Rumour - Chris Eagles

[Southbank Old Boy]

Kebe and Henry are currently being seen by the management daily and must be doing enough to impress them that they can do a job on the RW in the Championship. Everyone's agreed that Kebe looked a bit ropey last season in the few apps he made but he's settled into the club now and will be playing at a level lower than he was, could work out very well.

That would make more sense if Coppell and his staff didn't have such a poor record of improving the side since Christmas 2005 and hadn't totally cocked up the right midfield issue last season.

I admire your optimism over this point but you are essentially putting your faith in the management reversing recent form in the transfer market and overlooking the possible scenario that they've been unhappy with the contribution of Kebe and Henry so far (hence the comments earlier in the summer about getting a right winger being a priority) but have just been incapable of bringing in a better alternative.

The latter is as worrying as Coppell and his minions not being able to identify and solve the problem last season.

I'd also question the judgement of going into the season with players you didn't think were good enough on the back of two months of good pre-season/early-season form. Kebe and Henry could look fantastic for a few weeks in the sunshine but to not have a bit more proven quality to compensate for possible loss of form is a bit worrying (with the inconsistency of youngsters and new players to the English game being a recognised trend).

BR, agree with everything you've said.

[Southbank Old Boy]

You really need to stop analysing every word that gets uttered in obligatory press interviews. Its not doing your health any good.

You're fixating on the "definitely getting a right winger" comment which wasn't actually what was said although he did say something along the lines after Little went that that would be his priority. As i pointed out i dont think its entirely insignificant that Noel Hunt found himself on the right flank for a lengthy period last night.

Equally and more pertinant in my opinion was when he said (and got slated on here ) he would assess the playing squad in pre-season.

I meant to mention the Hunt II factor but forgot.

I can appreciate he might be another winger in waiting, but we had the same thing last season with Doyle on the right. With our other forwards we'll need the pair of them free to compete up front nit just cover other deficencies in the squad.

Unless we bring in another forward or a more experienced right winger we're leaving ourselves short and Coppell will be proving he's not learnt from last seasons mistakes.

[Vision]

Its called coaching and development.

It is possible for players to actually improve you know. It is possible with coaching to see these improvements on a daily basis in a player who arrived in this country for the first time and might have taken time to settle in. Isn't that precisely what happened with Convey.

Equally its quite possible that a year later a talented England Under 19 International might have made significant progress to be a contender for a place in the squad in a lower division than one the club was in the previous season.

Of course I'm not saying thats going to be the case but the signs are there in pre-season that Kebe might have a bit more about him than (very flimsy) first impressions might have given.

Also whether people like it or not, it may not be entirely insignificant that Noel Hunt played a fair chunk of his 2nd half appearance yesterday on the right flank.

That's if you trust Coppell's judgement.

Last season clearly shows we shouldn't. He showed what he can do in the transfer market when he's progressive the year we got promoted. Why not do it now? Why just make do? .

And the previous seasons show perhaps we should trust his judgement particularly the last time we were in this division. Not guaranteed of course but just as much evidence for that assertion as yours.

Do you really think going into next season with Kebe and Henry is better than signing a new right winger? .

Well that would depend on the type of right winger we attract and if they settle in? No guarantees either way and I'm certainly not convinced Chris Eagles would necessarily be the answer.

People were saying the same about Fae and Rosenior last season, some of us could see what was going to happen. It's funny how it's the same people isn't it? .

Can't comment on what your impressions of who said what about Fae and Rosenior were but weren't they actually "signed" players as opposed to actually having faith in those already in the squad. Surely proves the point that signing players doesn't guarantee they'll do better than those you already have.

What's the point of taking a risk? If Kebe that's good, he'll be 1st choice anyway. You buy a quality right winger, there's no risk.

Where's the biggest risk? Assessing and trying to develop those players already within your squad (Kebe incidently is a recent signing anyway) or paying out money for a player who may never settle. Eg Greg Halford .

Now you may be right and Kebe and Henry may not be up to scratch, but equally anyone we bring in might not either. Its not as straightforward as you like to make it. If it were then Greg Halford would be our player of the year.

[Kes]

Reading missed out big time here. His wage demands were too high for Reading so they pulled out of the chase for him.

1/10. Didn't get anywhere near close. Plus, it's obvious you made that up.

Nope. It didn't get close in the end because reading won't pay the wages required for good players.

[Wycombe Royal]

Reading missed out big time here. His wage demands were too high for Reading so they pulled out of the chase for him.

1/10. Didn't get anywhere near close. Plus, it's obvious you made that up.

Nope. It didn't get close in the end because reading won't pay the wages required for good players.

Don't you ever get bored? We are.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Its called coaching and development.

It is possible for players to actually improve you know. It is possible with coaching to see these improvements on a daily basis in a player who arrived in this country for the first time and might have taken time to settle in. Isn't that precisely what happened with Convey.

