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As a Reading fan I'd say the signing of Tom Ince, if it happens, could have several outcomes, the most likely that it will be a good signing, but carrying some risk. He was Reading's best player last season without a doubt, although a slightly lower bar than other clubs given the circumstances, and rightfully won the fans' player of the season award. He's got a great left foot, usually puts in a good cross, takes corners and is a very dangerous free kick taker on the right side just outside the penalty area. Early in the season he was on fire, great passion, going the extra mile, running players down in the last ten minutes lifting the crowd etc. Of course there was speculation that if you can't try your hardest in front of your father (Paul Ince the manager at that time) then you are never going to do so. Maybe that did spur him on a bit but even if it did it showed what he was capable of, which is very good. He had to be rested a couple of times as the analytics were showing that he was due an injury. This duly happened around ten games before the end of the season, the crucial time obviously, and there were complaints from our fans that he (Tince) had been flogged to death and there was some truth in it. He was never seen again from that moment apart from isolated reports that he had been seen in the vicinity of the stadium wearing a huge plastic boot thing on one leg. Most fans believe that without Tince's injury Reading would have stayed up comfortably, notwithstanding the six-point deduction. So all good apart from the injury. Now the risks. Most criticism I've seen of Tince speculates or claims outright that he has a bad attitude, arrogant, etc, etc, you get the drift. You'd probably have to speak to Stoke fans about that to get the full picture. But for the avoidance of doubt on that score, this is what happened at Reading. In the half a dozen or so games before his injury he lost a bit of form, nothing drastic but enough to take the edge of what made him special earlier in the season, maybe not so motivated, a few niggles with team mates, etc. This culminated quite noticeably at a home game where a lazyish ball was chipped out to him on the touchline. Instead of letting it go and maybe encouraging the player who mispassed with a clap or whatever, he petulantly and quite violently volleyed the ball back in the direction of the player as it passed over the touchline then had what appeared to be an on pitch row with colleagues. Some of our fans at the time were saying this was good in a way in that it showed his passion and that he was frustrated with the shortcomings of players around him. There may be some truth in that but in reality it was a petulant and unhelpful act. His form dipped again after that and there were rumours of tetchiness with other players, no more than that, might not be correct, but something was wrong for sure. There were hopes that he would be back from his injury before the end of the season but after Pince was sacked, that seemed every more unlikely. So in short, rightly motivated and played in the right position, which is essentially a free role, he could play very well for you and I hope he does. But he will need to be carefully monitored by Wagner and is unlikely to take kindly to criticism or being benched, for instance.

During "I bet you look good in the back four".

I have heard Shane Duffy passed his medical yesterday and will be announced as a Norwich Player on Friday. Great Signing.

This is all a bit positive and optimistic, so can I just say booo!!!!!

I remember being present when Sheff Utd played Rovrum under Wilder and it became a complete farce. Vaulks for Rovrum had placed towels all round the pitch for his long throws; after the first couple Wilder spoke to the lead ball boy who then ran around the pitch throwing all the towels into the stand. Then because Rovrum were leading, the Blades needed to throw the kitchen sink at them, so Wilder then sent the same ball boy around the ground to recover the towels so their long throw specialist could have a dry ball. You then saw one of the Rovrum technical guys sneaking down the line hiding the said towels, which lead to the usual Wilder histrionics as he violently moved toward the Rovrum dugout to chew out their technical guy. For the life of me, with all that going on, I can't remember what the final score was!

I hate to break it to people if they are unaware, but Norfolk is pretty mid west America equivalent.

I don't think timing of the announcement for pre season friendlies will impact your travel plans CC! Home or away. 😉

The last sentence is the important part. Good riddance, you steaming pile of ****e.

Maybe it signals a change in strategy. Instead of having a third of the squad out injured, we will go for a third banned following red cards?

