January Transfer Window.

[Andy]

Joao is a strange one - had a red hot spell a couple of seasons ago for Reading, maybe even a good season.

And he’s infinitely better than a Hirst or a Vale.

But if Reading are allowing him to leave on a free, it’s not the most confidence inspiring move.

But if he ended up being the last option available, I think he’d be a decent enough addition.

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, JoeH said:

I do agree, but you miss out on 99% of all of your targets, that's the nature of the beast. When Jan 1st rolls around you have a 30 strong list of strikers you'd be happy with and with each day that passes another one is crossed off for some reason or another.

Eventually you end up with one, it might not have been the ideal one or the one you'd have chosen if you could've, but you get one. Do you say "great we got a striker" or do you say "that's such a waste of time we've missed out on 29 players this window". Maybe that's an outlook thing

Obviously, if you do end up with a striker, any striker , (which we haven't currently btw) it depends on who the striker you end up with is. If you end up with George Hirst you can say with a fair degree of confidence that a team of 15 have wasted yours and their time all summer and the Club's money. If the signing turns out to be successful they've done their job but they certainly haven't done their job either if they fail to unearth anyone the Club can actually bring in.

[Fraserkirky]

I’d take Joao at the 13th hour on deadline day. 

[RevidgeBlue]

7 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Lucas Joao is being offered around everywhere by his agent and is free to go. If Reading don't want him and the agent can't find him a club then how great is he?

Depends entirely on his attitude I suppose. That needs a Fergie looking him squarely in the eye and assessing whether he has the hunger and desire for the move. Not reams of data analysis.

[Sweaty Gussets]

4 minutes ago, Andy said:

Joao is a strange one - had a red hot spell a couple of seasons ago for Reading, maybe even a good season.

And he’s infinitely better than a Hirst or a Vale.

But if Reading are allowing him to leave on a free, it’s not the most confidence inspiring move.

But if he ended up being the last option available, I think he’d be a decent enough addition.

He might bring a bit of excitement, he's at least good to watch when he's on song....just not sure how often that happens. 

[Theaxe15]

Deal till the end of the season for Joao wouldn’t be horrendous. Relatively low risk and a different type of striking option 

[J*B]

We’d have a lot more options if we’d have sold BBD for 8.8M in summer like I recommended. Can’t moan now that we don’t have any money when we turned down enough to buy a good winger and striker. Just saying. 

[Northcote blues]

Just now, J*B said:

We’d have a lot more options if we’d have sold BBD for 8.8M in summer like I recommended. Can’t moan now that we don’t have any money when we turned down enough to buy a good winger and striker. Just saying. 

Plenty of folk would’ve said if we’d have kept him we’d be nearer the top2, it’s easy to say that we should’ve sold him in August, hindsight. In my opinion…

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

That needs a Fergie looking him squarely in the eye and assessing whether he has the hunger and desire for the move. Not reams of data analysis.

Again I really don't understand the change in direction here. Not only was the original chat about live scouting, I am not a data analyst. On top of that, I don't think anyone would argue data can show you "desire".

[Exiled_Rover]

3 minutes ago, J*B said:

We’d have a lot more options if we’d have sold BBD for 8.8M in summer like I recommended. Can’t moan now that we don’t have any money when we turned down enough to buy a good winger and striker. Just saying. 

Doesn't help that he's not scored in 9 games.

[joey_big_nose]

14 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Lucas Joao is being offered around everywhere by his agent and is free to go. If Reading don't want him and the agent can't find him a club then how great is he?

EFL player of the month Feb 22, scored 33 Championship goals in 77 starts in last 2.5 seasons.... pretty good?

I will read the Reading Forums in interest.

[RevidgeBlue]

2 minutes ago, Realistic Rover said:

Plenty of folk would’ve said if we’d have kept him we’d be nearer the top2, it’s easy to say that we should’ve sold him in August, hindsight. In my opinion…

And whilst he has gone off the boil recently, there's by no means any guarantee that anyone who did come in would have equalled or bettered his nine League goals and 4 assists at this stage anyway.

[Ossydave]

Joao' record the last few seasons:

20/21 played 39 and scored 19

21/22 played 24 and scored 10

22/23 played 14 and scored 4 so far

Sam Gallaghers:

20/21 Played 42 and scored 6

21/22 Played 39 and scored 8

22/23 Played 21 and scored 4 so far

 

I'd take Joao over the ineffective Gallagher (one of our highest paid players) any day of the week

[Sweaty Gussets]

I like Joao, he's an old school maverick, and for that reason I can't see JDT signing him. 

[Silas]

According to Wiki:

Lucas Joao  =  40 goals in 100 appearances

Brereton Diaz = 40 goals in 128 appearances

Exact same time period in the same division.

 

Now stats don't always tell us everything. But I'm not sure we're in a position to turn our noses up at a player that has a better recent strike rate than our 'star man'. Whether you argue about who's played on the wings or not. (I'm guessing a lot of those Joao appearances are from the bench too). 

Particularly when one of our biggest problems at the moment is scoring goals. 

[joey_big_nose]

6 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

EFL player of the month Feb 22, scored 33 Championship goals in 77 starts in last 2.5 seasons.... pretty good?

I will read the Reading Forums in interest.

