Nick Blackman...

[Old Man Andrews]

103 appearances, 18 goals. One good half season. One of the "ego's " that BMac said we had to lose. Journeymann who has never really forged a decent career in the game. One of the most Meh players I've ever seen play for us

Amen. Had a run of about 20 good games in that 100 when he scored goals. Absolute strutting charlatan.

Yeah the "better believe he scored goals" chant was made out of complete irony because he looked completely pony. Then he actually started scoring, it was hilarious.

But he was just a massive tool, remember the look he gave after he scored a disgustingly scuffed goal away at Derby? He thinks he's fcuking Ronaldo the jumped up twat.

Can confirm the second bit. Was rude to supporters in Nandos in my presence.

[Nameless]

I sometimes despair of Nobbers

Blackman was mostly a winger yet scored 22 goals for us in 5,823 minutes
which is a goal every 264.7 minutes, better than 1 in 3 games

His goals-or-assists in one every 216 minutes played

AND we made 2 million profit when we sold him.


What do you want, blood?

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

[WoodleyRoyal]

general football surely

[Snowball]

I sometimes despair of Nobbers

Blackman was mostly a winger yet scored 22 goals for us in 5,823 minutes
which is a goal every 264.7 minutes, better than 1 in 3 games

His goals-or-assists in one every 216 minutes played

AND we made 2 million profit when we sold him.


What do you want, blood?

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

I have looked at his Reading CAREER, all 100-odd games. The quieter games counteract any purple patches. It is still a fact that he scored all those goals (as a winger, mostly) and it's still a fact that his overall number are real and that he made us a couple of million

[Nameless]

I sometimes despair of Nobbers

Blackman was mostly a winger yet scored 22 goals for us in 5,823 minutes
which is a goal every 264.7 minutes, better than 1 in 3 games

His goals-or-assists in one every 216 minutes played

AND we made 2 million profit when we sold him.


What do you want, blood?

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

I have looked at his Reading CAREER, all 100-odd games. The quieter games counteract any purple patches. It is still a fact that he scored all those goals (as a winger, mostly) and it's still a fact that his overall number are real and that he made us a couple of million

Rubbish.
You can’t ‘average out’ a player’s career !
Those who watch matches rather than fill out spreadsheets know full well that Blackman had a superb patch that was in sharp contrast to the mediocrity of the rest of his spell. You diminish the brilliant spell and gloss over the rubbish - why ?
Andhis brilliant spell wasn’t as a winger, he pretty much played wherever he wanted because everything he tried was working. He was more an inside forward for that brief spell.

[Stranded]

I sometimes despair of Nobbers

Blackman was mostly a winger yet scored 22 goals for us in 5,823 minutes
which is a goal every 264.7 minutes, better than 1 in 3 games

His goals-or-assists in one every 216 minutes played

AND we made 2 million profit when we sold him.


What do you want, blood?

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

I have looked at his Reading CAREER, all 100-odd games. The quieter games counteract any purple patches. It is still a fact that he scored all those goals (as a winger, mostly) and it's still a fact that his overall number are real and that he made us a couple of million

He was a 1 in 4 goalscorer for the majority of his career here then hit that purple patch where he seemed to score every game (scored 8 goals in 8 games) before returning to mean (or worse) as he scored 2 in his last 13 games for us.

He was a pretty average Championship player, who we bought in the Premier League remember, who had a spell between August and October 2015 hit the kind of form most players can only dream of and he certainly hasn't been able to replicate since.

We were lucky to have him for that spell but to try and paint his time here as anything other as average in general is an attempt to re-write history.

[Snowball]

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

I have looked at his Reading CAREER, all 100-odd games. The quieter games counteract any purple patches. It is still a fact that he scored all those goals (as a winger, mostly) and it's still a fact that his overall number are real and that he made us a couple of million

He was a 1 in 4 goalscorer for the majority of his career here then hit that purple patch where he seemed to score every game (scored 8 goals in 8 games) before returning to mean (or worse) as he scored 2 in his last 13 games for us.

He was a pretty average Championship player, who we bought in the Premier League remember, who had a spell between August and October 2015 hit the kind of form most players can only dream of and he certainly hasn't been able to replicate since.

We were lucky to have him for that spell but to try and paint his time here as anything other as average in general is an attempt to re-write history.

Players have purple patches and droughts.

I go by his TOTAL goals per minutes.

