We clearly are not signing anyone in January

[facaldaqui]

I don't get this Hunt baiting because he moved on and was therefore rubbish. Hunt as part of the whole team effort was more than worth his place and galvanised the team with his effort, harrying and energy. I would have him back in an instant rather than some of the dreary plodders currrently inhabiting our midfield

Hunt at his best was extraordinary. At his worst, in the second half of his last season, he was ineffective because his mind was elsewhere: he had wanted to go in the window. What I mean by extraordinary is the "effort, harrying and energy" you mention. He was a very strange winger because he lacked the slick dribbling skills and speed you'd expect from a winger; but he had two remarkable attributes--an ability to bulldoze through people without losing sight of the ball, and a tackling presence that meant the opposition couldn't work the ball out past him on that wing. This made him difficult to play against and he could lose opposition full backs and wing halves the will to live.

[brendywendy]

LOL

imo thats mugging yourself off a bit there.

regardless of how much "we" hate the pygmy irish pikey for running out on us, and playing shit when we needed him, hes still clearly one of the best footballers weve seen at the club, hence why hes still in the prem(though hopefully not for very long)

although8i obviously agree that as soon as a player expresses a wish to leave our club he automatically becomes shit.

'clearly one of the best footballers eve seen at the club'

Absolutely NOPE.
If you look up 'average' in the dictionary, Stephen Hunt will be there. A back up player during the 106 season, he played a decent hand the next season and that was it. All effort all energy and a massive lack of quality from day 1. He'd put in the odd decent dead ball but even that had stopped by the end when he was left on the bench. Take the Andy Hughes style running and effort and whats left is a player with the same skill set of Michael Duberry.

I didn't care he wanted to leave, in fact i was delighted i wouldn't have to waste my Saturday's watching him charge up and down before stacking hi 10th cross under no pressure into the North stand and then take home £25k a week.

That's why Reading went down wasting huge money on crap like this when if they'd bombed him out and bought someone who could cross a ball for the same money they MIGHT have survived.

How's he in the Premiership, no idea maybe he's improved since leaving here? But if you seriously think he's one of the best players to play here then your standards must be lower than a snake's belly.

BLOLinkered by your own hatred.
by definition- he played- and played well to get us up, and then even better to get to 8th place, therefore better than most footballers to play for reading. ever.
as much as i love other players from previous eras more- they didnt achieve owt like that, therefore arent as good.

[brendywendy]

Tap ins, headers or penalties

just like lineker- rubbish

[Alan Partridge]

Tap ins, headers or penalties

just like lineker- rubbish

Yep because Lineker was exactly the same type of player as Hunt.

Hunt was a sub in just about every game of the 106, he did play well in the 8th place year. But that was it. Flash in the pan and never ever worth the money that Reading paid to keep him.

If you want to look at where the money went, a vast chunk went on Hunts numerous new contracts for little in return.

[The Rouge]

I totaly agree with Brenders here. He had an astonishing drop off in crossing ability (I don't think it was effort as it was a technical thing) but I saw several games where he single handedly picked the game up by the scruff of the neck and made some great players look stupid.

[brendywendy]

If all these other players were so good theyd have played top flight football too. Little>convey>hunt>gilkes>meaker.
Lol.

[brendywendy]

Tap ins, headers or penalties

just like lineker- rubbish

Yep because Lineker was exactly the same type of player as Hunt.

Hunt was a sub in just about every game of the 106, he did play well in the 8th place year. But that was it. Flash in the pan and never ever worth the money that Reading paid to keep him.

If you want to look at where the money went, a vast chunk went on Hunts numerous new contracts for little in return.

not the point- you said he was shit cos he never scored decent goal.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Has anyone actually questioned the assumption in the first post on this thread - and in the title?

We may be setting expectations for other clubs, so that if we do show interest in someone then the price isn't jacked up. We've often done this in the past, and I'd not be surprised to see someone new come in this time.

But if we announced to the world "right, we're looking to buy a striker and we have the money ready" it would be commercial suicide as well as demotivate the existing strikers.

[Handsome Man]

Hunt was OK: when the team played well, he was part of it. A few times when the team was playing shit he also played badly (but nowhere near as bad as Duberry or Shorey, for eg). He has done well with Hull, until he got injured, and looks OK at Wolves. That must make him one of our most successful players ever.