Because it's an accessible way of raising the profile of the campaign. It's not a personal protest against road users. Unfortunately, some people's thinking is so binary that they cannot see the bigger picture which is education and visibility of the problem and wider pressure on the government. We can all sit here while the world burns around us in complete ignorance or we can praise people who are actually trying to prevent it and join them in whatever way you can. Even if that's just ditching the car for short journeys. If you're over 70, possibly not a problem personally for you unless you make it into your 80s, if you're under 70, have kids or grandkids etc. then climate change absolutely going to affect your life and/or theirs negatively. Those who argue that China or Russia [Insert your choice of state here] will not comply - well, let's align with all of their values on human rights and foreign policy shall we? It's nonsense.

The three signings we have made so far all look as hard as nails. The days of the 'dreaded Duncan Forbes and Wildman Hockey' seem to have returned. I suspect, if nothing else, Norwich City will be a tough nut to crack in the coming season. Get a tough CD midfielder of the same ilk in then that's that side of the problem solved. No longer powder puff, so to speak. Perhaps a bit more flair and another decent goal-getter in, and we should be in good shape. I, for one, am a bit more optimistic about our prospects for next season now.

The guy lived in Attleborough and was happy enough

Drummer. He's not up to standard...

Just watched a replay of the 2015 play off final in it Tettey excelled as DM alongside Howson. The only success we have is with this formation and the move to 433 has seen disatrous results and performances. In the play off final we had Martin and Bassong as CB's not giants in that position. But Tettey ensured they were effectively protected. In the last two seassons the DM's recruited were sorely inadequate in that role. It is essential the next recruit in a DM role is more Tettey than Hayden. With a proper selection as DM we could get back to a formation that suits us best. But to find a DM to do the job maybe beyond City's recruitment team. Kenny could be coupled with that person but if he is first choice to be DM we are in desperate trouble.

Surely that would be madness 😀

I don't believe I have ever said nobody would vote for him. There are millions like yourself who are stupid enough to think he is wonderful. One group he has lost is the independent voter. They are intelligent enough to know that inflation is worldwide, fuel prices are worldwide, climate change is worldwide. So your Make Jools Relevant Campaign has got off to a bad start.

is it eleven aside....or the return of the los Palmas 7 ?

A, he's not British and B, his name is a lump of antisemitic red meat casually thrown around by bad people.

Clearly Russia were desperate then to resort to miltary action what with losing a politican/economic battle for influence over several European countries. The truth is simple. Both parties are major powers that excert global influence in a variety of untangible ways to the regular person. They compete and one is simply better at it than the other and just because Russia is currently losing is not to excuse them from playing the game nor being innocent. They've been pushing plently of boundaries themselves and war could have happened in another way. Ukraine is a USA puppet? It was also a Russian one. NATO expanded when they said they've wouldn't. Who did they invade?. Did the countries all have their arms twisted or did we/they see a weak Russia(a threat) and realise this was a great chance to strengthen and increase their own security. The globalists want Russia to be weak is the basic argument for the invasion here otherwise they are using NATO expansion as an excuse to invade an independent country which resources wise should be free to trade with whoever has the best offer. Invasion now won't adjust any effective borders between Russia and NATO so that's just an excuse to wave about. Losing influence/resources because the other side had a better offer should just be accepted as Russia had no right to expect them to stay with Russia. So is Russia itself really under threat? No, it's influences outside it's borders are, but in the same so is every countries. The Invasion is basically on Russia not accepting loss of control of a resource and they are of a character to inflict damage and in a much more evil way. This is a very understandable reason for war throughout time of course, but today. Russia are in the wrong and in a way just playing into the Wests hands more.

This is a wonderful book

Tom Ince next 🤣

Suspect Duffy and Omo together. Both play for Ireland after all.

One for the Simpsons fans...

What makes the three signings significant for us fans is that we have seen these players and do not have to suffer a youtube video of only the best bits of a player. Some of the signings we have made in the past especially last season left us completely in the dark. Singing about Sara at the Cardiff opener was a bit meaningless. Remember 2003/04 when we brought in Harper, Dazza and Crouch, on loan admittedly. We knew what they were capable of. There will be no great upheaval for these players and they won't have to learn the language (apart rom knowing what a Dickie is) or the currency and cost of living. Of course its no guarantee of success but denotes a sea change in recruitment attitudes. I just hope they didn't go to the same Doctors as Byram or Hayden.

