Squad for 2020/21

[Royal_jimmy]

It'll be interesting to see how many top players we let go but I think we can get away with 2 departures. Olise needs to be kept hold of at all costs. Even if we get a £10m bid!

Mannone and Popa were high earners so that'll free up a bit in wages. Then we have players like McCleary and Gunter who will likely be leaving us as well. Both probably on at least £15-20K a week! Again that's big money saved. If we could get rid of Aluko that's another high wage. Probably saving £5m a year in wages just getting rid of those 5 players! Will Adam get a new deal? I think he will do based on the fact he can add some versatility and help mentor our younger players.

I can imagine we paid a lot/if not all the wages of Boye, Pele and Miazga too. Again more wage capacity released that we may get to refill.

I can see Swift going sadly and in truth he deserves a shot at the premier league. He's been a good player for us. Hopefully we can fetch £6-7M at least for him plus a Gourlay extravaganza contract off our books. Then maybe offload Liam Moore if there's interest. He's still a decent player even if he's lost his way a bit in the past 2 seasons. I think there we'll have saved a fair bit in wages with some room to bring 4-5 players in including Ejaria on a permanent. If we could get Baker in or a similar player in I'd be confident we'll do well next season. Also brings our squad to around a healthy 24-25 players and some academy players as back up. We'll need more luck with injuries!

I think we're strong enough up front. As long as none of our strikers leave I think this summer we need to focus on getting the balance in midfield right and adding some experience at centre back if Moore goes.

I feel optimistic that we can cut a lot of the wage bill and still compete next season.

[Snowflake Royal]

We could have a very promising future with a spine of:

.........................McIntyre, Richards
...........Rinomhota
......................Olise

And that's just Academy graduates with a few caps between them already. Southwood doesn't seem far off in goal. Holsgrove too. Plus there's East, Nevers, CBC, Osho, Holmes.

The future has plenty of brightness in it. If we can just stop signing chucklefuks on huge wages and long contracts and shift a bit more stale wood it could be a good few years again.

[Royal_jimmy]

We could have a very promising future with a spine of:

.........................McIntyre, Richards
...........Rinomhota
......................Olise

And that's just Academy graduates with a few caps between them already. Southwood doesn't seem far off in goal. Holsgrove too. Plus there's East, Nevers, CBC, Osho, Holmes.

The future has plenty of brightness in it. If we can just stop signing chucklefuks on huge wages and long contracts and shift a bit more stale wood it could be a good few years again.

Just a shame our academy never brings through good strikers. Oh wait... Loader decided to leave!

[URZZZZ]

We could have a very promising future with a spine of:

.........................McIntyre, Richards
...........Rinomhota
......................Olise

And that's just Academy graduates with a few caps between them already. Southwood doesn't seem far off in goal. Holsgrove too. Plus there's East, Nevers, CBC, Osho, Holmes.

The future has plenty of brightness in it. If we can just stop signing chucklefuks on huge wages and long contracts and shift a bit more stale wood it could be a good few years again.

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

[tidus_mi2]

One big failure in recent years has been blocking the path to the first team for our academy players with average, overpaid dross, it was a joke, I think it was Dutch Brian or Stam I can't remember who talked about the importance in recruitment to leave the path open for our young players and then proceeded to sign Aluko.

[royalp-we]

Whilst I agree we need to utilise the academy. We need to be careful.

Cast your mind back to the first 4/5 games of this season and the youngsters were all given a chance in the team. They simply could not cut it. It’s a bloody tough division.

You can’t just offload all the high earners. It’s a balance. You still need to spend out on quality, in moderation, to be competitive in this division.

[SCIAG]

One big failure in recent years has been blocking the path to the first team for our academy players with average, overpaid dross, it was a joke, I think it was Dutch Brian or Stam I can't remember who talked about the importance in recruitment to leave the path open for our young players and then proceeded to sign Aluko.

Tevreden memorably said it about some Argentinian centre back we were linked to, said he didn’t want to block Cooper. Then we signed Joey, Blackett, Moore, Ilori, and Oxford in the next two windows.

