What a miss. Still think he'll score in the second half and Reading will stage some type of comeback.
Printable View
What a miss. Still think he'll score in the second half and Reading will stage some type of comeback.
Jay Tabb sent off for something he said to the ref in the tunnel. without kicking a ball!
2-3 nowQuote:
Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie
Long was very poor today. Didn't get a kick.
Beaten 4-2, gutted for them, really thought they would get promoted. Will be interesting to see what happens with the likes of Long now this summer.
Seemed like the whole Reading team fell apart for this one, especially Khizanishvili. I'd be hopeful that a Premier League side will pick up Long in the pre-season, he seems good enough to step up. Fingers crossed for him anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by drummerboy
Neil Lennon was in the crowd today, and I believe he was at the semifinal as well. Wonder who's he is considering a bid for?
I'm sure Wolves will be in for him (and very probably Swansea, Qpr, Everton and Fulham). I can see Hunt getting a move to the Premiership as well.
SL been consistently linked over the last two months with Newcastle and Celtic, with occ. Liverpool, according to the 'BBC Gossip column'.
Everton have no money, so unlikely to be them, unsure about the other 'lesser' PL clubs named.
Noel Hunt would be more likely to go to one of them, but can't see him lasting more than a season or two in the current EPL.
It's been said that there's a £5m deal done in principal with a top half Premier League team. Whether that comes to pass or not is a different story.
With Everton selling Yakubu, they might possibly use the money to buy Long. I still reckon this would be abrilliant move for him.
Agreed, I'd ideally like to see him heading there.Quote:
Originally Posted by gastric
Sunderland are very light up front too so I could see them making a move.
'I'm aware of Celtic's interest in Shane Long,' Madejski said. 'Neil Lennon has been watching him for three games now. He's been at our past two games and he was here again. We are still to hear anything official from Celtic but it's obvious they are interested.
'How confident am I we can ward off Celtic's interest? Not very.
'It's sad that we didn't get promoted because Shane would have liked to stay at Reading if we had reached the Premier League. But that has changed because we will be in the Championship.'
Should Lennon land his top strike target, Madejski believes he will be getting a player who will take the SPL by storm.
He added: 'Shane is world-class. What is the value I would place on him? £20m. Now we will just have to see what happens with him.
'As well as being a great player, he's a lovely lad. If Celtic are to land him, they will be privileged indeed because he's just a super player and a super individual.
'He has all the right credentials to go to the very top of the game. He's hard working and extremely cool in front of goal. I don't know if he will end up at Celtic but what is certain is that he will not be at Reading next season.'
if they want £20m for him he wont be going to celtic. thank god
I don't think a Celtic move would be too disastrous, if he's playing regularly and bagging goals it'll only be good for his confidence for Ireland.
Celtic is a massive club and a huge draw for us irish but the SPL outside the top 2 is dire. hed prob be better of in the championship if he dosent move. hopefully he can get a club where he plays regularly but even the top strikers out there nowadays arent guaranteed a spot anymore. I seen west brom mentioned, that would be a good one. long and the nigerian odinwengie would be a good partnership.Quote:
Originally Posted by boovidge
Has shane come off the boil a bit in the last month?
hopefully he back on the boil sat night. i presume he will start in front of cox?Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
based on the 2nd leg of the semi final vs cardiff, noQuote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
European football with Celtic as well, which can only be a good thing. I'd have him instead of Stokes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggie
its hard to know, him and hooper would be first choice id imagine. when robbie went i thought it was a total step down for him but i came round to the idea. but i think at this time long should stay in england. at 24 does he really want to go to the SPL..Quote:
Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani
Celtic would be a great move...
...when he's 32 and beginning to wind down. At 24 and in the wake of his best ever season, he's primed for premier league action.
Not a chance of him going to Celtc. Huge step backwards
Ya second the above, no way should he go to Celtic. Id actually prefer for him to do another year in Reading, be their main man, get plenty of football etc. If not, then go to someone like Everton or Villa would be good, somewhere he'd get plenty of games. Think he would actually form a good partnership with Darren Bent at Villa.
from today's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...r-drogba-milan
Quote:
Reading are all set to be punished for their failure to win promotion by seeing a veritably player exodus, with winger Jimmy Kébé on QPR's radar and prolific striker Shane Long currently being pursued by Celtic, Everton and Newcastle
Disagreement between Reading's manager and chairman over Long's future: http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sp...-longs-future/
Quote:
READING boss Brian McDermott and chairman Sir John Madejski look set to clash over Shane Long's future.
McDermott is determined to keep his squad together and wants leading goalscorer Long to spearhead next season's promotion campaign.
But Madejski insists the club's crown jewels will be sold to balance the books following Monday's play-off final defeat.
"I'm aware of Celtic's interest in Shane Long," said Madejski. "How confident am I we can ward off Celtic's interest? Not very.
"It's sad we didn't get promoted because Shane would have liked to stay if we had reached the Premier League, but that has changed because we will be in the Championship."
I would prefer if he stayed and had another season like the one just gone building a reputation and pricing Celtic out if it.
I'm thinking Villa would be the move.
He is too good for another yr in the chamiponship. He will definitely be on the move this summer to premiership. He won't be moving to Celtic
Correct. But would it not be better for him to stay at reading rather than move to Celtic.
That'l be scissors clashing with rock respectively then.Quote:
READING boss Brian McDermott and chairman Sir John Madejski look set to clash over Shane Long's future.
Can't see Long staying there. Goals, physicality, professionalism.. he's moving on (and up).
Long doesn't need to go to Celtic. He is already a proven player, just below his peak and good enough to command a first team spot in a few epl teams.
Though I'm glad Lennon is after him, shows he's serious about getting a quality partner for Hooper.
1 very good season and 5 disappointing single digit goal tally ones. I'm not convinced that makes him top class and I don't think top clubs will be convinced either.
Players take their own time to find their feet. The class he's shown this season is permanent. there's something there alright. I hope he goes to the right club to develop, if he does he could be an EPL regular no problem and likely even more.
Ciaran O'Raghallaigh has linked Long with an €8 million move to Bayern Munich!
From Ciaran's twitter feed: https://twitter.com/#!/Ciaran_O/stat...84428359385088
the link is to this photo of the articleQuote:
http://yfrog.com/h0syuptj:iphone
<EDIT>
Did some googling, there's an article on the Daily Record's site about Celtic being priced out of a move for Long, due to Bayern's interest: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/footbal...6908-23181353/
That's an interesting development. According to that Daily Record article, Reading have meetings set up with Bayern representatives.
As much as I'd like to see it happen I can't see what Bayern would want from him.
Goals, I assume.
The Daily Record's claim that Celtic are only talking about Long to sate the fans has a ring of truth to it. I really can't see them spending the kind of money that would be required to get Long, regardless of whether Bayern are in to him.
Its the annual 'link Celtic with an Irish striker to sell season tickets' trick coming from Parkhead again I think, except this time its Shane Long rather than Robbie Keane.
Ironically they might actually be able to get Keane this summer as his star has fallen a lot in England. Thankfully Long is well out of their range and will move to a far higher standard of football than the SPL. Would love to see another Irish player move to the continent, it has done wonders for McGeady and I think Long would do well in Germany if he got a run of games. He is probably more likely to end up somewhere like Everton though.
There may be something to the Celtic link, Neil Lennon was at both semi final legs against Forest, and at the final in Wembley
That would be an incredible move for him and Ireland. The more Irish lads playing in mainland Europe the better.