Players who started off terrible but became good

[Clyde1998]

Just thinking about the potential Harlee Dean arc we could be seeing and thought we should have a thread for players who started off their careers terribly, but ended up being a good player.

The first name that came to mind was Shaun Cummings. He looked beyond terrible under Brendan Rodgers, before being completely replaced by Andy Griffin under McDermott. Ended up becoming our regular right-back for the 2011-12 promotion season. He was never an amazing player and only had one season of regular starts, but certainly solid and a major improvement on the player we saw at the beginning of his Reading career.

[Crusader Royal]

Adi Williams - saw his debut (away at Bradford IIRC) and he looked like he’s wandered in off the street and gone through the wrong door onto the pitch. Scrawny kid, never looked like he’d make it. Did ok in the end
Marcus Hahnemann - totally unconvincing in his first game, let in a shocking goal. Did ok in the end.
Shane Long - considering he only joined us to keep Doyle from getting homesick it was nice that we let him play a few games early on. Did ok in the end.
Jimmy Kebe. He did what he wanted, from buffoon to near god like.

All based on what may be an unreliable memory..

Reverse thread of players who looked great and turned out to be duds equally thought provoking

[From Despair To Where?]

Jimmy Kebe.

Looked lost for a year then suddenly turned into a budget Thierry Henry.

[Clyde1998]

Reverse thread of players who looked great and turned out to be duds equally thought provoking

Made the thread here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=191898

[Snowflake Royal]

Jim(?) McIntyre under Burns. Dreadful striker, effective, winger, I think it was.

Omar Richards. Looked out of his depth when called on the first season or so. Then had an ok one. Then played like a star player and got a big move.

Trevor Morley, though not so much for playing time. Spent most of his first season crocked and seemed a terrible signing. Then scored 20 goals the next one.



Long started out pretty well, so i don'tthink he counts. Then went to absolute shit when he piled on the pounds boxing over one summer. Then lost them and worked out how 'win' penalties and got his move. Swift is another like this. Started well, had his injury worries and became a liability. Then became magic.

[Snowflake Royal]

How could I forget Nick Blackman!
Although he only really had a two month purple patch and got sold before we could notice he was still shit really.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I'll add Tyler Blacket to the list. I appreciate not everyone thought he came good, but grew to like him. Can't leave out Bobby Convey either. Sat in the reserves for a year and then suddenly was unbeleivable. Cheeky little addition of Daniel Carrico too. Look solid, but not outstanding in our squad. Possibly struggled to adapt to life in the UK. Then after a year of barely getting in the squad, joins Sevilla and wins was it 3 Europa Leagues?

[Clyde1998]

Adi Williams - saw his debut (away at Bradford IIRC) and he looked like he’s wandered in off the street and gone through the wrong door onto the pitch. Scrawny kid, never looked like he’d make it. Did ok in the end

Omar Richards. Looked out of his depth when called on the first season or so. Then had an ok one. Then played like a star player and got a big move.

I think it's a little unfair to say youth players coming through started off terrible, as they do usually need a little bit of time to adapt to first team football and may not be 100% ready, but are being used to cover a hole in the first team.

I tend to find the players signed for the first team being poor as more problematic, even when they may be better than the alternative youth player - the former should be (mostly) ready for regular first team action and the latter should learn, develop and improve as a result of their experience.

Shane Long - considering he only joined us to keep Doyle from getting homesick it was nice that we let him play a few games early on. Did ok in the end.

Long started out pretty well, so i don'tthink he counts. Then went to absolute shit when he piled on the pounds boxing over one summer. Then lost them and worked out how 'win' penalties and got his move. Swift is another like this. Started well, had his injury worries and became a liability. Then became magic.

Shane Long's interesting, as I'm fairly certain he was signed to be an academy player for his first season. He simply developed faster (or was already better) than the club expected. He became the fourth choice striker during the 106 season and played in a few Premier League games over the next couple of years.

I would say though, when he was expected to become a first team regular (under Rodgers?), he was pretty awful and took until McDermott to become manager to rapidly improve and become the player we remember.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Not having Blackman. Started shit for 18 months, 2 month purple patch, finished shit and then was shit at Derby. Compare him to Long and Kebe and what he achieved for this club is not in the Sam league.

Cummings is a great shout, really important in our 11/12 team. More recently, Azeez turned things around last season.

[tidus_mi2]

I seem to recall Bobby Convey looking pretty hopeless in his first season with us but ended up being very good.

[From Despair To Where?]

