances, 0 goals this season) and Nick Blackman (42 appearances , 3 league goals), on the other hand, have played a sufficient number of times - with little or nothing to show for it - that they have effectively stolen another player's ability to show how good they are - Craig Tanner, for example, or Aaron Kuhl or Jack Stacey or any of the other youngsters.

[CountryRoyal]

... When Blackman and Akpan are only poor enough for the 'Other' bench, you know the competition is stiff....

It is sad that most, but not all, of the recent signings can be said to be very poor. Akpan and Blackman would be the first ones I would try to shift out of the door, accepting that no other team will take the Pog off our hands. The Russian has scored a few goals, sure enough, but has not contributed enough to the team to justify his huge wages...In my mind, they are not really displacing a "good" player. They will rarely play, and therefore do little damage to the club's overall results.

This is my logic too.

[K.URZ13]

Ferdinand for me. Absolutely comical signing. Hoping and praying he's not here next year.

[handbags_harris]

How anyone can argue beyond Royston Drenthe is beyond me. Huge marquee signing on a stupid contract that he did nothing to warrant, and a thoroughly disruptive influence behind the scenes. The biggest, most expensive waste of space since Guthrie signed.

[Hoop Blah]

The Russian has scored a few goals, sure enough, but has not contributed enough to the team to justify his huge wages.

This statement has baffled me. Pogrebnyak is never going to justify his reported wages in this league but one thing he does do is contribute to the team through his work rate and hold up play. What he doesn't do, and to be fair to him never really has, is score the weight of goals people thought he would.

Pogrebnyak has been a pretty decent signing (if you take out the finaces obviously) but not when measured against the expectations of him to be scoring 20+ goals a season. He needs to play alongside someone like Murray or even Le Fondre so he can concentrate on what he's good at.

[hughsies no.1]

For the money and off pitch 'dramas' Royston has to be right up there.

However, if you take money out of the equation and look at decent performances v number of games he wouldn't be winning the award of worst signing for me. I remember coming back from games where Drenthe ran the show last season where the opposition simply couldn't deal with him - Bolton (A), Leeds (A), Brighton (A) to name a few.

Harsh on Pog to be in the mix, although when running through on goal last Saturday he was running in treacle with a piano on his back! Blackman for me has put in a few (minimal I know) decent displays especially at start of this season at Wigan for example.

Ferdinand wins for me. Two year deal, hasn't even completed 45mins.

[Ian Royal]

On Drenthe vs Pog it's mighty close for me. But the clincher is that Drenthe was here for 12 - 18 months and we had plenty of other options to him (not necessarily good ones). Pog may have actually played ok and a lot of games on the whole, but his presence has done more to cripple us financially, disrupt our efforts to rebuild and over a longer period. We simply haven't had any sort of alternative to him, bar Murray for 5 months.

Drenthe is a problem of the past whilst Pog was disappointing us a year before Drenthe arrived and will contunue to block our rebuild for 18 months after Drenthe started bothering someone else.

Drenthe was bought as a high risk gamble. We all knew his history. Pog was supposed to be the reliable real deal.

On Mariappa, Spizz, I don't think he comes close. He was a bit disappointing for a year and then went for decent money when we needed to trim the sails.

[ladida_gunner_graham]

... When Blackman and Akpan are only poor enough for the 'Other' bench, you know the competition is stiff....

It is sad that most, but not all, of the recent signings can be said to be very poor. Akpan and Blackman would be the first ones I would try to shift out of the door, accepting that no other team will take the Pog off our hands. The Russian has scored a few goals, sure enough, but has not contributed enough to the team to justify his huge wages...In my mind, they are not really displacing a "good" player. They will rarely play, and therefore do little damage to the club's overall results.

This is my logic too.

What does it say about half the signings we've made in the last 4 years that their saving grace is that they weren't played and therefore didn't get the chance to stink the place up? It's pitifully sad that you actually have a valid point. What an indictment of the whole club structure and decision making process. To borrow from an earlier thread, "What is the point of Nicky Hammond?".

[sandman]

The point of Hammond is to negotiate the terms of contracts, or at least that's what It should be.

A lot of these players listed were identified by the manager at the time or the owner at the time. That owner seems to have offered them whatever money they wanted which was most likely due to the fact he had no concept of budget as it wasn't his money being spent.

Perhaps the Thai owners will let Hammond get on with doing his job the way it is intended to be done.

[West Stand Man]

The Russian has scored a few goals, sure enough, but has not contributed enough to the team to justify his huge wages.

This statement has baffled me. Pogrebnyak is never going to justify his reported wages in this league but one thing he does do is contribute to the team through his work rate and hold up play. What he doesn't do, and to be fair to him never really has, is score the weight of goals people thought he would.

Pogrebnyak has been a pretty decent signing (if you take out the finaces obviously) but not when measured against the expectations of him to be scoring 20+ goals a season. He needs to play alongside someone like Murray or even Le Fondre so he can concentrate on what he's good at.

Cracking reply.

[Ginger Ninjas]

Floyd, this is a tough one.

When Blackman and Akpan are only poor enough for the 'Other' bench, you know the competition is stiff. I like Drenthe's appalling attitude and lack of commitment, but similarly admire Ferdinand's ability not to miss a single episode of Homes Under the Hammer due to any inconveniences placed on him by the club. Yakubu has actually managed to put on weight since joining in January, with early promise being somewhat dampened when we saw it took three colleagues to remove his shirt pitch side. That kind of physique doesn't come from wasting your afternoons in the gym. Guthrie holds a special place for many Reading fans with the greatest talent to self-perception gap in living memory.

The field is strong, so good luck to anyone who wants to complete this task without feeling we've largely showered our money on dreck. I certainly know my season ticket money has been spunked away very effectively indeed.

Lovely post.

[Platypuss]

Blackman and Norwood cost well over £2M in transfer fees between them. Dearie me.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Jan 2013 transfer window signings

Akpan, Blackman, Carrico

and we were Prem League then...

[blueroyals]

Pog - Premier League marquee signing on massive wages. Can't even cut it at the bottom end of the Champ.

Worse than any other signing by far.

[Angry Shed Sex]

Pog - Premier League marquee signing on massive wages. Can't even cut it at the bottom end of the Champ.

Worse than any other signing by far.

So, by definition, you're saying Drenthe, Akpan and Blackwood are better signings that the Pog?

That's an interesting point of view.

[West Stand Man]

Pog - Premier League marquee signing on massive wages. Can't even cut it at the bottom end of the Champ.

Worse than any other signing by far.

So, by definition, you're saying Drenthe, Akpan and Blackwood are better signings that the Pog?

That's an interesting point of view.

And, it seems, Ferdinand who hasn't even put on a first team shirt for enough minutes to warrant his pay packet.