Summer Rebuild

[rfc58]

For those of you wetting yourselves over Piazon.....I am genuinely fascinated and impressed that you find the time in your lives to follow English and Brazilian Under 21 football so closely, never mind La Liga, Eredivisie, Bundesliga. I'd never heard of the fella tbh.

I can guarantee if it's available to bet on, I've bloody had a couple of quid on it at one time or another.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Initially I thought 4M for Hector sounded like poor business but on reflection this might be a genius move by the club/Clarke, It looks like Hector will be loaned back for the season and so Chelsea are bank rolling us getting Vydra for the season (2M loan fee?) and John.

Yes it is a gamble but this then looks like a squad that should be nailed on top 6 at the end of the season. Frankly it will be by far the best ever squad assembled by RFC.

Genuinely excited now and have even just wagered £10 at 25/1 that we win the league plus £40 at 3/1 that we finish top 6.

Was looking at doing same, also worth promotion bet about 8 to 1 I think, then can win on all three and top six gets money back

Who did you go with?

I only have a Coral account as I don't really gamble much and don't have the time to shop around. There are probably better odds out there. Tend to agree that a promotion bet is a good one too but the play offs are a lottery if we don't make top 2 - which is why I opted for top 6 instead.

You can get top six at 6/1 with Bet Victor, and win the league at 50/1 with Sky Bet.

[SCIAG]

For those of you wetting yourselves over Piazon.....I am genuinely fascinated and impressed that you find the time in your lives to follow English and Brazilian Under 21 football so closely, never mind La Liga, Eredivisie, Bundesliga. I'd never heard of the fella tbh.

I theorised yesterday that people are only hyping this kid up because he's Brazilian, if it had been English starlet John Smith, I suspect people would be a little less over-awed.

If you had asked me at the start of the window, I'd have chosen Izzy Brown ahead of Lucas Piazon. Shame he went to Vitesse.

[Cureton's Volley]

Win the league???

You lot are mental

[Pepe the Horseman]

You're mental if you think this guy from Benfica who no one had ever heard of before yesterday, won't single handedly win us the league.

[Rollerbob]

Okay so assuming the next few hours go as expected...

We have a choice of Sa, Vydra, Hurtado, Williams, Quinn, John, Blackman, Pizaon, Fernandez, McCleary, HRK, Norwood & Tish in midfield and up front.

That (on paper) is a TON of creativity. I also can't remember a time when we had so much genuinely good competition for places.

[biff]

Time for a sexwee.

[Rollerbob]

Time for a sexwee.

+1

[Ian Royal]

For those of you wetting yourselves over Piazon.....I am genuinely fascinated and impressed that you find the time in your lives to follow English and Brazilian Under 21 football so closely, never mind La Liga, Eredivisie, Bundesliga. I'd never heard of the fella tbh.

I think you might be underestimating people's ability to use the internet to find stuff out.

[Mr Cinema]

Okay so assuming the next few hours go as expected...

We have a choice of Sa, Vydra, Hurtado, Williams, Quinn, John, Blackman, Pizaon, Fernandez, McCleary, HRK, Norwood & Tish in midfield and up front.

That (on paper) is a TON of creativity. I also can't remember a time when we had so much genuinely good competition for places.

That's far too much creativity though . We won't be able to keep them all happy and those out of the side will ruin team harmony. We're buggered.

Bloody club can never get anything right.

[Oilroyal]

Initially I thought 4M for Hector sounded like poor business but on reflection this might be a genius move by the club/Clarke, It looks like Hector will be loaned back for the season and so Chelsea are bank rolling us getting Vydra for the season (2M loan fee?) and John.

Yes it is a gamble but this then looks like a squad that should be nailed on top 6 at the end of the season. Frankly it will be by far the best ever squad assembled by RFC.

Genuinely excited now and have even just wagered £10 at 25/1 that we win the league plus £40 at 3/1 that we finish top 6.

Spot on. Great bit of business.

[howser]

Wow this is so un-Reading like from the last several seasons !! The Thai's have sure backed clark in his wishes abd with the Hector £4m the overall outgoings will be pretty favourable as well. Hel we have some pace through the midfield and up front now, if these guys gel together as hoped then this is going to be some ride this eason..................

