CONFRIMED: Latest rumours Confrimed as Unconfrimed

[Stranded]

If he's not Dai, I'm happy. But we're not Wycombe; if it's true that he was behind the decision for the women he'll immediately be on the back foot. Fans have stated that they want us to be "sustainable", but I don't think they're ready for what that really means, especially if the academy has cuts too.

That being said, his Wycombe ambition was to be a sustainable Championship club. That's much more achievable here.

Whilst Academy cuts are likely, it could be a mistep - we just brought in a 6 figure fee for a 16 year old and there are plenty of deals out there to be had which could see the Academy essentially pay for itself if run properly. If we had cashed in on players like Loader, the Academy would likely be at worst a break even over the years.

Definitely if you consider the hypothetical income we could have gained from the likes of Loader and Richards going for nothing and Olise going for below market value due to major incompetence with the ownership, the academy has been very successful.

Whilst I take your point for the 4,654,564,622nd time - Olise would never, ever, ever have played for Reading FC if we didn't agree to the contract and the relevant clauses. So we made 8m (soon to potentially be about 12m) for a player who would otherwise have been shifted off to another club if we hadn't accepted.

That would have been incompetence on a grand scale.

[tidus_mi2]

Whilst Academy cuts are likely, it could be a mistep - we just brought in a 6 figure fee for a 16 year old and there are plenty of deals out there to be had which could see the Academy essentially pay for itself if run properly. If we had cashed in on players like Loader, the Academy would likely be at worst a break even over the years.

Definitely if you consider the hypothetical income we could have gained from the likes of Loader and Richards going for nothing and Olise going for below market value due to major incompetence with the ownership, the academy has been very successful.

Whilst I take your point for the 4,654,564,622nd time - Olise would never, ever, ever have played for Reading FC if we didn't agree to the contract and the relevant clauses. So we made 8m (soon to potentially be about 12m) for a player who would otherwise have been shifted off to another club if we hadn't accepted.

That would have been incompetence on a grand scale.

Damn you're annoying.

Who's to say we wouldn't have been able to negotiate a higher release clause in exchange for higher wages? Certainly seems Palace were able to do something similar.

[WestYorksRoyal]

It comes back to ambition though. L1 academy products are worth less than those with Championship experience, and would Olise have joined us in L1? I'm not convinced the academy pays for itself at this level, we probably need to be in the Championship for that to be an effective strategy. Will the Couhigs be willing to take a bet on achieving that?

[tidus_mi2]

It comes back to ambition though. L1 academy products are worth less than those with Championship experience, and would Olise have joined us in L1? I'm not convinced the academy pays for itself at this level, we probably need to be in the Championship for that to be an effective strategy. Will the Couhigs be willing to take a bet on achieving that?

It would definitely be an understandable stance if funding were reduced to the academy while we're in League One, although I'm not sure how many of the fanbase would be accepting of it.

[Dirk Gently]

It comes back to ambition though. L1 academy products are worth less than those with Championship experience, and would Olise have joined us in L1? I'm not convinced the academy pays for itself at this level, we probably need to be in the Championship for that to be an effective strategy. Will the Couhigs be willing to take a bet on achieving that?

It would definitely be an understandable stance if funding were reduced to the academy while we're in League One, although I'm not sure how many of the fanbase would be accepting of it.

But that would probably mean the academy no longer meets the criteria for Category One (number of coaches, player to coach ratios, etc) which would severely hamper the ability to retain and keep promising young players. And those who did leave would leave with poorer compensation to the academy.

[Sutekh]

It comes back to ambition though. L1 academy products are worth less than those with Championship experience, and would Olise have joined us in L1? I'm not convinced the academy pays for itself at this level, we probably need to be in the Championship for that to be an effective strategy. Will the Couhigs be willing to take a bet on achieving that?

It would definitely be an understandable stance if funding were reduced to the academy while we're in League One, although I'm not sure how many of the fanbase would be accepting of it.