A short purple patch improves but doesn't distort stats, not when he was on the pitch 103 times

[Jagermesiter1871]

Amen. Had a run of about 20 good games in that 100 when he scored goals. Absolute strutting charlatan.

Yeah the "better believe he scored goals" chant was made out of complete irony because he looked completely pony. Then he actually started scoring, it was hilarious.

But he was just a massive tool, remember the look he gave after he scored a disgustingly scuffed goal away at Derby? He thinks he's fcuking Ronaldo the jumped up twat.

Can confirm the second bit. Was rude to supporters in Nandos in my presence.

Rude in what way - stole chips from their plates? Pushed in front in the drinks queue? Took the last Caesar sauce bottle?
Need details.

[Snowball]

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

I have looked at his Reading CAREER, all 100-odd games. The quieter games counteract any purple patches. It is still a fact that he scored all those goals (as a winger, mostly) and it's still a fact that his overall number are real and that he made us a couple of million

Rubbish.
You can’t ‘average out’ a player’s career !
Those who watch matches rather than fill out spreadsheets know full well that Blackman had a superb patch that was in sharp contrast to the mediocrity of the rest of his spell. You diminish the brilliant spell and gloss over the rubbish - why ?
Andhis brilliant spell wasn’t as a winger, he pretty much played wherever he wanted because everything he tried was working. He was more an inside forward for that brief spell.

Of course you can average out a player's career.

That's what the history books show

The average of a career (and a goal every 4 games for a winger isn't shabby) TAKING OUT a purple patch is far more ridiculous than including it.

It's not like I said, "Let's ONLY take his purple patch, or only that season."

Lastly his purple patch came in 2015, when he was 25/26 when strikers reach their optimum age. He was still 25 for his nine-goal PP

[Stranded]

I have looked at his Reading CAREER, all 100-odd games. The quieter games counteract any purple patches. It is still a fact that he scored all those goals (as a winger, mostly) and it's still a fact that his overall number are real and that he made us a couple of million

He was a 1 in 4 goalscorer for the majority of his career here then hit that purple patch where he seemed to score every game (scored 8 goals in 8 games) before returning to mean (or worse) as he scored 2 in his last 13 games for us.

He was a pretty average Championship player, who we bought in the Premier League remember, who had a spell between August and October 2015 hit the kind of form most players can only dream of and he certainly hasn't been able to replicate since.

We were lucky to have him for that spell but to try and paint his time here as anything other as average in general is an attempt to re-write history.

Players have purple patches and droughts.

I go by his TOTAL goals per minutes.

A short purple patch improves but doesn't distort stats, not when he was on the pitch 103 times

In this case I would argue the purple patch does distort his goals per minute quite markedly

Total career
Total mins: 5825
Goals: 22
Mins per Goal: 265

Career minus purple patch

Total Mins: 5117
Goals: 14
Mins per goal: 365

So his purple patch had an impact of exactly 100 mins per goal on his career stats, or to put another way it improved his goals per game record by over 1 game per goal.

A pretty marked skew.

[Old Man Andrews]

Yeah the "better believe he scored goals" chant was made out of complete irony because he looked completely pony. Then he actually started scoring, it was hilarious.

But he was just a massive tool, remember the look he gave after he scored a disgustingly scuffed goal away at Derby? He thinks he's fcuking Ronaldo the jumped up twat.

Can confirm the second bit. Was rude to supporters in Nandos in my presence.

Rude in what way - stole chips from their plates? Pushed in front in the drinks queue? Took the last Caesar sauce bottle?
Need details.

Well he wasn't sat eating, if he had been I would have no issue with him being rude to people coming up to him. He was ordering a take out and just standing by the till waiting for it. A couple of young-ish supporters approached him. Denied he was Nick Blackman despite being Nick Blackman in a Reading tracksuit, refused photos and refused to sign anything for them. Very arrogant demeanor about him. Kids walked away looking glum, he proceded to stand there waiting for his food just looking around the restaurant.

[Snowball]

He was a 1 in 4 goalscorer for the majority of his career here then hit that purple patch where he seemed to score every game (scored 8 goals in 8 games) before returning to mean (or worse) as he scored 2 in his last 13 games for us.

He was a pretty average Championship player, who we bought in the Premier League remember, who had a spell between August and October 2015 hit the kind of form most players can only dream of and he certainly hasn't been able to replicate since.

We were lucky to have him for that spell but to try and paint his time here as anything other as average in general is an attempt to re-write history.

Players have purple patches and droughts.

I go by his TOTAL goals per minutes.

