M Antonio

[jazz]

Which of our managers let Antonio go? He has just been called up to to Sam Allardyce's first full England squad.

[From Despair To Where?]

Brian McDermott.

Them the breaks, he was behind Kebe, McAnuff, MacLeary and HRK in the pecking order and we received a decent offer for where he was at the time, He wanted first team football and we couldn't offer it.

[paultheroyal]

Reading's biggest ever transfer mistake and coaches and fans alike inability to spot talent but hey he was behind everyone in the pecking order and those times he had to impress five mins here and there as sub cameo were clearly enough to bomb him out.... But hey he has only won an England call up and now worth £20mill +

[From Despair To Where?]

Not in any way saying we were right to sell him but shit sometimes happens, especially when you've got a mad Russian at the helm. Bottom line is, he wanted regular first team football and at the time, we couldn't guarantee it.

[paultheroyal]

Not a case of wanting regular first team football it was the fact a number of people at the club saw nothing in him and Brian known for picking favourites stuck by them favourites. He had bags of talent and was never given the opportunity.

He was class when loaned out at saints and Wednesday and still not welcomed back.

[Stranded]

Theme the breaks. Every club has players who go on to better things after not getting a chance. He is one of ours.

[Rax]

Theme the breaks. Every club has players who go on to better things after not getting a chance. He is one of ours.

Pretty much - also he was a winger in those days and Kebe/McAnuff were far superior at the time.

[Ian Royal]

Meh, we got promoted too soon to make use for him and missed out. That's just life.

He needed regular Championship football, we had two wingers who were better than he was at that time, signed a third who was also better at that point and had a fourth who was about as promising and ahead in the pecking order at that point. And on top of that we were in the Prem.

We made the right call for him and us based on the circumstances. It's worked out fantastically for him. He's moved on beyond us. Well done to him. Nothing wrong with selling him at all.

Had Anton not come in, Kebe probably would have gone, Roberts wouldn't have arrived, we wouldn't have gone up and Antonio would have got his chance with us. Anton did come in, Kebe stayed, we got Roberts, we went up, Antonio was not of sufficient standard at that point to be useful to us, we did well on the sale though.

[marlowuk]

Great to see another of Reading's youngsters enjoying success. Michail was part of our academy for 4-5 years before we decided he should move on. As I recall there were many Nobbers who felt this was the wrong decision and that he had potential and we should keep him - but he moved on. He has been a revelation at West Ham and has been rewarded with a call up to the England squad. Congratulations Michail!!

[genome]

Enter paultheroyal in 3, 2, 1...

[Nameless]

Bizarre claim that no one at the club saw anything in him.
Did he just wander into training one day and refuse to leave ?
We plucked him out of non league football because we saw some very raw talent. The circumstances for developing that weren't right at the time and he's hardly been an overnight sensation,
Presumably Weds and Forest missed his talent too as they also 'let him go'

Huge congratulations to Antonio for what he has achieved and to all his clubs from Tooting on who helped him progress.

[Nameless]

Great to see another of Reading's youngsters enjoying success. Michail was part of our academy for 4-5 years before we decided he should move on. As I recall there were many Nobbers who felt this was the wrong decision and that he had potential and we should keep him - but he moved on. He has been a revelation at West Ham and has been rewarded with a call up to the England squad. Congratulations Michail!!

Don't think he was ever part of the Academy, joined us as a full pro didn't he ? Certainly he didn't join us at 13 or 14 which he would have had to do to get 5 years in the Academy.

[Winston Smith]

Great to see another of Reading's youngsters enjoying success. Michail was part of our academy for 4-5 years before we decided he should move on. As I recall there were many Nobbers who felt this was the wrong decision and that he had potential and we should keep him - but he moved on. He has been a revelation at West Ham and has been rewarded with a call up to the England squad. Congratulations Michail!!

Don't think he was ever part of the Academy, joined us as a full pro didn't he ? Certainly he didn't join us at 13 or 14 which he would have had to do to get 5 years in the Academy.

He was 5 months off of 19 years old when he joined us.

[KC Royal]

Meh, we got promoted too soon to make use for him and missed out. That's just life.

He needed regular Championship football, we had two wingers who were better than he was at that time, signed a third who was also better at that point and had a fourth who was about as promising and ahead in the pecking order at that point. And on top of that we were in the Prem.

We made the right call for him and us based on the circumstances. It's worked out fantastically for him. He's moved on beyond us. Well done to him. Nothing wrong with selling him at all.

Had Anton not come in, Kebe probably would have gone, Roberts wouldn't have arrived, we wouldn't have gone up and Antonio would have got his chance with us. Anton did come in, Kebe stayed, we got Roberts, we went up, Antonio was not of sufficient standard at that point to be useful to us, we did well on the sale though.

Excellent post, he also only had a year left on his contract and wasn't going to sign another one so the club couldn't really turn down decent bids for him at the time. We'd already turned down two bids from Sheffield Wednesday, so we put up a fight to keep him. I liked him and felt rather sorry for him that the competition for places meant he didn't get more of a chance here, but I stand by what I thought at the time, the move was right for all concerned.

Didn't we also get a sell-on for him? If so, I think that's helped us bring players in in the last two summer windows.

[KC Royal]

Bizarre claim that no one at the club saw anything in him.
Did he just wander into training one day and refuse to leave ?
We plucked him out of non league football because we saw some very raw talent. The circumstances for developing that weren't right at the time and he's hardly been an overnight sensation,
Presumably Weds and Forest missed his talent too as they also 'let him go'

Huge congratulations to Antonio for what he has achieved and to all his clubs from Tooting on who helped him progress.

Whilst Googling to double check how many years on his contract he had left, I came across this story from his last season at Reading.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... io-4207315

Going by that article the suggestion that we didn't see anything in him is confusing. I actually thought at the time that had we not had an option on his contract in 2010 he'd have joined Southampton permanently after his loan spell there. The interviews he gave at the time suggested he was happy to stay at Southampton, I was convinced he was off.

[sandman]

Which of our managers let Antonio go? He has just been called up to to Sam ALOLardyce's first full EngLOLand squad.

Benson and Hedges to be called up next.

[Winston Smith]

The only real surprise at the England squad is that Kevin Nolan is not in there

[stealthpapes]

Not a case of wanting regular first team football it was the fact a number of people at the club saw nothing in him and Brian known for picking favourites stuck by them favourites. He had bags of talent and was never given the opportunity.

He was class when loaned out at saints and Wednesday and still not welcomed back.

I once watched him nutmeg himself.

[genome]

I'm fairly sure that's called a Cruyff turn papes.

[sandman]

How did he do against Slovakia?