Halford spouting off again !

[Behindu]

Goater?

He performed though. If he hadn't scored any goals you might have been right !
Steve Moran may have been a better one to quote ...

[JimmytheJim]

Sunderland are bigger and more ambitious though

Bigger yes but not necessarily more ambitious

The amount of money that they are investing suggests that they are more ambitious.

It is results that matter. Leeds were very ambitious 6 or 7 years ago. They are also a much 'bigger' club than us. Didn't exactly work out too well.

[Stranded]

I think a lot of people on here have been a bit hard on Halford.
He was clearly not wanted by our club and for some reason (like Fae) having spent a decent wedge on him we decide not to play him.
As for the article I suspect Oster will have said something like "Sunderland are a good club to go to "which is innocuous.

Deep down Oster may have thought "I know Little is injured and Reading kept on playing Halford at right midfield in the reserves so with him gone I have every chance of getting a game unless I get injured"

I hope Halford ends up doing o.k. at Sunderland but he does have that useless McShane to play alongside so he may look worse than he is.
Going back to the Spurs game he had to mark England's winger at the time (Lennon) and had an injured Little playing ahead of him so he was really exposed and IMHO he didn't do as badly as some suggest and I reckon the hand-ball was a bit harsh.

Again Fae is a different example to Halford. In that he is on the bench every game and has been thrown on at some part in each of the last few games. Halford didn't even get in to the squad for the vast majority of his stay.

[Old Biscuitman]

Sunderland are bigger and more ambitious though

Bigger yes but not necessarily more ambitious

Ambition without the means to achieve is called a dream.

But in some circumstances dreams are the necessary precursors to ambition.

[Top Flight]

Sunderland are bigger and more ambitious though

Bigger yes but not necessarily more ambitious

The amount of money that they are investing suggests that they are more ambitious.

It is results that matter. Leeds were very ambitious 6 or 7 years ago. They are also a much 'bigger' club than us. Didn't exactly work out too well.

Obviously.......... I am aware of that.

[Franchise FC]

Sunderland are bigger and more ambitious though

Bigger yes but not necessarily more ambitious

The amount of money that they are investing suggests that they are more ambitious.

I think it means they are more desperate

[strap]

It seems Sir Steve was SOOooooo right in shipping this misfit out!!

[Compo's Hat]

Looks like Halford is going to play on Sunday in place of Paul McShane.

So that's 3 points for West Ham me thinks.

[Katie Marsden]

I was a bit gutted when he left, but the more I hear since convinces me Coppell was 100% wrong to sign him.

How so ?

We made a profit on him, so even if it didn;t work from a footballing sense it can hardly be seen as 100% wrong !

For 100% wrong deals look at clubs that spend millions on a player who never performs and then gets moved on for a fraction of the original fee.

If he's as crap as everyone is saying, why the hell did Coppell pay out a club record fee for him?

Sorry, I forgot Coppell never makes mistakes, he purchased Halford with the intention of selling him a few months later for a small profit

[PEARCEY]

I was a bit gutted when he left, but the more I hear since convinces me Coppell was 100% wrong to sign him.

How so ?

We made a profit on him, so even if it didn;t work from a footballing sense it can hardly be seen as 100% wrong !

For 100% wrong deals look at clubs that spend millions on a player who never performs and then gets moved on for a fraction of the original fee.

If he's as crap as everyone is saying, why the hell did Coppell pay out a club record fee for him?

Sorry, I forgot Coppell never makes mistakes, he purchased Halford with the intention of selling him a few months later for a small profit

Very good point Katie. He was hailed as exactly the type of player that fits the Reading mould.
He hardly played for the first team and is still a young lad. Most of you may well be right. He may not be good enough but I think its a bit early to write him off. I wish him well.

[andrew1957]

We are going over old ground - but clearly the club fancied Halford and paid a club record. He turned out to be rubbish - certainly based on the times I watched him. We then managed to offload him at a profit.

The conclusions we can draw are

1/ However good a manager only about 40/50% of the players you buy will work out. That applies to Chelsea and Man U as well as Reading. Man U have recently said Alex is crap and they paid £17M or so for him.

2/ Coppell does not dwell on mistakes but deals with them quickly - sign of a good manager.

3/ We made a profit on a player that is probably not Premiership standard.

[facaldaqui]

I wonder if we fell for Halford because Parkinson rated him. I'm sure we must have consulted Parky, who had previously managed him.

Of course we can criticise Steve for buying him, but since he flogged him off for a profit shortly afterwards, he rectified it, so respect. Takes a smart man to admit he is wrong, and a smarter one to make a profit from a mistake. (It's too late for Martin Jol to do the same thing with Bent, who will make much less money when he is sold. So will Halford next time.)

[Bowman's Quiver]

I was a bit gutted when he left, but the more I hear since convinces me Coppell was 100% wrong to sign him.

How so ?

We made a profit on him, so even if it didn;t work from a footballing sense it can hardly be seen as 100% wrong !

For 100% wrong deals look at clubs that spend millions on a player who never performs and then gets moved on for a fraction of the original fee.

If he's as crap as everyone is saying, why the hell did Coppell pay out a club record fee for him?

Sorry, I forgot Coppell never makes mistakes, he purchased Halford with the intention of selling him a few months later for a small profit

And Coppell has also said, on a number of occasions, that all signings are a gamble. In this case it was a gamble where our stake was returned plus interest.

So what's the problem

[RoyalBlue]

Sunderland are bigger and more ambitious though

They are but they are also behind us in the table at present, which is the only measure than matters.

That measure only matters come the end of the season. Will the bigger more ambitious club be in the lower position of the two then?

[Niko]

Looks like Halford is going to play on Sunday in place of Paul McShane.

So that's 3 points for West Ham me thinks.

bingo.

[Tilehurst Mike]

Looks like Halford is going to play on Sunday in place of Paul McShane.

So that's 3 points for West Ham me thinks.

bingo.

--woefully out of position and at fault for Sham's first goal yesterday--enough said. The bloke looks an absolute donkey, so we were well rid.

[Dirk Gently]

There's nothing wrong with Halford's ability - but what did seem to be wrong was something in his mental attitude, and that's something you never really find out about a player unless you have them training day in, day out.

Everything he has said since leaving tends to reinforce the message that he thinks he something special and that he has a sense of entitlement to a starting place in every match.

[Behindu]

Have to disagree re his ability Dirk.

He may be able to kick a football but positioning is a big part of ability and he seemed to have a total lack of positional awareness in the time he was on the pitch for us.

He looks like a player with bags of 'techincal' skill but lacking in the ability to put that into a match context. Probably got away with it in the lowere leagues but majorly found out in the Prem. Would explain why we liked him (becasue he looked very good) and then dumped him (becasue he couldn;t do it at this level).

Think Mr Woo - great skill in theory but no use in a real game...

[jetsetwilly]

Sent off again today !

[Basingstoke Royal]

What a oxf*rd.

He will be a championship player next season - with or without Sunderland.