Long to WBA

[Royal Rother]

Indeed. And I also think that most observers would agree that Long was significantly more impressive over the season as a whole than Mills.

[SCIAG]

£10m is a bloody joke.........he aint worth that much and Reading need to be realistic about their valuation ...top scorer in Div, Danny Graham was sold for £3.5m and Long isnt worth 3 times Grahams valuation

I agree with you to an extent, but Watford are in a bigger mess than we are, financially, so couldn't demand as much for their player. Graham hasn't had the same hype as Long has had either, because he didn't play in the playoffs or two big FA Cup matches.

[roadrunner]

We don't need to sell and so we can put any price we like on him, it doesn't have to be what he's worth.

[Royal Rother]

As an earlier poster said,if Danny Graham has a worth of £3 million or thereabouts so Long must surely be worth about the same or a bit less.
BTW what do posters think Simon Cox is now worth having been chosen ahead of Long in the very important recent World Cup qualifying game ?
Does that now make Long 4th choice for Ireland behind Keane,Doyle and Cox?
If so that puts him on a par with Simon Church who is about 3rd choice for Wales,a national side even worse than Ireland.
If we get more than £3million it might still be a good deal for Reading.

Indeed. Simon Church ran Shane Long very close for POTS last season.

Of course an alternative question to ask would be if central defender Matt Mills has a worth of £4m or thereabouts, what would that make centre forward Long worth?

Very true RR. Forwards do tend to cost more than defenders.

Oh, and I've just come across this on the Tfr / Clearout thread from BR2 / Victor Meldrew...

Even if Mills goes it's going to be on terms very favourable to Reading and that money we recieve, plus any funds we'd set aside for his contract extension, could be used to find a replacement and have some left over to strengthen other areas.

I don't know, they all seem to be going for silly money these days... £13m for Wickham

I think you will find that Wickham went for around £8 million.
He played for England at U21 level when just 17 I believe so he clearly has great potential whereas Mills is a player who could only command a regular place at Doncaster and Reading and didn't break through at Southampton or City.
Also forwards tend to cost much more than defenders so on that basis anywhere near £4 million for Mills sounds like a good deal for Reading and we know that good player that he can be on his day he does have a lot of faults even playing at Championship level.

So, in BR2's mind, if we get £4m for Mills that's a good deal for RFC. And, despite the fact that "forwards cost much more than defenders" £3m is a fair valuation of Long.... I can see that the 2 statements are not mutually exclusive but something doesn't seem to stack up there.

[Royal Lady]

Cox wasn't "preferred" to Shane Long in the recent qualifiers - Shane was still tied up with the play off final and that was why Cox got into the squad btw.

[ZacNaloen]

He was impressive though, but Shane should still be in front of him.


Not sure what has happened with Cox, hasn't been able to push on since leaving Swindon.

[Mr Angry]

He was impressive though, but Shane should still be in front of him.


Not sure what has happened with Cox, hasn't been able to push on since leaving Swindon.

Really?

You mean, playing regularly for a Premiership team and getting international recognition isn't being able to "push on" since leaving Swindon?

[Big Foot]

Playing regularly? I thought he was a bit part player at WBA

[Hoop Blah]

Cox wasn't "preferred" to Shane Long in the recent qualifiers - Shane was still tied up with the play off final and that was why Cox got into the squad btw.

If Long was still tied up with the play off how come Cox started the qualifier with Macedonia and was then replaced by Long?

Long started the friendly with Italy a few days later in what was argueably the Irish's second string (Cox came on and scored by the way).

[Ian Royal]

As an earlier poster said,if Danny Graham has a worth of £3 million or thereabouts so Long must surely be worth about the same or a bit less.
BTW what do posters think Simon Cox is now worth having been chosen ahead of Long in the very important recent World Cup qualifying game ?
Does that now make Long 4th choice for Ireland behind Keane,Doyle and Cox?
If so that puts him on a par with Simon Church who is about 3rd choice for Wales,a national side even worse than Ireland.
If we get more than £3million it might still be a good deal for Reading.

Indeed. Simon Church ran Shane Long very close for POTS last season.

Of course an alternative question to ask would be if central defender Matt Mills has a worth of £4m or thereabouts, what would that make centre forward Long worth?

Course, you'd have to agree that Mills is worth £4m in the first place. Which I for one don't. I'd rate him at £1m - £2m, or what we paid for him essentially. And I'd say the last 6 months have upped Long's value from about £500k to about £5m. Just my opinion.

[Victor Meldrew]

RR,
Replying to your well researched earlier post (do you work much during the day?) my two posts appear to be contradictory and I take your point.
Last season Mills at times was the best centre-back in our division and there does seem to be a fixation with English Premiership clubs to buy English players so at £4 million he is probably overpriced but is wanted and one of the few English centre-backs available.
Last season Long was at best never the best forward in our division (Bothroyd,Sinclair, Graham etc were better IMHO) and he is Irish and there are many foreign strikers that Premiership clubs are after and are available at reasonable prices.

