We had a chance

[paddy20]

It's also his job to grant Nigel's wish of bringing in 3 players as per last Friday, instead he weaken's the squad by selling 2. They were under contract we didn't have to sell

No it isn't. His job is to try and acquire the manager's targets within the budget set by the board. Who is sold is not his decision, he's just a negotiator.

Negotiator??? You may use the term loosely???

[ddetisi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The short sighted misery/ecstasy among football fans never ceases to amaze me. The people on here and twitter moaning that we're shit are the same stupid ignorant chavs that at the start of season goaded others when anything other than walking the championship was mentioned.

Here's something you should maybe think about.

This is not the last EVER transfer window. Stop acting as such.

[Royal Lady]

Yes but in January we could be so far adrift of the others that it wouldn't matter who we signed, we'd never get in the top six. You seem to forget that most fans are only expecting better because we were TOLD we were going to be busy in this transfer window and AZ has made it clear he wants us to be in Europe within 5 years or whatever it was. If they just told the truth, we wouldn't have high expectations.

[rfc58]

Yes but in January we could be so far adrift of the others that it wouldn't matter who we signed, we'd never get in the top six. You seem to forget that most fans are only expecting better because we were TOLD we were going to be busy in this transfer window and AZ has made it clear he wants us to be in Europe within 5 years or whatever it was. If they just told the truth, we wouldn't have high expectations.

Factor in virtually every manager will tell you January is not a good window as you pay through the nose for players who are not worth that figure as they know clubs are deperate.

The window just gone is the one to wheel and deal in, a lot of contracts finish in the summer, so there are more players available, January is not a good window, but i guess unless the club announce something this week, we have no choice.

[Sanguine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The short sighted misery/ecstasy among football fans never ceases to amaze me. The people on here and twitter moaning that we're shit are the same stupid ignorant chavs that at the start of season goaded others when anything other than walking the championship was mentioned.

Here's something you should maybe think about.

This is not the last EVER transfer window. Stop acting as such.

This has been going on for five or six transfer windows in a row. Wake up.

[sandman]

Amazing how they can continually let people down like this every transfer window and yet still some defend them on it. Even the rumoured signings like Sissoko, as good as his pedigree suggests he is, are not really what the squad needs.

[Sanguine]

There's always room for better players than we currently have, and Sissoko has experience at centre-back that would provide us with useful cover in that position. So we have Jem? Sorry Jem, Sissoko >>>>>>>>> Karacan.

[Royalclapper]

Amazing how they can continually let people down like this every transfer window and yet still some defend them on it. Even the rumoured signings like Sissoko as good as his pedigree suggests he is are not really what the squad needs.

Yeah, agree with that - It's an interesting point. Maybe they are unfounded suspicions, but these most recent of signings smack to me of being more the owners type of players rather than those with a footballing insight at this level. They are almost over glamourising what is pretty much a practical players League. Quality is required of course but careful matching and balancing with the squad is more important than throwing together a bunch of players who everyone has heard of.

[sandman]

It's almost as if it's a distraction like "here's a big name forget the fact of what we really need". Similar with the Arsenal signing of Ozil. Yeah he's a great player and a good signing in terms of a quality player and a statement to fans but Arsenal have already got the likes of Cazorla and Wilshere who are nimble midfielders players with similar passing range and what they really need is another striker who can get on the end of those through balls.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Something is not quite right here - my money is on Hammond being unable to close out deals.

That's three transfer windows in succession he's failed and he should go now. If nothing else it would free up an extra salary to the playing side...

Before all his fans come on here start saying he got £5m for kitson, £2m for fae etc etc - those were max fees related to various add ons as madejski said frequently after. Speaking a Stoke fan a year or so after, he reckoned we got next to nothing for kitson as the deal was based on england appearances, stoke apearances, goals scored.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Something is not quite right here - my money is on Hammond being unable to close out deals.

That's three transfer windows in succession he's failed and he should go now. If nothing else it would free up an extra salary to the playing side...

Before all his fans come on here start saying he got £5m for kitson, £2m for fae etc etc - those were max fees related to various add ons as madejski said frequently after. Speaking a Stoke fan a year or so after, he reckoned we got next to nothing for kitson as the deal was based on england appearances, stoke apearances, goals scored.

