Prima donnas - Fae & Sonko suspended by club

[Royal Rother]

It must be difficult to play to any kind of international standard on the back of the season Fae's had though. (Self-inflicted or not.)

[rhroyal]

Can I say Sonko deserves another chance. Do you remember when he was Superman in 2005-06 and he turned down the chance to play for Senegal in the African Cup of Nations to help us gain promotion, when we desperately needed him as we were light on cover. That wasn't the only time he put club before country either. Then he did his knee and came back wasn't so good. Then, when he couldn't get in the team, he wanted to protect his fitness for Senegal. Now I could understand the fining and suspending were it a first team match he turned down, but lets face it, your countries World Cup qualifier is more important than your club's reserve match.

I feel for Sonko the fine and suspension looked outrageous on the face of it considering he's shown so often before his loyalty to the club. I'm wondering if the club felt they had to treat him the same way as they treated Fae, who having been moaning and making little impression for a year and having never shown any loyalty to the club before, probably got what he deserved. For me that must be why Sonko was punished, as in isolation the club seriously over reacted and threw the loyalty he has shown us in the past back in his face.

I hope we give him the chance to rebuild fitness and form in the Championship if anything happens to Bikey or Ivar, as his attitude to the suspension and fine has been excellent, saying he wants to prove himself at this club and make up for it. If we force him out of the door and end his Reading career on these terms I genuinely be angry for Sonko's sake as he deserves better, and I'm confident he can build his way back to his best.

[Royal Rother]

I basically agree with most of that. What pisses me off more is the fact the supporters (well a proprtion of HNA posters anyway) turned on him because of mistakes made on his return from the injury. It's like he was in poor form deliberately.

Whilst not faultless, he had been fantastic for us in the PL up to his injury, and certainly in the Championship winning team, and deserved a little more support.

[rhroyal]

Saying all that if the rumours of West Brom bidding £3m are true let him go.

[RobRoyal]

Saying all that if the rumours of West Brom bidding £3m are true let him go.

LOL

I agree with what you have to say - Sonko deserves a little more loyalty from the club and support from the fans. His reaction to the fine and suspension wasn't too bad, and I would love for him to come back stronger and (eventually) prove himself a premiership quality player with Reading - afterall he's still on the young side for a centre back.

As it stands, though, there's precious little evidence to say that he will mature into that quality of player, and £3m would be excellent money for him.

Either way he's a top guy and deserves to be remembered as a reading great for his achievements in 2005-6 (and to a lesser extent the following season).

On that subject (ok, maybe a slight digression) - it's sad that as players are offered other (better?) opportunities we seem quick to ignore what part they've played in our success. Of the core of 14 or so players that got us promoted, already Sidwell, Shorey, Lita and possibly Sonko have supposedly sullied their reputations. Does a player have to end their career wiith us to remain a legend in our eyes? How many of that squad will be remembered fondly (and not as a money-grabbing, disloyal traitor)?

[brighton_royal]

Can I say Sonko deserves another chance. Do you remember when he was Superman in 2005-06 and he turned down the chance to play for Senegal in the African Cup of Nations to help us gain promotion, when we desperately needed him as we were light on cover. That wasn't the only time he put club before country either. Then he did his knee and came back wasn't so good. Then, when he couldn't get in the team, he wanted to protect his fitness for Senegal. Now I could understand the fining and suspending were it a first team match he turned down, but lets face it, your countries World Cup qualifier is more important than your club's reserve match.

I feel for Sonko the fine and suspension looked outrageous on the face of it considering he's shown so often before his loyalty to the club. I'm wondering if the club felt they had to treat him the same way as they treated Fae, who having been moaning and making little impression for a year and having never shown any loyalty to the club before, probably got what he deserved. For me that must be why Sonko was punished, as in isolation the club seriously over reacted and threw the loyalty he has shown us in the past back in his face.

I hope we give him the chance to rebuild fitness and form in the Championship if anything happens to Bikey or Ivar, as his attitude to the suspension and fine has been excellent, saying he wants to prove himself at this club and make up for it. If we force him out of the door and end his Reading career on these terms I genuinely be angry for Sonko's sake as he deserves better, and I'm confident he can build his way back to his best.

right on

[From Despair To Where?]

Can I say Sonko deserves another chance. Do you remember when he was Superman in 2005-06 and he turned down the chance to play for Senegal in the African Cup of Nations to help us gain promotion, when we desperately needed him as we were light on cover. That wasn't the only time he put club before country either. Then he did his knee and came back wasn't so good. Then, when he couldn't get in the team, he wanted to protect his fitness for Senegal. Now I could understand the fining and suspending were it a first team match he turned down, but lets face it, your countries World Cup qualifier is more important than your club's reserve match.

I feel for Sonko the fine and suspension looked outrageous on the face of it considering he's shown so often before his loyalty to the club. I'm wondering if the club felt they had to treat him the same way as they treated Fae, who having been moaning and making little impression for a year and having never shown any loyalty to the club before, probably got what he deserved. For me that must be why Sonko was punished, as in isolation the club seriously over reacted and threw the loyalty he has shown us in the past back in his face.

I hope we give him the chance to rebuild fitness and form in the Championship if anything happens to Bikey or Ivar, as his attitude to the suspension and fine has been excellent, saying he wants to prove himself at this club and make up for it. If we force him out of the door and end his Reading career on these terms I genuinely be angry for Sonko's sake as he deserves better, and I'm confident he can build his way back to his best.

right on

But, if it's a breach of club discipline, you can't be seen to be treating the two players differently just becuase of their perceived worth to the squad, although there's a huge difference between the two players' reactions so this should be taken into account when considering their futures. Having said that, if West Brom offered £2-3m for Sonko, I'd bite their hands off.

