Where the playing budget went under Dai

[Sutekh]

Just for anyone interested the list of those which Dai splashed out on since he took over. Reminisce on some of these names!

Jaap Stam 2017 - 2018

Sone Aluko
Leandro Bacuna
Modou Barrow
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson
Pelle Clement
David Edwards
Tommy Elphick - loan
Vito Mannone
Chris Martin - loan

Paul Clement 2018

Sam Baldock
Said Ezatolahi - loan
Marc McNulty
David Meyler
John O’Shea
Josh Sims - loan
Sam Walker
Andy Yiadom

Jose Gomes 2019

Charlie Adam
Femi Azeez
Lewis Baker - loan
Ovie Ejaria - loan
Lucas Joao
Matt Miazga - loan
Emi Martinez - loan
Michael Morrison
Nelson Oliveira - loan
George Puscas
Rafael

Mark Bowen 2020

Felipe Araruna
Lucas Boye - loan
Ovie Ejaria
Josh Laurent
Matt Miazga - loan
Judilson Tuncara Gomes (Pele) - loan
Joao Virginia - loan

Velko Paunovic 2020 - 2021

Mamadi Camara - last fee Reading paid for a player (undisclosed from Feirense in Oct 2020)
Andy Carroll
Scott Dann
Tom Dele-Bashiru - loan
Danny Drinkwater - loan
Tomas Esteves - loan
Lewis Gibson - loan
Alen Halilovic
Karl Hein - loan
Junior Hoilett
Tom Ince - loan
Jayden Onen
Baba Rahman - loan
Alfa Semedo - loan

Paul Ince 2021 - 2022

Andy Carroll
Matthew Carson
Caesare Casadei - loan
Michael Craig
Dean Bouzanis
Tyrese Fornah - loan
Nesta Guinness-Walker
Jeff Hendrick - loan
Sam Hutchinson
Tom Ince
Shane Long
Mamadou Loum - loan
Joe Lumley - loan
Amadou Mbengue
Orjan Nyland
Baba Rahman - loan
Naby Sarr
Terrell Thomas

Ruben Selles/Noel Hunt 2023 - present

Dom Ballard - loan
Tyler Bindon
David Button
Chem Campbell - loan
Harley Dean
Ben Elliott
Tom Holmes - loan
Harvey Knibbs
Clinton Mola
Zane Monlouis - loan
Paul Mukairu - loan
Joel Pereira
Tivonge Rushesha
Charlie Savage
Sam Smith
Lewis Wing

[Hendo]

So I've split this out into 5 categories; Terrible, Rubbish, Ok, Good & Excellent

Total 83

Terrible
Sone Aluko
Marc McNulty
Joao Virginia - loan

Rubbish
Leandro Bacuna
Pelle Clement
David Edwards
Tommy Elphick - loan
Chris Martin - loan
Sam Baldock
Said Ezatolahi - loan
David Meyler
Sam Walker
George Puscas
Felipe Araruna
Lucas Boye - loan
Ovie Ejaria
Matt Miazga - 2nd loan
Scott Dann
Danny Drinkwater - loan
Tomas Esteves - loan
Lewis Gibson - loan
Alen Halilovic
Karl Hein - loan
Andy Carroll (2nd stint)
Dean Bouzanis
Jeff Hendrick - loan
Sam Hutchinson
Shane Long
Mamadou Loum - loan
Baba Rahman - 2nd loan
Naby Sarr
Terrell Thomas
Zane Monlouis - loan

Ok

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson
Vito Mannone
John O’Shea
Josh Sims - loan
Charlie Adam
Judilson Tuncara Gomes (Pele) - loan
Mamadi Camara
Andy Carroll (1st stint)
Tom Dele-Bashiru - loan
Alfa Semedo - loan
Caesare Casadei - loan
Tyrese Fornah - loan
Nesta Guinness-Walker
Tom Ince (perm signing)
Orjan Nyland
Dom Ballard - loan
David Button
Harley Dean
Tom Holmes - loan
Clinton Mola
Paul Mukairu - loan
Tivonge Rushesha

