Open training session

[morganb]

Did anybody go along to it? If so did you learn anything new?

There are a few titbits on Twitter:

The "transfer listed" players are there (Carroll, NGW, Holmes)

Abbey has just left the pitch

Knibbs is good for PR (signing shirts, chatting to kids)

Joel Pereira is training with the keepers

[Royals and Racers]

Is Ejaria there ?

[Clyde1998]

Did anybody go along to it? If so did you learn anything new?

There are a few titbits on Twitter:

The "transfer listed" players are there (Carroll, NGW, Holmes)

Abbey has just left the pitch

Knibbs is good for PR (signing shirts, chatting to kids)

Joel Pereira is training with the keepers

I didn't go, would've done had I realised it was today. Not surprised the transfer listed players are there, but surprised Joel Pereira is.

[morganb]

Is Ejaria there ?

This is the Twitter account that posted lists of players: https://twitter.com/Readingfan106

Ovie is here in the dugout

Forwards at the #readingfc open day:

Kelvin
Vickers
AC

Midfielders at the #readingfc open day:

Azeez
Knibbs
Elliott
Savage
Craig
Senga
Hutch
Mukairu
Rushesha
Tuma

No Camara

Defenders at the #readingfc open day:

Yiadom
Abrefa
Mbengue
Abbey
Bindon
TMac
Holmes
Dean
Dorsett
Carson
NGW

Keepers at the #readingfc open day:

Button
Boyce-Clarke
Bouzanis
Pereira

[Hound]

Yeah it was great. Better than gojng to a match tbh

Didn’t see some of those names mentioned (Craig or Tuma weren’t there I don’t think) . Camara was there.

The outcasts were all there. NGW looked very good in training, certainly no downing of tools

The session was full on pressing stuff. 45 mins or so of pressing games/drills whatever you want to call them. Very enjoyable to watch. Carroll was struggling a bit with them tbh but gave it his all

In the more match play stuff they kept the pressing themes. Really good intensity and quality. Ehibhatiomhan and Senga stood out for me - Ehib esp. looked quality and scored the only goal. The young lads really impressed tbh - Vickers, Savage, Elliott, Bindon all looked good. Didn’t see Abbey but mentioned on Twitter he went off with a knock. He was there for autographs etc.

Holmes looked in a right shitty mood, didn’t look too good in the games, and couldn’t be arsed to do any selfies/autographs. Guessing he is on the way out very soon.

Everyone else very chirpy and friendly. All of them happily signing and doing selfies etc. Would never guess there was any issue with NGW tbh. Was happily chatting away. Didn’t see TMc or Carroll as they went to the other side of the stadium to do the autographs

Ovie, Smith and Wing all there but not in the session. Again all 3 chatting to fans etc. sure someone on Twitter will have asked when they were fit etc

[Hendo]

Yeah it was great. Better than gojng to a match tbh

Didn’t see some of those names mentioned (Craig or Tuma weren’t there I don’t think) . Camara was there.

The outcasts were all there. NGW looked very good in training, certainly no downing of tools

The session was full on pressing stuff. 45 mins or so of pressing games/drills whatever you want to call them. Very enjoyable to watch. Carroll was struggling a bit with them tbh but gave it his all

In the more match play stuff they kept the pressing themes. Really good intensity and quality. Ehibhatiomhan and Senga stood out for me - Ehib esp. looked quality and scored the only goal. The young lads really impressed tbh - Vickers, Savage, Elliott, Bindon all looked good. Didn’t see Abbey but mentioned on Twitter he went off with a knock. He was there for autographs etc.

Holmes looked in a right shitty mood, didn’t look too good in the games, and couldn’t be arsed to do any selfies/autographs. Guessing he is on the way out very soon.