Equally its quite possible that a year later a talented England Under 19 International might have made significant progress to be a contender for a place in the squad in a lower division than one the club was in the previous season.

Of course I'm not saying thats going to be the case but the signs are there in pre-season that Kebe might have a bit more about him than (very flimsy) first impressions might have given.

Also whether people like it or not, it may not be entirely insignificant that Noel Hunt played a fair chunk of his 2nd half appearance yesterday on the right flank.

That's if you trust Coppell's judgement.

Last season clearly shows we shouldn't. He showed what he can do in the transfer market when he's progressive the year we got promoted. Why not do it now? Why just make do? .

And the previous seasons show perhaps we should trust his judgement particularly the last time we were in this division. Not guaranteed of course but just as much evidence for that assertion as yours.

Do you really think going into next season with Kebe and Henry is better than signing a new right winger? .

Well that would depend on the type of right winger we attract and if they settle in? No guarantees either way and I'm certainly not convinced Chris Eagles would necessarily be the answer.

People were saying the same about Fae and Rosenior last season, some of us could see what was going to happen. It's funny how it's the same people isn't it? .

Can't comment on what your impressions of who said what about Fae and Rosenior were but weren't they actually "signed" players as opposed to actually having faith in those already in the squad. Surely proves the point that signing players doesn't guarantee they'll do better than those you already have.

What's the point of taking a risk? If Kebe that's good, he'll be 1st choice anyway. You buy a quality right winger, there's no risk.

Where's the biggest risk? Assessing and trying to develop those players already within your squad (Kebe incidently is a recent signing anyway) or paying out money for a player who may never settle. Eg Greg Halford .

Now you may be right and Kebe and Henry may not be up to scratch, but equally anyone we bring in might not either. Its not as straightforward as you like to make it. If it were then Greg Halford would be our player of the year.

You have to make sure you sign good players.

It's not easy, but it's hardly too much to ask is it? We sign a right winger and with the money we have there must be one player out there better than what we have.

The only time Coppell has been succesful at Reading was a two year period on the back of some very good work in the transfer market and he was able to use the momentum to take the club on.

We now don't have momentum, we need to recreate what we had a few years ago.

It's not as difficult for other clubs to sign players.

[Ian Royal]

Maye other clubs need to sign players more than us?

Maybe other clubs are more willing to sign a player for higher than their estimated worth to the club?

Maybe other clubs are willing to sign a player that isn't quite up to the standard they want so they get a player in, rather than saving their cash and going with players they have who they are more certain of the impact that will be made?

Coppell - 1 dodgy season, 2 great seasons 1 and a bit ok seasons. Just because the dodgy season is most recent doesn't mean it out-weighs the others, or the rest of his career.

Perhaps Coppell should have left after getting us to 8th. But he didn't, mistakes were made, the squad under-performed and we're where we are now. With Steve Coppell, who most people think is the best man to take us forward right now.

Given the preseason performances so far I'm getting ready to eat a load of humble pie and accept he's made a good call with Kebe. We're certainly doing fairly well so far. And Coppell has managed to keep a surprising number of our better players so far, offloading several who didn't contribute much last season or weren't good enough.

Sorry, thats a bit of an out of place rambole isn't it...

[Victor Meldrew]

You really need to stop analysing every word that gets uttered in obligatory press interviews. Its not doing your health any good.

You're fixating on the "definitely getting a right winger" comment which wasn't actually what was said although he did say something along the lines after Little went that that would be his priority. As i pointed out i dont think its entirely insignificant that Noel Hunt found himself on the right flank for a lengthy period last night.

Equally and more pertinant in my opinion was when he said (and got slated on here ) he would assess the playing squad in pre-season.

Coppell is not exactly a man of many words so whatever he says we tend to cling onto.
With all the money that the club has if Coppell says that a new right-winger is no.1 priority then what the man wants the man should be able to get.
Regrettably you may be right about this second Hunt but as cmonurz posted some time ago we should no longer be thinking of players playing out of position as in the absolute waste of Doyle last season to accommodate a non-scorer in Lita.

[brendywendy]

the championship winning side had a few players who were swapped about position wise
didnt do them/us any harm then did it.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

the championship winning side had a few players who were swapped about position wise
didnt do them/us any harm then did it.

Except Bryn and Makin there were not many. Little/Oster Hunt/Convey Harper/Sidwell/Bryn Sonko/Ivar.

We had cover and quality. Because we actually signed people that summer.....

[brendywendy]

the championship winning side had a few players who were swapped about position wise
didnt do them/us any harm then did it.

Except Bryn and Makin there were not many. Little/Oster Hunt/Convey Harper/Sidwell/Bryn Sonko/Ivar.

We had cover and quality. Because we actually signed people that summer.....

weve signed people every summer
weve signed a person so far this summer too.

brynns ability to swap from RB to CB, to CM
and makins swappability both helped us massively

i didnt say there were loads-i just said there were a few

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

the championship winning side had a few players who were swapped about position wise
didnt do them/us any harm then did it.