Good

Modou Barrow
Andy Yiadom
Rafael
Junior Hoilett
Tom Ince - loan
Baba Rahman -1st loan
Michael Craig
Joe Lumley - loan
Chem Campbell - loan
Charlie Savage

Excellent

Femi Azeez
Lewis Baker - loan
Ovie Ejaria - loan
Lucas Joao
Matt Miazga - 1st loan
Emi Martinez - loan
Michael Morrison
Nelson Oliveira - loan
Josh Laurent
Amadou Mbengue
Tyler Bindon
Ben Elliott
Harvey Knibbs
Joel Pereira
Sam Smith
Lewis Wing

N/A

Jayden Onen
Matthew Carson

Terrible - 3
Rubbish - 30
Ok - 22
Good - 10
Excellent - 16
n/a - 2

So yeah, heavily weighted towards rubbish, but there have been some gems, especially in the last couple of years.

[JedMaxwell]

So I've split this out into 5 categories; Terrible, Rubbish, Ok, Good & Excellent

Total 83

Terrible
Sone Aluko
Marc McNulty
Joao Virginia - loan

Rubbish
Leandro Bacuna
Pelle Clement
David Edwards
Tommy Elphick - loan
Chris Martin - loan
Sam Baldock
Said Ezatolahi - loan
David Meyler
Sam Walker
George Puscas
Felipe Araruna
Lucas Boye - loan
Ovie Ejaria
Matt Miazga - 2nd loan
Scott Dann
Danny Drinkwater - loan
Tomas Esteves - loan
Lewis Gibson - loan
Alen Halilovic
Karl Hein - loan
Andy Carroll (2nd stint)
Dean Bouzanis
Jeff Hendrick - loan
Sam Hutchinson
Shane Long
Mamadou Loum - loan
Baba Rahman - 2nd loan
Naby Sarr
Terrell Thomas
Zane Monlouis - loan

Ok

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson
Vito Mannone
John O’Shea
Josh Sims - loan
Charlie Adam
Judilson Tuncara Gomes (Pele) - loan
Mamadi Camara
Andy Carroll (1st stint)
Tom Dele-Bashiru - loan
Alfa Semedo - loan
Caesare Casadei - loan
Tyrese Fornah - loan
Nesta Guinness-Walker
Tom Ince (perm signing)
Orjan Nyland
Dom Ballard - loan
David Button
Harley Dean
Tom Holmes - loan
Clinton Mola
Paul Mukairu - loan
Tivonge Rushesha

Good

Modou Barrow
Andy Yiadom
Rafael
Junior Hoilett
Tom Ince - loan
Baba Rahman -1st loan
Michael Craig
Joe Lumley - loan
Chem Campbell - loan
Charlie Savage

Excellent

Femi Azeez
Lewis Baker - loan
Ovie Ejaria - loan
Lucas Joao
Matt Miazga - 1st loan
Emi Martinez - loan
Michael Morrison
Nelson Oliveira - loan
Josh Laurent
Amadou Mbengue
Tyler Bindon
Ben Elliott
Harvey Knibbs
Joel Pereira
Sam Smith
Lewis Wing

N/A

Jayden Onen
Matthew Carson

Terrible - 3
Rubbish - 30
Ok - 22
Good - 10
Excellent - 16
n/a - 2

So yeah, heavily weighted towards rubbish, but there have been some gems, especially in the last couple of years.

Awful lot of dreck in there when you see it laid bare. I'd wager a lot of clubs probably have similar types of numbers over the same time period, but have been better equipped to ride it out and probably had stronger overall squads than us.

[Hound]

That is genuinely scary, and Hendo you’ve been pretty generous there my friend. Mannone 2m and sky high wages is firmly in the terrible. Nyland?

Until we got relegated and got our recruitment act together (nearly all have been good+) there’s about 5 genuine permanent successes on there. Yiadom, Laurent, Mbengue, Azeez, Morrison (all free)

Ince maybe. Bacuna wasn’t great but reasonable enough and somehow we turned a profit on him

[Fox Talbot]

Players who have gone on to better things after leaving Reading.

Emi Martinez.

[Hound]

Players who have gone on to better things after leaving Reading.