Everyone else very chirpy and friendly. All of them happily signing and doing selfies etc. Would never guess there was any issue with NGW tbh. Was happily chatting away. Didn’t see TMc or Carroll as they went to the other side of the stadium to do the autographs

Ovie, Smith and Wing all there but not in the session. Again all 3 chatting to fans etc. sure someone on Twitter will have asked when they were fit etc

https://twitter.com/Emzyk_3/status/1693968773684904329

When asked if playing at the weekend Holmes told us he would not be playing on Saturday, quite a firm no.
NGW said you’ll need ask the manager that one. #readingfc

[Snowflake Royal]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

I see where you're coming from and I do and I don't in a way. I think he's good enough for the Championship and would probably do better in a defence that's overall more solid than what ours was (not too difficult), although I suppose we can't hide away from the fact that he's largely been poor over the last few months and he has been part of the problem defensively as well over the last 18 months+.

Individually, a pretty good player that would be best off playing his football elsewhere because it's not really working out with ourselves. Obviously he will care for the club I'm sure, it's just best to cut ties, recoup a bit for him and move on. Shame because he showed loads of promise when coming through at RB, but I think he has gone backwards a little bit recently, but can do still do a job in the Champ.

[yuomi]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

This is being very kind. He was part of an atrocious defence last season which being the "best of" is like being the shiniest shite in the bowl. He was poor against Peterborough, atrocious against Port Vale and in the meantime we've actually seen contrasting performances from high(er) energy CBs who are good with the ball at their feet. I don't think playing for Ince helped anyone, and I think Holmes was one of the biggest victims of his terrible tactics and man management, but this has been coming.

[blythspartan]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

There has to be more to it, but we’ll probably never know for sure.

[Hound]

Honestly felt more sorry for him before seeing him today. Was literally the only one who didn’t engage. The others (inc NGW, Yiadom and Bouzanis) all did. As a local boy and VC thought that was a bit off

Know that’s not much of a thing in the grand scheme but the impression wasn’t favourable. If anyone had fallen out with the boss it would seem to have been him

[Greatwesternline]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

Yeah its quite a drastic turn of events. One can only assume there has been some sort of bad behaviour in response to Port Vale.

For all the "we have to promote the youth", the point of promoting the youth is that they turn into 1st team players for the long term. He is one of the youth of yester year. Of course any new academy player breaking into the first team at present will look good, they will be the at the highest motivational point of their entire career exactly right now, and they are playing against League One opposition.

Holmes is now passed the highest motivational point in his career, and he had to do what they were doing but against championship opposition.

We have little evidence to suggest that in 2-3 years time the new academy players today will fair better in Championship than Holmes did last year. The assumption that players just get better as they get older is to me false, players can frequently look at their career best right at the beginning, and that for them is / was their ceiling. I remember Aaron Lennon for one being pitched as a bright hope for England because he had a good 2006 world cup at 19. That was the peak of his career. I'm the same age as him, and it really stuck with me.

[Clyde1998]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

Yeah its quite a drastic turn of events. One can only assume there has been some sort of bad behaviour in response to Port Vale.

For all the "we have to promote the youth", the point of promoting the youth is that they turn into 1st team players for the long term. He is one of the youth of yester year. Of course any new academy player breaking into the first team at present will look good, they will be the at the highest motivational point of their entire career exactly right now, and they are playing against League One opposition.

Holmes is now passed the highest motivational point in his career, and he had to do what they were doing but against championship opposition.

We have little evidence to suggest that in 2-3 years time the new academy players today will fair better in Championship than Holmes did last year. The assumption that players just get better as they get older is to me false, players can frequently look at their career best right at the beginning, and that for them is / was their ceiling. I remember Aaron Lennon for one being pitched as a bright hope for England because he had a good 2006 world cup at 19. That was the peak of his career. I'm the same age as him, and it really stuck with me.

This. Some players peak early; others peak late. Holmes doesn't really look any better now when compared to when he first came into the team.

