Royal GingerEstebanRoyal Ginger As a bit of silliness here's a tenuous and highly implausible link between Rakels and the Thais for the conspiracy theorists.
Board-member Theekharoj Piamphongsarn has a background in private banking and has been involved in 'developing the south-east asian market, especially Thailand'. http://www.aurusam.com/www/Our_Team.html. KS Cracovia's main sponsors are a company called Comarch
Comarch signed some sort of deal to bring internet banking to Thailand http://www.telecompaper.com/news/comarch-brings-internet-banking-service-to-thailand--693789 Eh eh?
Shows you can make a conspiracy theory out of anything.
I rarely disagree with much of what you post RG, but McDermott has stated pretty categorically to Charles Watts today that Rakels is an owner signing.
I think the whole transfer process needs to be clarified by the club. If the 'owner signings' are based on solid scouting, frank discussions with the manager and ultimately the manager's decision is final, then I can live with that. What nobody wants to see is the manager bypassed completely.
Just because Rakels was suggested by the owners or their representatives, it doesn't mean that McDermott wasn't persuaded he is a good fit and made the final call. I am yet to be convinced of that though.
My apologies, i was unclear, i completely agree this is clearly a owner signing as CW has quoted Brian, i was just having a quick sniff around to see if i could find an ownership link between the two clubs as to WHY the owners would have selected such an obscure player, but the only link i could crowbar together was the exceedingly tenuous connections above which are clearly nothing to do with it. The reasoning remains a bit of a mystery.
This answers a couple of things. Probably no surprises though:
http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... n-10801823