Squad for 2020/21

[andrew1957]

Good luck to McCleary, Obita and Gunter - they have been model professionals throughout their time at the club.

I think the Adam signing was a bit of a waste of money in truth but good luck to him too. Blackett’s time here was mixed but he was good at times.

Our remaining squad is now very small. Will be interesting to see if the club can afford to fill the gaps or whether we will be relying on the Academy next season.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Would still love to see Lewis Baker back in a Reading shirt...thought after a mediocre start to his loan spell, he developed into a key player..was sorry to see him go, but would be great to have him back...permanently if poss..

[WestYorksRoyal]

Good luck to McCleary, Obita and Gunter - they have both been model professionals throughout their time at the club.

I think the Adam signing was a bit of a waste of money in truth but good luck to him too. Blackett’s time here was mixed but he was good at times.

Our remaining squad is now very small. Will be interesting to see if the club can afford to fill the gaps or whether we will be relying on the Academy next season.

I think Adam proved his worth this season. Was probably on low wages (his alternative offer was only Blackpool) and he played a big role in our best run of the season.

Right decision to release now, but he was certainly not a waste of time.

Shame about Obita, but I do think keeping him on would have been about sentiment as much as merit. He's not as athletic and fit as he used to be, which was a major strength. Still a lot of quality in his left foot and I expect he'll get a contract in league 1 or 2. Sounds like we made a low wage 2 year offer but didn't agree terms, which seems about right. Worth keeping as a cheap option, but not a big wage player.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Would still love to see Lewis Baker back in a Reading shirt...thought after a mediocre start to his loan spell, he developed into a key player..was sorry to see him go, but would be great to have him back...permanently if poss..

WCBAP. But his loan spell here has been pretty much his only good spell in the past 3 years, so I doubt we'd be fighting off competition left, right and centre. Also question over how he'd fit in with Bowen's vision of fast moving, high energy football. I'd say potentially better than Swift and Ejaria. He's good at dictating tempo.

[Snowflake Royal]

So recap.

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas



That's a squad of 17, three of which are goalkeepers and one we want no where near the club. I must be missing people...

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

[Old Man Andrews]

So recap.

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas



That's a squad of 17, three of which are goalkeepers and one we want no where near the club. I must be missing people...

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

You're missing off Rafael. He won player of the season......

[windermereROYAL]

So recap.

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas



That's a squad of 17, three of which are goalkeepers and one we want no where near the club. I must be missing people...

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

Walker, Araruna, McNulty.

[WestYorksRoyal]

So recap.

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas



That's a squad of 17, three of which are goalkeepers and one we want no where near the club. I must be missing people...

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

Walker, Araruna, McNulty.

Osho

[Old Man Andrews]

So recap.

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas



That's a squad of 17, three of which are goalkeepers and one we want no where near the club. I must be missing people...

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

Walker, Araruna, McNulty.

Osho

Osho is technically not with us, he is out of contract.

[tidus_mi2]

Walker, Araruna, McNulty.

Osho

Osho is technically not with us, he is out of contract.

You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.

[Snowflake Royal]

Thanks Windermere

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Walker, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom, Araruna
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas, McNulty



That's a squad of 20, four of which are goalkeepers, one we want no where near the club and one it seems Bowen isn't interested in despite him being the only perm signing on his watch so far.

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

[Old Man Andrews]

Wonder if Osho got himself a decent agent when his first team run got underway? Rightly the player is now stalling and weighing up his options, surely hasn't gone unnoticed by other sides in the league. Probably been touted around everywhere.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I think Araruna is being overlooked in the DM role. He was a long term signing who was always going to need time to adapt in England. Let's judge him next season.

Looking at this from TTE from when we signed him, it looks like he has the strengths to succeed.

https://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/20 ... -fc-royals

I wouldn't want him 1st choice. But Rinomhota, Laurent, Araruna and A.N.Other may realistically be the best we can hope for in the DM and CM roles. Obviously AM is more up in the air with uncertainty over Swift and Ejaria, and whether we want to use wingers more etc.

[NewCorkSeth]

Is the argument thrown my way every year. Every year it's wrong.

Pfft says you.

Well, I mean objectively it's been wrong every year before as our wage bill is still a disaster.

Maybe this year it's my turn. But that hope seems to be based on spurious assessments of the cost of players who are leaving as it usually is (and ignoring that we'll have incomers too) rather than anything else.

