dagoofive's Reading FC Challenge Diary

[dagoofive]

dagoofive's Reading FC Challenge Diary

So, the challenge is to take a Reading team without much hope of any real success and turn them into a top 6 side and cup winners within the first season, with even more ambitious targets for the next two years.

I decided for the time being to take control of everything myself. I'll probably let the backroom staff take over some tasks before long, but at the start I like to be in total control.




Budget negotiations were next - that job security bar filled me with hope




2nd July 2006

My first action as the new manager of Reading was to negotiate a sponsorship package. As it was my target to win a domestic cup this season, I decided to try and squeeze as much money as possible out of the potential sponsors for each round my team advance in either cup, and for wining a domestic cup. I felt that the offer from FIFA.com was the right one to go for, especially as Reading will only be tied to this deal for two years. My team will improve greatly in quality over the next two seasons, so hopefully there will be much improved sponsorship deals available after this one expires.




The pre-season also need to be sorted. First up was a lengthy training camp to improve the poor fitness of the squad. Two weeks in St. Moritz was booked. Other pre-season events were also arranged today, such as a sponsor day, a fan day and a players’ party to help improve the atmosphere around the club.

Five friendly games have also been organised, the first of which will be at home against Crystal Palace on the 19th July. This will be followed five days later by another home game against Stoke and the final domestic friendly versus Leeds United.
After that I wanted the lads to have a bit more of a test, and found two possibilities on the 3rd August with both Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors available for a game. I decided to go with Boca Juniors as I fear that with Bayern the risk of a potentially embarrassing and certainly morale depleting defeat will be too high. The final pre-season game will take place on the 9th August against South Korean side Songnam Ilhwa, which will hopefully see Reading come away with a confidence boost ahead of the first game of the Premiership season when we welcome Middlesbrough to the Madejski Stadium ten days later.

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2nd July Continued

Right, time to take a look at the squad and see just how bad things are
I was fairly impressed overall, Shane Long looks like a star in the making and Seol Ki Hyeon and Steve Sidwell look good in the midfield. The players available will suit my favoured 442 formation. Here’s the squad as it stands.




The team does need to be improved, and here’s how I plan to go about it.

Goalkeeper
With an aging Marcus Hahnemann and a below par Graham Stack, a new goalkeeper was high on the list of targets. Preferably somebody 23 or under and with a bit of potential.

Defence
Ideally a new centre back would be brought in, with high tackling, man marking and heading abilities, somebody to dominate at the back. Also and attack minded right back to replace 31 year old defense minded Graeme Murty was an option I would look into. Murty is a solid, experienced defender and mentally strong so it won’t be the end of the world if he stays in the first team.

Midfield
The two best players in the squad are midfielders so this area is strong, but ideally a new winger will come in to join Seol on the flanks. I would also definately like a strong midfielder who has a bit of defensive ability to partner the more attacking Steve Sidwell in the middle.

Forwards
With no one player standing out as a potential 20 goal a season man it looked like I would have to bring in a talented Target Man to lead the line up front. Bringing in a second forward was also an option if the finances allowed for such extravagance.


To help raise funds I decided to let three players know they could move on. I didn’t see James Harper having a major role in the team and Graham Stack, the goalkeeper, wasn’t in my plans as at least one new keeper would be brought in. Both have been transfer listed. Glenn Little has also been made available for free.

Dave Kitson has been put up for loan, with the hope that first team football might just improve his poor finishing ability. Shane Long has also been made available for loan, but I wouldn’t mind if he stays with us as I think he could prove valuable to the team. I have my doubts about Leroy Lita but decided I would let him stay and give him the chance to prove his worth.

Next up I had a look at the youth team, and there was one player who really stood out. Ben Clemence, a pacey 16 year old striker with exceptional finishing for a lad of his age. He’ll certainly be one to keep an eye on and I intend to give him a run out in a couple of the pre-season games.




A quick glance at the contracts showed that there were eight players with contracts expiring at the end of the season. I decided to see how things went and think about which to renew later in the year.

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2nd July Continued

To round off a busy first day I set about seeing who I could bring in. I started by finding out who actually wanted to join the club.



Phil Jagielka immediately caught my attention as he could be the ideal partner for Steve Sidwell in central midfield.



He has a minimum release clause in his contract, but it’s for £10million. That’s not a sum I can afford or justify spending on one player. A tentative bid of £4.4million plus bonuses and a 20% sell on fee was put in. The bid totalled around £7million including all bonuses. I eagerly await Sheffield United’s response.

Ronnie Wallwork was fairly cheap and could cover a midfield or defensive role but he didn’t have the quality to justify spending the £1million plus it would take to buy him. After a look at his contract though it seemed he had a release clause for clubs from a higher division. If I could get him on a cheap enough contract he could be useful as a squad player.




