Nicky Hammond says

[Barry the bird boggler]

From the OS

Nick Hammond has taken time during this January transfer window to give readingfc.co.uk the latest news about potential signings, our contract talks with Steve Sidwell and much more. Nick remains hopeful of signing Sidwell to a new contract, while he says the Club have a clearly defined plan in terms of bringing new faces to Madejski Stadium.

Nick is ready to sit down with the midfield man once again, telling us, "Conversations are continuing, and I think we're at the stage where we'll go back to Steve with another position from us, taking into account where we are at this moment. "I'm very hopeful he will look at all the criteria in terms of what's important to him and then make the decision to stay "You have to admire him.

18 months ago he made the decision to see this contract through and take a look at what's out there. "He's given himself the freedom and been very, very brave. He's backed his own ability and you have to admire that. In the summer I was very much of the opinion we should let his contract run if he was not about to sign at that point. I say that because I knew with his personality it would not affect his contribution in any way whatsoever. “It was our first year in the Premiership and imperative to have him playing for us. "I think from both his and the Club's perspective you can say the right decision was made. "We hope we can reach a solution, and it's important for him to see we're moving forward. There's the expansion of the stadium and that can only help. We can compete in the Premiership, we have the ambition to bring players who can do even more so he knows our intentâ€

[fruits]

[quote="Barry the bird boggler"]From the OS

Nick Hammond has taken time during this January transfer window to give readingfc.co.uk the latest news about potential signings, our contract talks with Steve Sidwell and much more. Nick remains hopeful of signing Sidwell to a new contract, while he says the Club have a clearly defined plan in terms of bringing new faces to Madejski Stadium.

Nick is ready to sit down with the midfield man once again, telling us, "Conversations are continuing, and I think we're at the stage where we'll go back to Steve with another position from us, taking into account where we are at this moment. "I'm very hopeful he will look at all the criteria in terms of what's important to him and then make the decision to stay "You have to admire him.

18 months ago he made the decision to see this contract through and take a look at what's out there. "He's given himself the freedom and been very, very brave. He's backed his own ability and you have to admire that. In the summer I was very much of the opinion we should let his contract run if he was not about to sign at that point. I say that because I knew with his personality it would not affect his contribution in any way whatsoever. “It was our first year in the Premiership and imperative to have him playing for us. "I think from both his and the Club's perspective you can say the right decision was made. "We hope we can reach a solution, and it's important for him to see we're moving forward. There's the expansion of the stadium and that can only help. We can compete in the Premiership, we have the ambition to bring players who can do even more so he knows our intentâ€

[Alan Partridge]

Please RFC, don't take the cheap option again and leave yourself vulnerable, one striker would give us a good balance and allow Shane Long out on loan which he desperately needs. We've seen agaisnt a Championship side the talent the lad has but he needs to play regularly and preferably at that level, to continue his development. He is not a Premiership standard striker at this time.

Kitson is vulnerable, leaving us with 2 so lets not take the cheap way out AGAIN.

One or two decent additions and we could finish top 10 and leave any relegation worries or bottom half finishes to the saps down there!

[Scarface]

"There won't be any outs, unless something really suits us or we sign a couple that we're targetting."

So there could be some outs then Nicky !!! What a fcuking muppet that bloke is.

[Alan Partridge]

"There won't be any outs, unless something really suits us or we sign a couple that we're targetting."

So there could be some outs then Nicky !!! What a fcuking muppet that bloke is.

If only Nicky Hammond had L's in it!

[Stranded]

"There won't be any outs, unless something really suits us or we sign a couple that we're targetting."

So there could be some outs then Nicky !!! What a fcuking muppet that bloke is.

Yeah fcuking awful. You're the muppet mate.

Obvious soundbite quote that clearly means we have no intention of selling unless a stupid offer comes in, exactly the same as every other club in a similar situation.

[M4 Junction 11]

Only posting this because the 'Nicky Hammond says' thread was just before the 'I have a rash on my penis' thread

[premiership_bound]

Full evening post quote

Hammond happy to play waiting game
Nicky Hammond admits business is slow in the January transfer window, but remains confident Reading will strengthen.

There have been few major transfers since the turn of the year and Royals have yet to make any additions to their squad.

Director of football Nicky Hammond told the Evening Post: “Bringing players in is not proving easy although deals these days aren’t. There is not a massive amount going on across the board, but that doesn’t surprise me.

Advertisementyour story continues below
“January is a more difficult transfer window than the summer because clubs are halfway through a season and don’t want to lose their best players. In the summer people have time to bring in replacements, but there isn’t much time to do that at this stage.

