Season 20/21

[Old Man Andrews]

Imagine if it was Mark Bowen

It isn't a bad shout. No idea why he would want to do it though.

Hope Eddie makes a lot of money in terms of betting on certain players/managers coming in.

If the players don't know whats going on, dont think O'Shea would either

Definitely the only place to go for rumours atm

Well when you put it like that we can only assume Eddie is Yongge Dai.

[URZZZZ]

The superb Eddie has confirmed Ejaria will be signing a 4 year deal this morning.

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

[Old Man Andrews]

The superb Eddie has confirmed Ejaria will be signing a 4 year deal this morning.

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

Agree with this. Ejaria and Olise shouldn't be starting together imo. Where the games are very thick and fast this season it will be tremendous to have either Olise or Ejaria on the bench to come on later in the game, will keep them both relatively fresh. Thought we started Ejaria way too much last season, he looked compeltely burnt out at times.

[Millsy]

Ejaria would be #1 on the team sheet for me. Absolutely no contest.

Agree he looked burnt out though so in practice it may be different throughout the season.

[Hound]

The superb Eddie has confirmed Ejaria will be signing a 4 year deal this morning.

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

Yeah probably agree. I'm certainly keen to see more of Rino/Laurent in the middle

[Sutekh]

The superb Eddie has confirmed Ejaria will be signing a 4 year deal this morning.

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

I think you mean Swift and Olise and would agree entirely. Would hope the club can still sell Swift this summer and totally avoid the issue entirely. I won’t hold my breath for that though.

[KC Royal]

From my side, am of the view that I can't change what us happening, we are a soap opera and our character is either about to win the lottery or be killed off.

Might as well enjoy the ride.

My perspective is I can't change it, but I can decide whether to be a part of it.

This is no longer the club I fell in love with and admired. It offers me very little right now, and I completely disagree with the way we operate.

Yeah, been struggling to put into words how I feel about the situation but I think this covers it pretty well. I'll admit I've not been to a game for a few years (yes not a true supporter I know etc etc) but was hoping to get to a game at the end of last season and then lockdown hit... The idea of going to a game now seems so far away, and since my last game I feel I've gradually been pushed back to a time when I wasn't interested in football at all and this could well be the final straw. It all just seems like a bad dream.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Eddie will be on one of the fan led podcasts soon. Can only assume he will have a voice changer to protect his true identity.

Gerry Adams style, voice of an actor

[Notts Royal]

The superb Eddie has confirmed Ejaria will be signing a 4 year deal this morning.

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

Bang on...it’s great news if we now sell Swift (who has been a good player for us). But balance is key and Laurent & the understated Rino provide more balance to the team than cramming in the slower more technical players of Swift Ejaria & Olise

[Snowflake Royal]

The superb Eddie has confirmed Ejaria will be signing a 4 year deal this morning.

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

4 year contracts make me very nervous.

Too long. One major injury or loss of form and you're stuck with a Turkey for years. And if he's a big success he's not here more than 2 years anyway.

[Notts Royal]

good news if true.

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

4 year contracts make me very nervous.

Too long. One major injury or loss of form and you're stuck with a Turkey for years. And if he's a big success he's not here more than 2 years anyway.

I agree...3 years max for me. Many seem to think Ejaria’s value will triple by next year (which I hope it will). But he’s got a lot of progress on the assists and goals basis to be made, in order to achieve that. A lot of the fanfare is based on his trickery, which doesn’t win you games. He’s an exciting player & I hope it works out for him, but realism needs to reign here.

I just hope we aren’t chucking massive wages at him...and I have no faith that Dai isn’t doing that

[Old Man Andrews]

Personally in favour of 1 year contracts only in the EFL. There is a month where renegotiation can happen with the players current club (June 1st- June 30th) and the player can be approached by other clubs to sign for the following season. By having 1 year deals players will always want to be playing well because it puts themselves in a better postion come renegotiation month. The way I would envisage it is a bit like an NFL draft.
To make it fair for League 1/2 clubs if a player was trained at a certain club from the ages of 16-21 that club will be due compensation should the player move on during the renegotiation period.

Each club would also have a salary cap so thay couldn't overspend on wages.

[Nameless]

It’s good news but only if we don’t try and cram him in the same team with Ejaria and Olise

Rinomhota and Laurent, judging by Saturday’s friendly gave a much greater balance and structure to the side

4 year contracts make me very nervous.

Too long. One major injury or loss of form and you're stuck with a Turkey for years. And if he's a big success he's not here more than 2 years anyway.