[Snowflake Royal]

We could have a very promising future with a spine of:

.........................McIntyre, Richards
...........Rinomhota
......................Olise

And that's just Academy graduates with a few caps between them already. Southwood doesn't seem far off in goal. Holsgrove too. Plus there's East, Nevers, CBC, Osho, Holmes.

The future has plenty of brightness in it. If we can just stop signing chucklefuks on huge wages and long contracts and shift a bit more stale wood it could be a good few years again.

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

[Hound]

We could have a very promising future with a spine of:

.........................McIntyre, Richards
...........Rinomhota
......................Olise

And that's just Academy graduates with a few caps between them already. Southwood doesn't seem far off in goal. Holsgrove too. Plus there's East, Nevers, CBC, Osho, Holmes.

The future has plenty of brightness in it. If we can just stop signing chucklefuks on huge wages and long contracts and shift a bit more stale wood it could be a good few years again.

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

yeah he may have done ok

Difference is now i would say that Tom Mc and Olise are certainly stronger than Loader, Nova and Howe. Osho for me is useful to keep as a solid back up. Don't think I'd want him playing every week but if he can cover RB and CB then great. Southwood has had good experience in Scotland and should be back up keeper. Rino and Richards are now established champ players.

We wouldn't be throwing in anyone at the deep end and hoping for the best really. We can trim the squad massively and still fill the team of experienced pros if we want to

[Old Man Andrews]

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

yeah he may have done ok

Difference is now i would say that Tom Mc and Olise are certainly stronger than Loader, Nova and Howe. Osho for me is useful to keep as a solid back up. Don't think I'd want him playing every week but if he can cover RB and CB then great. Southwood has had good experience in Scotland and should be back up keeper. Rino and Richards are now established champ players.

We wouldn't be throwing in anyone at the deep end and hoping for the best really. We can trim the squad massively and still fill the team of experienced pros if we want to

On the subject of Southwood I wouldn't rule out a club coming in for Rafael during the window. Not sure if that would mean Southwood stepping up or a new keeper coming in. Think I'd be happy with an experienced keeper in on loan as the initial number 2 keeper to Southwood incase he doesn't cut it.

[Snowflake Royal]

It would be quite disappointing if McIntyre didn't get to play a good 20 games next season. He looks very comfortable and skillful.

Same for Olise, although I'd expect a fair few more of his as a substitute maybe.

Hope to see Holsgrove in double figures too.

[Royal_jimmy]

We could have a very promising future with a spine of:

.........................McIntyre, Richards
...........Rinomhota
......................Olise

And that's just Academy graduates with a few caps between them already. Southwood doesn't seem far off in goal. Holsgrove too. Plus there's East, Nevers, CBC, Osho, Holmes.

The future has plenty of brightness in it. If we can just stop signing chucklefuks on huge wages and long contracts and shift a bit more stale wood it could be a good few years again.

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

Do you think? I thought he looked completely out of his depth in pre-season and, he got a brief run out vs Sheffield Wednesday and did nothing. He clearly wasn't up to it otherwise he'd still be here.

You can't keep playing average academy players for sentiment in the hope they'll be good enough if they're out of their depth and we are losing games. You can't wait a season and risk relegation because 1 or 2 youngsters may have come good. If we did and lose many games what will it do to their confidence? It's why we sold the likes of Antonio, Fosu, Stacey and Dickie. Ok Antonio was good enough but we didn't give him a chance which if we had would have been brave considering the finances at stake in the premier league. Whilst those 4 are doing well elsewhere we may be risking relegation relying too much on too many youngsters and there's no guarantees they'll make it here or have the same impact as they have at other clubs.

Not all of our academy products have had success. Where's Aaron Kuhl playing these days? Or Jake Taylor? 2 example first teamers who have fallen down the league's.

[Royal_jimmy]

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

yeah he may have done ok

Difference is now i would say that Tom Mc and Olise are certainly stronger than Loader, Nova and Howe. Osho for me is useful to keep as a solid back up. Don't think I'd want him playing every week but if he can cover RB and CB then great. Southwood has had good experience in Scotland and should be back up keeper. Rino and Richards are now established champ players.