A goalkeeper was important for the team so I had a scout ‘round and turned up a few possibilities. Maik Taylor and Brad Friedel are both interested, but at 34 and 35 respectively I decided to only put in an offer if I couldn’t get a younger keeper. Maarten Stekelenburg and Craig Gordon look promising, both are young enough at 23 and their values are less than £1million each. I proposed £1.7 and £1.6million deals respectively and waited for replies from Ajax and Hearts.




Both have their strengths and weaknesses so I was unsure which to sign, although signing both is an option.

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5th July

The team are away in Switzerland and I finally received news that West Brom have accepted that Ronnie Wallwork can leave. I offered him a quite low £11,400 per week as he seems keen to leave the midlands club and I don’t expect him to be a first team regular. Negotiations only reached a “basis for further negotiation”.

On the new defender front I was looking at two central defenders, Jonathan Fortune and Philippe Christanval, who are both transfer listed by their clubs and interested in coming to Reading. Also Liam Rosenior looked like a possibility as a replacement for Graeme Murty at right back.





I sent out agents to find out how much I would have to shell out for each of them.


An agent also reported back about Antonio Di Natale, who I’d been looking at for a few days. Udinese wanted £3.6million for him. That’s too much to spend on one player if the deal for Phil Jagielka goes through. I heard today that Sheffield United had rejected my initial bid for Jagielka though. After some consideration I upped the offer a bit to £5million plus bonuses. This offer was accepted and a contract was put on the table for Jagielka and his agent to consider.

I did decide to put in a bid for Antonio Di Natale, which totalled nearly £4million and had a 5% sell-on clause. I would only pay £1.1million up front, with the rest payable in bonuses. If that was accepted I would have got myself a good deal and a good player. Di Natale played for me when I was manager of Udinese. He performed very well then so I have high expectations and I’m confident he won’t let me or Reading down if he joins the club.





7th July

I got some good and somewhat unexpected news; former Manchester United midfielder Ronnie Wallwork has accepted my low contract offer and passed his medical. Turns out he wanted to leave West Brom more that I thought. He joins the club on a free transfer and has beem given number 13 shirt.

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9th July

Udinese got back to me about Antonio Di Cesare, they’ve rejected my bid. I raised the offer to £1.3million up front with a 10% sell-on fee and the same bonuses, and then I crossed my fingers. Udinese accepted the offer. My £1.7million bid for Maarten Stekelenburg was also accepted by Ajax. I offered contracts to both players.





Two of the agents I sent out have reported back. Jonathan Fortune is valued at £850,000 and Liam Rosenior is £1.3million. Both of these are lower than I was expecting. I bid the amounts suggested for both players.


10th July

Excellent news arrived this morning; Phil Jagielka has agreed personal terms with Reading and passed his medical. The rest of the lads were pleased to see him join the club, with Steve Sidwell especially happy with his arrival – hopefully that’s a good sign and they will play well together in the midfield. Jagielka had been given the number 14 shirt and signed for a hefty initial fee of £5million, he will join up with his new team mates for the second half of their pre season trip to St. Moritz.




In other events today, I’ve offered contracts to three hugely experienced staff members; they are: an assistant manager, a reserve team coach and a youth team coach. If all three sign I will have an exceptional coaching staff at the club, which should stand us in good stead for the season. Construction work also has started at the club’s training ground. In five months time Reading will have level 5 training facilities.

The squad’s trip to Switzerland is now halfway through and it’s going well, the overall fitness of the team rising steadily. The lads should be in good shape for the game against Crystal Palace in 9 days time.

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11th July

Luton Town have been in touch to ask about taking Dave Kitson on loan for 12 weeks. This could be an ideal chance for the lad to get some first team football so I intent to let him go.

I’ve also been told I can add Philippe Christanval to the squad for around £750,000 but with money tied up in other deals, I’ll wait to see what happens with those before I consider a move.


12th July

Local and national newspapers alike reported that Reading manager David Goodland has completed his third signing this summer with 23 year old goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg signing from Ajax. Stekelenburg penned a 3 year contract worth a reported £2.5 million and is expected to start the game against Crystal Palace in a week’s time.




14th July

Another new face at the Madejski. Antonio Di Natale has put pen to paper on a 2 year deal with both sides having the option to extend the contract for a further year.



I have high hopes for Antonio and as long as he can settle in to both the team and the country I’m confident he will be a success. An interpreter has been hired to ease him through the start of his Reading Career. Di Natale will be in the starting XI for the Crystal Palace game.

More transfer news; Birmingham have put in a surprise £3.9 million bid for Leroy Lita (his asking price, although he wasn’t transfer listed). I have decided to talk to them as the funds will be needed if I’m going to strengthen the back line before January. I’ve already gone over my transfer budget by around £1.5 million.