If it gets the idiot out of the club any quicker I'd be more than happy to "lose" the Academy for a year or two.

[Stranded]

Definitely if you consider the hypothetical income we could have gained from the likes of Loader and Richards going for nothing and Olise going for below market value due to major incompetence with the ownership, the academy has been very successful.

Whilst I take your point for the 4,654,564,622nd time - Olise would never, ever, ever have played for Reading FC if we didn't agree to the contract and the relevant clauses. So we made 8m (soon to potentially be about 12m) for a player who would otherwise have been shifted off to another club if we hadn't accepted.

That would have been incompetence on a grand scale.

Damn you're annoying.

Who's to say we wouldn't have been able to negotiate a higher release clause in exchange for higher wages? Certainly seems Palace were able to do something similar.

Yep, cause this argument is fcuking annoying.

He was a player in our Academy who had not played a single minute of football for us when he signed the deal. However, we saw the potential and wanted to tie him down - as has been shown by the case that got the club in trouble, we bent the rules to get him to even sign the thing - else his agent would have moved him on.

We had very little leverage, we may have already offered more than we should wages wise and in case you hadn't noticed, the club has been haemorraging money for some time.

Can you imagine the outrage if we had offered an untried player large wages and then he had got seriously injured first game of the season?

Given his career path, it is of course disappointing we only got what we got for him but I'm sorry there is so much crap to hit the club with a deal that meant we will have had the pleasure of seeing a probable top world class talent play about 70 games for us is not one of them.

[Snowflake Royal]

Whilst Academy cuts are likely, it could be a mistep - we just brought in a 6 figure fee for a 16 year old and there are plenty of deals out there to be had which could see the Academy essentially pay for itself if run properly. If we had cashed in on players like Loader, the Academy would likely be at worst a break even over the years.

Definitely if you consider the hypothetical income we could have gained from the likes of Loader and Richards going for nothing and Olise going for below market value due to major incompetence with the ownership, the academy has been very successful.

Whilst I take your point for the 4,654,564,622nd time - Olise would never, ever, ever have played for Reading FC if we didn't agree to the contract and the relevant clauses. So we made 8m (soon to potentially be about 12m) for a player who would otherwise have been shifted off to another club if we hadn't accepted.

That would have been incompetence on a grand scale.

Agree. £8m for when he joined us was a vast release fee. Richards basically had a great six months just when his contract expired. Barely anyone would have supported giving him a big new contract the summer before he went.

Loader was stupidity of Dai, sure. Its the Stacey, Hyam, Dickie era that was the problem. So many talented players left for nothing having not played.

[Snowflake Royal]

Whilst I take your point for the 4,654,564,622nd time - Olise would never, ever, ever have played for Reading FC if we didn't agree to the contract and the relevant clauses. So we made 8m (soon to potentially be about 12m) for a player who would otherwise have been shifted off to another club if we hadn't accepted.

That would have been incompetence on a grand scale.

Damn you're annoying.

Who's to say we wouldn't have been able to negotiate a higher release clause in exchange for higher wages? Certainly seems Palace were able to do something similar.

Yep, cause this argument is fcuking annoying.

He was a player in our Academy who had not played a single minute of football for us when he signed the deal. However, we saw the potential and wanted to tie him down - as has been shown by the case that got the club in trouble, we bent the rules to get him to even sign the thing - else his agent would have moved him on.

We had very little leverage, we may have already offered more than we should wages wise and in case you hadn't noticed, the club has been haemorraging money for some time.

Can you imagine the outrage if we had offered an untried player large wages and then he had got seriously injured first game of the season?

Given his career path, it is of course disappointing we only got what we got for him but I'm sorry there is so much crap to hit the club with a deal that meant we will have had the pleasure of seeing a probable top world class talent play about 70 games for us is not one of them.