The last figures show our wage bill was 211%, that means to be ok, we need to cut it by about 60 - 70%. Hopefully since those figures from outgoings last year we have already made a step in the right direction and know it's much less than that.

But getting back Miazga and Ejaria and spanking millions on Puscas and Joao don't give me a lot of hope that it was a big enough difference to make this wave (good though it is) enough.

If we're at less than 150% wages to turn over next season it'll be pretty impressive.

So this convo started again because I dont believe the line that there isnt enough money to get Ejaria in, which seems to be based on rumours of a new wage cap. It was stated that the leaving players, rumoured to be saving us between 7.5 and 10 million a year, would either not be sufficient to cover the cost of Ejaria or would put us over some apparent threshold in total wages we are looking to stay under.

My issue is that we are going to get players in this summer which indicates to me that it is not about cutting our wage bill it is about Ejaria. It means that either he is no longer fancied as a player by Bowen, he is no longer fancied at the value of the contract offered or Ejaira doesnt want to join anymore. But the line from "those in the know" is that we cant afford him anymore.

On to the wage cutting, if it is indeed true that the departing 13 players are "only" 10 million a year in wages (an average of 15k a week as mentioned earlier in the thread) then the wages for the players remaining at the club is and average of 25k a week. Yes there are staff and directors fees and bonuses thrown in there but that makes cutting our wage bill 60 - 70%, as you suggest, impossible without cutting half the first team.

[Snowflake Royal]

Osho

Osho is technically not with us, he is out of contract.

You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.

I'm, sadly, with OMA on this one. If he isn't contracted he doesn't count yet.

Hopefully he'll stay.

The back isn't far off. Osho signs on and then if one of Watson or Holmes is up to it then we only need a LB and to sell and replace Moore.

All three stay on and are up to it we may not even need a LB as Yiadom could do ok there. Cutting in on his right rather than left.

In fact, if wide players are hard to come by we could do worse than replace Yiadom at RB and use him as a winger.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think Araruna is being overlooked in the DM role. He was a long term signing who was always going to need time to adapt in England. Let's judge him next season.

Looking at this from TTE from when we signed him, it looks like he has the strengths to succeed.

https://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/20 ... -fc-royals

I wouldn't want him 1st choice. But Rinomhota, Laurent, Araruna and A.N.Other may realistically be the best we can hope for in the DM and CM roles. Obviously AM is more up in the air with uncertainty over Swift and Ejaria, and whether we want to use wingers more etc.

The one time I saw him there he looked tiny weak and lost.

[royalp-we]

With the potential signing of Joshua Ishaele Jacob-Heron Hunt-Laurent, I already feel we are going to be massively overstocked with CM options next season.

LB is a concern. I’m not convinced Richards has 46 games in him, we have to be looking to strengthen those LB / LM / LF roles.

[Hound]

There has to be someone desperate enough to take Aluko off of us.

Doubt it

[Snowflake Royal]

With the potential signing of Joshua Ishaele Jacob-Heron Hunt-Laurent, I already feel we are going to be massively overstocked with CM options next season.

Really?

Rinomhota - yep
Olise - yep, but he's really an attacker rather than a proper midfielder
Holsgrove - basically the same as Olise but not tested
Araruna - played about 1 game in midfield and doesn't seem fancied, screams Kia Joorabchian
Swift - strong rumours he's being sold
East - unwanted
Ejaria - now doubtful he's coming
Pele - gone
Adam - gone

So in terms of proper midfielders we can be confident will be here for the season, it's er... Rinomhota and.... er.... no one.

[Hendo]

Thanks Windermere

We're now currently at:

GK: Cabral, Walker, Southwood, Andresson
RB: Yiadom, Araruna
LB: Richards
CB: Moore, Morrison, McIntyre
DM:
CM: Rinomhota, Swift
AM: Olise, Holsgrove, Aluko
RF: Meite
LF:
ST: Joao, Baldock, Puscas, McNulty



That's a squad of 20, four of which are goalkeepers, one we want no where near the club and one it seems Bowen isn't interested in despite him being the only perm signing on his watch so far.

What's the deal with Watson, East, Osho, Smith, Holmes and co?

I guess you'll be able to add in Laurent to CM list as well early next week.

Smith has gone, hasn't he? And I think Holmes is coming back from his loan to Belgium?