I also spoke to Luton boss, Josh Dublin, about Dave Kitson joining them on loan; I’ve asked that they pay 80% of his wages and a £200,000 loan fee.

In what turned out to be a busy day I was told that our bids for Fulham’s attacking right sided defender Liam Rosenior and Heart’s goalie Craig Gordon had been accepted so I set about offering the two of them contracts.




The two signings will cost over £3 million including signing bonuses if they agree personal terms, so the sale of Leroy Lita to Birmingham is now vital.

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Saturday 15th July

Dave Kitson has agreed to go to Luton on a 3 month loan contract. I will be interested to see how he performs as he could well have a future here at Reading.

I’m delighted that David McDonald has joined Reading as assistant manager. Negotiations with two other coaches are ongoing and hopefully will be concluded soon.

The Chief Exec. reminded me that the contracts of Marcus Hahnemann, Brynjar Gunnarsson and Graeme Murty only run until the end of the season but I’ll see how they perform on the pitch before deciding if they will be offered new deals.

Just as I was about to head home the Chairman called me in to his office and let me know that he is exceptionally happy with how things are going so far. Not a bad way to start the weekend is it?


Monday 17th July

A new week and as soon as I sit down at my desk the phone goes. It’s the Birmingham chairman. They’re offering £3.9 million up front for Leroy Lita with no bonuses. I accept the offer and give them permission to approach the player.

The club held a Sponsor Day today and it went off without a hitch. Everybody’s very exited about the upcoming season.

Later, Charlton let us know that they had rejected our £850,000 bid for Jonathan Fortune. I’m not that disappointed and I won’t be raising the offer. I’m still on the look out for a central defender though, but the Chairman has let me know we can’t afford a transfer fee unless we sell one or two players. Because of this I will be scouting mainly in Europe for a defender with an “offer from abroad” release clause.


Tuesday 18th July

A Supporters’ Club meeting was held at The Madejski Stadium today. The fans are still on a high from last year’s promotion and are convinced the club will achieve great things this year. I used the meeting as an opportunity to announce that Scottish international goalkeeper Craig Gordon has completed his transfer from Hearts. He was given a warm welcome by fans and team mates alike. He will compete with Maarten Stekelenburg for a regular place in the starting 11.



The choice between them will be a tough one, Stekelenburg is more physically and mentally strong and has better tactical knowledge than Gordon but he lacks the pure goalkeeping ability of his team mate. Gordon on the other hand is better at actual goalkeeping, with only his punching needing real work. He is tactically more naïve that Stekelenburg and needs to become a more dominant presence in goal. I intend to give both a run in the team and then decide who will claim the number 1 shirt next season.

As I now have two quality keepers I won’t be renewing Marcus Hahnemann’s contract. He has been put on the transfer list and I hope he will find a new club before the transfer window closes at the end of August. For as long as he remains at the club though he will be the third choice between the sticks.

I was informed of the youth tournament that had taken place. Arsenal had won with Reading unfortunately not getting past the group stage. One of our players, John Hartley was named as one of the best players if the tournament though.

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Wednesday 19th July
Pre-Season Match Day 1 – v Crystal Palace

I brought Ben Clemence, the youth team forward into the first team squad for the pre-season but his lack of fitness meant he didn’t make the team for today’s game. The team lined up in a 442 formation with Shane Long dropping just behing new signing Antonio Di Natale up front and Steve Sidwell pushing forward with another new boy, Phil Jagielka dropping back when the back four need some protection.





Only 3,257 fans turned up to watch the game but they didn’t have to wait long for the first goal. After 5 minutes Antonio Di Natale put a low ball into the box from the right and Shane Long grabbed the chance to put Reading 1-0 up.




Just 8 minutes later Long scored his second. After a mazy run from deep he stabbed the ball home from just inside the box. 2-0.

The game evened out for a while with neither team making headway. Our defence got a bit sloppy and was caught napping after 36 minutes, leaving an easy finish for James Scowcroft. 2-1.

Shefki Kuqi had a good chance to equalize after poor defensive play by Bikey but was met with a good save from Stekelenburg.

3 minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half and after dealing with a bit of pressure from Palace, Steve Sidwell sent a ball forward to Long on the halfway line. He took the ball past four Palace players and calmly slotted the ball past Gabor Kiraly to complete his hat-trick. 3-1 at half-time.






The second half was quite dull but turned up another goal for each side. Gabor Kiraly brought down Antonio Di Natale in the box and Seol Ki-Hyeon knocked the poorly hit resultant spot kick past a helpless Kiraly on 58 minutes to make it 4-1.



Late on Palace got a consolation goal after Ibrahima Sonko was outpaced by Scowcroft, who scored his second of the game. The final score was 4-2.

