URZZZZ Was 2017 worse than 2018 though? A dreadful two years of business
Well, much of this has been discussed before at length, with the same points and opinions being repeated. There's not too much new being said, which hasn't already been said.
Aluko (who the manager didn't really want) was a bust. We know that, we have said so, and we can't change it now.
But re. your question, those two windows involved different club strategies. In the '17 window we had just finished 3rd, so there was temptation/pressure for the club to push on and go one better. With that in mind, I wasn't shocked that we'd spend more money in that window accordingly. Which isn't to say I agreed with everything, but I wasn't surprised when they spent money. (Although of course, I was disappointed with the results. But again, we can't go back and change it now).
The '18 window should have been more straightforward and familiar for us as a club. (We had finished 17th and 19th the 2 seasons prior to the 16-17 season, for example).
McNulty, to me, came as advertised. An old-fashioned workhorse CF, and for him to excel he'd need to play a lot of games/minutes to get in, and stay in, game shape, get up to game speed and get in a rhythm. He's not really a flashy eye-catching pacey skillful game- changing impact sub you throw on for the last 10 mins. I’d love to know what they subsequently discovered about him that they didn't know before.
Clarke/Adkins, yes, rarely discussed in here, relatively speaking. These days it's as if Reading's history started in 2016. That’s the timeline that is usually referenced back to and it’s as if nothing much came before that.