Long to WBA

[Royal Rother]

I'm sorry, that is neither black nor white. Shades of grey are not allowed on here.

[andrew1957]

It looks like none of the PL sides are willing to go as high as the reputed 8M asking price - so the question is are RFC desperate to do business and is Shane desperate to play in the PL.

If the answer to both questions is yes - the likelihood is that he will go for 4-6M by 31st Aug. If not he might just sign on for a year extension and then we can have the debate all over again in January and then again next summer.

Nothing else seems to be happening - so at least we have something to discuss.

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

Im not denying that Shane is a great player, but do we really think the club are being a bit tongue-in-cheek holding out for such a high fee for a player who has only had 1 genuinely great season?
I know he had a good patch near the end of the previous year, but we must also remember that he has had a lot of average performances.

I dont want him to go, but it seems alot like the clubs asking price is way higher than he should necasserily be valued at... especially when players like Danny Graham, Gary Hooper the previous season, have all gone for far less

[Svlad Cjelli]

Im not denying that Shane is a great player, but do we really think the club are being a bit tongue-in-cheek holding out for such a high fee for a player who has only had 1 genuinely great season?

And we know that they are because.....?

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

Im not denying that Shane is a great player, but do we really think the club are being a bit tongue-in-cheek holding out for such a high fee for a player who has only had 1 genuinely great season?

And we know that they are because.....?

well we dont really, but if the rumours are right with the £7m + figures...

[Terminal Boardom]

Im not denying that Shane is a great player, but do we really think the club are being a bit tongue-in-cheek holding out for such a high fee for a player who has only had 1 genuinely great season?
I know he had a good patch near the end of the previous year, but we must also remember that he has had a lot of average performances.

I dont want him to go, but it seems alot like the clubs asking price is way higher than he should necasserily be valued at... especially when players like Danny Graham, Gary Hooper the previous season, have all gone for far less

Errr

Great player? A wee bit excessive methinks. Good? Yes. Great? Hmmm
1 genuinely great season? Make that an impressive second half of the season. If it was "great", where does that put Jimmy Quinn with his 40 odd goals in 93/94? And for me, JQ was the best centre forward I have seen play for Reading.

[Royalwaster]

It looks like none of the PL sides are willing to go as high as the reputed 8M asking price - so the question is are RFC desperate to do business and is Shane desperate to play in the PL.

If the answer to both questions is yes - the likelihood is that he will go for 4-6M by 31st Aug. If not he might just sign on for a year extension and then we can have the debate all over again in January and then again next summer.

Nothing else seems to be happening - so at least we have something to discuss.

You never know what will happen if he scores a fair few in the opening few weeks ... suddenly £8mill won't seem that much, especially for a team who starts the Prem slowly. In response to the discussion re. Keane vs Long - I'd probably spend £5mill on Long rather than Keane, but I agree it's not an obvious decision. It depends what kind of player you want - a slowish, clever player or a quick, hard working one. Keane's problem is that in those last few games with West Ham he hardly set the world alight and missed a real sitter.

[Big Ern]

Looks like the sale of Long is close as BM has been talking up Manset. Just laying the ground work for the excuses as to why we will not be spending the money.

[YateleyRoyal]

Looks like the sale of Long is close as BM has been talking up Manset. Just laying the ground work for the excuses as to why we will not be spending the money.

Or maybe he just wants to talk Manset up as he thinks he is a good player?

[Mr Angry]

Looks like the sale of Long is close as BM has been talking up Manset. Just laying the ground work for the excuses as to why we will not be spending the money.

Or maybe he just wants to talk Manset up as he thinks he is a good player?

Or because Brian recognises that Manset is a confidence player and so needs to be told how good he is to get the best out of him?

[Royal Rother]

Oh come on, It can't be anything positive to do with Manset, there HAS to be a negative reason for bigging him up.

[Hoop Blah]

Im not denying that Shane is a great player, but do we really think the club are being a bit tongue-in-cheek holding out for such a high fee for a player who has only had 1 genuinely great season?

And we know that they are because.....?

To be fair the club and potential suitors have made it pretty clear that we're looking for a pretty significant sum, ie one that's a lot more than Danny Graham went for.

If Long was available for the £3.5m that Graham went for I think he'd have been out the door by now.

Do you think (or been hinted at) otherwise then?

[YateleyRoyal]

Looks like the sale of Long is close as BM has been talking up Manset. Just laying the ground work for the excuses as to why we will not be spending the money.

Or maybe he just wants to talk Manset up as he thinks he is a good player?

Or because Brian recognises that Manset is a confidence player and so needs to be told how good he is to get the best out of him?

Or that. The point I'm making is that McD biggin up Manset doesnt necessarily have anything to do with Schlong

[chilipepper91]

Oh come on, It can't be anything positive to do with Manset, there HAS to be a negative reason for bigging him up.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Why would a manager *NOT" big up his players?

[ZacNaloen]

Why would we not assume that Manset was purchased with this season, and the sale of Long in mind, more than last season. Especially Considering the way we know the club does business?

[No Fixed Abode]

Good move if he goes to West Brom. He'll do good under Woy.

[Sarah Star]

Good move if he goes to West Brom. He'll do good under Woy.

£7m +Simon Cox would be nice

[Ian Royal]

Good move if he goes to West Brom. He'll do good under Woy.

£7m +Simon Cox would be nice

£4m + Cox would be excellent.

[Sarah Star]

My expectations have been raised by Matt Mills.