[rhroyal]

Can I say Sonko deserves another chance. Do you remember when he was Superman in 2005-06 and he turned down the chance to play for Senegal in the African Cup of Nations to help us gain promotion, when we desperately needed him as we were light on cover. That wasn't the only time he put club before country either. Then he did his knee and came back wasn't so good. Then, when he couldn't get in the team, he wanted to protect his fitness for Senegal. Now I could understand the fining and suspending were it a first team match he turned down, but lets face it, your countries World Cup qualifier is more important than your club's reserve match.

I feel for Sonko the fine and suspension looked outrageous on the face of it considering he's shown so often before his loyalty to the club. I'm wondering if the club felt they had to treat him the same way as they treated Fae, who having been moaning and making little impression for a year and having never shown any loyalty to the club before, probably got what he deserved. For me that must be why Sonko was punished, as in isolation the club seriously over reacted and threw the loyalty he has shown us in the past back in his face.

I hope we give him the chance to rebuild fitness and form in the Championship if anything happens to Bikey or Ivar, as his attitude to the suspension and fine has been excellent, saying he wants to prove himself at this club and make up for it. If we force him out of the door and end his Reading career on these terms I genuinely be angry for Sonko's sake as he deserves better, and I'm confident he can build his way back to his best.

right on

But, if it's a breach of club discipline, you can't be seen to be treating the two players differently just becuase of their perceived worth to the squad, although there's a huge difference between the two players' reactions so this should be taken into account when considering their futures. Having said that, if West Brom offered £2-3m for Sonko, I'd bite their hands off.

I agree with what you're saying about players having to be treated the same. I was just saying that maybe Sonko has rightly earnt the respect of staff and could be shown some understanding whilst Fae has been a waste of space and hasn't earnt the right to go about being too good for the reserves. Once they both refused to play, they had to be treated in the same way to be fair. I reckon had Sonko done this by himself he's have received a more fair punishment.

[Cookie]

Sonko and Fae have been disciplined. That's the end of it. Coppell chose their punishment and the Club supported him on appeal.

That's the end of it.

They should now be asked to buckle down and work towards a common cause.

That's promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, in case we've lost sight of it while we're all beying for more punishment and humiliation for these players



URRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[brendywendy]

anyone sayig the fine and suspension were harsh on sonko is nuts

he refused to play FFS, what was steve supposed to do, just let him off and say dont worry about it??!! LOL

its tough shit, he took his choice, and now hes taken his medicine, and i hope he knuckles down to repay coppell and reading for giving him the chance to play big time football

[Jase_Royals]

Sonko says victim of conspiracy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 437463.stm

[Vision]

We're gonna get this at regular inervals from him until someone comes in for him i reckon.

If he was serious about staying here he'd never have made such a public statement , barely a week after he'd already spoken out on the subject.

[Y25]

i noticed the BBC has now relegated us to their Championship pages

ouch

[Norfolk Royal]

Tbf we are in the championship.

[Alan Partridge]

I don't completely question your commitment Sonko, just your ability to play at a decent level anymore. His performances last season were some of the worst I have ever seen from a Reading central defender. Whether it's a mental thing or whether he just hasn't recovered from the knee injury or maybe both, whatever it was he was an absolute shadow of the player who dominated the Championship a few seasons ago.

[Far Canal]

"When the Nations Cup finished I landed at 6am, went straight to the ground and played against Bolton. Does that sound like someone who is not committed?"

No, but it could explain why you played crap.

[Bowman's Quiver]

We're gonna get this at regular inervals from him until someone comes in for him i reckon.

If he was serious about staying here he'd never have made such a public statement , barely a week after he'd already spoken out on the subject.

Shame we can't afford to let him rot in the reserves for 6 months. Personally I can forgive his past indescretions but to so obviously angle for a transfer gets right up my nose.

[Arch]

Harsh. The Sun article gives no more indication of context or sources than any other rag passing this on (ahem... BBC). At the end, he says he will not ask for a transfer. The policy for all concerned should be that it's in the past, but if Sonko feels like the victim of a negative campaign I can certainly see why from reading this board. Whatever happened to loyalty. The guy had a bad year blighted by injury and then poor form (in which he was hardly alone at RFC). No no one has a good word to say for him. The definition of fickle.

[Ian Royal]

I like Sonko, I always have.

I'm willing to forgive and forget providing he can find his form and stop his terrible mis-timed lunges at the ball and sort out his woeful positioning and reading of the game and players.

We're potentially very strong at CB right now IMO. There are going to be some fairly dissapointed players. Ideally we ween in Cisse, Pearce, Sonko & Bikey as our centrebacks and slowly ween Ivar and Duberry out into retirement/ another club over the next season or so.

[Hoop Blah]

Harsh. The Sun article gives no more indication of context or sources than any other rag passing this on (ahem... BBC). At the end, he says he will not ask for a transfer. The policy for all concerned should be that it's in the past, but if Sonko feels like the victim of a negative campaign I can certainly see why from reading this board. Whatever happened to loyalty. The guy had a bad year blighted by injury and then poor form (in which he was hardly alone at RFC). No no one has a good word to say for him. The definition of fickle.

It was his team mates that were questioning his commitment and I would assume spreading the rumours about his noctornal activities.

If that doesn't sum up what was casuing a lot of the issues last season I don't know what does.

Sonko was excellent for 18 months. He was never perfect and got away with his mistakes through using his pace and strength to cover up his shortcomings, but it seems he's now started to believe his Superman hype.

Losing that edge of needing to prove yourself and pushing yourself to the limits of your ability can have a massive impact on your performance. I think it sounds like that is probably what caused his decline in form not just the recovery from injury.

I hope we get rid pretty sharpish now.