Jogo Bonito Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 56 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: You should have waited until after the Summer and offered him a contract then. Probably hasn't played enough for New Zealand yet. In general the player needs at least 10 caps and to have played in at least 30% of the recent matches to get a WP from my experience. What I am saying is he joined the club in reality as an uncapped player who had not played senior club football. He has been playing most games for me and won an international cap, but he seems to be treated as having gone backwards which is not true. He only has one international cap in game as New Zealand are not selecting him now, so waiting until the summer would not have changed anything. In truth, the first application being rejected was not a surprise due to number of caps, league level etc. But the inability to renew via the ESC slots is what doesn't seem right. Especially as New Zealand is a Commonwealth country. In real life there is no suggestion that he would be unable to extend his contract with the club. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said: referred in-game as a 4231 DM asymmetric AM(R) system I love those! Have you seen social media posts from fans saying things like "This 4231 DM asymmetric AM(R) system really suits us" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 On 24/03/2024 at 23:35, warlock said: I love those! Have you seen social media posts from fans saying things like "This 4231 DM asymmetric AM(R) system really suits us" Haha, without a doubt such posts will exist. Some fans probably even say it in real life Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 Season 2023/24 April 2024 was a big month for the club, and it started in fine fashion with a 2-1 away win at Bolton (2nd) Then we faced Blackpool at Wembley in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy Final Unfortunately we squandered an early lead after a red-card for Tyler Binden and the Lancashire side ended our hopes with two late goals in a 2-1 victory The next four league games saw no wins and dropped us from 3rd to 6th ahead of a final day home clash with the same promotion-chasing Blackpool Five teams were battling it out for three play-off spots - and again The Seasiders overcame us 2-1 leaving us to fear we had blown it again But news filtered through that Wycombe scored after 90 minutes to draw 1-1 at home with Charlton, keeping us 6th and dropping the Londoners to 7th on goal difference The team we would have wished to avoid in the Play-Off Semi Final was of course Blackpool - oh dear After having a goal disallowed which looked like robbing us of a first leg advantage, we scrambled a 1-0 lead after a 92 minute goal from on-loan Paul Mukairu In the away leg we went 1-0 down after 61 minutes, but after 87 minutes we were awarded a penalty to claim the aggregate win Unfortunately out-of-form and low-on-confidence striker Sam Smith spurned the opportunity as he screwed his spot-kick badly wide of the target Extra time followed and of course Blackpool delivered the hammer blow with a second on the night after 94 minutes and we couldn't peg them back The below summary shows our performance graph over the season and some other useful stats The financial graph looks OK, but it should be noted that there was a massive spike on 1st June (when this was captured) due to competition & TV revenues The final league table is below - and as you can see Barnsley scraped past Blackpool to seal the final promotion slot Whilst that makes us happy, it means we now have to face our nemesis again at least twice next season Although our form tailed off dramatically towards the end, 6th was still a better-than-expected finish and we hope to mount another challenge next season The next update will talk through the player stats for 2023/24 and some end-of-season stories that are worth sharing 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 (edited) Season 2023/24 wrap-up Here are the player stats across all competitions for the season Harlee Dean, Nestor Guinness-Walker and Ovie Ejaria will hopefully be on their way out in the summer David Button and Joel Pereira (who we would have kept but he chose a pre-contract move to VVV-Venlo) will also be heading out We would have liked to keep on-loan Paul Mukairu, but we could not convince his Danish club to loan him again and we cannot pay a transfer fee either Club captain Andy Yiadom was voted our player of the season, but he wants to move on if any club meets the £2.5 million asking price we had to agree with him Meanwhile, forward Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan was League 1 top scorer with a fantastic 26 league goals (31 in total) Our Under 21 striker Jahmari Clarke won an award in his category with 20 goals in 21 games at an average rating of 7.65 This means that we will resist the temptation to sign a new striker in the summer and he will be promoted to the senior squad as the 4th option Talking of transfer ideas, we only really need to add another senior goalkeeper and one more midfielder to make a 24-man pool for 2024/25 27th May 2024 - Legendary Director and former owner Sir John Madejski announces a very well-deserved retirement 7th June 2024 - Veteran goalkeeper David Button also announces his retirement despite having a further year left on his contract 11th June 2024 - ESC Work Permit updates are received, but we still have no idea what will really happen with defender Tyler Binden 15th June 2024 - Other clubs are as keen on Binden as we are, but luckily Mark Bowen doesn't shy away from making good but difficult decisions 25th June 2024 - Kelvin Abrefa will see more minutes this season and again we have to thank our Chairman for taking a long-term view on an Ipswich offer 29th June 2024 - Whilst this won't give us a transfer budget, the £62 million transfer of Michael Olise to Man City gives us a £4.4 million sell-on bonus Edited March 27 by Jogo Bonito 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Commiserations, @Jogo Bonito but you did very well to make the play-offs given Reading's starting point (points deduction) and the resources. 