Long to WBA

[Mr Angry]

allegedly West Ham offered 3 Million in the window


If he reaches 20 goals this season (fair chance)
and maybe bags a couple more international
goals his price will rise

It says a lot about how football professionals view Shane that the only club who it appears made a serious bid for Shane was the team at the bottom of the Premier League who desperately need to score goals to survive, and all they offered for him was £3M.

If people seriously rated him, more clubs would have been interested and £3M would not have been the only bid that has come to light, especially not in a January transfer window when seriusly stupid money was being paid for players.

[Snowball]

allegedly West Ham offered 3 Million in the window


If he reaches 20 goals this season (fair chance)
and maybe bags a couple more international
goals his price will rise

It says a lot about how football professionals view Shane that the only club who it appears made a serious bid for Shane was the team at the bottom of the Premier League who desperately need to score goals to survive, and all they offered for him was £3M.

If people seriously rated him, more clubs would have been interested and £3M would not have been the only bid that has come to light, especially not in a January transfer window when seriusly stupid money was being paid for players.

It never ceases to amaze me how people base their arguments on hearsay, innuendo and rumour.

Do we KNOW West Ham offered 3 Million?

Do we KNOW nobody else offered?

Do we know what the trigger sum is in Shane's contract?

Perhaps RFC let the message get out that they wouldn't entertain anything less than 5M.


I don't KNOW (and neither, i strongly suspect, do you.)

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Considering Long has no idea it is unlikely we would know, after all Hammond said there had been interest and Long said not!!

What is a shame is that all the talk is about what he may or not be worth and how he can play in The Prem, wil it affect his performances at RFC for the remainder of the season, as if it does we will struggle for goals again.

[Mr Angry]

What people WILL have seen and noted is that, in his 45 minutes against Wales, Shane skied one over from 7 yards and then got his studs caught in the turf with the goal gaping - luckily for Ireland, Duff was able to capitalise on the mistake and score.......

[Snowball]

What people WILL have seen and noted is that, in his 45 minutes against Wales, Shane skied one over from 7 yards and then got his studs caught in the turf with the goal gaping - luckily for Ireland, Duff was able to capitalise on the mistake and score.......

Of course, you would say that. They could, of course note he has 5 goals for Ireland in less than 600 minutes play
and is averaging almost a goal every two domestic games under McDermot, the first time in his career he has had a proper
run of games. They could also note, that on top of his goals under McDermot he has earned his club five more
penalties and got at least six assists. That's 22 goals scored, three more penalties scored by others (25) and six assists (31)

31 domestic goals in 45 games. Sucks, doesn't it?


BTW, I reckon it was a dummy. The TV pundits did, the OS did.

[ZacNaloen]

What people WILL have seen and noted is that, in his 45 minutes against Wales, Shane skied one over from 7 yards and then got his studs caught in the turf with the goal gaping - luckily for Ireland, Duff was able to capitalise on the mistake and score.......

So he didn't dummy it because he got a call from Duff?

[Snowball]

What people WILL have seen and noted is that, in his 45 minutes against Wales, Shane skied one over from 7 yards and then got his studs caught in the turf with the goal gaping - luckily for Ireland, Duff was able to capitalise on the mistake and score.......

So he didn't dummy it because he got a call from Duff?

The problem is, if he did that he did well. Therefore he can't have done it. See?

[ZacNaloen]

Church needs to find some confidence and he needs it soon or his career is going to go backwards.

We know he has the ability, he showed it last year.

[brendywendy]

but ive seen church play well, and score great goals, so maybe we shouldnt just write him off as utter shit just yet.

[Elmer Park]

but ive seen church play well, and score great goals, so maybe we shouldnt just write him off as utter shit just yet.

Couldn't agree more. The guy is clearly very low on confidence at the moment but has shown in the past that he has something both with Reading and Wales Under 21s, including against England Under 21s. He has shortcomings to his game but has a decent long range shot and more importantly has the knack of being in the right place to pick up a poachers goal like he did against Ipswich and at Hull and almost did against QPR.