A Reading example would be Simon Church: he looked like he could develop into a Premier League level player when he first came into our first team, but never developed significantly beyond his ability when first coming into the first team (upper League One level). Holmes may simply be in that category.

[South Coast Royal]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

Yeah its quite a drastic turn of events. One can only assume there has been some sort of bad behaviour in response to Port Vale.

For all the "we have to promote the youth", the point of promoting the youth is that they turn into 1st team players for the long term. He is one of the youth of yester year. Of course any new academy player breaking into the first team at present will look good, they will be the at the highest motivational point of their entire career exactly right now, and they are playing against League One opposition.

Holmes is now passed the highest motivational point in his career, and he had to do what they were doing but against championship opposition.

We have little evidence to suggest that in 2-3 years time the new academy players today will fair better in Championship than Holmes did last year. The assumption that players just get better as they get older is to me false, players can frequently look at their career best right at the beginning, and that for them is / was their ceiling. I remember Aaron Lennon for one being pitched as a bright hope for England because he had a good 2006 world cup at 19. That was the peak of his career. I'm the same age as him, and it really stuck with me.

This. Some players peak early; others peak late. Holmes doesn't really look any better now when compared to when he first came into the team.

A Reading example would be Simon Church: he looked like he could develop into a Premier League level player when he first came into our first team, but never developed significantly beyond his ability when first coming into the first team (upper League One level). Holmes may simply be in that category.

Also very much agree with GWL's last paragraph.

I made the point under another topic that these lads are being judged as League 1 players who look very good so far and may not have looked so good at Championship level.

What so many of us are pleased about is that because of our relegation and dire finances these players are getting game time that they wouldn't otherwise have had.
Time will tell whether early promise turns into great success and there have been far more that haven't made it than those that have made it.

As for Tom Holmes in particular he is a strong tackler and a determined character who may lack a bit of pace but I feel sure that he will have a decent career around the League 1 / Championship levels but probably with somebody else.

[Royalwaster]

Holmes looked in a right shitty mood, didn’t look too good in the games, and couldn’t be arsed to do any selfies/autographs. Guessing he is on the way out very soon.

In this video you can see him signing autographs just like everyone else ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K9wcTaoxPA

[Snowflake Royal]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

This is being very kind. He was part of an atrocious defence last season which being the "best of" is like being the shiniest shite in the bowl. He was poor against Peterborough, atrocious against Port Vale and in the meantime we've actually seen contrasting performances from high(er) energy CBs who are good with the ball at their feet. I don't think playing for Ince helped anyone, and I think Holmes was one of the biggest victims of his terrible tactics and man management, but this has been coming.

He was part of an atrocious team last season. And I do not agree he was poor against Peterborough. He was comfortable and we conceded a freak goal that had nothing to do with the CBs.

None of that changes feeling sorry for a guy who seems to have been dumped by his childhood club out of, what appears to have been, the blue.

[CountryRoyal]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

This is being very kind. He was part of an atrocious defence last season which being the "best of" is like being the shiniest shite in the bowl. He was poor against Peterborough, atrocious against Port Vale and in the meantime we've actually seen contrasting performances from high(er) energy CBs who are good with the ball at their feet. I don't think playing for Ince helped anyone, and I think Holmes was one of the biggest victims of his terrible tactics and man management, but this has been coming.

He was part of an atrocious team last season. And I do not agree he was poor against Peterborough. He was comfortable and we conceded a freak goal that had nothing to do with the CBs.

None of that changes feeling sorry for a guy who seems to have been dumped by his childhood club out of, what appears to have been, the blue.

Yeah nothing wrong with a bit of compassion. Will they take us forward? Unlikely. Do they deserve to be shouted at “you’re not fit to wear the shirt”? Absolutely not.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

I feel sorry for Holmes. He obviously cares and has given his all. He was probably our best defender last season and two or three ago he was good at RB.

And now he appears to have been unceremoniously binned by the club he loves and grew up with after a total second half shitshow, team wide, against Port Vale.

