SJM has Good Intentions, Honest.

After reading some, if not many, comments about our ‘supposed’ financial state that Reading are particularly in I feel I need to go on the defensive.

This season especially we have seen big earners Kevin Doyle (Wolves for £6.5 million), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolves for free), Leroy Lita (Released, yet to find a club), Michael Duberry (Wycombe Wanderers for free), and Graeme Murty (Released, on trial at Southampton) all leave the club without replacements being brought in.

Dave Kitson (£5.5 million to Stoke City), Ibrahima Sonko (£2.25 million to Stoke City), Nicky Shorey (Around £4 million to Aston Villa) were all sold at the beginning of last season, so on paper it seems that Reading have made significant profit.

However, the price of relegation far exceeds what people expect. Given the demands of sponsorships and TV money in the top flight and it’s completely different compared to the Championship.

TV money is a small fraction from what you do get in the Premier League and the newly constructed media centre as well as stadium expansion plans all cost plenty of money. The club also paid for the upgrade on the Madejski Hotel annoyingly.

Player’s wages increase significantly and although there's a relegation wage decrease, it's still more than they were originally was on. The parachute payments simply help combat all those things.

Not to mention the empty seats that appears more consistently throughout the season. The playoff game against Burnley wasn’t even a sell out - just one game from Wembley. Every empty seat costs money and if we had the attendances that Sheffield United get we would be able to splash out £2 million on a single player on a regular basis.

It is nothing more than extraordinary that a club, like ours, are balanced brilliantly after suffering relegation, we could have easily gambled to the extent of Southampton, Charlton or Norwich (who are all relegated) and find ourselves in a much more complicated situation.

Birmingham City, for instance, spent two season budgets in one and if they failed to win promotion, they would find themselves in dire straits. Therefore, for a team like Reading, still with many talented players on high wages, it would have been foolish to impose our slim budget any further and gambled unnecessarily.

That’s why this supposed ‘huge war chest’ never came around.

This season has a different prospect however, we can’t afford to gamble anymore and the inevitable departure of Doyle and soon to be departed Stephen Hunt was needed to make sure the club stay stable. This is why that transfer money isn’t available for new players; I’m sure there is some but not to the extent some fans are expecting.

Some unfair criticism is currently pointed at Sir John Madejski for this, it’s becoming more of an everyday occurrence, as it appears that he hasn’t handed any of the previous managers’ war chests to improve the squad; however, there is a reason for this.

He gambled £1 million on Leroy Lita and we won promotion, even though the £70,000 spent on Doyle was a more worthwhile expenditure; he must have that in mind.

Financially speaking we lost £1 million on Leroy but gained £6.4 million on Doyle. Hardly need a mathematician to work out what are the better figures?

So he doesn’t see spending big will be beneficial for the club, and as there are not any Arab billionaires lying around, I think it’s the sensible choice.

The issue SJM has is losing money through his own pocket. The cash he’s invested into the academy has been somewhat pointless ever since its existence but now it is finally paying dividends.

The emergence of players like Jem Karacan, Alex Pearce, Julian Kelly, James Henry, Hal Robson-Kanu, Scott Davies, Shane Long, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Simon Church, Simon Cox, Mikkel Anderson will all, sooner rather than later, make an impact on the first team and his investment is starting to look worthwhile.

Before he saw many of players graduating from the academy, that had potential, being sold off cheaply with other clubs making grand profit.

SJM knows the value of youth and seen his club miss big windfalls as good talent left to make a name for themselves elsewhere.

The fees that some of youth have attracted after leaving have been unforgiving.

Darius Henderson was sold for practically nothing to Gillingham, he moved to Watford for £450,000 and then to Sheffield United for £2 million. Big money lost.

Nathan Tyson moved to Wycombe for a fee believed to be £100,000, and after performing well he soon transferred to Nottingham Forest for £750,000. Still big money lost.