Had a look on the forums. Seems Paul Ince is not playing him (I mean Ince forced out Brad Friedel so if he's pushing you out maybe that's an endorsement?) Plus they've got a couple of big name big salary target men - Andy Carroll, Shane Long - so can see why Joao's being let go... 

No hint on the forums about attitude or anything. Seems perfect to me.

Edited January 27, 2023 by joey_big_nose

[RevidgeBlue]

2 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Joao' record the last few seasons:

20/21 played 39 and scored 19

21/22 played 24 and scored 10

22/23 played 14 and scored 4 so far

Sam Gallaghers:

20/21 Played 42 and scored 6

21/22 Played 39 and scored 8

22/23 Played 21 and scored 4 so far

 

I'd take Joao over the ineffective Gallagher (one of our highest paid players) any day of the week

Hard to disagree. Of all the options out there he seems like one of the least worst which probably means he won't even be on our radar.

I suppose in our case a lot would depend on his attitude the last time he was here.

 

[den]

42 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I've read it all now. So according to you, the job of this army of 15 is to identify players who theoretically might possess the qualities we require but who we can't afford?

What's the point in that? Surely they need to be identifying players who would be of benefit who we can afford?

Surely we’re not paying people to scout potential loan signings?

Theres two separate things here…

Scouting that should happen every day of every week.

The loan market.

You can’t surely “scout” the loan market. That simply boils down to what the situation is at other clubs at the time… and what the cost is. 
 

 

[oldjamfan1]

1 minute ago, joey_big_nose said:

Had a look. Seems Paul Ince is not playing him (I mean Ince forced out Brad Friedel so if he's pushing you out maybe that's an endorsement?) Plus they've got a few big name big salary target men - Andy Carroll, Shane Long - so can see why Joao's being let go... 

No hint on the forums about attitude or anything. Seems perfect to me.

Is that true? I always thought Friedel forced the move due to his unfortunate financial problems?

[jim mk2]

21 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Lucas Joao is being offered around everywhere by his agent and is free to go. If Reading don't want him and the agent can't find him a club then how great is he?

The lad can do it at Championship level clearly and would be an asset to the team if he's got his head on right

Offer him a deal at less than half his current wages on the last day and leave it on the table

 

[Ghost7]

Interesting that one of the most underwhelming and unimaginative transfer windows is occurring under the new setup. It's hugely disappointing given our hopes and strong league position again.

The squad needed strengthening in both full back positions, two new centre midfielders bringing in and an attacker or two as a bonus. I expected extra numbers now partly to make up for the short window the new team had in summer and mentioned so often.

As a season ticket holder the lack of strategy behind the scenes and their ability to get results time after time does make me wonder why I bother. Let's get it straight we've supposedly missed out on a goalkeeper and a centre back, two positions that wouldn't have been a priority for you this window if you were watching the games.

Having to get everything done on deadline day, or even in the final week it's bad planning and execution right the way through and the people in charge must be made accountable when the times right, the problem is that doesn't happen at Rovers.

Waggott and now sadly Broughton...

These guys can seemingly talk the talk and that's about it. Every window is important and about building for the future, so far they are not delivering and if it continues I wouldn't be surprised to see Tomasson walk.

1 6 month loan isn't good enough. Lets not pretend they've done well, the forecasting in the summer had us set to be short, we were, the forecasting now has us set to be left short come February. We probably will be.

It can't happen again next summer. If it does they've got to go!

[jim mk2]

1 minute ago, Ghost7 said:

Interesting that one of the most underwhelming and unimaginative transfer windows is occurring under the new setup. It's hugely disappointing given our hopes and strong league position again.

 

Yep, new regime but same old failed strategies.

Common demoninators are one up the food chain

 

[roverandout]

45 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Dialogue with me then. My take is that the players they've worked on are players they clearly believe are attainable - and I think we'd all agree that Porteous' and Undav's are attainable. Frustratingly we seem to have missed out.

Frustratingly or just don't want to pay the wages or transfer fees?

[Sweaty Gussets]

5 minutes ago, Ghost7 said:

Interesting that one of the most underwhelming and unimaginative transfer windows is occurring under the new setup. It's hugely disappointing given our hopes and strong league position again.

Who did we sign last January? 

[RevidgeBlue]

6 minutes ago, Ghost7 said:

Interesting that one of the most underwhelming and unimaginative transfer windows is occurring under the new setup. It's hugely disappointing given our hopes and strong league position again.

The squad needed strengthening in both full back positions, two new centre midfielders bringing in and an attacker or two as a bonus. I expected extra numbers now partly to make up for the short window the new team had in summer and mentioned so often.

As a season ticket holder the lack of strategy behind the scenes and their ability to get results time after time does make me wonder why I bother. Let's get it straight we've supposedly missed out on a goalkeeper and a centre back, two positions that wouldn't have been a priority for you this window if you were watching the games.

Having to get everything done on deadline day, or even in the final week it's bad planning and execution right the way through and the people in charge must be made accountable when the times right, the problem is that doesn't happen at Rovers.

Waggott and now sadly Broughton...

These guys can seemingly talk the talk and that's about it. Every window is important and about building for the future, so far they are not delivering and if it continues I wouldn't be surprised to see Tomasson walk.

1 6 month loan isn't good enough. Lets not pretend they've done well, the forecasting in the summer had us set to be short, we were, the forecasting now has us set to be left short come February. We probably will be.

It can't happen again next summer. If it does they've got to go!

Great post.