We wouldn't be throwing in anyone at the deep end and hoping for the best really. We can trim the squad massively and still fill the team of experienced pros if we want to

I think we could easily have 8 ex academy players in our match day roster next season which will be fantastic. With McIntyre, Rinomhota, Richards and Olise forming a spine of our team. It's a risk but these are talented players! I think with the right shape we could do well in the league in the next 2 season's if we add some quality experience in too.

Definitely expect Southwood, McIntyre, Osho plus possibly Nevers and Holsgrove to be involved on some match day's next season to add to Olise, Richards and Rinomhota. Maybe not all in 1 go but imagine 3 of them will be every week.

I will be really dismayed if we sell Olise this summer. Can't help but think a premier league club may put in an offer for him soon. He's still really young and an important source of creativity for the side. I think if he does well next year it'll get very hard to hold on to him, especially if we don't go up.

[morganb]

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

yeah he may have done ok

Difference is now i would say that Tom Mc and Olise are certainly stronger than Loader, Nova and Howe. Osho for me is useful to keep as a solid back up. Don't think I'd want him playing every week but if he can cover RB and CB then great. Southwood has had good experience in Scotland and should be back up keeper. Rino and Richards are now established champ players.

We wouldn't be throwing in anyone at the deep end and hoping for the best really. We can trim the squad massively and still fill the team of experienced pros if we want to

On the subject of Southwood I wouldn't rule out a club coming in for Rafael during the window. Not sure if that would mean Southwood stepping up or a new keeper coming in. Think I'd be happy with an experienced keeper in on loan as the initial number 2 keeper to Southwood incase he doesn't cut it.

Reading being linked with some random young Portuguese goalkeeper:

https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/foot ... e-18548057

[Old Man Andrews]

yeah he may have done ok

Difference is now i would say that Tom Mc and Olise are certainly stronger than Loader, Nova and Howe. Osho for me is useful to keep as a solid back up. Don't think I'd want him playing every week but if he can cover RB and CB then great. Southwood has had good experience in Scotland and should be back up keeper. Rino and Richards are now established champ players.

We wouldn't be throwing in anyone at the deep end and hoping for the best really. We can trim the squad massively and still fill the team of experienced pros if we want to

On the subject of Southwood I wouldn't rule out a club coming in for Rafael during the window. Not sure if that would mean Southwood stepping up or a new keeper coming in. Think I'd be happy with an experienced keeper in on loan as the initial number 2 keeper to Southwood incase he doesn't cut it.

Reading being linked with some random young Portuguese goalkeeper:

https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/foot ... e-18548057

Yeah that worked well last time.

[Snowflake Royal]

Last sentence is the key bit really

Because this time last year, there were plenty of people (myself included) almost saying exactly what you were now, that the future looks bright etc with the academy except referring to the likes of Loader, Novakovich and Howe instead. None of those three are here anymore so we need to be careful

Even with a 20 man squad, we have players who are omitted from the squad each week, Aluko, Araruna, Boye, Adam and Obita on Saturday, we really do need to trim the squad down a fair bit

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

Do you think? I thought he looked completely out of his depth in pre-season and, he got a brief run out vs Sheffield Wednesday and did nothing. He clearly wasn't up to it otherwise he'd still be here.

You can't keep playing average academy players for sentiment in the hope they'll be good enough if they're out of their depth and we are losing games. You can't wait a season and risk relegation because 1 or 2 youngsters may have come good. If we did and lose many games what will it do to their confidence? It's why we sold the likes of Antonio, Fosu, Stacey and Dickie. Ok Antonio was good enough but we didn't give him a chance which if we had would have been brave considering the finances at stake in the premier league. Whilst those 4 are doing well elsewhere we may be risking relegation relying too much on too many youngsters and there's no guarantees they'll make it here or have the same impact as they have at other clubs.

Not all of our academy products have had success. Where's Aaron Kuhl playing these days? Or Jake Taylor? 2 example first teamers who have fallen down the league's.

Him going in no way proves he wasn't up to it given the success others we've let go have experienced.

Who have been our brightest new players the last few years. It's Rino and Olise. And now McIntyre too.

If we can afford to give Loader 20 odd mediocre games we can give plenty of others more chance too. And save millions in the process.

[Nameless]

Novakovich is on 3 goals and 7 assists over in Italy. Not great on the goals front, but the assist are good.