Simon Cox was given to Swind*n Town for £200,000 and not long after he moved to rivals West Brom for £1.5 million. Good enough to lead West Brom’s frontline; surely he would have been a success at Reading?

Jamie Ashdown left on a free to join Portsmouth and we had to settle for a little compensation fee.

All this money nurturing talent was wasted as other clubs benefitted; the ones we trained and introduced into football.

Brendan Rodgers knows this and arguably, it was one of the major reasons for his appointment to get the best out of youth.

Most of the current young players would have been fresh faced 15/16 year olds when our new manager was in charge of the Reading youths back in 2003/2004, now Rodgers have seen them grown in men ready for the next stage of their careers and who would be better to implement them into the first team.

Now it’s time for the management to stop letting these players slip through the club’s fingers, as it’s now time to profit with success and top-flight football.

Pearce: The Ideal Candidate

Down the Baron the other day (what a god awful Wetherspoon it is), I, and some other disgruntled Reading enthusiasts, discussed who would be best to replace Graeme Murty as captain.

It ended up being quite rational as we all came to different conclusions. It was quite astonishing actually.

One argued for James Harper, a brutal runner that quite-frankly does nothing worthwhile on a football pitch, as he’s been at the club for the longest and knows Reading inside and out. Unfortunately, my misguided friend had one too many Carlings’ and it was agreed that Harper would be an awful choice.

The thought of him attending pre and post match interviews fashioning those ridiculous basketball jerseys are cringe worthy and something the club doesn’t really need. Having Andre Bikey in the team alone make Reading a laughing stock.

Supposedly, Harper’s a midfield general but in the ideal Royals team, he would be confined to warming the bench, as he doesn’t make the impact that he once had. He misses Steve Sidwell; he misses him a lot. Fans have not seen the real James Harper, whatever that is, for a long time now and if a club comes in with a modest fee, I can see Rodgers selling him without worry.

One ill-educated Reading fan actually recommended Bikey and resounding laughter subsequently followed. He was dead serious as well.

He claimed that Bikey is a fully-fledged international and has character on the pitch. Well his over exuberant rant after being dismissed at Burnley is not character it was just plain stupidity.

The sensible one offered Gunnarsson and I can see why. The Icelander seems to be the father figure in the team, the go-to guy, the man that often gets the team out of trouble.

If he were five years younger and a constant first team regular, he would be installed as captain as soon as Murty left but that is not the case. If he was appointed skipper it would only be short-term solution and this problem will arose itself again next season.

Another wants Ivar Ingimarsson and to be fair he seems to be the readymade replacement. He was the forgotten man last season; we did miss him considerably, especially in the latter parts of the season.

At 31, he is not too old and he could be the next captain for the four or five years but it’s undecided whether he will be a regular next season as injuries have hampered him for a while now.

I’m a little more left wing than my friends are. I went for Alex Pearce.

Although I would like to hide the fact that he was born in Oxf*rd, his all round ability has been thought a lot of and the way he would have a rant at someone who’s ten years his senior was simply inspiring and a little intimidating in all honesty.

Many may see him as too young, being 20, to lead a team. What is age apart from a nuisance?

The way he conducts himself and the way he leads by example certainly impresses. Whether it’s a headed clearance or creating momentum with a little run out of defence, he gives Reading so much.

Rodgers should see him as pinnacle to his plans and a regular berth at the heart of Reading’s defence is necessary for the club to move on with the next generation.

He’s grown up with the likes of Julian Kelly, Jem Karacan, and James Henry and if he’s installed as captain will give these players the inspiration to be confident to break into the first team if they perform well.

Pearce prides himself on having a strong aerial presence and good awareness. Those assets are clearly visible and his game can only improve.

When sitting close to the pitch at the Graeme Murty testimonial, you could hear Pearce screaming at the whole team and at certain individuals about this, that, and everything. He bellowed at Jay Tabb about positioning and he looked generally upset when the first half penalty was awarded for a nothing challenge.