I agree...3 years max for me. Many seem to think Ejaria’s value will triple by next year (which I hope it will). But he’s got a lot of progress on the assists and goals basis to be made, in order to achieve that. A lot of the fanfare is based on his trickery, which doesn’t win you games. He’s an exciting player & I hope it works out for him, but realism needs to reign here.

I just hope we aren’t chucking massive wages at him...and I have no faith that Dai isn’t doing that

It may be part of the negotiations to spread the cost. If the original deal was 3 years with a signing on fee etc and the up front fee has been replaced by an extra year on the deal it makes some sense.

[Simon's Church]

4 year contracts make me very nervous.

Too long. One major injury or loss of form and you're stuck with a Turkey for years. And if he's a big success he's not here more than 2 years anyway.

I agree...3 years max for me. Many seem to think Ejaria’s value will triple by next year (which I hope it will). But he’s got a lot of progress on the assists and goals basis to be made, in order to achieve that. A lot of the fanfare is based on his trickery, which doesn’t win you games. He’s an exciting player & I hope it works out for him, but realism needs to reign here.

I just hope we aren’t chucking massive wages at him...and I have no faith that Dai isn’t doing that

It may be part of the negotiations to spread the cost. If the original deal was 3 years with a signing on fee etc and the up front fee has been replaced by an extra year on the deal it makes some sense.

Yeah, on the books doesnt the fee get spread across the length of the contract? Regardless of how/when its actually paid? So giving him a 4 year deal would mean £300,000ish less going out this season.

[Nameless]

From my side, am of the view that I can't change what us happening, we are a soap opera and our character is either about to win the lottery or be killed off.

Might as well enjoy the ride.

My perspective is I can't change it, but I can decide whether to be a part of it.

This is no longer the club I fell in love with and admired. It offers me very little right now, and I completely disagree with the way we operate.

I don’t know when you started following the team.
The club under SJM wasn’t the club I started following.
Under previous regimes lots of dodgy stuff went on. Actually dodgy, not just sacking managers a bit too often.
A lot of people were very vocal about the way SJM operated, it was widely believed his way cost us our place in the PL , long term financial stability etc etc. He was very much a ‘do it my way or not at all’ man. I suspect the relative success we had under him meant his faults have generally been forgotten (and I also believe they were more than outweighed by his plus points).
The current owners equally have many plus points, they certainly have pumped way more into the club than they have extracted. If they are money laundering as some say it’s not easy to see where the return is coming back . They have been incredibly fair to the fans in terms of what we pay. I know for a billionaire spending a few quid on coaches is literally insignificant but for fans it’s a decent gesture and was done forgood football related reasons.
I do think it’s a shame if someone falls out of love with the game. I know people who refused to go to another game while SJM was in charge and I believe a small number of fans decided to stop going after McDermott was sacked (not sure how long that lasted).
I’m not sure there’s a moral position to take here. If you don’t want to go to games then that’s your choice. We’re not a Wigan, or a PSG, or a Pompey where some serious moral issues arose.

[Hound]

I agree...3 years max for me. Many seem to think Ejaria’s value will triple by next year (which I hope it will). But he’s got a lot of progress on the assists and goals basis to be made, in order to achieve that. A lot of the fanfare is based on his trickery, which doesn’t win you games. He’s an exciting player & I hope it works out for him, but realism needs to reign here.

I just hope we aren’t chucking massive wages at him...and I have no faith that Dai isn’t doing that

It may be part of the negotiations to spread the cost. If the original deal was 3 years with a signing on fee etc and the up front fee has been replaced by an extra year on the deal it makes some sense.

Yeah, on the books doesnt the fee get spread across the length of the contract? Regardless of how/when its actually paid? So giving him a 4 year deal would mean £300,000ish less going out this season.

Agree normally a 4 year deal wouldnt be something I'd be too enthusiastic about, but he is still very young. Its not an Aluko situation where we paying into his retirement pot, its right at the start of his career. Its more like the Swift contract which has come out to our benefit being on a long one

[Old Man Andrews]

Shame on Snowball for not doing a predictor for today's friendly against Spurs!

Spurs 5 Reading 0

[Snowball]

Shame on Snowball for not doing a predictor for today's friendly against Spurs!

Spurs 5 Reading 0

Environment too shaky, ATM. Probably here about 1:30 that we've bought Spurs

[Sutekh]

How to watch Reading for the start of the season

https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2020/a ... ls-return/

Basically appears to be £10 a game via ifollow.

[Old Man Andrews]

Hard pass.