Emi Martinez.

On the fence about Olise?

[Fox Talbot]

Players who have gone on to better things after leaving Reading.

Emi Martinez.

On the fence about Olise?

If he’s on the lists above, apologies, I missed seeing his name.

[Crusader Royal]

Players who have gone on to better things after leaving Reading.

Emi Martinez.

On the fence about Olise?

If he’s on the lists above, apologies, I missed seeing his name.

None of our Academy products are listed (unless special circumstances). Including Tom Holmes loan back seems a bit wrong

[Hound]

On the fence about Olise?

If he’s on the lists above, apologies, I missed seeing his name.

None of our Academy products are listed (unless special circumstances). Including Tom Holmes loan back seems a bit wrong

Not sure the point of the question then?

But Bacuna went up a division at the time, Esteves is playing regular Serie B for two.

Laurent near top of champ. Illori went up as well iirc

Femi at Millwall , Lumley at Soton. Sure there’s more as well

[morganb]

Do we have any idea on the sums of money spent on these players (fees, wages)?

[Sutekh]

Do we have any idea on the sums of money spent on these players (fees, wages)?

Nearly all listed as undisclosed. No clue on wages or loan fees (no doubt some of those would have been sheer lunacy too).

Though memory vaguely recalls Aluko was rumoured to be £7.5m, Puscas around £8m, Ilori was about £3.75m and Ejaria £3.5m. Joao was £5m I think, one thing’s for certain if Dai hadn’t totally lost it by the Aluko waste then he certainly did with Joao and Puscas - really couldn’t see our scouting network recommending all this ******* dross so god knows how the idiot was persuaded to spend all this money (though we all know the rumoured cause on how they came about…).

I think Ilori was actually sold ( ) for £3.5m and Bacuna went for about what we paid (£3m). Actually quite liked Ilori, thought he was an intelligent player and would have been suited more in the PL where you get a bit more time on the ball rather than the FL.

To be fair to these players, their time at Reading wasn’t helped by the largely utterly cretinous managerial appointments, perhaps if those decisions had been decent, and so had established a bit of time in the role and stability, some of these purchases might have worked out for the better.

[Snowflake Royal]

Fuktons.

If we're talking where the money went, it's not just on new transfers, but on existing player contract extensions.

Moore cost us a ludicrous amount over his bonkers 4/5 year deal. Could have gone and brought in £8m, instead cost about £1.5m - £2m per year,

[stealthpapes]

To be fair to these players, their time at Reading wasn’t helped by the largely utterly cretinous managerial appointments, perhaps if those decisions had been decent, and so had established a bit of time in the role and stability, some of these purchases might have worked out for the better.

Dai has been at the club since 2017 and in that period we have had 8 managers (Stam, Clement. Gomes, Bowen, Paunovic, Ince, Selles, Hunt*).

The nearest we've had to stability was Ince and Selles scraping over a season each.

Each of those managers came in, wanted to bring in their own players, some would have frozen out other players pour encourage les autres, reshape the squad in their vision. Short term constraints dominate any long term vision, just to stay up, just to pay the next set of bills. Each successive “firefighter” brought in has to do more, as there's more dead wood to manage and an increasingly incoherent squad.

And at some point, almost inevitably, you’re going to hire the absolute wrong person. I'd even go so far as to say a run of bad luck or injuries might be enough. This clearly applies to the Championship, with Birmingham and Reading two clear examples. In our case, we had many wrong people - a good half-decade of pretty mediocre managers - but what ultimately relegated us was the points deductions.

So, what I would so? Avoid that ^^^
It is clearly possible to avoid it. It is clearly possible to reverse it and build back. Money helps BUT in the absence of money, what could you do?

It's basically what others in the thread have said, have some long term plan and vision, buy the players and use the academy accordingly. Frankly, our academy has kept the squad afloat. Things could have been much much worse if we didn't have solid players coming in and some cash flow from selling the prospects.

I actually don't really care what the details of the plan are beyond that big picture vision. Differences in style will be minor compared to the bigger picture stuff.

