Current squad

[Guest Sniper1]

I hear ya mate, just think of the alternative had MM not taken over our club? I'm just happy to be competitive again and am sure that MM will bring one or two players in for fees between now and the start of the season. If not then his investment (which I think he's looking to make money on) will dwindle somewhat.

We've brought in a few players and think that most clubs are a way off finalising their squads for next season.

I love Milan Mandaric, i don't want this to sound like im slagging him because im not.

However,

I should be buzzing for this season but im not, if i had the choice at the moment i would put it back a few weeks to give us more time.

I want to get excited for the start of the season, im not, yet.

[Swiss Toni]

I love Milan Mandaric, i don't want this to sound like im slagging him because im not.

However,

I should be buzzing for this season but im not, if i had the choice at the moment i would put it back a few weeks to give us more time.

I want to get excited for the start of the season, im not, yet.

I bet DJ is feeling a little frustrated underneath but he's not the sort of bloke to show it on the outside to the press and public.

[Leeds-Owl]

You say O'Grady out but if he stays I think he'll surprise a few this season. Would be happy with a CB possibly a striker. As much as I don't think we'll go down I still think we'll end up somewhere in the bottom half.

[Guest Sniper1]

You've absolutely no idea how much Dave Jones has seen of these two players. Just because they're unknown to you doesn't mean they are to those who matter and it has absolutely nothing to do with ambition or lack of, either.

Sorry Sonny but what a load of arse.

Dave Jones hasn't seen any of these two play in the championship.

I dont want a squad full of players who are unproven at championship level, too much of a risk.

Some of the best players in the world have struggled when coming to England, nobody knows if these signings will work out.

Which one of these players is proven at Champ level?

Semedo? Lines? Prutton? Amado? M.Jones? JJ? Madine? Lowe? O'Grady? Pecnik?

I hear you saying Nil.

Well these are the lads who need to win us football matches.

Confident?

[Stoop]

I'm not too concerned its like buying a house there's always a chain involved, as soon as other clubs start signing players and choosing their 25 man squads, they'll start letting others leave and things will start happening

[Sonny]

Sorry Sonny but what a load of arse.

Dave Jones hasn't seen any of these two play in the championship.

I dont want a squad full of players who are unproven at championship level, too much of a risk.

Some of the best players in the world have struggled when coming to England, nobody knows if these signings will work out.

Which one of these players is proven at Champ level?

Semedo? Lines? Prutton? Amado? M.Jones? JJ? Madine? Lowe? O'Grady? Pecnik?

I hear you saying Nil.

Well these are the lads who need to win us football matches.

Confident?

Right, so it's a load of arse that Dave Jones has almost certainly seen a lot more of Amado and Pecnik than you. Ok.

[Guest Sniper1]

I'm not too concerned its like buying a house there's always a chain involved, as soon as other clubs start signing players and choosing their 25 man squads, they'll start letting others leave and things will start happening

Dont the 25 man squads get decided at the end of the transfer window?

So scrapping around for short loans it is then.

[Guest Sniper1]

Right, so it's a load of arse that Dave Jones has almost certainly seen a lot more of Amado and Pecnik than you. Ok.

That makes them proven championship players then?

Amado/Clayton

Pecnik/Scannell

Lets stop f'kin kidding ourselves.

[Juror8]

Not really worth stressing yet.

We've done more than half of our business in the last month and there's over a month to go. Halfway there and half the time to go. And it always heats up as the transfer window draws closer.

The second half of our transfer dealings will likely be more exciting. Partly because it's going to be offensive signings, and also because it's more likely we'll see a few players of established pedigree in.

I think DJ's transfer policy was always going to be, and has always been, building a solid base and then elevating it by bringing in a couple of players who are special at this level - i.e. DJ, Bothroyd, Barton, Bannan, Johnson, Routledge et al.

Those sorts of players and signings are always going to come last, because: those types of players have options; naming of 25 man squads; buying/selling clubs hunting around for best deal.

I'm not saying we'll get any of those names, but I think DJ will try and bring in at least two players who are a class above, regardless of age, record, baggage. Exactly what he did last season with Ranger and Treacy, and looking into Ravel Morrison (if that was true).

[Jackie Sewell]

At the moment I don't even feel we're as strong as the end of last season. Who's going to score the goals as LLera and Antonio seemed to get the key ones with Treacy providing important crosses.?Just have to trust there are exciting incomings. At the end of the season I think we were all banking on signing Antonio as a formality but with with quality additions, now we're waiting with bated breath for Antonio.

[trevdi9]

i can understand snipers frustration but we are only half way there, fingers crossed we up the anti in the next month ,

or we may struggle, we need at least three quality players in ,the Antonio saga needs to be put to bed one way or the other tbh , if our next bid is accepted all well and good if not move on , give reading an ultimatum if they don't bite find someone else to do the job , i would love him here but a line has to be drawn somewhere or any other target will be snapped up before we get a bid in ,

[Juror8]

Loads of fans will be getting twitchy, it's in our nature to be impatient - but it's not like anyone has finished their business yet. The only people who seem close - throughout the leagues - who come to mind, are Preston. And they look to have done things a bit hastily and haven't put together the strongest squad. Maybe that comes of signing players who are happy to sign down early on.

It is a long season, and especially if you make rash signings, who you're stuck with. We're right to bide our time. There still seems to be a lot of uncertainty at Prem teams, with new managers coming in, who want to assess their squads over pre-season. Most said the Euros, and even Olympics, going to cause a delay and business to be done later.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Juror8

[Neal M]

Christ on a bike. Sniper is making The Championship sound like The Champions' League. It's not. It's an average league, full of average journeyman players and "big names" approaching the twilight of their careers.