Shane Long was deservedly named man of the match after a game in which he had three shots and scored three goals.

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Thursday 20th July

Without doubt the best thing to come from yesterday’s game against Crystal Palace was Shane Long's performance. He looks like he has the potential to be a big threat to Premiership defences this season. A good display against Stoke on Monday will almost certainly cement his place in the starting line up for our first league game against Middlesbrough.

Antonio Di Natale also had a good game; he finished with an assist and won us a penalty. I was impressed with my midfield of Seol Ki-Hyeon, Steve Sidwell, Phil Jagielka and John Oster; they had some spells of excellent passing and for the most part dominated the midfield throughout the game.

I wasn’t so impressed with the defence. Bikey and Ibrahima Sonko looked good at times but it didn’t last for long and both were guilty of very poor passing. Sonko was outpaced far too often for my liking and Bikey’s tacking seemed somewhat reckless. Maybe they just need to get matches under their belts, I’m not sure, but they’ve done nothing to convince me that they can cope with Premiership strikers.

Well, another day, and another new face joins the team, Liam Rosenior has signed with us for at least the next 3 years. He’s a player I’ve known and admired since he was at Bristol City, a club close to my home town. As soon as the coaching staff and I got a look at him on the training pitch we knew we had brought in the right man. They all agreed he was better than they expected.




Friday 21st July

A Youth Player Day was held at the stadium today. A young lad called Paul McPhail stood out from the others and has been signed up to our Under-15’s team. He looks a real talent.

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Saturday 22nd July

Leroy Lita tied up his move to Birmingham City today. He’s signed a 3 year contract with the Championship outfit. We paid Bristol City £26,000 in training compensation as part of the deal. Shane Long is no longer listed for loan due to both his great performance against Crystal Palace and the departure of Lita.

Two new coaches have also been signed today; Andrew Black is Reading’s new Reserve Team Coach and Louis Ramsden has joined as Coach of the Youth Team. Both bring a wealth of experience to the club and have committed themselves to Reading FC for the next 5 years.

Thanks to Leroy Lita’s move the bank balance is looking a lot better but if I’m going to strengthen our suspect defence then I can’t get by with a few hundred thousand, I’ll need at least another couple of million available. With the Chairman still hopefully in a good mood from our meeting a week ago I asked him if we could move some funds from the salary budget to the transfer budget. The board spoke about it at some length and decided that I could have the extra money for transfers, but they also made it clear this would be the last time – I had already asked for extra money to extend our training centre a couple of weeks ago.

So, I may have slightly annoyed the board but at least I managed to up my transfer kitty to just over £2.6 million. Top of the list is of course a central defender but I’ll be on the lookout for anybody who I can bring in for free or on loan. I’ve noticed that there are no playmakers in the Reading squad so a quality playmaking midfielder is second on the short list.

Here are some defenders I’m looking at:













I would love to bring Matthew Upson to Reading as he’s exactly the kind of player I want; a physically strong defender who’s good at tackling and marking. I think he would be a great addition to the squad. I’ve sent agents up to Birmingham City to get an idea of what it would take to add Upson to our ranks and also to Fulham to enquire about Christanval again.

Here are the top transfers from the last week:




What?! Why isn’t Reading on this poll?




I got some good news when I heard that the fans backed the sale of Leroy Lita to Birmingham.

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Sunday 23rd July

A couple of targets to have a closer look at caught my eye today; Dinamo Kyiv’s Florin Lucian Cernat and Valencia’s Hugo Viana.



An agent was sent to Spain to enquire about Viana. I’ll have to wait for another to come back before I can find out more about Cernat.



Monday 24th July
Pre-Season Match Day 2 – v Stoke City

Sheffield Wednesday enquired about taking Glenn Little on a free transfer. I said I’d talk to them about it.

Team line-up was changed for this game.



Craig Gordon replaces Maarten Stekelenburg in goal, Liam Rosenior, Ronnie Wallwork and Ivar Ingimarsson come in to the defence and Convey gets a spot on the wing instead of John Oster.

Tactically I stayed pretty much the same but I asked for slightly more direct passing and a bit more aggression in the tackling.

Spectators: 2,860

Another early goal for Reading as Di Natale scores his first for the club.



The game got bogged down in midfield after that and there wasn’t any real action until the second half.

At half time Di Natale looked like he could use a rest, so I gave the young lad Clemence a chance up front in the second half.

3 minutes in and an awful tackle left Clemence in some pain. Not an ideal debut for the boy and he had to come off. Kevin Doyle took his place.

Stoke changed to a 3-5-2 formation and the game opened up with Doyle going close after chipping the keeper and a brilliant passing move finished with Bobby Convey putting the ball just past the far post.