This sits aside to the off-field stuff, where bringing everything back under one roof and maximising the income, 'maximising the customer experience', but also build a rapport between club and fanbase again.

Do you remember when the helicopters nodded at each other? Of course you do.

So we're back into the vortex again, who knows where it will spit us out.

TLDR: Dai out.


----------------------------------------------------------
*yes, he hasn't brought any players in, but some smart alec prick would flag if I didn't count him and some dappy cunt will flag that I have. So I am counting him, because 8 managers is a bigger number, and you can pick which one of those you are.

[Hendo]

That is genuinely scary, and Hendo you’ve been pretty generous there my friend. Mannone 2m and sky high wages is firmly in the terrible. Nyland?

I didn't mind Mannone but know he was an escaped-goat for some on here. Dealt a tough hand with the dross that was in front of him half the time.

Nyland, I couldn't remember too much about but he was only here for a couple of months, so thought it would be harsh to label him rubbish, especially as he is now number 1 for Sevilla...

[stealthpapes]

That is genuinely scary, and Hendo you’ve been pretty generous there my friend. Mannone 2m and sky high wages is firmly in the terrible. Nyland?

I didn't mind Mannone but know he was an escaped-goat for some on here. Dealt a tough hand with the dross that was in front of him half the time.

Nyland, I couldn't remember too much about but he was only here for a couple of months, so thought it would be harsh to label him rubbish, especially as he is now number 1 for Sevilla...

Rafael had done one after Kidderminster, so we were down to Southwood and Boyce-Clarke. Hein had already been brought in as cover by Pauno but got injured. Nyland was available on a short term contract and joined shortly after

One big mistake vs Luton when it didn't matter.

[Snowflake Royal]

To be fair to these players, their time at Reading wasn’t helped by the largely utterly cretinous managerial appointments, perhaps if those decisions had been decent, and so had established a bit of time in the role and stability, some of these purchases might have worked out for the better.

Dai has been at the club since 2017 and in that period we have had 8 managers (Stam, Clement. Gomes, Bowen, Paunovic, Ince, Selles, Hunt*).

The nearest we've had to stability was Ince and Selles scraping over a season each.

Each of those managers came in, wanted to bring in their own players, some would have frozen out other players pour encourage les autres, reshape the squad in their vision. Short term constraints dominate any long term vision, just to stay up, just to pay the next set of bills. Each successive “firefighter” brought in has to do more, as there's more dead wood to manage and an increasingly incoherent squad.

And at some point, almost inevitably, you’re going to hire the absolute wrong person. I'd even go so far as to say a run of bad luck or injuries might be enough. This clearly applies to the Championship, with Birmingham and Reading two clear examples. In our case, we had many wrong people - a good half-decade of pretty mediocre managers - but what ultimately relegated us was the points deductions.

So, what I would so? Avoid that ^^^
It is clearly possible to avoid it. It is clearly possible to reverse it and build back. Money helps BUT in the absence of money, what could you do?

It's basically what others in the thread have said, have some long term plan and vision, buy the players and use the academy accordingly. Frankly, our academy has kept the squad afloat. Things could have been much much worse if we didn't have solid players coming in and some cash flow from selling the prospects.

I actually don't really care what the details of the plan are beyond that big picture vision. Differences in style will be minor compared to the bigger picture stuff.

This sits aside to the off-field stuff, where bringing everything back under one roof and maximising the income, 'maximising the customer experience', but also build a rapport between club and fanbase again.

Do you remember when the helicopters nodded at each other? Of course you do.

So we're back into the vortex again, who knows where it will spit us out.

TLDR: Dai out.


----------------------------------------------------------
*yes, he hasn't brought any players in, but some smart alec prick would flag if I didn't count him and some dappy cunt will flag that I have. So I am counting him, because 8 managers is a bigger number, and you can pick which one of those you are.

Hunt brought Campbell back in, so you're golden.

Stam had more than one season, but the first was pre-Dai obviously... Paunovic had more than one too though didn't he? It seems so long ago, I'd almost forgetten he existed.

Completely agree with you.

