Danny Simpson (Premier League Champion)

[Rich]

Will be delighted if he goes, personally.

 

Also don't see why we couldn't bring in "5 or 6 additional signings", considering we signed 7 players last summer.

 

While Best, Guthrie and Simpson undoubtedly played a big part last season and will need replacing in terms of keeping the squad the same size, how many games did Forster, Kadar, Lovenkrands and Smith actually partake in for us?

 

14 is the answer, with 4 starts and 10 substitute appearances between them (4 and 8 from Lovenkrands alone). One capable "squad player" could easily replace that contribution alone.

[Guest Roger Kint]

I agree mostly but RB is position where we have lots of options and thus don't need to keep an unhappy player who has one year left on his contract.

 

Aye thats another good point in that Tavernier will be closer to the first team as will the likes of Abeid, Vuckic, Ferguson, Drummett etc who were unavailable for large parts of this season

[Rich]

Roger beat me to it

 

No loss at all, this, when you consider we have Santon, Perch, Ryan Taylor and Tavernier as natural options in that position and potentially a top-class one on the way.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

We need to be careful, and not go fapping ourselves over a £4m fee.

 

So far, we've brought in Amalfitano, and got rid of Smith, Guthrie, Best, Forster, Lovenkrands, Kadar and now we might let Simpson go?

 

All when our squad was too small to begin with.  Are we really going to bring in 5 or 6 additional signings?  Even then, that'll only keep our squad the same size.

 

Squad players are important, and Simpson would be an ideal one for another year.

 

Smith, Forster, Lovenkrands & Kadar started 4 games last season and were subs in 10 others. Somehow i think we will survive without them. As you say Amal has come in, obviously Simpson & Best will be replaced with better and others will come in too so its not an issuse at all imo.

 

More concerned about Europa League, and the fact that all the above players (Barring Forster) would have started and subbed in on many more games had last season been like this.

[Guest Roger Kint]

Roger beat me to it

 

No loss at all, this, when you consider we have Santon, Perch, Ryan Taylor and Tavernier as natural options in that position and potentially a top-class one on the way.

 

Just as Fenham Mag beat my follow up

[Guest Roger Kint]

We need to be careful, and not go fapping ourselves over a £4m fee.

 

So far, we've brought in Amalfitano, and got rid of Smith, Guthrie, Best, Forster, Lovenkrands, Kadar and now we might let Simpson go?

 

All when our squad was too small to begin with.  Are we really going to bring in 5 or 6 additional signings?  Even then, that'll only keep our squad the same size.

 

Squad players are important, and Simpson would be an ideal one for another year.

 

Smith, Forster, Lovenkrands & Kadar started 4 games last season and were subs in 10 others. Somehow i think we will survive without them. As you say Amal has come in, obviously Simpson & Best will be replaced with better and others will come in too so its not an issuse at all imo.

 

More concerned about Europa League, and the fact that all the above players (Barring Forster) would have started and subbed in on many more games had last season been like this.

 

Kadar wasnt fit half the time and nobody will convince me Smith would get any sort of a chance.

[Guest Craig-NUFC]

We need to be careful, and not go fapping ourselves over a £4m fee.

 

So far, we've brought in Amalfitano, and got rid of Smith, Guthrie, Best, Forster, Lovenkrands, Kadar and now we might let Simpson go?

 

All when our squad was too small to begin with.  Are we really going to bring in 5 or 6 additional signings?  Even then, that'll only keep our squad the same size.

 

Squad players are important, and Simpson would be an ideal one for another year.

I doubt he'll be on his way unless we have brought someone in or are on the verge of doing. There's also the fact that RB is probably our best stocked position, with Perch, Taylor, Tavernier and Santon all able to play there.

It's also a bit pointless keeping a player if he wants to leave for first team football, though I presume he'll double his wages at Reading. It's nice to not have a disruptive player in our squad like we seemingly have had for about 10 years prior to last season.