[Lacoste]

Well, give Clarke his dues he delivered on his promise. We have signed two new strikers, two central midfield players, three wide midfield/attackers a fullback, centre back and two goal keepers. He and the Thais have delivered on their promise.

Clarke went about his business professionally and methodically and whilst I still don't think he's necessarily the right man for the job, he was impressing me off the field even though the results on the field have been poor since his arrival.

This was until today.

Today he has spent a relative fortune on a player that we will only see for one season. Believe it or not, I'm overjoyed that we have signed Vydra however the manner in which he has come in leaves a hugely sour taste in my mouth.

Many of you are correct, if he fires us to promotion then what the hell, the money is small fry but for that to happen we need to be one of the best three teams in this division. Can anyone here really see that happening?

Many of you also say that this is just modern football and that we'd be whinging if we didn't get a new striker and that the club can't win. This is all valid however surely a clever manager wouldn't have spent the whole summer chasing a player, who in all reality, was going to sign for a far bigger Club than us.

Sure, we have signed a great forward at this level but he isn't ours, this isn't building and unless a miracle happens this isn't a step forward

I would have much preferred us to have done some proper management and scouting and found one or maybe even two players from somewhere for the same cost even if it was from the lower leagues that would take time to adapt, someone we can call ours and start building a great team full of heart, spirit and a team we can call our own, not a team full of loan signings who frankly, probably won't give a fcuk.

That moves me on to this character John. Wtf is this all about. Another heartless loan and you've all seen what the Lisbon fans think of him. It all sounds too familiar.Is this guy seriously going to have the bottle and the spirit to battle it out with the championships hardened pros on a cold winters evening when the chips are down? maybe, maybe not. I highly doubt it though. At least it's only a loan and we can send him back.

We have 6 loan players now, 6. This isn't RFC and this isn't a club evolving, this is poor foresight by Clarke and maybe, just maybe a lack of scouting ability. We will never get to know this team because they'll all be gone at the end of the season. Build slowly and cleverly, that's how we've always had success.

Like I say, apart from Al-habsi, John and Vydra I'm really happy with the way Clarke has gone about this summer however today just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

He has put his nuts on the block, I just hope it works out for him.

Before today 9/10

After today 6/10

[Winston Smith]

For those of you wetting yourselves over Piazon.....I am genuinely fascinated and impressed that you find the time in your lives to follow English and Brazilian Under 21 football so closely, never mind La Liga, Eredivisie, Bundesliga. I'd never heard of the fella tbh.

I think you might be underestimating people's ability to use the internet to find stuff out.

There is looking stuff up on the web and then there is desperately trying to look itk

'He looked amazing for Mtimba Mbomba when I used to follow the Botswanan league....'

[andrew1957]

Wow this is so un-Reading like from the last several seasons !! The Thai's have sure backed clark in his wishes abd with the Hector £4m the overall outgoings will be pretty favourable as well. Hel we have some pace through the midfield and up front now, if these guys gel together as hoped then this is going to be some ride this season..................

I wonder what the odds are for a double of winning the Championship and the League Cup this season?

Really excited now! Cannot wait for Ipswich, Derby and Everton.

[Mr Cinema]

Wow this is so un-Reading like from the last several seasons !! The Thai's have sure backed clark in his wishes abd with the Hector £4m the overall outgoings will be pretty favourable as well. Hel we have some pace through the midfield and up front now, if these guys gel together as hoped then this is going to be some ride this season..................

I wonder what the odds are for a double of winning the Championship and the League Cup this season?

Really excited now! Cannot wait for Ipswich, Derby and Everton.

'greed. Club should really have entered that Champions League thingy as we'd be bound to win it. Typical short sightedness.

[NewCorkSeth]

Tldr

[RustyRoyal]

Tldr

TL:DR - Bullshit.

[Lower West]

he was impressing me off the field even though the results on the field have been poor since his arrival.

Have you been to watch many games this season?

[Winston Smith]

Can someone list the players we brought in this summer please?