This is being very kind. He was part of an atrocious defence last season which being the "best of" is like being the shiniest shite in the bowl. He was poor against Peterborough, atrocious against Port Vale and in the meantime we've actually seen contrasting performances from high(er) energy CBs who are good with the ball at their feet. I don't think playing for Ince helped anyone, and I think Holmes was one of the biggest victims of his terrible tactics and man management, but this has been coming.

He was part of an atrocious team last season. And I do not agree he was poor against Peterborough. He was comfortable and we conceded a freak goal that had nothing to do with the CBs.

None of that changes feeling sorry for a guy who seems to have been dumped by his childhood club out of, what appears to have been, the blue.

Have to trust the manager here and he also sees what goes on in training, we don't. Yes we only conceded 2 first 2 games but at PV but we were fortunate, it could easily have been 4. The new defence has kept three clear sheets out of 3.

Holmes, Tmac, NGW and Yiadom have been the majority of an atrocious defence which has conceded an average of 2 goals a game for circa 100 games. In my view Holmes was the worst performing defender and every corner/free kick we conceded I'd worry he'd concede a pen with his excessive holding and shirt pulling.

Yes the midfield were poor and played a part but Hendrick, Loum and co are no longer here to be dropped.

[Snowflake Royal]

This is being very kind. He was part of an atrocious defence last season which being the "best of" is like being the shiniest shite in the bowl. He was poor against Peterborough, atrocious against Port Vale and in the meantime we've actually seen contrasting performances from high(er) energy CBs who are good with the ball at their feet. I don't think playing for Ince helped anyone, and I think Holmes was one of the biggest victims of his terrible tactics and man management, but this has been coming.

He was part of an atrocious team last season. And I do not agree he was poor against Peterborough. He was comfortable and we conceded a freak goal that had nothing to do with the CBs.

None of that changes feeling sorry for a guy who seems to have been dumped by his childhood club out of, what appears to have been, the blue.

Have to trust the manager here and he also sees what goes on in training, we don't. Yes we only conceded 2 first 2 games but at PV but we were fortunate, it could easily have been 4. The new defence has kept three clear sheets out of 3.

Holmes, Tmac, NGW and Yiadom have been the majority of an atrocious defence which has conceded an average of 2 goals a game for circa 100 games. In my view Holmes was the worst performing of the three and every corner we conceded I'd worry he'd concede a pen with his excessive holding and shirt pulling.

Yes the midfield were poor and played a part but Hendrick, Loum and co are no longer here to be dropped.

You've got a few factual innaccuracies there, and I'm not arguing whether Abbey and Binden have improved us or that Holmes shouldn’t be dropped, or even that he shouldn’t move on. Just that I feel sorry for him, with things having completely changed in the space of, at best, two games.

[RoyalBlue]

Is Ejaria there ?

This is the Twitter account that posted lists of players: https://twitter.com/Readingfan106

Ovie is here in the dugout

Forwards at the #readingfc open day:

Kelvin
Vickers
AC

Midfielders at the #readingfc open day:

Azeez
Knibbs
Elliott
Savage
Craig
Senga
Hutch
Mukairu
Rushesha
Tuma

No Camara

Defenders at the #readingfc open day:

Yiadom
Abrefa
Mbengue
Abbey
Bindon
TMac
Holmes
Dean
Dorsett
Carson
NGW

Keepers at the #readingfc open day:

Button
Boyce-Clarke
Bouzanis
Pereira

I thought my eyes were deceiving me, mistaken identity or hallucinating but the Lesser Spotted Ovie was there at the end signing autographs and engaging with the fans. What really threw me was that he was smiling and laughing a lot and getting on really well with supporters - so very different from the grumpy, sulky character some accuse him of being.

Once fit, he could be a massive asset playing for the right type of coach (Selles) and in a system that suits him and his undoubted talents.