Summer Rebuild

[rfc58]

I still hope the club are only paying Ferdinand when he plays.

If they agreed to pay him anything with his prior record, they need shooting, as that is a wage we don't need on the books. Didn't take a genius to work out what we would get from him.

[Za Vas]

Sorry, realised I didn't answer your question after posting. Not sure what sort of contract it is, don't remember seeing anything that gave any info on it.

I imagine he's on a regular contract. It all seemed very convenient with the arrival of Samrit on the scene and the weird arrangement with AFs transfer to the Thai team he was involved in. But yeah, totally agree, RFC in shambolic behind the scenes shocker.

[harry]

From memory Pog's contract expires next year. Fairly sure Ferdinand was on a two year deal so that will also be next year

Think they are both next summer rather than this. Same for HRK, Blackman, Akpan, Gunter, Hector, Cox, Taylor, Kuhl, Stacey.

This summer:
Feds, Andersen, Kelly, Pearce, Knight, Travner, Guthrie, Edwards, Jem, Yak, Samuel

2017:
McCleary, Obita, Norwood, Tish, Tanner, Danny Williams

More info here:
http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/2014/5/19/5720206/readingfc-contract-dates

[Horsham Royal]

...If he can work some magic and shift Pog, HRK, Akpan, Ferdinand & Blackman then he gets extra brownie points...

Isn't it Hammond that needs to work the magic?
Clarke just needs to tell him who he wants rid of.

[harry]

...If he can work some magic and shift Pog, HRK, Akpan, Ferdinand & Blackman then he gets extra brownie points...

Isn't it Hammond that needs to work the magic?
Clarke just needs to tell him who he wants rid of.

That's magic of spoon-bending proportions.
And if we can get a fee for Zat Knight as well .......

[Reading4eva]

And if we can get a fee for Zat Knight as well .......

More chance of a mystical Unicorn floating down the River Thames than that

[RG7Fan]

Agree with RG7Fan on Gunter's option. And I think it was the club who took the option, not the other way around Zak. Taking an option will mean existing contractual terms will apply (ie he keeps the same wages). This is why Jem's option hasn't been taken. The club want to reduce his wages. It leads to the conclusion that Gunter also isn't one of the big earners at the club and they've potentially had enquiries to buy him.

We must remember we lose a massive amount of cash next year with a reduction in our parachute payments. Therefore the wage bill has to be slashed. I cannot see that Reading will be in the top tier of wage payers in the division next season. Expect new players will have to accept lower wages. With FFP I think the gravy train for players like Pearce and Feds will end, and they won't be able to command the wages they think they can.

I think the same could be said about McLeary getting a new contract. Great if he stays and can get back to where he was, but if someone comes knocking and we get some decent £ then thats good too.

[RG7Fan]

...If he can work some magic and shift Pog, HRK, Akpan, Ferdinand & Blackman then he gets extra brownie points...

Isn't it Hammond that needs to work the magic?
Clarke just needs to tell him who he wants rid of.

Surely you just tell a player and his agent he's no longer first choice and that he wont get any game time to show themselves off to other teams?

[paultheroyal]

Strong words from Clarke last night and actually quite refreshing. Providing he is backed by the board this long downward spiral since McDermott was wavering can be halted with new players, new energy and a bright future.

International scout / Steve's contacts to be built around Hector, Karacan, Williams, Mccleary, Gunter can see us push on.

Federici is a must but sadly looks like he is off to the south coast.

[Pepe the Horseman]

What did he say Paul?

Re Edwards - the fact that he got anywhere near the starting eleven shows how piss weak our team was at the beginning of the season.

[paultheroyal]

But Clarke, who labelled his side as a ‘team in the decay’ following the defeat against the Millers, insists he will turn things round dramatically in the summer.


“I can promise the supporters that next season will be better,” he said. “They have to stick with us, they have to believe that we know what’s wrong and we know what to do. It’s going to be a busy summer.

“That (relegation) won’t even be an issue next season, that’s what I’m trying to say to supporters. It’s not going to happen.

“Next season we won’t be near the bottom three.

“Things need to change in the summer and things will change.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do. I don’t think my wife is very happy because I’m not going to be getting much time on the beach this summer.”

When quizzed on how he can be so confident given recent results and performances, Clarke added: “I’m very clear in my own mind what I have to do in the summer.

“I’m confident because I’m confident in my own ability and I’m confident of the ability of the owners to back me in the summer, there’s been nothing in the discussions I’ve had to suggest they won’t back me 100 per cent.

“So I’m confident that I can put together a squad that will be better than this one

“Like I said before. I promise the supporters that next season will be much better than this one.”

[paultheroyal]

Can't copy all of it but talking about team in decay, no confidence, heads down, no fight, and basically a new squad coming our way.