Nobody is going to buy a poster of Hunt, but that shouldn't matter. I would love to have seen more of a fit Little or a beefed-up Convey playing for Reading, but neither were strong enough for any sustained contribution in the Premiership: Hunt filled the gap really well.

[Snowball]

Hunt wasn't a great player technically, but he could play and at his best he would be first on the team sheet in today's RFC.

If he was playing we'd concede less goals.

This list too often "dissed" a player unfairly. He has been signed by two Premiership clubs and played for 3. That isn't an accident.

[Snowball]

Has anyone actually questioned the assumption in the first post on this thread - and in the title?

We may be setting expectations for other clubs, so that if we do show interest in someone then the price isn't jacked up. We've often done this in the past, and I'd not be surprised to see someone new come in this time.

But if we announced to the world "right, we're looking to buy a striker and we have the money ready" it would be commercial suicide as well as demotivate the existing strikers.

Very good point. So should we get in a really, really good close-to-Prem quality midfielder who makes and scores goals (my belief) or

Shaun Wright-Phillips
James Vaughan
Kris Commons
Charlie Austin
Grant Holt
Steve Morison
McKail-Smith
Darren Ambrose
Billy Sharp
Jason Scotland
Leroy Lita
David Beckham?

[zummerset]

That list is mouthwatering but I feel that JM won't make the momey available (even if we sell Church and Feds). All this fiscal prudence is rather depressing.. however wise.

[Alan Partridge]

Yep because Lineker was exactly the same type of player as Hunt.

Hunt was a sub in just about every game of the 106, he did play well in the 8th place year. But that was it. Flash in the pan and never ever worth the money that Reading paid to keep him.

If you want to look at where the money went, a vast chunk went on Hunts numerous new contracts for little in return.

not the point- you said he was shit cos he never scored decent goal.

Nope I said Hunt was shit because he was technically awful. Take away the hard work and ther eis nothing there. No dribbling skill, no consistant delivery, no game changing bits of magic, no footballing brain, nothing. Effort and some decent dead ball delivery sometimes. He'd pop up with the odd goal and di have some good game si'd never deny that. But we are talking about the highest paid player at the club for a while, £25,000 a week. Effort is the fcuking minimum!! I'd want more than that for my outlay.

It was a seperate point i made, i can't think of an attacking player worth his salt that hasn't scored a 'decent' goal. Apart from Hunt. Of course all goals count the same but you'd expect someone with such ludicrous wage demands and a value of his to be able to produce some game winning moments of brilliance surely? The likes of Convey, Salako, Little, Sigursdsson, Harper, Sidwell etc etc etc take your pick of anyone all managed it.

Thing is with Hunt he was so and is so technically dump he's not done it.

One thing you have to give him credit for his work rate has made him get the most out of his 'ability', the fact he's in the Premier League just astounds me, the fact he's probably going to be in his 3rd relegated team doesn't.

[Snowball]

That list is mouthwatering but I feel that JM won't make the momey available (even if we sell Church and Feds). All this fiscal prudence is rather depressing.. however wise.

Plymouth have to pay £760,000 to the tax man by Feb 6

[brendywendy]

Has anyone actually questioned the assumption in the first post on this thread - and in the title?

We may be setting expectations for other clubs, so that if we do show interest in someone then the price isn't jacked up. We've often done this in the past, and I'd not be surprised to see someone new come in this time.

But if we announced to the world "right, we're looking to buy a striker and we have the money ready" it would be commercial suicide as well as demotivate the existing strikers.

tbf the stuff comingh from the club sounded like "we hve targets, and would get someone in if possible- just dont expect ronaldo or owt."
the title of the thread probably just comes from one of the many people who say we wont sign anyone this window, every window, yet when we actually do sign someone, are never to be seen

[Alan Partridge]

Has anyone actually questioned the assumption in the first post on this thread - and in the title?

We may be setting expectations for other clubs, so that if we do show interest in someone then the price isn't jacked up. We've often done this in the past, and I'd not be surprised to see someone new come in this time.

But if we announced to the world "right, we're looking to buy a striker and we have the money ready" it would be commercial suicide as well as demotivate the existing strikers.

tbf the stuff comingh from the club sounded like "we hve targets, and would get someone in if possible- just dont expect ronaldo or owt."
the title of the thread probably just comes from one of the many people who say we wont sign anyone this window, every window, yet when we actually do sign someone, are never to be seen

The problems often lie in that the players Reading do sign are the likes of Michael Dobson and Dan Harding as 'cover' for positions.

