A New Era Magnificent 7

A lot can happen in a week. After a thrilling weekend rocking and raving at Reading Festival followed by a ‘lads’ week in Bulgaria, football kind of took a disappointing backseat in my agenda in the last week or so. English papers were hard to come by in Eastern Europe and I don’t think they’ve discovered internet yet, so I was thoroughly intrigued to see whether Reading had been able to improve their squad before deadline day on my return.

Straight on the internet, I go, what a wonderful thing it is, and I see James Harper and Liam Rosenior had both departed to rivals Sheffield United and Ipswich Town respectively on season long loans. What? I had to read again. These players were important ones in the last two years and practically releasing them can’t be good business for us, my only logic is that they were on heavy wages and the clubs that secured their signatures agreed to pay them.

Harper’s departure especially, was particularly baffling; he’s been at the club at nine years and has seen Reading through the complete transformation from struggling in League One to top half in the Premier League. Has he been denied a testimonial now? Who knows but the finest memory of Harper I have is after the 1-0 defeat against Tottenham when we were practically relegated he was the only player to give a lap of appreciation, well can’t really call it honour. That moment will stick to remind me what a character he was and how much he contributed to club and how much the club meant to him. For that, he will be fondly remembered.

In all honesty I was never a big fan of Harper as he normally runs around passing backwards for most of the game but handing him to Sheffield United is disappointing, I thought Wolves were interested and even though how much I dislike Wolves moving there would have been more satisfying.

It shows that Brendan Rodgers is getting rid of everything Coppell and bringing in his own stamp on the team. I understand the ‘new era new start’ motto but giving good players to local promotion rivals cannot make sense, can it?

The additions of Brian Howard, Shaun Cummings and Darren O’Dea on deadline day will strengthen the squad and we have potential three main first team players that could have significant impact for the rest of the season. I just hope these weren’t panic buys, something the club is not fond off after Tommy Burns’ hardly magnificent seven back in 1998.

A couple of weeks ago, Gzegrorz Rasiak and Jobi McAnuff joined Ryan Bertrand and Matt Mills, who were signed earlier on in the window, and we look to have substantial cover in most departments. I still believe we remain a quality striker shy of being ultimately competitive come the end of season but we should have enough in the bag to be on course for a playoff spot.

The seven players we signed back in 1998 on deadline day were Scott Howie, Robert Fleck, Stuart Gray, Jimmy Crawford, Paul Brayson, Jim McIntyre and Patrick Kelly and this group of players struggled to change a side on poor form and out of luck. I’m hoping this new crop of players will do a lot better.

I’m not saying we are in anywhere the dangers of yesteryear but the flurry of players entering the club is certainly a revelation. Does Rodgers believe the squad currently is good enough? Did he panic buy and only found some players available? How will these players adapt? and how long will it take them?

I’m not sure what to make of this signings. Cummings is 20 and for the future, Howard is still relatively young and adds some experience to a very young midfield. O’Dea I presume will act as cover across the back four. Rasiak is another option up front, something different; McAnuff will add competition for Jimmy Kebe and Hal Robson-Kanu. Mills and Bertrand are regulars at the back; so in all some good players have come through the door but is it a case for too much too soon? I hope they can gel as soon as possible.