“People are also having to pay premium prices. But having said that we are progressing on a number of fronts regarding a couple of players. I don’t anticipate anything happening before the weekend, but we remain hopeful.â€

[Alan Partridge]

Brilliant, so Long plays well against a Championship side and Kitson plays 20 minutes and suddenly we are fine

[Stranded]

It's called managing expectations.

If we announce that we are looking for a striker then it has the effect of raising the price of any striker we are looking at. Also if we then failed to sign a striker it would have a deflating effect on the fans - you could almost see the threads slating the club now.

The club never state in public who or what positions they are looking to strengthen so why do people still make a song and dance about comments like this.

The transfer policy of RFC is (and has been for ages now) if the right player is available at the right price and wants to play for us, we will sign him.

[Scarface]

Brilliant, so Long plays well against a Championship side and Kitson plays 20 minutes and suddenly we are fine

The bloke should be banned from speaking in public !

[Nick Shorey my Lord!]

So in summary;

We might sell, we might not.
We might buy, we might not, but if we do it won't be from abroad.

Next.

[Woodcote Royal]

Brilliant, so Long plays well against a Championship side and Kitson plays 20 minutes and suddenly we are fine

Whilst I think Zamora would be a nice addition, the fact is, as I said on another thread, we've scored 30 goals in 22 games in our first season in the top flight having lost our top striker on the opening day of the season.

Added to this, yet again most of the team have been on the score sheet and our 19 year old 4th choice striker has hardly been over used despite Kitson's injury

As we sit in an amazing 10th place in the Premiership needing no more than 4 wins from our last 16 games, I think it's time to bow to Coppell's superior judgement.

If Long's strike on Tuesday is anything to go by, the relatively small risk involved is probably worth taking given where Doyle stands today.

[RG30]

"There won't be any outs, unless something really suits us or we sign a couple that we're targetting."

So there could be some outs then Nicky !!! What a fcuking muppet that bloke is.

The same muppet that took so much sh*t over the Convey deal, yet he proved his worth and the same mupet has played a major contribution in our success over the past couple of months

[Alan Partridge]

Brilliant, so Long plays well against a Championship side and Kitson plays 20 minutes and suddenly we are fine

Whilst I think Zamora would be a nice addition, the fact is, as I said on another thread, we've scored 30 goals in 22 games in our first season in the top flight having lost our top striker on the opening day of the season.

Added to this, yet again most of the team have been on the score sheet and our 19 year old 4th choice striker has hardly been over used despite Kitson's injury

As we sit in an amazing 10th place in the Premiership needing no more than 4 wins from our last 16 games, I think it's time to bow to Coppell's superior judgement.

If Long's strike on Tuesday is anything to go by, the relatively small risk involved is probably worth taking given where Doyle stands today.

It is an incredible stat, yet until recently there have been many times when I've felt we have offered no threat at all, in certain games.

That's my whole point with shane, HE NEEDS TO PLAY. He's at a great age for learning the game and he's getting better yet he's not going to play. It'll be great for him and us in the long run for him to go to a good Championship team and play 20 games or so, and then maybe half of next season as well. He is not a Premiership striker yet on the evidence of his 1st team appearances this season.

Kitson is so fragile it's going to be heart in the mouth time anytime he goes for a challlenge or gets hit reasonably hard in the next month or so. So it's leaving us with 2 really (i hope to God Seol isn't used as a striker too many more times) the amount of times earlier in the season we were changing and rotating it to cope with ONE injury and a player out of form was too many. It was lucky for us that Mr Doyle was on fire and we managed to get a couple of great results in that time.

It's not about bowing to Coppell's judgement because everyone knows it's supreme, it's about covering bases, ONE decent striker to give us 4 front line forwards and allowing Shane out would be ideal.

I hate the fact that Hammond has said 'Shane's performance on Tuesday' because it means nothing. It was against a Championship team, well below the standard we currently operate on a weekly basis. Not just that but Shane needs games.

[higher]

Woodcote royal wrote:

As we sit in an amazing 10th place in the Premiership

Without wanting to be overly pedantic were
9th

[Woodcote Royal]

Sorry

[higher]

10th!!! How very dare you.

[Barry the bird boggler]

If only Nicky Hammond had L's in it!

Controversial I know but, NichLOLas Hammond?

Seriously though, its a standard club statement saying absolutely nothing other than we might buy or we might not and no-one's going unless we agree with it.

So it's basically just the same as every transfer window then!

[SpaceCruiser]

Simple Simon says.....buy!