Sam Smith confimred

[paultheroyal]

Sam Smith was one of the worst players I've ever seen in a Reading shirt.....however, I would have said the same about Michael Antonio a few years back so who knows.

It's a measure of the state we are/were in that its reassuring to see players think of Reading as a better option than Cambridge. Sadly, these are the waters we will be fishing in now but, at least, we are building a squad with players who are proven to be able to perform at this level which is a start in stabilizing things.

if you believed Antonio was one of the worst players you have seen for Reading FC then rest of your post is pretty irrelevant.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I’m not sure I can get too excited about a 1in3 striker but given our position I guess it’s the best we could have hoped for.

Isn't the 1 in 3 mark usually used as the sign of a decent striker?

1 in 3 will get SS 15 goals next season, which wouldn't be a horrific return.

Yeah I thought 1 in 3 would be a pretty decent return, expect he may get a few more if we are going to be challenging towards the top end of the league as well. No reason why he can't go better than he's shown previously as well.

Always thought he looked like he might have something about him, he just wasn't ready to lead the line in the Championship for a struggling side at the time.

I feel like it's worked out quite well for us, without testing fate. Another academy player that we lost, who has turned out to be a good find at a certain level and has progressed. Usually, these type of players end up surpassing us, but this time we've managed to get him back.

[CountryRoyal]

Sam Smith was one of the worst players I've ever seen in a Reading shirt.....however, I would have said the same about Michael Antonio a few years back so who knows.

It's a measure of the state we are/were in that its reassuring to see players think of Reading as a better option than Cambridge. Sadly, these are the waters we will be fishing in now but, at least, we are building a squad with players who are proven to be able to perform at this level which is a start in stabilizing things.

if you believed Antonio was one of the worst players you have seen for Reading FC then rest of your post is pretty irrelevant.

Yeah always rated Antonio, he just (obviously and fairly,) couldn’t get in the team over kebe and wasn’t used as a CF/ST then. Right player wrong time.

[CountryRoyal]

I’m not sure I can get too excited about a 1in3 striker but given our position I guess it’s the best we could have hoped for.

Isn't the 1 in 3 mark usually used as the sign of a decent striker?

1 in 3 will get SS 15 goals next season, which wouldn't be a horrific return.

Yeah but there’s some distance between “wouldn’t be horrific” and “really good”.

Ftr I don’t think we need “really good” we need “good enough” and I suspect smith will be fine, I just don’t share the hysteria that seems common amongst the fans atm.

[Hendo]

I’m not sure I can get too excited about a 1in3 striker but given our position I guess it’s the best we could have hoped for.

Isn't the 1 in 3 mark usually used as the sign of a decent striker?

1 in 3 will get SS 15 goals next season, which wouldn't be a horrific return.

Yeah but there’s some distance between “wouldn’t be horrific” and “really good”.

Ftr I don’t think we need “really good” we need “good enough” and I suspect smith will be fine, I just don’t share the hysteria that seems common amongst the fans atm.

I don't think there is hysteria amongst those fans of a more sensible volition. If you're using something like Twitter to gauge the reaction of fans to a signing, well, I would suggest you need to have a quick re-think.

Most on here have said, yep, good signing - no brainer on a free. And I think that pretty much sums it up.

I'm not expecting him to bang in 35 goals a season, 15-20 would do nicely.

[CountryRoyal]

I’m not sure I can get too excited about a 1in3 striker but given our position I guess it’s the best we could have hoped for.

Isn't the 1 in 3 mark usually used as the sign of a decent striker?

1 in 3 will get SS 15 goals next season, which wouldn't be a horrific return.

Yeah I thought 1 in 3 would be a pretty decent return, expect he may get a few more if we are going to be challenging towards the top end of the league as well. No reason why he can't go better than he's shown previously as well.

Always thought he looked like he might have something about him, he just wasn't ready to lead the line in the Championship for a struggling side at the time.

Yeah that’s true but no reason to believe we will be a creative force.

[Snowflake Royal]

As a bit of a training venue comparison. Cambridge are currently using our facilities at my work for changing etc for their pre-season training as we're near the training facility.

One of them came out in just a towel around his waist while I was having a walk for lunch with a colleague and set her all a flutter.

Will keep my eye out to say Hi to Morro and wish him luck.

[Snowflake Royal]

I’m not sure I can get too excited about a 1in3 striker but given our position I guess it’s the best we could have hoped for.

Isn't the 1 in 3 mark usually used as the sign of a decent striker?

1 in 3 will get SS 15 goals next season, which wouldn't be a horrific return.

Yeah, 1 in 2 is a great strike record, very few make it consistently. 15 is the bench mark for a decent season I'd say, 18+ a great one.