McDermott has tried to help him regain his self belief by showing faith in him. So far that hasn't worked out and he may have to look at another way of getting back to form but let's not write the guy off completely yet, he is still young and learning the game.

[Snowball]

Totally agree that he HAS done it.

Which makes his very poor form this year all the more mystifying.

If you came to watch RFC right now, you'd think he was a player totally out of his depth
not even a good League 1 striker. I am NOT saying that (because I saw him last year.)

[Mr Angry]

What people WILL have seen and noted is that, in his 45 minutes against Wales, Shane skied one over from 7 yards and then got his studs caught in the turf with the goal gaping - luckily for Ireland, Duff was able to capitalise on the mistake and score.......

So he didn't dummy it because he got a call from Duff?

Nope - look at his reaction immediately after the goal; had he dummied it, he would have been ecstatic - instead, he barely celebrates. Thats the sign of a striker who has missed a golden opportunity to score and knows it.

And whilst the commentators at first thought that Shane had dummied it for Duff, (my initial reaction was that he had played it on to him and I thought "quality pass Shane") after looking at it again they made the point that Shane "hadn't known too much about it".

Obviously, if you think Shane can do no wrong and is the greatest player in the World, then you won't see it that way......

Incidentally, I don't have some sort of vendetta against Shane; I like the lad and think he is a decent Championship striker, but to suggest - as someone has done - that he is the greatest striker ever to play for Reading, and then to vomit up stats showing that, statistically by a given set of ever changing criteria (selected to enhance the posters point of view) that he is, in fact, better than Messi, Drogba and Rooney combined is, frankly, laughable.

[loyalroyal4life]

Hoops to consider Long move

Neil Lennon has intimated he could make a summer move for Reading's Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long.

The 24-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has spoken of his desire to play in a higher division.

Long has said he hopes to play in the Premier League with the Royals next term, but Lennon looks as though he will try to lure the former Cork City ace to the SPL.

The Celtic boss told The Daily Record: "Shane is a player who interests us and that's as far as I'm going.

"He is a Reading player, you know, and I don't want to comment on other team's players.

"The transfer window has been and gone and we'll assess things in the summer."
Vow



Long's contract does not end this summer does it?

[NR_Royal]

No.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 162436.stm

[Snowball]

What people WILL have seen and noted is that, in his 45 minutes against Wales, Shane skied one over from 7 yards and then got his studs caught in the turf with the goal gaping - luckily for Ireland, Duff was able to capitalise on the mistake and score.......

So he didn't dummy it because he got a call from Duff?

Incidentally, I don't have some sort of vendetta against Shane; I like the lad and think he is a decent Championship striker, but to suggest - as someone has done - that he is the greatest striker ever to play for Reading, and then to vomit up stats showing that, statistically by a given set of ever changing criteria (selected to enhance the posters point of view) that he is, in fact, better than Messi, Drogba and Rooney combined is, frankly, laughable.

CRAP. I have only ever said that he was better than most said he was and that he needed to play in 442 to be seen at his best, and that he would be a 10-goal a season English-Prem player, a 20-goal a season Championship player, or a 30-goal a season League 1 player.

He has now scored more goals for RFC in the championship seasons than Doyle did 37 v 36 and he is way ahead of Doyle in goals overall. He has 3000 minutes to get 11 goals to pass him. He is different from Doyle but IMO he will eventually be seen as more valuable.


As for 20 goals this season, seems likely now, doesn't it, as he's already scored 17 and has 15+1+ an international or two to get them

[glass half full]

S. Church now = S. Long a while ago?

[sandman]

I know the conversation's moved on but I don't know of a single striker who would dummy the ball from 7 yards out.

[Snowball]

I know the conversation's moved on but I don't know of a single striker who would dummy the ball from 7 yards out.

I do


And Arsenal even dummied a penalty

[sandman]

I know the conversation's moved on but I don't know of a single striker who would dummy the ball from 7 yards out.

I do


And Arsenal even dummied a penalty

Actually Pires air kicked that penalty he meant to pass it to Henry.As I said No striker in their right mind would dummy the ball if they had the chance to score a tap in.

[Norfolk Royal]

No striker in his right mind would pass the ball to someone from a penalty as it is against the rules.