Stoke had their chances as well with Sammy Bangoura firing a couple of 25 yard shots high and wide.

In the final minutes Stoke broke our otherwise solid defence and Bangoura was through with only Gordon to beat. He shot from inside the box but was brilliantly denied with a wonderful save.

Final Score: Reading 1 - 0 Stoke

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Wednesday 26th July

Offers came in for three of our players. Coventry have bid £145,000 for Marcus Hahnemann, Watford want James Harper for £500,000 and Barnsley would like Bobby Convey on loan for the rest of the season. I will talk to all three but unless I get a very good offer Bobby Convey will be staying here.

Two of the agents reported back:






That report on Upson meant I would definitely put in an offer, which totalled nearly £2 million with bonuses and a sell-on clause.




I also put in a £500,000 offer for Christanval as a back-up. Fulham said they would think it over and would be in touch soon.


Thursday 27th July

The agent came back with information about Hugo Viana:



I immediately bid £825,000 for him. Valencia would get back to me about it.




Later in the afternoon the Sheffield Wednesday gaffer gave me a ring, I let him know they could talk to Glenn Little about his proposed free transfer to the club.


Friday 28th July

Yet another agent report.



If the deal for Hugo Viana falls through I’ll put in an offer for Cernat.

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Saturday 29th July
Pre-Season Match Day 3 – v Leeds United

Before the game Real Sociedad were in touch to ask about loaning Bobby Convey for the season. I said I’d talk to them about it.

The line-up and tactics for the match stay the same as they were against Stoke. Clemence was still suffering a bit with his twisted ankle so in the absence of another forward his spot on the bench will be taken by Ibrahima Sonko.

I’m still unsure if Bobby Convey will be staying here this season or not so I’ll be looking for a good performance from him in this game.

Spectators: 3,409 (forgot to open fraps, so no screenshots)

An early chance was spurned by Steve Sidwell after he wriggled his way into a good position.

We dominated for the next 20 minutes with long spells of possession and some good shots. Warner in the Leeds goal was equal to our efforts though.

The pressure paid off for us when Garry Kelly turned a Seol cross into his own goal and we were 1-0 up.

The game evened out for the rest of the first half and the score remained 1-0.

Leeds briefly looked dangerous at the start of the second half and had a couple of shots. It was nothing Craig Gordon in our goal couldn’t deal with though.

After 62 minutes Steve Sidwell thumped in a 25 yard strike to make the score 2-0.

We stayed dominant for the rest of the game but didn’t trouble their keeper again.

Final Score: Reading 2 - 0 Leeds United


Here are the top transfers from the last week. An audacious swoop for Antonio Cassano crossed my mind but he didn’t want to come to Reading… he chose some little German club in the end





Sunday 30th July

We have been given permission by their clubs to offer contracts to Matthew Upson and Hugo Viana.






Monday 31st July

Glenn Little has joined Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer, he signed a 3 year deal worth £4,500 per week. He was always going to struggle to get into the first team here so this move is the best option for him.

The scout has given me his report on Boca Juniors ahead of the clash on Thursday; they look like they’ll be quite a tough team to beat. Even though the two teams are fairly evenly matched, the fans are confident of a good result.

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Tuesday 1st August

Barnsley have pulled out of the proposed loan deal that could have seen Bobby Convey spend the season with them. They wouldn’t agree to pay the £500,000 it would have taken for me to let him go. Real Sociedad are still hoping to take him and negotiations are continuing.

Ben Clemence and Antonio Di Natale have recovered from knocks picked up against Stoke and Leeds respectively and both are in contention to be in the squad for the game against Boca Juniors.

Also, Fulham have surprisingly accepted the £500,000 bid for Philippe Christanval I put in a few days ago. I’ve put a low contract offer on the table, just under £10,000 per week with minimal bonuses as the wage bill is getting quite high. If he signs, his contract would only run until the end of the season but there is the option of a one year extension should he perform well.

Coventry City have upped their offer for Marcus Hahnemann to £150,000 after some negotiation. I’ve accepted it and hopefully Hahnemman will agree terms and complete his move within the next few days although he has said he would like to stay at Reading.


Wednesday 2nd August



Matthew Upson completed his move to Reading today. Ibrahima Sonko isn’t too happy as he feels his place is under threat - the rest of the lads are pleased to see him here though. Some of the senior squad remember him from his time on loan here from Arsenal in 2002.

He looks fit and raring to go having played most of the pre-season fixtures with Birmingham so he’s probably going to be in the starting XI for tomorrow’s game.


I’ve been offered that chance to manage some of Europe’s minnow nations. There were three contracts available and after some consideration I chose to sign with Cyprus.