Yep, and if we look at the squads that got promoted this season: Burnley had Lowton , Cork, Rodriguez, Barnes, Gudmundsson all in their squad who were all 32+ Sheffield United had Sharp, Basham, Foderingham, Norood, Stevens and Fleck who were all 31+ Luton had Lansbury, Shea, Bradley, Freeman and Berry who were all 30+ Next season we should hopefully have Barnes, Mclean, Duffy, Gibson and Onel around the first team which puts us roughly on par.

Just pointing out that the people we repeatedly told you were wrong uns, were actually wrong uns. You should have paid attention all those years ago.

I'll always say that a player's performances will be the ultimate litmus test of how good a move is, but this is another signing to give us steel and experience down the middle of the park. Duffy's more of a Hanley replacement considering his aerial prowess. We've got him in early so that he can have a full pre-season, and hopefully he'll give us more attacking threat on set pieces. I like the thought going into these. Less time for these players to get used to the league needed, and a sturdy spine on which our youngsters can lean on and develop.

There's your answer! Officially not full of ****

The one year we decide to try and buy some Sh*thouse FC Players, and the EFL are going to end up banning all sh*thousery.

Pot kettle

Ah just quit it will yah? We've known Aarons is going for what seems like three years. Most people have been a tad harsh on Nunez - and now all of a sudden, recruitment last summer was amazing... guess folks will reverse their thoughts on Webber then? I get what TY was saying, for me it's too soon to say as we are not even into the transfer window officially yet and it is known as "silly season" for a reason. If we sell any players, we'll likely reinvest at least some of that, we'll have to. As pointed out, it is incredibly unlikely that we would go into a season with Hanley out until at least Jan, and not replace big A if he goes, leaving just Gibson, Tomkinson, Hills and perhaps Duffy to cover. Would leave us very vulnerable to injury and suspension. Writing was on the wall for the last ten games of last season. Remove the experienced spine/core of the team and it becomes incredibly vulnerable, even from good positions. Barnes will help out Sargent and Idah both on the pitch and off it. He has a mentality and a physicalness he can pass on to them. Ince isn't actually that different. He's a hard working winger. Bearing in mind that bar Hernandez, we again, have very little experience in wide positions. Duffy for me is an ideal character to bring in too, has the experience, has played internationally and steps in to fill Hanley's boots who we may be unlikely to see much of next season. Stacey could turn out to be an astute signing too. At 5'10" he is certainly taller than Aarons and is a bit more physical. At 27, he has more experience in football too. They are strengthening the squad, so far I like it. It very much depends who leaves as to what we do next and what money we have can be spent on not just strengthening but improving our squad.

So is he the Chile sauce?....

I worry that we think that we are above a player such as Tom Ince. Or Ashley Barnes. Both were quality last season.

Been watching a group of well over 20 swifts performing their wonderful manoeuvres from my back garden tonight. With a glass or two. I’m a happy boy .

https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/wheels-fall-off-f1-formula-one-gif-12823690

Get Braverman and Badenoch out and then there are signs of progress.

I think you and LYB should just cut to the chase and slap your members on a table. The man with the biggest can be the alpha and the rest of us won't need to hear the boasting!

It's a mystery isn't it...

Not for me Cambridge as we already have this dept covered to get some experience in has proven to work for clubs at this level so good move for the club

Isn't McCallum our long throw specialist?

When Steve martin was funny ...

Wee Billy maybe? Lol!

O dear a bit more trouble for Trumpy https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65852062

Looking into a crystal ball I reckon in a years time this thread will still be ongoing and we’ll still have no clue what’s happening

Binner

What about those giant flame things. Plus at half time we could flood the pitch and re-create naval battles.

Also, one potentially leaving

Gotta run it past the wife first, like all big decisions.