A short purple patch improves but doesn't distort stats, not when he was on the pitch 103 times

In this case I would argue the purple patch does distort his goals per minute quite markedly

Total career
Total mins: 5825
Goals: 22
Mins per Goal: 265

Career minus purple patch

Total Mins: 5117
Goals: 14
Mins per goal: 365

So his purple patch had an impact of exactly 100 mins per goal on his career stats, or to put another way it improved his goals per game record by over 1 game per goal.

A pretty marked skew.

I am just trying to imagine the Nobber Furore if I posted a players
stats but left out his best bits. A career is a career and I repeat Blackman's
total goals/total minutes is the true test (hence we got over 3 M for him)

and I further note that perhaps, at 25 almost 26, he was coming into his best form
through maturity.

(Yes I'm aware he never repeated that form but we have no idea about injuries,
off the field stuff, where/when he was played.)

[Stranded]

Fair enough but it the vast majority of Reading fans will accept that he was average for us - 2 things will show that, the near universal surprise at this sudden upturn in form and the lack of anyone being too annoyed that he left when he did - IIRC there was a fair amount of shock at the size of fee we got and that Derby were happy to pay that much.

May well have factored into Clement leaving his job a month later.

[Platypuss]

I sometimes despair of Nobbers

Blackman was mostly a winger yet scored 22 goals for us in 5,823 minutes
which is a goal every 264.7 minutes, better than 1 in 3 games

His goals-or-assists in one every 216 minutes played

AND we made 2 million profit when we sold him.


What do you want, blood?

Classic example of how statistics can shed absolutely no light on a situation sometimes !

For a brief spell Blackman was superb, every shot he took went in, every trick came off. But that was an exceptional spell which oddly stopped once he was sold.

That spell was quite incredible and I’m sure we all enjoyed it but misusing numbers to try and suggest he was any more than a flash in the pan is pointless.

Regression to the mean/reversion to mediocrity

[Snowball]

Fair enough but it the vast majority of Reading fans will accept that he was average for us - 2 things will show that, the near universal surprise at this sudden upturn in form and the lack of anyone being too annoyed that he left when he did - IIRC there was a fair amount of shock at the size of fee we got and that Derby were happy to pay that much.

May well have factored into Clement leaving his job a month later.

Like Long will never be any good.

[Wimb]

Fair enough but it the vast majority of Reading fans will accept that he was average for us - 2 things will show that, the near universal surprise at this sudden upturn in form and the lack of anyone being too annoyed that he left when he did - IIRC there was a fair amount of shock at the size of fee we got and that Derby were happy to pay that much.

May well have factored into Clement leaving his job a month later.

Like Long will never be any good.

Will tip my hat to you on the Long front, your use of statistics did indeed correctly predict how he'd bloom.

While on the topic of Blackman and a seemingly ridiculous fee, worth remembering this was allegedly going on at Derby at the time...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-5549987/Derby-County-sue-former-chief-executive-Sam-Rush-7m.html

He was OK as a player and a very typical McDermott signing, the same as we had with Akpan. I think you'd classify his time at Reading in the 'average' camp overall.

Blackman had always been a very streaky player. I remember Jason Roberts flagging him up as one of the best players he'd seen come through at Blackburn.

His career then included runs of 10 in 15 at Motherwell, followed by 2 in 22 and then that half season at Sheffield United with 11 goals that prompted us to sign him.

Much like Hal Robson-Kanu, a player that had the raw tools but has never been able to find consistency. Exactly how such players wind up at Reading and staying with us for a while.

[Denver Royal]

Of course you can average out a player's career.

Yep, you do it routinely with Bod every time he scores

How does Meite stack up re. purple patch?

[Snowball]

By “career” I mean “Reading Career”

Do we doubt Vydra or Grabban even though they didn’t perform for us?

The teams they play for now won’t give a toss about their lean spells at Reading

[Forbury Lion]

Yeah the "better believe he scored goals" chant was made out of complete irony because he looked completely pony. Then he actually started scoring, it was hilarious.

Based on this evidence, maybe we can recycle the chant for our current strike force?

[Forbury Lion]

While on the topic of Blackman and a seemingly ridiculous fee, worth remembering this was allegedly going on at Derby at the time...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-5549987/Derby-County-sue-former-chief-executive-Sam-Rush-7m.html

Interesting article, particularly the part about WMG and that Paul Clement was with that agency too.

I wonder if he was still with them when we signed him and whether we signed any players who were represented by WMG?