[Wilson]

Would like to see debuchy or clyne in before he's allowed to leave, all very well getting rid of players like simpson guthrie and best but only if we're upgrading them!

 

As someones already mentioned the squads thread bare as it is and theyre 3 decent squad players

[SEMTEX]

Simpson would be an awful squad player because of his ego imo. I think he'd be nothing but a pain in the arse. Play him or ship him (& replace him). Plenty of other squad players in his position.

[Pata]

Simpson would be an awful squad player because of his ego imo. I think he'd be nothing but a pain in the arse. Play him or ship him (& replace him). Plenty of other squad players in his position.

 

Yeah, he would never accept to be back-up. And right now I would start Perch ahead of him everytime.

[madras]

Simpson would be an awful squad player because of his ego imo. I think he'd be nothing but a pain in the arse. Play him or ship him (& replace him). Plenty of other squad players in his position.

don't see much sign of ego from him. thinks he should be getting paid more and if someone is prepared to pay him more then he's right.

[ponsaelius]

Simpson would be an awful squad player because of his ego imo. I think he'd be nothing but a pain in the arse. Play him or ship him (& replace him). Plenty of other squad players in his position.

 

He's also only passable in one position. Having a right back who can ONLY play there is not far off a back-up goalkeeper situation.

[Guest palnese]

Any news on Tavernier?

[madras]

Simpson would be an awful squad player because of his ego imo. I think he'd be nothing but a pain in the arse. Play him or ship him (& replace him). Plenty of other squad players in his position.

 

He's also only passable in one position. Having a right back who can ONLY play there is not far off a back-up goalkeeper situation.

which is whatr he was on a few occasions.

[ponsaelius]

We need to be careful, and not go fapping ourselves over a £4m fee.

 

So far, we've brought in Amalfitano, and got rid of Smith, Guthrie, Best, Forster, Lovenkrands, Kadar and now we might let Simpson go?

 

All when our squad was too small to begin with.  Are we really going to bring in 5 or 6 additional signings?  Even then, that'll only keep our squad the same size.

 

Squad players are important, and Simpson would be an ideal one for another year.

 

Why would you even mention Forster, Smith and Kadar? May as well list the youth players we've ditched too.

[Minhosa]

Shiteing himself in possession of a football will always limit his game to an absolute maximum of mediocrity in football club terms, hence the reason Reading are after him. His athleticism is fine, he can tackle reasonably and he seems fairly low maintenance so, from that perspective, I can see the argument to keep him as a squad player.

 

Not arsed either way just as long as he's not getting too many regular starts at right back next season. A real potential to move the first team on in this area and it should be grasped this summer.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

We need to be careful, and not go fapping ourselves over a £4m fee.

 

So far, we've brought in Amalfitano, and got rid of Smith, Guthrie, Best, Forster, Lovenkrands, Kadar and now we might let Simpson go?

 

All when our squad was too small to begin with.  Are we really going to bring in 5 or 6 additional signings?  Even then, that'll only keep our squad the same size.

 

Squad players are important, and Simpson would be an ideal one for another year.

 

Why would you even mention Forster, Smith and Kadar? May as well list the youth players we've ditched too.

 

For Europa League reasons.

 

I doubt Smith would have been loaned out if we'd had a full European group campaign to play.  And while Kadar didn't play, many were begging for him to during the CB injury crisis because our squad was too thin.

 

I'm just urging prudence in our transfers, and suggesting people remember we could have many more matches this season.  Keeping the squad the same size will result in more injury problems over the course of the year, and it'd be nice to have backups and alternatives.  Unless we do a good deal of business, it doesn't look like the squad will be much bigger. 

[Pilko]

Any news on Tavernier?

 

He's in the training photos from this morning, so he's still here. No news on a contract yet, although he and Pards said he'd be there this season coming.