But I agree with DG/JK/SC that they aren't likely to announce to the world, we want a striker and we've got £3miilion to buy him with.

I just hope that secretly that is the plan....not neccesarily the £3million bit but that they want a centre forward and are going to buy someone of note.

[brendywendy]

not the point- you said he was shit cos he never scored decent goal.

Nope I said Hunt was shit because he was technically awful. Take away the hard work and ther eis nothing there. No dribbling skill, no consistant delivery, no game changing bits of magic, no footballing brain, nothing. Effort and some decent dead ball delivery sometimes. He'd pop up with the odd goal and di have some good game si'd never deny that. But we are talking about the highest paid player at the club for a while, £25,000 a week. Effort is the fcuking minimum!! I'd want more than that for my outlay.

It was a seperate point i made, i can't think of an attacking player worth his salt that hasn't scored a 'decent' goal. Apart from Hunt. Of course all goals count the same but you'd expect someone with such ludicrous wage demands and a value of his to be able to produce some game winning moments of brilliance surely? The likes of Convey, Salako, Little, Sigursdsson, Harper, Sidwell etc etc etc take your pick of anyone all managed it.

Thing is with Hunt he was so and is so technically dump he's not done it.

One thing you have to give him credit for his work rate has made him get the most out of his 'ability', the fact he's in the Premier League just astounds me, the fact he's probably going to be in his 3rd relegated team doesn't.

every player has a mix of ability and effort, ones with less of one make up for it with the other.and you can become a great player based on effort commitment and attitude alone.
i didnt say he was the technically best player weve ever had, not even on that list.
of course hes not as good as sidwell, little, convey, doyle, kitson etc etcbut that doesnt stop him being one of th ebest players for us in our history.deserves that accolade on achievement alone.

its th esame revisionism that saw shorey touted as awful, and sidwell as shit as soon as they expressed a wish to leave us.
imo

and i hate the hobbit as much as th enext bloke.

[brendywendy]

Has anyone actually questioned the assumption in the first post on this thread - and in the title?

We may be setting expectations for other clubs, so that if we do show interest in someone then the price isn't jacked up. We've often done this in the past, and I'd not be surprised to see someone new come in this time.

But if we announced to the world "right, we're looking to buy a striker and we have the money ready" it would be commercial suicide as well as demotivate the existing strikers.

tbf the stuff comingh from the club sounded like "we hve targets, and would get someone in if possible- just dont expect ronaldo or owt."
the title of the thread probably just comes from one of the many people who say we wont sign anyone this window, every window, yet when we actually do sign someone, are never to be seen

The problems often lie in that the players Reading do sign are the likes of Michael Dobson and Dan Harding as 'cover' for positions.

But I agree with DG/JK/SC that they aren't likely to announce to the world, we want a striker and we've got £3miilion to buy him with.

I just hope that secretly that is the plan....not neccesarily the £3million bit but that they want a centre forward and are going to buy someone of note.

harding was a good player though - probably in the top twenty full backs ive seen at the club.........

[Alan Partridge]

Shorey and Sidwell had both earnt whatever money they were on and earnt their moves away through YEARS of consistant performance. They'd both provided monets of brilliance down the years and were key parts of the team for many a season. I never had or have a problem with either of them.

I had no grievance with Hunt wanting to leave, in fact i was delighted i wouldn't have to watch him anymore. He'd been a back up player for a year, Convey's injury gave him a chance and he performed well like the whole team for a season. No arguements.

Your original point was he was 'one of the best player RFC have had' That's the point I'd argue as well as the major point that he was being rewarded as such. Hunt should neve ever been near the highest paid player at the club. If I was Doyle or Shorey or Little or anyone with technical ability and service to the cause much greater than Hunt I'd have been proper pissed off the club gave him such ludicrous contracts.

As I've said if you want to look at where the money went, was Hunt worth such money? Because for me the two wingers Reading have now probably combined money isn't what they were paying Hunt, and I would genuinely rather have either of them.

[brendywendy]

Shorey and Sidwell had both earnt whatever money they were on and earnt their moves away through YEARS of consistant performance.

agreed- thats why they get in the list of our best players ever above him
also agree about rather watching kebe and mcanuff.
im just saying hes on the list- whether you like it or not.


apologies- ill go away now. just trying to pass some time