I'll add Tyler Blacket to the list. I appreciate not everyone thought he came good, but grew to like him. Can't leave out Bobby Convey either. Sat in the reserves for a year and then suddenly was unbeleivable. Cheeky little addition of Daniel Carrico too. Look solid, but not outstanding in our squad. Possibly struggled to adapt to life in the UK. Then after a year of barely getting in the squad, joins Sevilla and wins was it 3 Europa Leagues?

Carricco turned up crocked, remained crocked then left.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not having Blackman. Started shit for 18 months, 2 month purple patch, finished shit and then was shit at Derby. Compare him to Long and Kebe and what he achieved for this club is not in the Sam league.

Cummings is a great shout, really important in our 11/12 team. More recently, Azeez turned things around last season.

Blackman was almost singlehandedly the reason we were in the promotion hunt under Clarke. His form was returning to mean when he left, but he still started terrible then went great. How he did elsewhere afterwards is immaterial

[Brogue]

Murty - record signing at the time 750k injured straight away. Looked shit in his couple of games.

[Hound]

He wasn’t terrible but from the current side Knibbs was pretty bad to begin with iirc. Now arguably our key player

+1 for Blackman

[stealthpapes]

The first name that came to mind was Shaun Cummings. He looked beyond terrible under Brendan Rodgers, before being completely replaced by Andy Griffin under McDermott. Ended up becoming our regular right-back for the 2011-12 promotion season. He was never an amazing player and only had one season of regular starts, but certainly solid and a major improvement on the player we saw at the beginning of his Reading career.

My memory here is him coming out of nowhere to start in one of the play off games the season before and looking so assured and on the pace. Looks like he played 10 in the league that season, plus that one play off game.

As you say, played a LOT more the next season.

Shane Long - considering he only joined us to keep Doyle from getting homesick it was nice that we let him play a few games early on. Did ok in the end.

Ebbed and flowed. His debut was Derby away on New Years Eve 2005 and he tore them a new one. 3 goals in 11 mostly substitute appearances. It was maybe the second premiership season where he faded a bit, that was just too soon for him to be leading the line. He shouldn't have been starting but Kitson was suspended and iirc Lita had injured himself bonking. Alright spells in the Championship, then a final season where that promise had properly matured (he must have been 23 or 24 that season so still young!).

Long started out pretty well, so i don'tthink he counts. Then went to absolute shit when he piled on the pounds boxing over one summer.

YES

he came back looking - and running - like Spike the Dog

Can't leave out Bobby Convey either. Sat in the reserves for a year and then suddenly was unbeleivable.

IIRC, this was good management. When he arrived, he was simply not physically up to it and it showed. I'm sure I've read somewhere that the club put a plan together to get him up to speed then let him get on with it without putting too much on his shoulders. His later injury proneness while playing in England suggests he wasn't quite up to the pace and strength.

Cheeky little addition of Daniel Carrico too. Look solid, but not outstanding in our squad. Possibly struggled to adapt to life in the UK. Then after a year of barely getting in the squad, joins Sevilla and wins was it 3 Europa Leagues?

Carrico was always a good player, four Europa leagues and a solid career shows that. He even looked good in the small number of games he played. Will never quite work that one out.

More recently, Elliott and Mola looked very poor early on and watching them develop game by game was one of the satisfying elements of last season. Campbell has had a similar trajectory.

[Hound]

Good shout on Mola, he was genuinely dreadful to start

[Crusader Royal]

.

I think it's a little unfair to say youth players coming through started off terrible, as they do usually need a little bit of time to adapt to first team football and may not be 100% ready, but are being used to cover a hole in the first team.

I tend to find the players signed for the first team being poor as more problematic, even when they may be better than the alternative youth player - the former should be (mostly) ready for regular first team action and the latter should learn, develop and improve as a result of their experience.
.[/quote]

You didn’t say we had to be ‘fair’ !
For me the progress made by Williams from looking like he’d gone straight from Woodley Wanderers U15 to our first team to playing 350 games and being one of our top defenders of all time is what is remarkable. After that first game I never expected to see him wear the shirt again !

[grey_squirrel]

Alan Lewis.

Signed as a left back and earned the nickname “chicken Lewis”

Maurice Evan’s then put him into midfield and he became a Terry Hurlock type character overnight!

Sadly just seen he died in 2016, aged just 61.

[Snowflake Royal]

Good shout on Mola, he was genuinely dreadful to start

Oooh. Absolutely.

[Whore Jackie]

Good shouts on Cummings, Kebe, Blackman and Mola. Probably fair to include both Knibbs and Campbell from the current crop.

I'll add in Leigertwood and Little. Leigertwood played just a few days after joining and had one of the worst debuts I can remember. Little looked bang-average in his 6 game loan spell. Massive underwhelment when we signed him permanently the following year.