SIGNED - Hope Akpan

[ManchesterRoyals]

at most of this board.

Most of you have never even seen the guy play, even if more than 90 mins, and you are writing him off. Those who have, I.e. the Crawley fans, mostly believe he will be a solid prem player, if not already.

And that we are showing no ambition and slating the management for a terrible transfer window. It's 8 days in and we've signed Sporting Lisbon's captain and a promising young midfielder. This time last year I think we had only signed Karl Sheppard?
If we sign 2 players every 8 days we'll sign another 6 players this window. Now that's unlikely, but who's saying we're not going to sign these prem experienced/quality players you're all shouting for?

I for one will be welcoming our new players and not judging their ability until I've seen them play a few times.

So u honestly believe that a signing from Crawley is going to keep up us up? cause thats what we need right now players that will give us a fighting chance of staying up but cant see this with this signing

[leicsRoyal]

If we sign 2 players every 8 days we'll sign another 6 players this window. Now that's unlikely, but who's saying we're not going to sign these prem experienced/quality players you're all shouting for?

I for one will be welcoming our new players and not judging their ability until I've seen them play a few times.

It may have been a better philosophy to have signed the players to keep us in the premiership at the start of the transfer window rather than the end............unless.

[RedRum]

Also, Brian only said that 2/3 experienced players would be the best scenario.

In reality, most 'experienced' players won't want to come here as they won't want the risk of being relegated. I don't like the idea of loan signings as (1) they won't be giving 100% effort and (2) in the likely event we do go down we would have basically wasted 30-40k weeks of wages up until May.

It doesn't bother me we're 'planning for the championship' - if we come back up with a side capable of staying here

[Eaststandman]

at most of this board.

Most of you have never even seen the guy play, even if more than 90 mins, and you are writing him off. Those who have, I.e. the Crawley fans, mostly believe he will be a solid prem player, if not already.

And that we are showing no ambition and slating the management for a terrible transfer window. It's 8 days in and we've signed Sporting Lisbon's captain and a promising young midfielder. This time last year I think we had only signed Karl Sheppard?
If we sign 2 players every 8 days we'll sign another 6 players this window. Now that's unlikely, but who's saying we're not going to sign these prem experienced/quality players you're all shouting for?

I for one will be welcoming our new players and not judging their ability until I've seen them play a few times.

So u honestly believe that a signing from Crawley is going to keep up us up? cause thats what we need right now players that will give us a fighting chance of staying up but cant see this with this signing

Can't see where your interpretation of Red Rum's post says anything like your remarks?

[LoyalRoyal22]

Probably be a good investment. Typical type Reading signing. If he has a tough tackle and the mobility to get close to players( that ledge doesnt have) i guess we have improved our options. Still need some creativity though, hoping thats where a established signing will come in

[scumbag]

Well i certainly didn't expect it to be this signing which sent the board into meltdown.

[Maguire]

All we are saying,
Is give Hope a chance.

[leicsRoyal]

Also, Brian only said that 2/3 experienced players would be the best scenario.

In reality, most 'experienced' players won't want to come here as they won't want the risk of being relegated. I don't like the idea of loan signings as (1) they won't be giving 100% effort and (2) in the likely event we do go down we would have basically wasted 30-40k weeks of wages up until May.

It doesn't bother me we're 'planning for the championship' - if we come back up with a side capable of staying here

In reality our best chance, on paper, of getting points before the end of the transfer window comes on Saturday for which we will have added a crocked Portuguese and Hope Akpan.

The loan system maybe exactly our best route to go, to get players in that can actually improve our starting eleven and give us a fighting chance.

[SapperBRoyal]

I'm sure we are all entitled to our opinions; admittedly some more valid than others. Might I respectfully suggest that we save the despair/anger until the window has run its course and we can see the full picture?

[Eaststandman]

[quote="Maguire"]All we are saying,
Is give Hope a chance.

[

Wrong thread for a song suggestion!

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

Also, Brian only said that 2/3 experienced players would be the best scenario.

In reality, most 'experienced' players won't want to come here as they won't want the risk of being relegated. I don't like the idea of loan signings as (1) they won't be giving 100% effort and (2) in the likely event we do go down we would have basically wasted 30-40k weeks of wages up until May.

It doesn't bother me we're 'planning for the championship' - if we come back up with a side capable of staying here

unlike the immediate post relegation of the Coppell era, can you really put all your confidence in a swift return???. Whilst it is wrong to dissmiss the achievements of our squad last season in getting promoted, most supporters will have recognised that it was completely unexpected with the players we had. It took us 4 yearstoreturn last time with a much better squad that was decimated come Rodgers arrival. Wehave new owners who we have been told are able to stop this decimation from ever occuring again, but it begs the question if we are relegated this time a) do we have real quality that would be missed and b) if we do any movement from the prem will always be the preffered option.

[akranes]

'There were a lot of clubs in for him during this window, but once he heard of our interest this was the only place he wanted to play. He's 21 and is a player we feel can play at this level.'

I'd have felt a little bit bad if we replaced Ledge with a good player.... but to be replaced by an League 1 player...