37 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said: Although our form tailed off dramatically towards the end, 6th was still a better-than-expected finish and we hope to mount another challenge next season I was going to ask how you felt about the season but you summed it up well (quoted above). Good luck in the 2024/25 season. Pleased to see who the League One Champions were but sorry you missed out. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 1 minute ago, Stuniverse said: Commiserations, @Jogo Bonito but you did very well to make the play-offs given Reading's starting point (points deduction) and the resources. I was going to ask how you felt about the season but you summed it up well (quoted above). Good luck in the 2024/25 season. Pleased to see who the League One Champions were but sorry you missed out. Thanks for that. Our 2024/25 squad will be leaner and keener. We needed to make progress on the wage budget and the releases will certainly help. We also certainly take pleasure in having a good percentage of Academy talent to call on next year. There may be some sales in the summer but ideally only those who left the club in the actual window (Abbey, Holmes, Vickers). Just as a tracker, the only person in the first team squad to this point that is not a true Reading player is striker Duncan McGuire. Derby did you proud indeed, they were streets ahead of the pack and are deservedly back in the second tier. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 You must be heartbroken about the Bristol Street Paint Trophy . Seriously, commiserations... everybody wants to win a final. And a disappointment in the league, but you've done incredibly well in the circumstances. Cause for optimism next time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 On 28/03/2024 at 00:22, warlock said: You must be heartbroken about the Bristol Street Paint Trophy . Seriously, commiserations... everybody wants to win a final. And a disappointment in the league, but you've done incredibly well in the circumstances. Cause for optimism next time The only time I never tried to throw it early on, but this time after reaching the Final yes we wanted to win. Next season it will be back to type, and we will try to exit as soon as possible. We played 63 first-team games last season and having trimmed the squad, we simply cannot do that again. We'll make as many changes as possible in the group stage and trust that it won't impact 'league morale'. The league was disappointing, but not for finishing where we did. We'd be very happy with a top-six finish next season, and we probably set our target as that even if the board don't expect it. Pre-season is now done, so expect an update again soon. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 (edited) Season 2024/25 - Preview We are quite happy with our pre-season form, winning where we should and being competitive against three better sides than us 7th July 2024 - Mark Bowen continues to make good decisions on players attracting interest, although Nelson Abbey may one day need to be sacrificed 15th July 2024 - Young winger Mamadi Camara becomes the latest player to learn of work permit woes (not true to life) and cannot now feature for us 19th July 2024 - With lingering doubts over the future of Tyler Bindon, we took the opportunity to bring home a former youth product on a free transfer 21st July 2024 - In our penultimate friendly, American striker Duncan McGuire suffered a significant injury which will see him out until December 2024 2nd August 2024 - The injury to McGuire meant we needed to add a striker until the winter window, and this deal made good financial sense 3rd August 2024 Harlee Dean (free to Derby), Nestor Guinness-Walker (free to Plymouth), Joel Pereira (free to VVV-Venlo) and Ovie Ejaria (released) all left the club this summer We were also unable to extend the loan of Paul Mukairu, meaning the first team squad on the opening day would be as below The only arrivals have been defender Gabriel Osho (free from Luton) and striker Divin Mubama (a six-month loan from West Ham) Osho comes back to us after a couple of years away, and due to concerns over the work-permit situation of Binden (who we really want to keep) Mubama is costing just £85 per week in wages and the loan was only done to cover us until McGuire is fit to return from injury in the winter The only two positions we originally planned to strengthen were in goal and central midfield, and we now decided to pursue just the first of those moves When looking at the midfield, Jensen Weir (free) was close to joining after a contract was agreed - but he moved to Plymouth instead Miguel Azeez who we had on loan from Arsenal for the first part of last season was now a free agent and did agree to join on £3,000 per week, but we withdrew the offer In-goal we identified Carl Rushworth on a season-long loan from Brighton to fill our number one spot with Coniah Boyce-Clarke as his deputy His club repeatedly accepted our offers, but the player keeps rejecting us so for the moment Boyce-Clarke has the jersey with Jokull Andresson as understudy The only other area of concern is over Camara if we do not get permission to select him, as we don't have any other wing-cover for Femi Azeez if he is forced out Our finances are artificially OK on opening day as we had annual payments coming in, but our expenditure exceeds income by £10 million per year We know what to expect, so continued repair work and sensible control is important over the coming season and for the next few years ahead Luckily the Academy is a strong point of the club, backed up by the fact that 14 of the above players were developed through that system Edited March 29 by Jogo Bonito 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said: We played 63 first-team games last season That's a lot! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 5 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said: Mark Bowen continues to make good decisions on players attracting interest, although Nelson Abbey may one day need to be sacrificed Any update on the Tyler Bindon work permit thing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 1 minute ago, Stuniverse said: That's a lot! Indeed it was! In the German top flight we played 34 games plus one fairly low-impact cup competition. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 4 minutes ago, Stuniverse said: Any update on the Tyler Bindon work permit thing? Not really. I don't know if we will be able to use him after the permit expires on 6th August 2024 even though he is still under contract until 30th June 2025. We already haven't been able to use Mamadi Camara in pre-season friendlies due to his own permit situation. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 38 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said: Not really. I don't know if we will be able to use him after the permit expires on 6th August 2024 even though he is still under contract until 30th June 2025. We already haven't been able to use Mamadi Camara in pre-season friendlies due to his own permit situation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 7 minutes ago, Stuniverse said: Indeed. I guess we will find out in a few days as the first league game is upon us now (3rd August). Bindon now has five New Zealand caps but is injured so cannot improve his played minutes percentage. Our other ESC permit holder is Duncan McGuire, who is injured for the next four months. It's not likely that he will meet his permit criteria either, which may see his career in England ended far too early also. If Camara also cannot play, that might be three massive dents in our plan. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 Season 2024/25 The second season of Reading in League 1 kicked off in good order with an unbeaten seven match run That saw four wins and a draw in the league, and progression in the first two rounds of the EFL Cup September was tougher as we only won one of four league games, losing one and drawing two We also exited the EFL Cup with a home defeat against Wolves, but better news came in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy After being losing finalists last year, it was decided that a 63-match season was not sensible so we need to exit that competition in the group stage this time The transfer window was quiet with a few departures, and the arrival of Gabriel Osho (free) and two loans Both of the loans were forced rather than 'wanted' with striker Divin Mubama first in when Duncan McGuire picked up a long-term injury in pre-season The other deal saw winger Chaka Traore loaned-in on deadline day as our own Mamadi Camara was not given a work permit despite being home grown at the club October started with a league loss at home to Plymouth, but we managed to achieve our exit from the BSMT after just two games We then embarked on a really good run of seven unbeaten league games - with our third and final Trophy match seeing us lose on penalties Exeter got revenge for us dumping them out of the FA Cup with an away-day smash and grab to end the league sequence, but we have reached FA Cup Round 3 There haven't been any stand-out performers this season, but the defence has improved and we are well-placed having played less games than our rivals The rest of the story so far this season surrounds work permits and contracts Central defender Tyler Bindon now has eight caps for New Zealand and keeps demanding a new contract We are desperate to do so, but his work permit is always rejected and he refuses to sign-on without a successful appeal being made He then moans about us breaking our promise to renew his contract and it's beginning to affect some of our team leaders 'manager opinion' At least Bindon is allowed to play, unlike Camara who isn't holding a current permit and has not been available for selection all season Despite this, now that McGuire is returning from injury, we'll be looking to have our two loan deals ended in the winter window (both have hardly been used) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Best defence in the league is always a great achievement, especially if you can find a way to eke out a few more at the other end. Overall, you're in a pretty good place, I think. Well in the mix for promotion, and fingers crossed - again! - for that money-spinning FA Cup run . Nice to see WiFi back among the goals after what looks like a quiet start to the season. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 A good start to the season in League and FA Cup and you are well on your way to achieving EFL Trophy elimination. Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞 for the rest of the season and with those pesky work permits. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 (edited) On 08/04/2024 at 23:53, warlock said: Best defence in the league is always a great achievement, especially if you can find a way to eke out a few more at the other end. Overall, you're in a pretty good place, I think. Well in the mix for promotion, and fingers crossed - again! - for that money-spinning FA Cup run . Nice to see WiFi back among the goals after what looks like a quiet start to the season. I'm traditionally a defence-first kind of manager, but in recent years I've tried to reduce my natural tendencies and now happy with a more balanced focus (playing on positive mentality). I'd love to go for a defensive counter-attack approach but not many boards or fans seem keen on that, and it's a bit too under-powered to be effective. Wifi has indeed started to make a contribution, but has had to play second fiddle to fit-again (and first season disappointment) Sam Smith so often plays just behind the lone striker or from the bench. Interesting what you said about the FA Cup.... On 09/04/2024 at 01:27, Stuniverse said: A good start to the season in League and FA Cup and you are well on your way to achieving EFL Trophy elimination. Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞 for the rest of the season and with those pesky work permits. Elimination from the Trophy was a target I felt achievable and necessary! I've disliked that competition for many years. The work permits have been a headache and something seems wrong as those players in real life are settled at the club, and we had an extra ESC slot for the American striker. More on this to follow in the incoming update! Edited April 15 by Jogo Bonito 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said: The work permits have been a headache and something seems wrong FM, like god, moves in mysterious ways 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 Season 2024/25 December 2024 started with Reading sat 4th in League 1, and still in the FA Cup The month was exceptional, with six league wins on the spin prior to defeat at home to Leyton Orient in the final fixture of the year January promised to be tougher, as we faced five consecutive away games including a trip to Tyneside to face Newcastle in FA Cup Round 3 A win at Lincoln set us up nicely for that one, and we were unlucky to lose to The Magpies right at the death after a superb backs-to-the-wall effort A scintillating 3-3 draw at league leaders Portsmouth was the highlight of the next four win-less games, but January was concluded with an overdue defeat of Walsall February saw the side find great form again, with five straight wins before a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Blackpool last time out This recent run has seen us open up a nice lead at the top as the nearest challengers play leapfrog with each other on a weekly basis For the last few months we've been using a new system which has three central defenders and two wing-backs as we had a surplus of quality centre-backs Ahead of them we have two defensive midfielders (anchor & regista), two shadow strikers and a DLF lone striker with attack duty 1st January 2025 New Years Day brought a different kind of headache as more work permit news was delivered by the Chairperson Despite now meeting the criteria for a new permit, Tyler Bindon was now unwilling to accept our new contract due to alleged broken promises The reality is he twice accepted our contracts but when the permit was refused, he chose not to renew and instead got unhappy that we had 'lied to him' And on the very same day, striker Duncan McGuire was also denied a work permit, even though we had a spare ESC slot to allocate him That meant that, like our home grown winger Mamadi Camara, he was also now unavailable for selection under any circumstances 2nd January 2025 A day later loan striker Divin Mubama was recalled by West Ham - no complaints really as we had chosen not to use him very often (we had tried to use McGuire when fit) Here are the stats for the two strikers who left the club in January 3rd January 2025 The next day winger Chaka Traore was also recalled by AC Milan - again we had chosen to barely use him so no complaints on this one either Here are the stats for the departing Traore 4th January 2025 WE discovered that Bindon was now going to join Wellington Phoenix at the end of his contract, and Tom Holmes was also going to be leaving in the summer So as we continue to only seek out free transfer signings, we made a move to sign Bayern Munich youngster Liam Morrison on a pre-contract deal for July 16th January 2025 Unable to select McGuire, we managed to sell him to Wigan for £80,000 on 16th January - leaving us bewildered how he can get a permit there but not with us 31st January 2025 Our 24-man squad had been reduced to 21 with the three departures, so we promoted one from the development squad to boost numbers On deadline day, we made a slightly ambitious move to lure forward Yakou Meite back to the club on loan from Cardiff but the numbers did not align The Yak is a big fans favourite and we might have another go at getting him in the summer, especially if his contract is not renewed in Wales Here is the rather empty summary of business done in the winter window, but we don't mind - except for the imminent loss of Bindon We now have nine league games to go out and earn that promotion back to the second tier, and we feel confident we can do it 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 6 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said: we've been using a new system Seems to be working well It's particularly impressive within the confines of the financial situation. Steady as she goes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 6 minutes ago, warlock said: Seems to be working well It's particularly impressive within the confines of the financial situation. Steady as she goes! Yes, no complaints at all. Pleasing also that at this point in time there is only one player in the squad who is not an original - Gabriel Osho. And even he was a youth team graduate who joined Luton from us, and we were lucky enough to get him back for free in the summer. To keep this challenging, we'll probably continue the no-fees approach regardless of what league we are in next season. Unfortunately, Mark Bowen stepped in and renewed some player contracts that saw my self-imposed maximum wage of £6,000 per week surpassed. I'll have to live with it, but we would not have done so if it had been my decision. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 (edited) Well you wanted it to be challenging, @Jogo Bonito and, even though you are looking odds-on for promotion, it really does look challenging. It’s a real shame about Tyler Bindon. He impressed me in real life when Reading played at Pride Park. Good to see you’re keeping true to the Reading squad in real-life and former Reading players. Keep up the good work. Edited April 16 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfieLucas Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 Doing very well so far. Looking good for promotion, fingers crossed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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