Still think we should have used him. Looked more of a prospect than Loader in pre-season.

Do you think? I thought he looked completely out of his depth in pre-season and, he got a brief run out vs Sheffield Wednesday and did nothing. He clearly wasn't up to it otherwise he'd still be here.

You can't keep playing average academy players for sentiment in the hope they'll be good enough if they're out of their depth and we are losing games. You can't wait a season and risk relegation because 1 or 2 youngsters may have come good. If we did and lose many games what will it do to their confidence? It's why we sold the likes of Antonio, Fosu, Stacey and Dickie. Ok Antonio was good enough but we didn't give him a chance which if we had would have been brave considering the finances at stake in the premier league. Whilst those 4 are doing well elsewhere we may be risking relegation relying too much on too many youngsters and there's no guarantees they'll make it here or have the same impact as they have at other clubs.

Not all of our academy products have had success. Where's Aaron Kuhl playing these days? Or Jake Taylor? 2 example first teamers who have fallen down the league's.

Him going in no way proves he wasn't up to it given the success others we've let go have experienced.

Who have been our brightest new players the last few years. It's Rino and Olise. And now McIntyre too.

If we can afford to give Loader 20 odd mediocre games we can give plenty of others more chance too. And save millions in the process.

Rino, Olise and Tmac didn’t need 20 games, they looked the part straightaway.
You can’t give many players 20 games to settle in without ruining your season.

[Snowflake Royal]

Do you think? I thought he looked completely out of his depth in pre-season and, he got a brief run out vs Sheffield Wednesday and did nothing. He clearly wasn't up to it otherwise he'd still be here.

You can't keep playing average academy players for sentiment in the hope they'll be good enough if they're out of their depth and we are losing games. You can't wait a season and risk relegation because 1 or 2 youngsters may have come good. If we did and lose many games what will it do to their confidence? It's why we sold the likes of Antonio, Fosu, Stacey and Dickie. Ok Antonio was good enough but we didn't give him a chance which if we had would have been brave considering the finances at stake in the premier league. Whilst those 4 are doing well elsewhere we may be risking relegation relying too much on too many youngsters and there's no guarantees they'll make it here or have the same impact as they have at other clubs.

Not all of our academy products have had success. Where's Aaron Kuhl playing these days? Or Jake Taylor? 2 example first teamers who have fallen down the league's.

Him going in no way proves he wasn't up to it given the success others we've let go have experienced.

Who have been our brightest new players the last few years. It's Rino and Olise. And now McIntyre too.

If we can afford to give Loader 20 odd mediocre games we can give plenty of others more chance too. And save millions in the process.

Rino, Olise and Tmac didn’t need 20 games, they looked the part straightaway.
You can’t give many players 20 games to settle in without ruining your season.

I know. And I didn't say we should give everyone 20 games. I said if we can give Loader 20 odd, we can give others more (than Nova or Stacey got for example).

[Nameless]

Him going in no way proves he wasn't up to it given the success others we've let go have experienced.

Who have been our brightest new players the last few years. It's Rino and Olise. And now McIntyre too.

If we can afford to give Loader 20 odd mediocre games we can give plenty of others more chance too. And save millions in the process.

Rino, Olise and Tmac didn’t need 20 games, they looked the part straightaway.
You can’t give many players 20 games to settle in without ruining your season.

I know. And I didn't say we should give everyone 20 games. I said if we can give Loader 20 odd, we can give others more (than Nova or Stacey got for example).

Nova got loads of first team games, 2 full seasons in Holland.
Stacey was offered new deal and opted not to take it, at that point he wasn’t ready to play firstteam football especially as he was still learning the ropes as a full back.

[Snowflake Royal]

Rino, Olise and Tmac didn’t need 20 games, they looked the part straightaway.
You can’t give many players 20 games to settle in without ruining your season.

I know. And I didn't say we should give everyone 20 games. I said if we can give Loader 20 odd, we can give others more (than Nova or Stacey got for example).

Nova got loads of first team games, 2 full seasons in Holland.
Stacey was offered new deal and opted not to take it, at that point he wasn’t ready to play firstteam football especially as he was still learning the ropes as a full back.

I'm very clearly talking about appearances for Reading.