To Change Or Not To Change? That Is The Question…

Since the season drew to a close Reading have already dipped into the transfer market three times, bringing in Gareth McCleary, Danny Guthrie and subject to any late shenanigans, Pavel Pogrebnyak. Both Pogrebnyak and Guthrie have Premier League experience while McCleary is the reigning Player of the Season at Nottingham Forest, so all three will bring something positive to the mix at the Madejski next year and give Brian McDermott even more options to choose from.

We’re also highly likely to dip back into the market, with rumours of approaches for players such as Jordan Rhodes, Adrian Mariappa and even Gylfi Sigurdsson all floating about amongst numerous others. For fans of a newly promoted club this is arguably the most fun period of the season as we see household names all linked with a move to the Mad Stad, players we can all freely debate in the pub as opposed to relatively unknown quantities such as Brett Williams, or Karl Sheppard. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with unproven players (ahem Doyle, Long, Hislop etc) but it’s a bit more fun to chat about the merits of Pogrebnyak vs Hunt compared to Sheppard vs Church….

However there’s always a bit of concern whether a successful squad should be tinkered with too much, and especially when the players coming in are likely in a new wage bracket, could too many signings disrupt the team?

It’s a question that’s only going to be definitively answered come the season’s end but what can we learn from the investment of other newly promoted sides and can there be such a thing as too much or too little change?

Reading FC Sign Danny Guthrie

Pic Courtesy of Reading FC OS

Well it’s been a while, but finally there’s been a bit of solid footballing news coming out of the Madejski Stadium, with two signings and the launch of the strips for 2012/13. The first of those signings to be confirmed was that of Danny Guthrie, who joins from Newcastle on a ‘Bosman’ free transfer on a three-year deal. 

Guthrie has been through some of the biggest clubs in the country, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle, winning praise wherever he’s been. However, somewhat inconsistant form and a series of unfortunate injuries have meant Guthrie has never quite cracked the top-level of the English game and we’ll look at what Reading fans can expect from the 25-year-old midfielder.

Fixtures, Fixtures & More Fixtures – 2012/13 Edition

Hard to beleive how different the outlook was the last time I wrote this fixtures piece. Back then we were pondering trips to The AMEX, London Road and The Den, now it’s Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane.

By now we’ve all had time to digest the basics of the fixtures for the new season which will see us open at home to Stoke and finish with a trip to Upton Park to face West Ham. The official club site has done a great little key points article outlining some of the essential dates and what to look out for but I thought we’d take a look at some of the other impacts of the fixture list, including how far we’ll have to travel and how much away match tickets are likely to cost.