Summer '08: Ins and Outs

... and Fulham's stuck well back from 10th.

Al Fayad doesn't have the cash you think he has. If he did, Fulham would have had all these expensive, great players by now. Instead, Fulham has has to buy guys like Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey.

If only it were all only down to ambition.... you'd be right.

 

Al Fayed DOES have the cash, he's just too worried about finances. Geez, Sunderland can go out and be linked to all these great players and pay 9M for a KEEPER!, but we can't spend even close to what they do? Al Fayed runs circles on Niall Quinn with his money.

 

Internazionale Fan,

Yes, Kitson has skill otherwise he wouldn't have played in the EPL. He played on a team that was better than Fulham just 2 seasons ago. He's scored 54 goals in 135 games for Reading (including in the Championship). That's actually pretty decent as far as forwards go in English football. He scored 10 EPL goals this past season which was as many as McBride scored the year before... I think. So he's comparable to McBride in a lot of ways. That's also more than any Fulham player scored this year, as well.

 

And did you not see where I said Mcbride wasn't that good? Also the vast majority of his goals were in the Championship. I believe one year he had like 25-30 goals for them in that league.


Kevin Doyle is leagues above this idiot and actually has SKILL. Obviously Kitson has skill, but absolutely no technique at all and nothing where can get past the defense on his own. Doyle does.

 

Lyle and FFC24 - going at it. Love it!

Perhaps a Kitson signing isn't really intended to put an exclamation point on the forward position and not really intended to fill the 'featured' striker role. Perhaps he is just one of the new strikers we will be adding to create depth.

Watching the 'Best Goals of 07/08' preview show on FSC, he did have two of them, I think, and I did enjoy hearing his name called loudly by the announcer on the show.

Let's hope his is not the only signing at this position and is not expected to be our Berbatov - sp??

 

And yet for all the skill you seem to think Doyle possesses, he scored exactly half as many goals as Kitson last season. So if your argument against Kitson is based on the fact that he doesn't score enough, it's just as applicable to Doyle.

Yes, MAF has money, and he made that money by making smart business decisions, not by throwing it away. If he's decided he doesn't want to lose tens of millions of pounds per season, that's his right. If you don't like it, you can go watch Inter.

 

Doyle had a shit season, I'll agree, but he's like 4 years younger and has been scoring and playing for Ireland alot. He has top exprience and has proven that he can play quite well in this league(The season before last).



He wouldn't lose tens of millions. If our team performed better, they gain more fans, which means more money, which means better sponsers, which means more money. If our team performed better, we might be playing in the UEFA Cup, which means more money, which means more TV time, which means more money. Do you not get that?


What's with all the Inter shit? I don't see people calling Don out because he supports Luton. Geez, it's annoying.

 

Doyle has scored 37 goals in 118 appearences. He had a horrible season last year, but has proven to be quite good in seasons past. He was young play of the year for Ireland and has 5 goals in 18 appearences for them. So compared to Kitson, he IS better. Also anybody who has watched him and Kitson play knows whose better.

 

I followed Reading regularly the last two years. Doyle IS better than Kitson; he would also cost quite a bit more than 2.5M.

Doyle is a good all-around striker - he has pace, can dribble past players, can hold up the ball decently well, and has a good shot. Kitson is just a "classic #9" - he has workrate and is good in the air, but he's not going to dribble past anyone, at least not regularly.

 

Here are some names since you asked.


Riki. He's more of a winger, but can play forward and has been linked to England.


I'd also be happy with Cisse.


Everybody is talking about players leaving Blackburn, why not go after Benni McCarthy? About 6-7M would do the trick.

Mladen Petric wouldn't be a bad buy and neither would Ivica Olic.

Jan Schlaudraff is quite good as well.


Maybe get a David Suazo on loan? He isn't gonna be playing for Inter that much longer and Roy does have connects there.



All of these players would be decent buys or loan players with a view to buy.

 

Finally some good news.

 

Put it into context. You act like he scored 10 for Manchester United instead of Reading. Ten goals on that club...in 28 matches played...
is not a point to condemn.

 

But anybody who has seen him play knows that he's not that good. He just works hard and is good in the air like Andy said.

 

You can't say Kitson is crap and then praise Doyle when Doyle had the lesser club season by any measurement you use to judge.

If we're only going to use international performances as a measure to judge a player while casting aside club play, then we all would have to say David Healy is one of the 10 best players in the Premier League.

 

A striker who contributes as much to the cause in defence as he does in attack brings more to the table than mere effort.

This opinion that he's crap is not shared by the clear majority of Reading fans. They see the contribution he made to the club and view him as a tremendous asset. £2.5 million for Kitson? They aren't happy.

 

Have you watched him play alot? He's injured alot and contributes nothing, but effort.

 

Beggers can't be choosers Forz Inter. Beggers can't be choosers.

 

We're not beggers. We choose to be beggers.

 

Sunderland is a much, much bigger club than Fulham. They have a 40,000 seat stadium and they sell it out. Niall Quinn isn't the owner, he's the chairman. He only runs the club for a group of Irish investors... just like Arsenal.

Why in the world do you actually think Al Fayad is going to donate millions to Fulham? Why? It's a business and it must be run with whatever money the club can make on its own. If he can give away money to Fulham, than fine, but clearly that has not been the case but for his initial investments to get the team into the EPL to begin with.