So generally forwards cost more but with Graham costing around £3 million and Bothroyd available on a free it seems as though £3million for Long is about right.
I wonder what prices young English Premiership forwards like Sturridge and Wellbeck would command.
With Jones (young Englishman) going to Man Utd for £16 million there are not many youngish English centre-backs around so this close season is possibly different than most in that by virtue of supply and demand defenders are costing much more than they normally do (e.g Baines supposedly available at £11 million).
Whether or not defenders are now costing more than strikers I do think that a return of £7 million for Long and Mills combined is probably what we will get.

[Victor Meldrew]

Cox wasn't "preferred" to Shane Long in the recent qualifiers - Shane was still tied up with the play off final and that was why Cox got into the squad btw.

If Long was still tied up with the play off how come Cox started the qualifier with Macedonia and was then replaced by Long?

Long started the friendly with Italy a few days later in what was argueably the Irish's second string (Cox came on and scored by the way).

Thank you HB.

[ZacNaloen]

He was impressive though, but Shane should still be in front of him.


Not sure what has happened with Cox, hasn't been able to push on since leaving Swindon.

Really?

You mean, playing regularly for a Premiership team and getting international recognition isn't being able to "push on" since leaving Swindon?

He's never broken into that WBA team

[Ian Royal]

He's not made himself a first choice member of the starting 11, but he's made plenty of appearances for them. I can see why you said he's not pushed on, and why Mr A says he plays quite a bit. 10 goals from 20 odd starts (and 20 odd subs) is actually pretty good.

On balance I'd say you're being pretty harsh on him seeing he's stepped up a division twice since moving and Mr A is closer to the "truth".

[Stranded]

Cox wasn't "preferred" to Shane Long in the recent qualifiers - Shane was still tied up with the play off final and that was why Cox got into the squad btw.

If Long was still tied up with the play off how come Cox started the qualifier with Macedonia and was then replaced by Long?

Long started the friendly with Italy a few days later in what was argueably the Irish's second string (Cox came on and scored by the way).

Because Cox has played and scored for the national team in his absence and earnt that chance. If Long hadn't have been with us I very much doubt Cox would have played in those games and wouldn't have started against Macedonia

Plus the RoI game was only 5 days after the play off final and the manager may have thought Long was not mentally right for such a big game?

[SpaceCruiser]

is he worth £10m?
Here's what some geordies think
http://www.nufcblog.com/2011/07/04/is-shane-long-worth-10m/

I've just voted yes on their poll.

So have I!

It makes me laugh when I read their accusations aimed at us of being greedy. What! We just don't want to sell him.

Oh and they got a nice tidy sum for Andy Carroll. Who's being greedy?

[Hoop Blah]

Cox wasn't "preferred" to Shane Long in the recent qualifiers - Shane was still tied up with the play off final and that was why Cox got into the squad btw.

If Long was still tied up with the play off how come Cox started the qualifier with Macedonia and was then replaced by Long?

Long started the friendly with Italy a few days later in what was argueably the Irish's second string (Cox came on and scored by the way).

Because Cox has played and scored for the national team in his absence and earnt that chance. If Long hadn't have been with us I very much doubt Cox would have played in those games and wouldn't have started against Macedonia

Plus the RoI game was only 5 days after the play off final and the manager may have thought Long was not mentally right for such a big game?

So he was preferred then?

5 days after the playoff game, which was Longs only game in 2 weeks so I don't think the lack of rest would've been a real issue.

[Ian Royal]

I voted no.

[Big Foot]

If Long was still tied up with the play off how come Cox started the qualifier with Macedonia and was then replaced by Long?

Long started the friendly with Italy a few days later in what was argueably the Irish's second string (Cox came on and scored by the way).

Because Cox has played and scored for the national team in his absence and earnt that chance. If Long hadn't have been with us I very much doubt Cox would have played in those games and wouldn't have started against Macedonia

Plus the RoI game was only 5 days after the play off final and the manager may have thought Long was not mentally right for such a big game?

So he was preferred then?

5 days after the playoff game, which was Longs only game in 2 weeks so I don't think the lack of rest would've been a real issue.

Re-read Stranded's post - he said mentally right, not physically

[Hoop Blah]

Fair enough. Still don't think the timing would've been a real issue anyway, as any player will tell you they want to get back out on the pitch as soon as possible after a disappointment.

It may have influenced the selection to a minor extent perhaps but at the end of the day he Cox was preferred to him.

I think Cox's performances alongside Keane in the two previous games would've been a much greater influence to be honest. Each to their own though.