Plenty of transfer money in the accounts that have been posted on here over the years.

Kitson for England my arse

[melonhead]

LOL at the criticism of hammond.

manager identifies positions that need filling and players he thinks could fill them.
anton gives hammond the budget targets in terms of fees and wages.
hammond takes both these sheets of paper, and tries to make one fit into the other.

the fact that it is hard to make them fit isnt his fault.
and nor is the fact that strikers/AM are the most expensive, most in demand, and most tricky deals to pull off.
nor is the fact that clubs at the yo yo level are in a tricky no mans land, where the player has to be good enough to improve your squad, but also not quite good enough to attract interest of any sort from the prem.
nor is the fact that agents and players like to keep options open as late as possible, so will tell you theyre happy to sign all day, but in reality theyre all just waiting for that better offer.

transfers are tricky to do. the ones we hear about are just the tip of the iceberg, the vast majority of possible transfers fail.
live with it.

is it disappointing? yes
is it ideal? no.
is it the clubs fault? no more than it is the windows, agents and players faults

plus there's still frees and loans!



on a side note though, this is precisely why in the past weve kept statements about transfers to a minimum.
because in the past we understood that often deals fall through, and things happen beyond your control that mean that while yes, you did want to bring in 7 players, and had a budget available to do so, sometimes its just not possible, and if you'd just shut up about it you'd have less grief today when no body has signed.
but i guess we had season tickets to sell, so.....

[LoyalRoyalFan]

People canned McDermott when he didn't spend enough money in January, and guess what.... Adkins hasn't done it either. Wonder whether he will get the same hostile reception?

[kwik-silva]

LOL at the criticism of hammond....

The truth is, though, that we don't know and can never know who's at fault. Maybe it was Hammond for pushing too far. Maybe Adkins didn't identify the right players. Maybe Anton didn't want to spend his money after all. All of this talk is just conjecture and anybody who pretends to know otherwise is lying.

[sandman]

People canned McDermott when he didn't spend enough money in January, and guess what.... Adkins hasn't done it either. Wonder whether he will get the same hostile reception?

And the owner also fuelled that fire in the Adkins Press Conference. I wonder who Anton is going to shift the blame to this time.

[Sanguine]

transfers are tricky to do. the ones we hear about are just the tip of the iceberg, the vast majority of possible transfers fail.
live with it.

Why do we appear to fail more than others?

[melonhead]

its his job to buy players cheap with alot of potential and therefore good resale value
and sell them while resale value is at a high level.

he doesnt pick players to buy, or set the budget. he doesnt decide the wage bill we can cope with...

the bits of the job that are his responsibility are done very well on a repeated basis.

the idea that we should buy players we didnt really want, for more money than we could afford just to appease fans who demand numbers in is laughable.



and i bet brian would be smiling inwardly about this grief today, if he wasnt in exactly the same boat still at leeds.

[melonhead]

transfers are tricky to do. the ones we hear about are just the tip of the iceberg, the vast majority of possible transfers fail.
live with it.

Why do we appear to fail more than others?

who are these others of whom you speak?

[Pandoras Box]

The short sighted misery/ecstasy among football fans never ceases to amaze me. The people on here and twitter moaning that we're shit are the same stupid ignorant chavs that at the start of season goaded others when anything other than walking the championship was mentioned.

I believe a record number of STs were sold this year - why was that? because we were going back into the championship? Don't think so. No - it was because we got a proven decent manager who was starting to turn the style around at the end of the season - but also from the non stop incessant b*llox from Reading FC, twitter, Facebook (from the official accounts),Reading Chronicle etc telling us that Adkins would get the backing he needs and Anton and Hammond were doing this and that, expect another three signings, blah,blah.. Times were exciting - so we bought those tickets in good faith. Now the reality. Usual sh*t from the board, treating the fans with total disregard by not even making a mention on Reading FC of what did or didn't happen and tomorrow we'll be told that signing Messi fell through at the last minute. Grrrrrr............

[Sanguine]

Other clubs.

If transfers are so difficult, I would expect other clubs that find themselves in our position to face equal struggles – those clubs recently promoted to the Premier League or relegated to the Championship. But they don’t seem to struggle so much. Why is that?