Preach.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Whilst I take your point for the 4,654,564,622nd time - Olise would never, ever, ever have played for Reading FC if we didn't agree to the contract and the relevant clauses. So we made 8m (soon to potentially be about 12m) for a player who would otherwise have been shifted off to another club if we hadn't accepted.

That would have been incompetence on a grand scale.

Damn you're annoying.

Who's to say we wouldn't have been able to negotiate a higher release clause in exchange for higher wages? Certainly seems Palace were able to do something similar.

Yep, cause this argument is fcuking annoying.

He was a player in our Academy who had not played a single minute of football for us when he signed the deal. However, we saw the potential and wanted to tie him down - as has been shown by the case that got the club in trouble, we bent the rules to get him to even sign the thing - else his agent would have moved him on.

We had very little leverage, we may have already offered more than we should wages wise and in case you hadn't noticed, the club has been haemorraging money for some time.

Can you imagine the outrage if we had offered an untried player large wages and then he had got seriously injured first game of the season?

Given his career path, it is of course disappointing we only got what we got for him but I'm sorry there is so much crap to hit the club with a deal that meant we will have had the pleasure of seeing a probable top world class talent play about 70 games for us is not one of them.

Sadness is that we didn't see much of those 70 games due to covid. Would have loved to watch him in person more.

[Hound]

Damn you're annoying.

Who's to say we wouldn't have been able to negotiate a higher release clause in exchange for higher wages? Certainly seems Palace were able to do something similar.

Yep, cause this argument is fcuking annoying.

He was a player in our Academy who had not played a single minute of football for us when he signed the deal. However, we saw the potential and wanted to tie him down - as has been shown by the case that got the club in trouble, we bent the rules to get him to even sign the thing - else his agent would have moved him on.

We had very little leverage, we may have already offered more than we should wages wise and in case you hadn't noticed, the club has been haemorraging money for some time.

Can you imagine the outrage if we had offered an untried player large wages and then he had got seriously injured first game of the season?

Given his career path, it is of course disappointing we only got what we got for him but I'm sorry there is so much crap to hit the club with a deal that meant we will have had the pleasure of seeing a probable top world class talent play about 70 games for us is not one of them.

Sadness is that we didn't see much of those 70 games due to covid. Would have loved to watch him in person more.

Yeah 100% this. Never really saw him live at his best which is a great shame

[Elm Park Kid]

I think the appropriate phrase for our situation is "Beggars can't be choosers".

[MIM Royal]

Have a great memory if seeing Olise and Bellingham in the same pitch, in Reading' win at Birmingham just before covid, in what was one of their best performances that year.

If Reading had been run properly probably could have see an additional £20m in the coffers, with extras for Olise and something from the boys who ran their contracts down to zero ( eg Swift, Richards, Loader etc).

......but we weren't ........

[Hound]

Few bits on Twitter that a deal with couhig getting closer. Does seem to be heading in that direction

[Steve_Upper_West]

Few bits on Twitter that a deal with couhig getting closer. Does seem to be heading in that direction

Thanks - thought I was reading the wrong thread for a minute

[Brogue]

Few bits on Twitter that a deal with couhig getting closer. Does seem to be heading in that direction

Huang kad said last week it was getting closer. He’s just said expect an update from the club this week

[Stranded]

All the background music seems postive, but I will not believe a word anyone posts on Twitter unless it is a reputable source or the club.

[Sutekh]

All the background music seems postive, but I will not believe a word anyone posts on Twitter unless it is a reputable source or the club.

The club, of course, not being a reputable source

[Franchise FC]

All the background music seems postive, but I will not believe a word anyone posts on Twitter unless it is a reputable source or the club.

The club, of course, not being a reputable source

That has certainly been the case so far

[Stranded]

All the background music seems postive, but I will not believe a word anyone posts on Twitter unless it is a reputable source or the club.

The club, of course, not being a reputable source

I'm glad someone picked up the nuance there