Here’s Cyprus’ EURO 2008 qualifying group:

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Thursday 3rd August
Pre-Season Match Day 4 – Reading v Boca Juniors

News came in before the game that Real Sociedad had also pulled out of the race to sign Bobby Convey on loan. It looks like he’ll be staying here, which I’m not too disappointed about as he’s looked pretty good in the 3 pre-season games so far.

For today’s game I’ve changed the formation to a 4-1-2-1-2 with Sidwell moving further forward and Jagielka moving back.



Oster comes back into the first 11 with Convey dropping to the bench as he’s a bit fatigued. Clemence is back in the squad and takes his spot on among the subs back from Sonko.


Attendance: 4,687

The new tactics seemed to work wonders in this game. We dominated the play for almost the whole of the first half. Boca had a shot on goal after 4 minutes but it was easily dealt with by Craig Gordon in our goal.

After that it was all Reading with the recalled John Oster, given free reign down the left, dribbling past players on mazy runs several times.

Liam Rosenior was enjoying the chance to get forward from his full back position and got a few good crosses in. One came after a great cross field pass from the other full back, Nick Shorey and the move resulted in a fine goal for Phil Jagielka,

>>> VIDEO HERE <<<

Another 15 minutes of good play with Boca Juniors only having one shot, which went high, and it was half time.

Half-Time Score: Reading 1 - 0 Boca Juniors

In the second half John Oster was brilliant, going past players with ease, whipping dangerous balls into the box and almost never misplacing a pass.

He had a good chance to score after another run but fired the ball wide.

>>> VIDEO HERE <<<

With Boca Juniors switching their tactics to a 4-3-3 we changed to a more defensive formation with Shane Long moving back to make a 5 man midfield. Rosenior and Shorey were told to stay back as well.

Boca threw all they had at us but with Jagielka marshalling the area in front of the back four brilliantly and the defence in outstanding form - thanks in no small part to debutant Matthew Upson - they never even troubled our keeper.

Final Score: Reading 1 - 0 Boca Juniors

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Friday 4th August

The game against Boca Juniors was a fantastic confidence boost for myself and for the players. The mood around the club has increased noticeably.



The good news keeps coming with Portuguese midfielder Hugo Viana completing a bargain move to Reading. Dave McDonald, my assistant, told me after training that he’s better than the coaching staff expected him to be. Viana’s put pen to paper on a 4 year contract worth around £3.5 million before bonuses. He will wear the number 8 shirt.



Negotiations with Watford over the transfer of James Harper have taken a step forward. They originally offered £500,000, I have asked for closer to £900,000 although I would be happy with £6-700,000.


Saturday 5th August

Craig Gordon and Bobby Convey have both had a good week in training by all accounts. This on top of the fact that Gordon hasn’t conceded a goal in his three games mean he will start the season as first choice between the sticks. If Convey wants a place in the team though, he will have to do battle with John Oster and Seol Ki-Hyeon, who are both in good form.

I was informed we had sold 4,122 season tickets, placing us just behind Fulham in 19th position amongst the Premiership clubs.


Tuesday 8th August

Marcus Hahnemann’s transfer to Coventry City has gone through. Coventry paid £150,000 for his services.

Philippe Christanval has also completed his short term move to Reading after agreeing terms on a deal until the end of the season. He will partner Upson in the defence for tomorrow’s game against Songnam Ilhwa.

With the Premier League starting in a few days I’ve announced the squad numbers and captaincy for the coming season.

Team Captain: Nicky Shorey
Vice Captains: Graeme Murty & Matthew Upson

Squad Numbers:

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Wednesday 9th August
Pre-Season Final Match Day – Reading v Songnam Ilhwa

A few first team players were rested for this game with Stephen Hunt replacing Nicky Shorey at left back, Brynjar Gunnarsson starting in place of Phil Jagielka and Ben Clemence getting his first start up front. Philippe Christinval and Hugo Viana both started as well.

Maarten Stekelenburg would have started but he picked up a knock in training and isn’t quite fit enough so Craig Gordon continues in goal.




Attendance: 2,295

Reading started off okay but looked a little more nervous than against Boca Juniors and a couple of early passes were misplaced, giving Songnam an easy time.

Hugo Viana and Brynjar Gunnarsson had shots but neither could hit the target.

Steven Hunt held on to the ball for too long and was robbed of it by Itamar, who slipped it to Mota. With his cheeky pass the goalkeeper was left with no chance and Kim Sang Sik scored for the visitors after 11 minutes with their first shot on goal.

We controlled the game without looking dominant until a couple of nice passes left Shane Long with only one defender between him and the goal. With a step over he was passed the defender and could have easily scored, but instead chose to slip the ball to 16 year old Ben Clemence who couldn’t miss and pulled us level at 1-1.




Late in the first half Seol gave a away a silly free kick 30 yards out but it was blasted high in to the stand behind the goal.