[SCIAG]

You're not counting the cost of their wages then?

See my last post. Loan them out and get the other clubs to cover the wages then sell them when they return

This is what Chelsea do with some success so not that crazy a notion.

Chelsea don't tend to sign random cast-offs on free transfers. They pay fees in the range of about £5m to £20m for players who aren't quite good enough for Chelsea but still have clubs interested in them (ranging from players like Miazga and Hector to De Bruyne, Matic, and Salah). Some of them work out and others they just sell, often for slightly more than they paid. We couldn't have paid for Casadei or Ake but we could help Chelsea turn them into more valuable players, and we certainly didn't pay their wages (especially in Casadei's case when we didn't pay anyone's wages).

Don't think for a second it's a viable business model for a League One club. If League Two clubs are interested in random free agents then they'll just sign them themselves. They don't need us to front the money and loan them out to them. Basically only makes sense to sign players if we think there's a decent chance they'll play for us in a few years.

Sam Smith was one of the worst players I've ever seen in a Reading shirt.....however, I would have said the same about Michael Antonio a few years back so who knows.

It's a measure of the state we are/were in that its reassuring to see players think of Reading as a better option than Cambridge. Sadly, these are the waters we will be fishing in now but, at least, we are building a squad with players who are proven to be able to perform at this level which is a start in stabilizing things.

He did nothing for us nor during his many loan deals but seems to have found himself at Cambridge and of course is now that much older and more experienced.
Let's hope he does as well as an earlier signing from Cambridge in Martin Butler.

I feel like Butler has been rather eclipsed by another striker we signed from Cambridge for about a third of the price.

[South Coast Royal]

See my last post. Loan them out and get the other clubs to cover the wages then sell them when they return

This is what Chelsea do with some success so not that crazy a notion.

Chelsea don't tend to sign random cast-offs on free transfers. They pay fees in the range of about £5m to £20m for players who aren't quite good enough for Chelsea but still have clubs interested in them (ranging from players like Miazga and Hector to De Bruyne, Matic, and Salah). Some of them work out and others they just sell, often for slightly more than they paid. We couldn't have paid for Casadei or Ake but we could help Chelsea turn them into more valuable players, and we certainly didn't pay their wages (especially in Casadei's case when we didn't pay anyone's wages).

Don't think for a second it's a viable business model for a League One club. If League Two clubs are interested in random free agents then they'll just sign them themselves. They don't need us to front the money and loan them out to them. Basically only makes sense to sign players if we think there's a decent chance they'll play for us in a few years.

Sam Smith was one of the worst players I've ever seen in a Reading shirt.....however, I would have said the same about Michael Antonio a few years back so who knows.

It's a measure of the state we are/were in that its reassuring to see players think of Reading as a better option than Cambridge. Sadly, these are the waters we will be fishing in now but, at least, we are building a squad with players who are proven to be able to perform at this level which is a start in stabilizing things.

He did nothing for us nor during his many loan deals but seems to have found himself at Cambridge and of course is now that much older and more experienced.
Let's hope he does as well as an earlier signing from Cambridge in Martin Butler.

I feel like Butler has been rather eclipsed by another striker we signed from Cambridge for about a third of the price.

Yep, and him-what a bargain.

[Vision]

Haven't seen much of Smith since he left but what I liked about him in his limited playing time here was his willingness to run in behind and play on the shoulder of the last defender.

Of course this was during Stam's second season so he never actually saw the ball but I always thought there was a decent striker in there , certainly movement wise.

[CountryRoyal]

Haven't seen much of Smith since he left but what I liked about him in his limited playing time here was his willingness to run in behind and play on the shoulder of the last defender.

Of course this was during Stam's second season so he never actually saw the ball but I always thought there was a decent striker in there , certainly movement wise.

Ah we’ll knock that out of him soon enough.

[Elm Park Kid]

Sam Smith was one of the worst players I've ever seen in a Reading shirt.....however, I would have said the same about Michael Antonio a few years back so who knows.

It's a measure of the state we are/were in that its reassuring to see players think of Reading as a better option than Cambridge. Sadly, these are the waters we will be fishing in now but, at least, we are building a squad with players who are proven to be able to perform at this level which is a start in stabilizing things.

if you believed Antonio was one of the worst players you have seen for Reading FC then rest of your post is pretty irrelevant.

Yeah always rated Antonio, he just (obviously and fairly,) couldn’t get in the team over kebe and wasn’t used as a CF/ST then. Right player wrong time.

I remember us having like 5/6 wingers at the time and him clearly being the weakest of the lot. I wouldn't say 'bad', but nothing about him that made him stand out to me.

[South Coast Royal]

if you believed Antonio was one of the worst players you have seen for Reading FC then rest of your post is pretty irrelevant.