[ponsaelius]

Like most my main issue with him is that he is just fundamentally a poor footballer in the most traditional sense. The basics - first touch, feeling comfortable with the ball at your feet, distribution, ball striking technique etc. All fall way, way short of the top level.

 

He is a passable athlete and not as bad defensively as some make out, but the above will always piss me off. Seeing players starting who are unable to control and pass a ball is absolutely unbearable at times. It is quite common with a lot of fullbacks in the Prem too, as if it doesn't matter because it is not that important a position. Personally I think it is crucial that your fullbacks are good footballers, the difference Santon made once he was in the side was huge even if his defensive work was suspect at times (but again, massively overplayed).

[Dave]

Guthrie, Best and Simpson all formed part of our first team for a significant chunk of last season and all showed a good attitude IMO. They're by no means irreplaceable in terms of quality, but we certainly do need replacements. Aside from possibly Simpson's replacement, I don't see the club spending a lot of money doing so either (understandably), which puts us under pressure to unearth good players for little.

 

By this point last year we already had Cabaye, Ba, and Marveaux signed up as well as Abeid who you could compare with Amalfitano. The Euros have been in the way this year and there's definitely no reason to panic, but we've got a lot of business still to do and the prices are surely only going to go one way. Our first pre-season game is a week tomorrow!

[madras]

Guthrie, Best and Simpson all formed part of our first team for a significant chunk of last season and all showed a good attitude IMO. They're by no means irreplaceable in terms of quality, but we certainly do need replacements. Aside from possibly Simpson's replacement, I don't see the club spending a lot of money doing so either (understandably), which puts us under pressure to unearth good players for little.

 

By this point last year we already had Cabaye, Ba, and Marveaux signed up as well as Abeid who you could compare with Amalfitano. The Euros have been in the way this year and there's definitely no reason to panic, but we've got a lot of business still to do and the prices are surely only going to go one way. Our first pre-season game is a week tomorrow!

good summing up. still think we'll have at least another 3 more minimum for the first team squad. our squad isn't really all that small for a team that doesn't have sugardaddy status. felt that way at the start of last season though with most not really including shola,best, perch,raylor and guthrie as being able to be of any help.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Guthrie, Best and Simpson all formed part of our first team for a significant chunk of last season and all showed a good attitude IMO. They're by no means irreplaceable in terms of quality, but we certainly do need replacements. Aside from possibly Simpson's replacement, I don't see the club spending a lot of money doing so either (understandably), which puts us under pressure to unearth good players for little.

 

By this point last year we already had Cabaye, Ba, and Marveaux signed up as well as Abeid who you could compare with Amalfitano. The Euros have been in the way this year and there's definitely no reason to panic, but we've got a lot of business still to do and the prices are surely only going to go one way. Our first pre-season game is a week tomorrow!

 

Fully agree on all of that. Can't believe it's just one week away, super excited by the fact that we are moving forward as a club. This season can be brilliant if we get it right in the coming months.

[Ikon]

A week??   

 

Time flies by..

[aussiemag]

Current Squad is:

 

Goalkeepers: Krul, Harper, Elliot

 

Defenders: Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Steven Taylor, Davide Santon, Frabicio Coloccini

 

Midfield: Hatem Ben Arfa, Gabriel Obertan, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Dan Gosling, Mehdi Abeid, Haris Vuckic, Romain Amalfitano, Jonas Gutierrez, Shane Ferguson, Sami Ameobi

 

Forwards: Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba, Shola Ameobi, Xisco, Nile Ranger

 

Looking at the squad Id say we need a fullback,  centreback and striker. Then replace whoever else leaves. Can probably afford to let Vuckic, Abeid or Gosling go out on loan. A defensive midfielder wuld be good as well.

 

[Yorkie]

Snap their hands off for anything similar to what Best went for, then that should be it for summer departures. Simpson's shit and Best and Guthrie were only squad players, but we really need to start working on adding numbers to the squad immediately, to avoid panic situations come late August.