Half-Time Score: Reading 1 - 1 Songnam Ilhwa

Solid defensive play from both sides meant the first half hour was even and neither team had a serious effort on goal.

With less than 10 minutes to go Ben Clemence worked himself in to a poition by the corner flag and managed to get a cross in for Shane Long. Long was unmarked in the 6 yard box and bulleted a header past the helpless keeper to give us a 2-1 lead.




Songnam spent the rest of the game chasing shadows as our players showboated their way to the final whistle.


Full-Time Score: Reading 2 - 1 Songnam Ilhwa

[dagoofive]

NOTE: The game crashed part way through saving, which corrupted the file. I had to reload an older game and replay the Songnam match. This time Reading won the game 4-0. Despite the bigger win there was no difference in the atmosphere or morale of the team. I didn’t want to waste time trying to get a more similar score as it wasn’t an important game.


Thursday 10th August

With all five pre-season games ending in victory for Reading it was time to let the players celebrate, a visit to a classy restaurant has been arranged for tonight and there will be a party for the lads tomorrow evening. After that they will have a full week to prepare for the Middlesbrough match.

Sheffield United have joined the chase for James Harper, there have been rumours going round that they are keen to find a new midfielder to replace Phil Jagielka, who joined Reading last month. The Blades have offered £650,000 and as a result Watford have matched the bid. With two clubs in the running for his signature I’ve decided not to let him go for less than £750,000. His market value has increased a bit so I’m sure either Watford or Sheffield United will pay that for him.


Saturday 12th August

Last night’s party was a success, the players and staff had a great time and the atmosphere around the club is brilliant.
So I don’t forget later, I’ve booked the club’s Christmas party for the 19th December.

I’ve been told that the expected attendance for the first game of the season has risen by about 1,000 to 16,169 over the last couple of days. That would earn the club about £425,000.


The top transfers from the last week:




Monday 14th August

6 of our players were called up for international duty. I let all of them go as I’d like to see how they perform for their national teams.

The players were:



Tuesday 15th August

Wigan have come in with an almost insulting bid of £460,000 for James Harper. I’ve said I’ll talk to them but they will have to match my £750,000 valuation if they’re serious about signing him.


Wednesday 16th August

Today brought my first game as manager of Cyprus. The game was at home against a much stronger Belarus team who boasted Alaksandr Hleb amongst their ranks.
Belarus took the lead with Hleb playing a large part and getting an assist. Cyprus equalized after 40 minutes when left back Elias Charalambous got on the end of an Alekos Alekou cross to score on his international debut. There were no more goals, the game finished 1-1 and Cyprus came away with a very respectable point.

[Zimao91]

Haha...I bought Hugo Viana before u

[dagoofive]

Originally Posted by Zimao91

Haha...I bought Hugo Viana before u

Damn it! DvdRbn got Stekelenburg first, you got Viana first... Ah well
He's pretty good though... he was rated 10 in the game against Middlesbrough for me.

[Tealey7]

I'll be watching this diary closely as it's decent and I'm a Reading fan myself. I like the fact that you've brought in some quality players - especially Gordon and Stekelenburg to replace the donkey Hahnemann.

[dagoofive]

Originally Posted by Tealey7

I'll be watching this diary closely as it's decent and I'm a Reading fan myself. I like the fact that you've brought in some quality players - especially Gordon and Stekelenburg to replace the donkey Hahnemann.

Thanks for your support. Craig Gordon was a real find for me, I'd heard of him before but I didn't know anything about him really so the fact he's only 23 and has good ability and potential is great. Hahnemann wasn't bad but as he's getting on a bit I wanted to get as much for him as I could... which was only £150,000

I think I went overboard on brining players in though, Jagielka is good but cost me £5 million and could be forced out of the team by Hugo Viana who only cost 1/6 of that. As it stands I could find myself in a bit of financial trouble before long. Nothing serious but the £5 million would certainly have put my mind at rest

Anyway, stay tuned... the Middlesbrough game (and hopefully the Villa one as well) will be posted tonight, just as soon as I sort through the screenshots and stuff.

[dagoofive]

Saturday 19th August
Premier League Matchday 1 – Reading v Middlesbrough



For this game I kept with the 4-1-2-1-2 that had worked well in pre-season with Upson and Christanval partnered in the centre of defence and Jagielka marshalling the area just ahead of them. The hope was that this would keep Boro’s four forward players under control.

In midfield both Seol and Oster were told to play to their styles and dribble to their heart’s content. This had worked well before, with Oster especially, and I hoped he could bamboozle today’s opponents with equal ease. Hugo Viana was given a free roll as playmaker.