DJ has an incredible amount of experience with both assessing players and managing in the Championship. I trust that he has a very good idea as to who will work in the Championship (and English football) and who won't.

The idea that players "unproven at the Championship level are a risk" is absurd. Look at Norwich in the summer of 2010. Freshly promoted to the Championship they signed:

GK John Ruddy. No Championship experience.

RB Russell Martin. Handful of Championship games with Peterborough.

CB Zak Whitbread. Championship experience with Millwall.

MF Andrew Crofts. No Championship experience.

F Simeon Jackson. No Championship experience.

MF Andrew Surman. Championship experience with Southampton

MF David Fox. No Championship experience.

CB Leon Barnett. Limited Championship experience with West Brom

LB Steven Smith. No Championship experience.

I could go on, but I'm boring myself.

True, a few of Norwich's longer serving players had some Championship experirence from a few years back (Adam Drury and Grant Holt), but look what Norwich did with a load of "untested" players.

[Guest Sniper1]

Christ on a bike. Sniper is making The Championship sound like The Champions' League. It's not. It's an average league, full of average journeyman players and "big names" approaching the twilight of their careers.

F'k me its changed a bit in this last 3 months.

Just having a look at some of the players in the championship, f'k me you a right its f'kin poo .

We are going up, i say we are going up.

JJ, Mike Jones, Ryan Lowe and Chris O'Grady who couldn't get in our league one side are going to p1ss this sh1tty league.

While here in the real world ..................................

[Juror8]

F'k me its changed a bit in this last 3 months.

Just having a look at some of the players in the championship, f'k me you a right its f'kin poo .

We are going up, i say we are going up.

JJ, Mike Jones, Ryan Lowe and Chris O'Grady who couldn't get in our league one side are going to p1ss this sh1tty league.

While here in the real world ..................................

Think the truth lies somewhere between. NealM makes a good point that you don't need a majority of proven players. Unproven players are just an opportunity away from becoming proven. And it's not absurd to suggest that Madine and Maguire could be as effective next season, as more proven/established partnership, such as Nugent and Beckford.

I think you're right about the Championship being a difficult league and Neal does it a bit of a disservice saying it's full of old pro's and journeyman. Not sure it's all down to quality. Blackpool might have had more quality than Reading last season, but why did Reading finish so far ahead? They functioned well as a unit, built up a head of steam, edged games, got a bit of a luck and had a good home record. Only time will tell whether we'll be able to replicate that and looking at squad sheet isn't necessarily going to tell us.

*when say replicate, mean relatively speaking - i.e. top-half finish or playoffs, not automatic promotion.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Juror8

[Guest Sniper1]

Think the truth lies somewhere between. NealM makes a good point that you don't need a majority of proven players. Unproven players are just an opportunity away from becoming proven. And it's not absurd to suggest that Madine and Maguire could be as effective next season, as more proven/established partnership, such as Nugent and Beckford.

I think you're right about the Championship being a difficult league and Neal does it a bit of a disservice saying it's full of old pro's and journeyman. But I don't think it's all down to quality. I think Blackpool had more quality than Reading, but why did Reading finish so far ahead? They functioned well as a unit, built up a head of steam, edged games, got a bit of a luck and had a good home record. Only time will tell whether we'll be able to replicate that and looking at squad sheet isn't necessarily going to tell us.

*when say replicate, mean relatively speaking - i.e. top-half finish or playoffs, not automatic promotion.

Because of one quality signing, Jason Roberts.

They were missing something up top and Roberts provided it.

McAnuff, Kebe, Noel Hunt, Karacan, Le Fondre, Church all good players who needed Roberts to be effective at what they do.

[Juror8]

Because of one quality signing, Jason Roberts.

They were missing something up top and Roberts provided it.

McAnuff, Kebe, Noel Hunt, Karacan, Le Fondre, Church all good players who needed Roberts to be effective at what they do.

Roberts played less than a third of a season for them. More important, surely, was a back five which let in the least goals. Looking at Federici, Harte, Gorkss, Alex Pearce, and whoever plays RB for them, you wouldn't really say those five are going to win you the league, but they went a long way to doing so.

Once again, I'm not saying we're going to do a Reading, but relatively speaking, Kirkland, Buxton (maybe Lee), Gardner, Llera and Mattock (Reda) could be as important, if not more, than a quality centre mid, winger and striker. But instinctively, we'd get more excited over the latter types of players, even though they might actually do less for us. Hopefully, and very possibly, by the start of the season, we'll have both.

[Guest bully87]

what has mike jones done to warrant people wanting him out?

he never had a crack under megson and then dj gave him a couple of games and he did well then antonio came in and was dogs testicles.

but hes worked his arse off in 2 pre season games and got a goal

give him a shot

[glenowl]

JJ, Mike Jones, Ryan Lowe and Chris O'Grady who couldn't get in our league one side are going to p1ss this sh1tty league.

I personally think all the players you mentioned their will play a big role next season, JJ will be an impact sub, i can see mike jones being given an oppertunity because he has played very good so far in pre-season, ryan lowe when given the oppertunity will step up to the challenge and relish the oppertunity, and i just think o'grady is under rated.

Also to add imo i think maguire will be our top goal scorer next season

[gurujuan]

Using Reading as an example ain't good, they have far better players than us all over the pitch We have spent all summer chasing Antonio, a player who couldn't get near their first team The way I look at it, we have been beefing up the squad numbers, giving us competition in most areas, now if we bring in 4 or 5 players of real quality, we'll be alright. Those 4 or 5 players though will need to be the type of players who will make a real difference, players who will be the first names on the team sheet.