Except Bryn and Makin there were not many. Little/Oster Hunt/Convey Harper/Sidwell/Bryn Sonko/Ivar.

We had cover and quality. Because we actually signed people that summer.....

weve signed people every summer
weve signed a person so far this summer too.

brynns ability to swap from RB to CB, to CM
and makins swappability both helped us massively

i didnt say there were loads-i just said there were a few

Swappability - Like it

[kwik-silva]

weve signed people every summer
weve signed a person so far this summer too.

A person isn't really that great when you consider other teams, and we haven't been connected with anybody else

[brendywendy]

weve signed people every summer
weve signed a person so far this summer too.

A person isn't really that great when you consider other teams, and we haven't been connected with anybody else

oh come one
weve been connected to loads of players
or did you want copps to come out and let us know every time?-cos it aint happening!

most other teams other than brum, need to buy alot in just to get to the level of this team as is.
if the other teams in the div couldnt get ahead of hull and stoke, and derby finished many points below us, then it means they need more to start off with.

people were saying we wouldnt sign anyone a week or so ago.

[kwik-silva]

weve signed people every summer
weve signed a person so far this summer too.

A person isn't really that great when you consider other teams, and we haven't been connected with anybody else

oh come one
weve been connected to loads of players
or did you want copps to come out and let us know every time?-cos it aint happening!

most other teams other than brum, need to buy alot in just to get to the level of this team as is.
if the other teams in the div couldnt get ahead of hull and stoke, and derby finished many points below us, then it means they need more to start off with.

people were saying we wouldnt sign anyone a week or so ago.

But then again, some might say we only bought Hunt N to try and make Hunt S stay

[brendywendy]

A person isn't really that great when you consider other teams, and we haven't been connected with anybody else

oh come one
weve been connected to loads of players
or did you want copps to come out and let us know every time?-cos it aint happening!

most other teams other than brum, need to buy alot in just to get to the level of this team as is.
if the other teams in the div couldnt get ahead of hull and stoke, and derby finished many points below us, then it means they need more to start off with.

people were saying we wouldnt sign anyone a week or so ago.

But then again, some might say we only bought Hunt N to try and make Hunt S stay

good point!

id probably rathered we let him go and got a swap for that sunderland RW!

[Vision]

the championship winning side had a few players who were swapped about position wise
didnt do them/us any harm then did it.

Except Bryn and Makin there were not many. Little/Oster Hunt/Convey Harper/Sidwell/Bryn Sonko/Ivar.

We had cover and quality. Because we actually signed people that summer.....

Yep and with the exception of Lita they were virtually all met with the same "no ambition and doing it on the cheap" response we still get now.
Doyle/Long/Hunt/Oster/Makin/Bryn were all bought in to supplement the squad. None of them were considered to be signings that would instantly improve our 1st team.

The other major difference that summer was that we lost a lot of players who had featured to varying degrees of regularity in our 1st team. Like it or not the likes of Forster/Owusu/Brooker/Hughes/Morgan were all features of the first team the previous season and had to be replaced. The only regular we've lost this season is Kitson and as unpalatable as it seems to some , relegation (and the manager's preference) dictates that the head count needs to be reduced..

Of course i'd go along with the fact that a couple of new faces to freshen things up wouldn't go amiss and if we could attract a top quality right winger then its certainly an area we could improve on. However, improving a squad that is still half filled with players that have 2 years Prem experience and have won this division previously at a canter isn't quite as straight forward as you suggest.

Of course as ever i fully appreciate that few people look at it from my perspective in that i personally would settle for a couple of seasons in mid table if it meant we actually started filtering the likes of Henry,Karacan & Pearce into the 1st team. For the long term i think this gives us our best chance of progressing as a club.

[kwik-silva]

But then again, some might say we only bought Hunt N to try and make Hunt S stay

good point!

id probably rathered we let him go and got a swap for that sunderland RW!

lol, in fact heres a quote from that EP article

Hunt says he is more than happy to stay, especially now that his younger brother Noel is his team-mate following a £600,000 switch from Dundee United last week.

[brendywendy]

dont like the thought of two years of midtable mediocrity
but i have to agree with everything vsion has said there

[BR2]

But then again, some might say we only bought Hunt N to try and make Hunt S stay

good point!

id probably rathered we let him go and got a swap for that sunderland RW!

lol, in fact heres a quote from that EP article

Hunt says he is more than happy to stay, especially now that his younger brother Noel is his team-mate following a £600,000 switch from Dundee United last week.

Maybe that is because Roy Keane seems to have come to his senses at last and bought better players than him Nobody else above Div 1 would want to buy him so why not carry on collecting £25,000 per week?.
£5million-I wonder if history will show that to be one of the biggest faux pas ever made by the club last January bearing in mind that any replacement couldn't possibly have done any worse than he did over the second half of the season.