Yeah always rated Antonio, he just (obviously and fairly,) couldn’t get in the team over kebe and wasn’t used as a CF/ST then. Right player wrong time.

I remember us having like 5/6 wingers at the time and him clearly being the weakest of the lot. I wouldn't say 'bad', but nothing about him that made him stand out to me.

Agreed.
His touch was poor but all credit to him for working on his game and ending up having a decent career as he improved from year to year and learned how to make use of his physical strength both on the ground and in the air.

[Snowflake Royal]

Haven't seen much of Smith since he left but what I liked about him in his limited playing time here was his willingness to run in behind and play on the shoulder of the last defender.

Of course this was during Stam's second season so he never actually saw the ball but I always thought there was a decent striker in there , certainly movement wise.

Yeah, I remember my impression being - willing runner, good movement, pretty average otherwise.

Saw him at Cambridge a while back, pretty much the same. I think he'll probably frustrate a fair bit, but score reasonably regularly if given chances (which we're bad at).

He's not great taking criticism. Gave a fair bit of attitude to Cambridge fans when given a bit of stick during a barren run.

But prime candidate for motivational booing because he then went on a hotstreak.

[CountryRoyal]

if you believed Antonio was one of the worst players you have seen for Reading FC then rest of your post is pretty irrelevant.

Yeah always rated Antonio, he just (obviously and fairly,) couldn’t get in the team over kebe and wasn’t used as a CF/ST then. Right player wrong time.

I remember us having like 5/6 wingers at the time and him clearly being the weakest of the lot. I wouldn't say 'bad', but nothing about him that made him stand out to me.

Name them, asides from kebe or HRK.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah always rated Antonio, he just (obviously and fairly,) couldn’t get in the team over kebe and wasn’t used as a CF/ST then. Right player wrong time.

I remember us having like 5/6 wingers at the time and him clearly being the weakest of the lot. I wouldn't say 'bad', but nothing about him that made him stand out to me.

Name them, asides from kebe or HRK.

McAnuff, Kebe, HRK. McCleary was signed going in to the next season. He was definitely behind all of them, and rightfully so.

So yeah. Roughly right come the pre-season he left.

Had we not gone up, Kebe probably would have left, we probably wouldn’t have signed McCleary, and Antonio probably would have played semi regularly and come on nicely.

[Jackson Corner]

He has not been prolific for Cambridge until the second half of last season when he hit a hot spell, and some good goals amongst them.

[Jackson Corner]

See my last post. Loan them out and get the other clubs to cover the wages then sell them when they return

This is what Chelsea do with some success so not that crazy a notion.

Chelsea don't tend to sign random cast-offs on free transfers. They pay fees in the range of about £5m to £20m for players who aren't quite good enough for Chelsea but still have clubs interested in them (ranging from players like Miazga and Hector to De Bruyne, Matic, and Salah). Some of them work out and others they just sell, often for slightly more than they paid. We couldn't have paid for Casadei or Ake but we could help Chelsea turn them into more valuable players, and we certainly didn't pay their wages (especially in Casadei's case when we didn't pay anyone's wages).

Don't think for a second it's a viable business model for a League One club. If League Two clubs are interested in random free agents then they'll just sign them themselves. They don't need us to front the money and loan them out to them. Basically only makes sense to sign players if we think there's a decent chance they'll play for us in a few years.

Sam Smith was one of the worst players I've ever seen in a Reading shirt.....however, I would have said the same about Michael Antonio a few years back so who knows.

It's a measure of the state we are/were in that its reassuring to see players think of Reading as a better option than Cambridge. Sadly, these are the waters we will be fishing in now but, at least, we are building a squad with players who are proven to be able to perform at this level which is a start in stabilizing things.

He did nothing for us nor during his many loan deals but seems to have found himself at Cambridge and of course is now that much older and more experienced.
Let's hope he does as well as an earlier signing from Cambridge in Martin Butler.

I feel like Butler has been rather eclipsed by another striker we signed from Cambridge for about a third of the price.[/quote

[Ascotexgunner]

Can't see he's particularly impressed me to stand out.

But he does have a knack of scoring a few goals. Not big numbers, but decent. And he'll come with an understanding of Knibbs. Which is a pretty big positive.

Yeah. Ok signing. Pretty obvious call to make. Before the latest round of catastrophe I'd have hoped to be looking a bit higher, but this is probably about the top we can do.

He should also combine fairly well with Carroll.

For me that's spot on. Especially about Carroll. I think it might bring out the best in him.
We now just have to hope Selles isn't one of those loonies we have had in the past who doesn't see what the fans see and ends up playing players out of position or not playing the right partnership.