Bowen and Clement seemed the only ones, until Selles, who had a clue what our problens were and how to build a squad... Clement obviously got it dreadfully wrong and didn't do well, but he was targetting the right areas, with the right sort of players ... just too many of them were perma crocks or a busted flush

[Snowflake Royal]

That is genuinely scary, and Hendo you’ve been pretty generous there my friend. Mannone 2m and sky high wages is firmly in the terrible. Nyland?

I didn't mind Mannone but know he was an escaped-goat for some on here. Dealt a tough hand with the dross that was in front of him half the time.

Nyland, I couldn't remember too much about but he was only here for a couple of months, so thought it would be harsh to label him rubbish, especially as he is now number 1 for Sevilla...

Mannone was very expensive and bang average, so whilst he wasn't awful, I agree with Hound that he should be in terrible.

Was Nyland the ok one that got injured immediately or the terrible one, can't separate him from Hein. Didn't rate either. Neither contributed a lot.

[Hound]

That is genuinely scary, and Hendo you’ve been pretty generous there my friend. Mannone 2m and sky high wages is firmly in the terrible. Nyland?

I didn't mind Mannone but know he was an escaped-goat for some on here. Dealt a tough hand with the dross that was in front of him half the time.

Nyland, I couldn't remember too much about but he was only here for a couple of months, so thought it would be harsh to label him rubbish, especially as he is now number 1 for Sevilla...

Nyland was just generally poor and one absolute howler. Another for moved on to better things though. Mannone was so bang average it hurt, but yes if he’d been a free he’d been ‘ok’. Rumour was he was on our biggest wage and we continued paying it whilst he went on loan

Hein was the one who got injured and I believe the original list missed the mighty Joao Virginia on loan. Another cracker

[Hound]

Do we have any idea on the sums of money spent on these players (fees, wages)?

Nearly all listed as undisclosed. No clue on wages or loan fees (no doubt some of those would have been sheer lunacy too).

Though memory vaguely recalls Aluko was rumoured to be £7.5m, Puscas around £8m, Ilori was about £3.75m and Ejaria £3.5m. Joao was £5m I think, one thing’s for certain if Dai hadn’t totally lost it by the Aluko waste then he certainly did with Joao and Puscas - really couldn’t see our scouting network recommending all this ******* dross so god knows how the idiot was persuaded to spend all this money (though we all know the rumoured cause on how they came about…).

I think Ilori was actually sold ( ) for £3.5m and Bacuna went for about what we paid (£3m). Actually quite liked Ilori, thought he was an intelligent player and would have been suited more in the PL where you get a bit more time on the ball rather than the FL.

To be fair to these players, their time at Reading wasn’t helped by the largely utterly cretinous managerial appointments, perhaps if those decisions had been decent, and so had established a bit of time in the role and stability, some of these purchases might have worked out for the better.

Think Bacuna cost us more like 1.5 so a genuine profit there somehow

Illori was officially pre Dai. He came in that window before Dai had taken over (but was still funding) and we also took in Reece Oxford and that forward whose name escapes me that Stam decided to play in midfield who should have shot us to promotion

Stam and BT made some astute signings pre Dai. Beerens, Swift, VDB etc. also Big Danzell and Sandro Weiser

[Hendo]

That is genuinely scary, and Hendo you’ve been pretty generous there my friend. Mannone 2m and sky high wages is firmly in the terrible. Nyland?

I didn't mind Mannone but know he was an escaped-goat for some on here. Dealt a tough hand with the dross that was in front of him half the time.

Nyland, I couldn't remember too much about but he was only here for a couple of months, so thought it would be harsh to label him rubbish, especially as he is now number 1 for Sevilla...

Nyland was just generally poor and one absolute howler. Another for moved on to better things though. Mannone was so bang average it hurt, but yes if he’d been a free he’d been ‘ok’. Rumour was he was on our biggest wage and we continued paying it whilst he went on loan

Hein was the one who got injured and I believe the original list missed the mighty Joao Virginia on loan. Another cracker

Think the big Nyland mistake didn't matter in the end, so disregarded it. I did forget about the money around Monnone, so I'd be willing to downgrade him to rubbish.

Hein, yeah rubbish as was just injured.

Virginia is in my terrible section