Up front new signing Antonio Di Natale will partner the impressive Shane Long. In all there were 7 new players in the starting line up with another 2 on the bench but as they had played so well together against Boca Juniors I wasn’t worried. Before the game the board said a draw would have been acceptable but I would settle for nothing less than a win.


The Match

The game started off with both sides looking a little nervous, neither side wanted to lose this one and the play was cautious. Reading forced a couple of early corners but nothing came of them.

Both sides had a couple of shots at goal but they were tame and easy for the keepers to deal with.

Nicky Shorey and Liam Rosenior were going in hard with their tackles but kept it clean enough and didn’t concede any free kicks. The two of them were also getting forward with the attacks and caused Middlesbrough a few problems as they were being overloaded on the wings.

Towards the end of the first half it got a little scrappy and the play stayed in the midfield area for the last 10 minutes. Overall Middlesbrough had probably just edged the first half and certainly had more possession but neither side created any real chances.

Half-Time Score: Reading 0 - 0 Middlesbrough

The second half brought an early barrage on the Reading goal but although Boro had a lot of possession our defence held strong and the game remained goalless.

After 58 minutes we earned a corner, which was whipped in from the left by John Oster. Matthew Upson got his head to it but the ball cannoned off the bar, a scramble ensued will the ball pinging around inside the box. Middlesbrough defenders gots themselves in the way of four shots and eventually cleared the ball.

Shortly after the hour mark Steve Sidwell was brought on for Jagielka to provide a slightly more attacking option in the midfield. This meant that we were less protected at the back and Boro started to dominate the game.They kept the upper hand for 10 minutes or so but the back four held strong and denied them any real chances.

The decision to bring on Sidwell turned out to be a good one though and he sent a brilliant ball forward for Oster, who found Antonio Di Natale just inside the box. He knocked the ball 10 yards for an on rushing Hugo Viana who belted the ball past Mark Schwarzer and into the net! 1-0






I couldn’t contain my joy and leapt about like a madman on the touchline with Dave McDonald, my assistant manager, doing the same. We were only 12 minutes from our first 3 points of the season.

Middlesbrough tried to grab an equaliser but their forwards were no match for Reading’s outstanding defence.

After 87 minutes Mark Viduka came on for McMahon and they switched to a much more attacking 3-4-1-2. To counter their threat Shane Long came off and was replaced by Ronnie Wallwork to make a 5 man back line with Christanval man marking Jason Euell who started to cause some trouble with his runs from deep. The midfield stayed the same and Di Natale stayed up front on his own.

The Reading goal was stormed relentlessly for the last few minutes with Viduka and Yakubu having great chances denied by Craig Gordon. Yet another cross came in and Yakubu wriggled free of the defence and got it a header from point blank range only to be denied by another great save by Gordon who turned the ball over for a corner.

Rochemback’s corner went out before it reached the box and we were awarded a goal kick. Gordon gave the ball a hefty clout up field and the final whistle went.

Full-Time Score: Reading 1 - 0 Middlesbrough





Post match interview:

Reporter:
You’ve won your first Premiership game, how does it feel?

David Goodland:
I’m delighted, we played well and took our best chance to score. I couldn’t ask for anything more from the lads.


Reporter:
Hugo Viana scored on his debut, should he get credit for the win?

David Goodland:
Yes and no, the whole team were brilliant out there today so I can’t give all the credit to one player.


Reporter:
Can I ask for your prediction on where you will finish in the table this season?

David Goodland:
It’s a bit early to say but I’m confident we can do very well this season. I don’t see us being in danger of relegation.


Reporter:
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me and good luck with the rest if the season.

David Goodland:
Thanks.

[DvdRbn]

Congretiolations

[dagoofive]

Sunday 20th August

Last week’s transfers:




Post match web story:




Tuesday 22st August

Watford, Sheffield United and Wigan continue to fight it out over a move for James Harper with bids reaching £875,000. Hopefully he’ll have a new club by next week.

The reserves had a match yesterday, the final score was Reading Res. 1-0 Watford Res.


Wednesday 23rd August

The draw for the 2nd round of the Carling Cup was made today. Reading have been drawn away to Bristol Rovers.

Carling Cup 2nd Round Draw




Watford have been in touch again, this time about Bobby Convey. They would like him on loan for 12 weeks. If they will pay 100% of his wages I probably let him go so he can get some first team football.


Thursday 24th August

More interest in Bobby Convey, this time from Turkish side Fenerbahce who want him on loan for the rest of the season. If they offer to pay 100% of his wages I’ll think about letting him go.


Friday 25th August

Watford have taken Bobby Convey on loan until 17th November and will pay 100% of his wages. He tuned down the offer from Fenerbahce.

A fee of £900,000 has also been agreed with Watford for James Harper. Hopefully he’ll agree personal terms and complete a move before transfer deadline day.