Although appointing him will probably end up being wide of the mark, a strong character is needed to lead the Royals into the top flight.

And for me, Pearce is the ideal candidate.

Who do you think it should be?

Time for Long to Deliver

I will galvanise a sublime panorama for you. Just imagine a striker that has no real or significant attributes, that has lived on his Irish pals fame, who’s been around for three season and yet to make any thorough impact will lead our attack next season.

Shane Long has been given number 9 and number 9 is what he will wear.
I’ve always been a Longer fan and his 24 is symbolised on the back of my rather too bright Orange away shirt. His four well-taken goals against Tolo IF will surely place him as hot favourite to fill spearhead the attacking 3 in a 4-3-3 that Brendan Rodgers is working so prominently on.

A four nil drumming is always morale boosting and will escalate Reading’s confidence that will be taken so epically into the new season but it’s Long’s goals that were the important factor in this win.

Although the part time pub footballers that we are coming against in Sweden can rarely be classed as ‘competition’, it’s always good to see strikers amongst the goals and with Long scoring all four it shows the fans that he can be relied upon to get a goal or two. Maybe Kevin Doyle’s departure has placed more emphasis on Long and stepping into his boots may be the best thing for him, he’s no longer hiding in the shadows.

The fans often have split loyalties on Longer; half believe he is utter crap and the other half are bedazzled by him. It is difficult to know what Long will turn up but if it’s in one that turned up against Charlton Athletic at home and Norwich City away last season, Reading will not be missing Doyler at all this term.

It’s going to be a big season for him and I rather doubt that he will be given much of an opportunity by Rodgers’ as with only one attacker up top he will need to be performing from the beginning or he’ll find himself warming the bench once again.

He’s needs to be in the goals now and be scoring and playing well with every game he plays up until the kick off the new campaign.

His photo-shoot for the kit launch gave an awe of arrogance from him and with the ‘marketing’ people choosing Long, it indicates that the people behind the scenes all believe that he will make an outstanding impact.

He’s now 22 and been on the fringes of the first team for a long time so it is time he makes his mark and my word I hope he does.

Get Real GetReading - Versatile Davies looking at Breakthrough

Stumbling over some Reading FC news, as you do, I came across a GetReading story about Scott Davies that was rather bemusing.

It was not the fact he has been highlighted in the story that was the problem but it was the way the story was constructed and began that startled and annoyed me.

It began, “Rooming with Mikkel Andersen might not have been Scott Davies’ ideal choice, but the midfielder’s two goals on Thursday will help him get over it.”
What the hell does this mean?

Davies doesn’t like Andersen? Is there an instinctive lack of collectiveness in the changing room? I have no idea but in the future let’s hope that Jonny Fordham try to find a more comforting and realistic angle for a story; he makes me miss Nick Ive.

Davies, on the other, should and will be given this season to prove his worth and show why he is a Championship player. He’s performed amicably at Andersh*t and was a big factor for their promotion two seasons ago. His goal scoring rate wasn’t bad either - 13 in 41 outings.

Davies now comes into a side that has a new manager installed and has the chance to show why he deserves a crack in the side and two goals against the Swedish part-timers Jonsered would do him the world of good.

With the introduction of seven substitutes in the Championship next season and with his versatility, he can play right back, right midfield or in the centre, he will look hot favourite to take up a position on the bench. Ideally, he’s our new Brynjar Gunnarsson.

The Republic of Ireland hopeful is relishing playing with some good quality players, a far cry from what he had to put up with at Aldersh*t. He expressed to the Post that he’s enjoyed playing and training with Jay Tabb and Gunnarsson as he is learning a lot.

But with all Jonny Fordham jokes aside, Davies may step up, make a noticeable impact next season, and join Reading’s crop of youngsters to lead us to the top flight once again.

Murty's Highlighted on Sky Sports

Sky Sports special on the one and only Graeme Murty. God I miss him already.