Agree on Edwards and you can add Taylor, Akpan to that list. To many players sub standard and carried....

Looking back it's bleeding obvious. Steve will get this right.

[Vision]

just seen the rotherham score? Please don't give the Scot's clown any money Surely he and Keen must go useless and gutless unless at Wembley. Thatt's why this shouldn't be forgiven As I said before I like Reading, this is undeserved

Oh come on this game is meaningless. 20th or 21st. Who really cares?

You genuinely don't think that finishing the season in absolutely abject form will have any affect on squad morale, faith in the manager, who is willing to sign if offered a new deal, or ability to recruit decent new talent from elsewhere?

At all?

Really?

How much of this squad will be here though?.

I'm almost glad he's keeping the likes of Kuhl away from the abject losing mentality and soft as shite underbelly of the first team squad.

It's also a useful excercise in seeing exactly who has the mental toughness to be of use to us athough I'm pretty sure even Clarke is surprised at the answer to that being pretty much no-one. In fact the one Reading player that has shown he has the required mental toughness to be successful has been playing up North 2 divisions lower.

I think the out of contract players will have to go simply because there are still too many players who aren't out of contract that are just absolute deadwood and we'd have to pay them to piss off.

There's going to be a massive changeover in the summer and I'm not convinced that Clarke is the right man for the job but his managerial future is at stake on him getting it right here. He should be given the chance to build his own squad to be judged on and not the clearly downwardly spiralling sack of shite he took over. And also sadly because sacking him would mean any predecessor would have even less money to work with.

The Championship is a funny beast though. Predicting what will happen next season based on this is about as far from an exact science as you can get. It only takes a couple of astute signings, a couple of players having the season of their lives and some winning momentum to pick up points rapidly in this League.

[Maguire]

Can't believe anybody reads anything into last night (or the recent run of results tbh). The season's over and has been for a while now - any talk of this beaten and dispirited group of players putting in a shift for the benefit of the 210 fans who travelled North betrays a lack of understanding of how professional footballers function.

My biggest concern about the summer is not being able to shift enough of the crap to bring in decent new players. As Vision says, we may have to let players go just because we can, whereas the real dross still have a year left on their deals.

Either way, my personal stance is that the overhaul required is probably too drastic to allow us to challenge next season.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Can't believe anybody reads anything into last night (or the recent run of results tbh). The season's over and has been for a while now - any talk of this beaten and dispirited group of players putting in a shift for the benefit of the 210 fans who travelled North betrays a lack of understanding of how professional footballers function.

My biggest concern about the summer is not being able to shift enough of the crap to bring in decent new players. As Vision says, we may have to let players go just because we can, whereas the real dross still have a year left on their deals.

Either way, my personal stance is that the overhaul required is probably too drastic to allow us to challenge next season.

With you on that one your magjesty.

[Hoop Blah]

Total agreement with Vision and Mags here too.

It's a massive job Clarke has in front of him and the fruits of the summer rebuilding is likely to be the making or breaking of him as a manager.

Losing the wages of some of those out of contract will give him a bit of room to manoeuvre but we might need to shift some of the others too. Hopefully whatever happens we'll see Clarke create a squad who will fight for the shirt and show some bollocks as opposed to this spineless mob. Having said that I'd still like to keep Karacan and Pearce as two players who do look like they care.

[andrew1957]

It strikes me that the last time we had a squad in a mess was at the end of the 2004/5 season. That season had ended in disappointment with three straight defeats and we had missed out on the play offs. Steve Coppell had experimented by signing older players like Martin Keown and Les Ferdinand in early 2005 (similar to Knight and Yakubu this season). Many fans wanted Steve Coppell’s head by the end of the season.

What he did was to cull the vast majority of the squad. In fact I think we had just 10 contracted players by June 2005.

Then during the summer he added the likes of Doyle, Lita, Long, Hunt, Gunnarsson, Oster and Makin and the rest as they say in history.

Admittedly we are coming from a much lower base this time (19th as compared to 7th) but fans were very dispirited that summer too and no one could have predicted the turn round that was to follow in 2005/6. However, where we are stronger this time round is that we have a very good crop of young players coming through the Academy.

Because we are coming from a lower base this time, I think it will take the new SC two seasons and not just one summer to rebuild the squad. Only time will tell if he can produce success or not, but I think it is obvious to all that a major cull needs to take place this summer. Then the question is whether he can find hungry young players (as well as our own youngsters) to improve the squad for next season. If so then a top half finish next season will give a springboard for a promotion push in 2016/17.

[floyd__streete]

SummeROFL ROFLebuiLOLd indeed. Anyone worth selling will be sold. And replaced within the team by the likes of Aaron Kuhl and Jack Stacey.

[Royal Rother]

That would be good.

[JIM]

go to " NEWS NOW " May need anew manager next season.