[leicsRoyal]

I'm sure we are all entitled to our opinions; admittedly some more valid than others. Might I respectfully suggest that we save the despair/anger until the window has run its course and we can see the full picture?

Or we could just wait until the season has run it's course.

In all seriousness if we are to have ambitions of retaining our premier league survival then surely we need to act before the nine points available in January have passed us by.

[scumbag]

He's a young player, trained in the Everton Academy and seems to possibly be a late bloomer. Would guess his name was mentioned by the Scouts when they scouted Crawley and this was followed up by looking at his history and checking him out during the Cup encounter. If BMcD has seen enough to make a bid (which would not be a huge amount), I would suggest we give him a chance. I doubt he is a signing for this Season and may just be a good addition to the Club in general. His tackling can be a bit wild but good coaching may teach him when to use his aggression and when not to. A young aggressive midfield tackler is not a bad acquisition! p.s. Forget the supposed homophobic rubbish!

He has spoken.

/end thread.

[winchester_royal]

Well I'm pleased with this even if you lot aren't.

http://www.player.readingfc.co.uk/lates ... First-Half

Worth watching this if you have player.

Calm, confident and assured on the ball, strong, quick..

Looks to be everything we've been lacking in midfield this season.

Welcome Hope.

I wish you hadn't posted that. That was a pretty dire 45 minutes of football.

I thought the game bypassed Akpan for large swathes of that 45 minutes and in amongst a handful of shows of potential (ok passing, strength and calmness) he was largely pedestrian and like a League One version of Leigertwood. Which would probably explain why McDermott likes him. Obviously you can't judge a player on 45 minutes of football from one dodgy camera angle, but watching that has made me question whether he's got what it takes to play more than a bit part in the Championship next year for us, let alone play in the top flight.

To be perfectly honest, if there was one midfielder I'd want to play for us having watched that 45 minutes it would be Tabb, and Tabb alone.

It was a pretty shocking game of football (why all the BFTG talk centered around the fans i suppose).

Tbf to Akpan, the game bypassed all of the midfield, mainly because the ball spent 90% of the time in the air, but thought when he got the ball he showed plenty of class.

You also have to take into account it being a shocking pitch.

Think the comparison to Ledge is harsh, certainly has more technique and class about him.

[Isaac Hunt]

It doesn't bother me we're 'planning for the championship' - if we come back up with a side capable of staying here

+1

[SCIAG]

at most of this board.

Most of you have never even seen the guy play, even if more than 90 mins, and you are writing him off. Those who have, I.e. the Crawley fans, mostly believe he will be a solid prem player, if not already.

And that we are showing no ambition and slating the management for a terrible transfer window. It's 8 days in and we've signed Sporting Lisbon's captain and a promising young midfielder. This time last year I think we had only signed Karl Sheppard?
If we sign 2 players every 8 days we'll sign another 6 players this window. Now that's unlikely, but who's saying we're not going to sign these prem experienced/quality players you're all shouting for?

I for one will be welcoming our new players and not judging their ability until I've seen them play a few times.

You can't say "this time a year ago we'd signed Karl Sheppard, now we've signed a promising player". Like Sheppard, Akpan is probably not going to be near our first team for a while, barring relegation. I don't really see much difference between the two signings.

I agree that knocking the club is misguided.

[Colin Cheeselog]

I understand your point, and if this is a speculative low risk signing for the future, then great. My point is that Brian has said we need some established players with Prem experience to come in, and Hope Akpan is certainly not that. I agreed we do not want washed up has beens who are only here for the money, but we do need some more established players to come in if we are at least to stand a remote chance of staying up. I am 99.9% sure we are going down, however I do not want us to give up fighting with plenty of games still to play. If these are the signings we are going to make, it appears we have given up already and that will make many supporters lose heart.

Signing young players for the future does not categorically mean we won't be signing anybody else. I'm sure signings like this have no bearing on what players Brain wants for the 1st team between now and the end of the season.

Did people have similar hissy fits when we signed Morrison? It's essentially the same idea; get a prosing young player now, hopefully to come into the 1st team in the future.

Did Man Utd fans have girly rants when they signed Nick Powell from Crewe because he's not Messi?

Signing young prospects and established players are entirely seperate and signing a young player doesn't impact on plans to sign established players.

Perhaps we should have signed established players instead of signing up Pearce, Karacan, HRK etc when they signed as children?

We need players NOW!!! We didn't throw Morrison straight into the first team! He's been here a year and benefitted from the coaching that came with it. All your points are bollox! Especially the one about Man Utd, who are top of the table and can afford to take a punt on someone nobody's ever heard of every once in a while because they've still got signings like RVP when the gambles don't come off, so not one gives a fukk.

Hello Scutter (can I call you that?).

I would very much like to shít up your cúnt, you massive, thick mong.

Regards,

Colin

[Blue & White Soup]

I understand everyones frustrations. This is not the signing we need at all in our situation. This time last year it would be a lot more understandale with the potential, etc! That having said I dont think we should give him a hard time and put him on a bad morale. He might be handy in next years championship promotion bid

[West Stand Man]

RTG'S in full flow here. Congratulations.

People with a positive outlook on life live much longer.
Twat.