I don't think so, but you you never know. Does he have a shroud? ... Uhm, not to question the speaker in your quotation, but wouldn't a transitional year for the crew imply that they'd been very succesful before but it's now time to regroup. I would hope no one in the lockerroom had the thoughts he was describing.
According to an interview with Madjeski, they're having a hard time convincing anyone to sign. they're making lots of contacts and getting lots of "not interested" responses. don't know if gooch is one of those, but the chronicle described him as their top target, which may be overstating, but probably denotes keen interest.
If Reading signed Gooch, I would finally have a clear-cut favorite EPL team. Make it happen Madjeski!
I don't know, Boro's lack of interest comes from singing Huth, but I think many other teams will see a lot to like in a big, strong defender who dominated the Belgian league and then shut down against some of the better strikers in the world - if they can get the fouling to stop, i think alot of teams will be interested. Reading won't win unless it can outbid.
Filippo Inzaghi and Kerlon are other Readign targets. Kerlon is just a shot in the dark, it's not goign to happen. Inzaghi an outside possibilty as long as Milan are relgated and would agree a one year loan deal and Inzaghi fancies bringing his family out to Berkshire for a year to be close to the in-laws (who live in Berkshire).
If four teams (Juvy, Fiorentina, Milan, and Lazio) relegated, wouldn't it be very important to not finish 4th in Serie B? If so, would teams be able to risk playing a lesser team and finishing 4th in Serie B, thus not getting promoted? Furthermore, I feel like given that pressure, Serie B coverage will be extensive next year, perhaps more important than Serie A - that is, the biggest games will be games between the 4 teams there, with Serie A being relatively boring except for mild interest in Inter-Roma or whatnot. Thus, maybe it isn't smart for Milan to be loaning out their best players in order to cut losses.
I think you'll find most of the top players would go out on loan deals and soem would be sold to soften the finacial blow, plus playing in Serie B even when there's 3 other top teams isn't a great way for a player to keep sharp.
First team coach wally downes, who just re-signed for another year, noted in a video interview that's only in the pay bit of the site that Reading are pursuing players, but are essentially in a position to do little more than wait to see which of their targets are passed on by bigger club before they sweep in for the crumbs. "We'll be on the coat tails of the big boys, and cherry picking what we can," were his words...
Side note to Serial A & B, the teams split all the TV money for the leauges, which is why Serial B is the best 2nd division in the world. The only money not split is the tournament money Eufa, and Champions leaug. So the money is not the biggest issue. I would love to see Pablo or Gooch head to Reading
Serie B is a very strong 2nd tier, but the Championship defitnely stronger and a lot richer (the Championship is the 6th richest league in the world ahead of first tier leagues like the Potuguese Superliga and the Dutch Eredivisie).
The championship is stronger in terms of the clubs and support, but not necessarily playing ability. Serie A & B may share TV money, but that's only the remainder of the TV money left over after the big clubs have arranged their own exclusive deals. I would guess english championship clubs are richer than their Serie B counterparts as I don't believe what's left of the TV deal would bridge the financial gap, but I think championship clubs also get poor value for money with regards to the wages they pay out. The average championship player on £4000 a week would not get offered close to that anywhere else in the world.
A big differnce is that Serie B has to rely much more on home-grown talent with only a smattering of compartively low-level foreign talent, whereas the Championship's money means it can augment and develop the league with good foreign players. Money of course is not the ulitmate measure of a league, but a league with money can invest more in improving itself and better leagues attarct mroe money.
there's a lot of decent foreign players in the championship, but really not that many who stand out. Only Hahnemann & Sonko made the PFA Championship team of the year out of all the non-British Isles players.
From the BBC rumor column (quoting news of the world): Reading boss Steve Coppell has made a £4.2m bid for Ghana's John Mensah. (News of the World). Would be an either/or with Gooch and Mensah, i'd think. As mentionded earlier, Reading def can match a gooch buy offer, but not sure they're able to compete with the reported salary offer.
Reading buy Ki-Hyeon Seol from Wolves. He was a striker for most of his career but largely played at left wing in the CCC. I doubt he'll displace Bobbito, but who knows. Maybe Coppell will move him back to forward. I liked the fact that he was part of the "Funk Seol Brothers" with Ronaldinho and Denilson in Eric Cantona's "Secret Tournament" during Nike's WC2002 ad campaign.
$125,000 cash and a $300,000 loan. Reading would then be demoted and not reach the top flight for another 100 years. Berkshire would be home of "The Curse of the Bobinho."
My guess is he's not for sale. Sidwell is being courted, one bid of pds 2 m is in and others (higher) are coming according to rumors, but they're saying they've no need to sell anyone. The argument is that it will cost more to bring someone else in than they'll get in return. They haven't agreed, terms, btw, and given that they've just failed with sidwell, refusing to go higher than pds 15k a week, that may be a problem, frankly with any signing this year. With sidwell, they've decided he plays for Reading this year, leaves on a free in the summer. They're looking to stay up, and they're not having a lot of luck bringing in their top targets, thus far. Seol is one, though.