spyinthesky Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Did well for us but a few suggested shelling out a sizeable sum to buy him Others thought he was limited to Div 1 See he is now on loan to Colchester.Probably his level Also notice that Andrew Davies, a success during his time here, is now plying his trade with Bradford City whilst David Mcgoldrick was sub for Sheff Weds last week on loan from Forest. Meanwhile our chum Anthony Pulis seems a permanent fixture on the bench at Aldershot
sambosa75 Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Antonio was 100% a pace merchant. I actually wouldn't be adverse to bringing him back and sticking him on the bench against wear legs with 10-15 mins to go but I guess that what we have Forte for. He was a very useful player in our first year in League One and I bet he is furious with Reading for preventing his permanent move here because they thought they could squeeze more money out of us. Davies was a quality player in his short stint here but is being held back by injuries. Shame, as for me he's been our best defender since being relegated and would be an ideal partner to JF if he was fit and capable of 40 odd games a season. McGoldrick is horse $hite. The less said about him the better. Who's Anthony Pulis?
sammysaint Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Antonio is deffo a quality legaue one player and would do a job for us in this league as a back up, but if we aiming to get promoted this season, there would be no point signing him we would need someone slightly better as a back up who would be more consistent with there crossing and passing.
Fan The Flames Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 People talk about players right level with such certainty, when the truth is you just don't know until they have played at a higher level. Look at Lambert and if Benali was in the Championship no one would have thought he would make the step up.
Saint_clark Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 The technical side of his game came on leaps and bounds while he was here - and with the way Adkins and co have managed to get Hammond, Richardson etc. to really step their games up this season I reckon Antonio would be in the starting line up for us ahead of Guly.
doddisalegend Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Scored in his last two matches for Colchester too. He came on in leaps and bounds for us, playing regular football, in his season here. Then Reading smelled a chance to reap some cash for a player they weren't to fussed about and his career stalls. As someone else said above if he'd stayed here (ie if Reading had being willing to let him go for a sensible sum rather than trying to screw us) I reckon Nigel and the team would have moulded him into a pretty good player. Still I think that ship has sailed now - shame IMO.
Appy Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 His goal against Bristol Rovers was class. For sure, as was his goal at Wembley. Was his birthday IIRC?
corky morris Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Reading priced him out of a move to us. They thought we could be held to ransom. I always thought he could be a good player in the champ. The coach at Stoke who looks after my nipper reckons Davies likes a drink or 6 & is to quote 'a bit thick even for a footballer!' - No loss imho. I always thought McGoldrick was rubbish...........................no where near as good as he thought he was/is!
ericofarabia Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 E can no longer look at getting somebody who would be a good bit player from the bench - The 5 on a bench really does put a whole new complexion on which players we name as subs now. Loved Antonio whilst he was here - a bit of a cult hero in the "Chicken George" Lawrence way, but we need to be aiming higher now.
Glasgow_Saint Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 We should buy Antonio if we get relegated imho He is better than Forte
bender Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Reading woudnt let us sign him in the summer of last year. Yeah good decision Reading. Now the player is doing far worse than he would have done and they have f*ck all chance of getting a decent fee for him.
Window Cleaner Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Reading woudnt let us sign him in the summer of last year. Yeah good decision Reading. Now the player is doing far worse than he would have done and they have f*ck all chance of getting a decent fee for him. Perhaps it's not the player but Reading's handling of him. Pards is a good manager,we have a good set up. Reading..not so much, can't even remember which tea boy they've got as manager nowadays since Rogers went to Swansea.
beatlesaint Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 I would have him ahead of Forte any day of the week.
scotty Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 I would have him ahead of Forte any day of the week. They arent dissimilar types of player. Personally I see Forte as the better of the two, and with more potential than Antonio. That said, at the time I would have been well pleased if we had managed to sign Antonio after his loan spell. Shame Reading got inflated ideas about his valuation....
the saint in winchester Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 IIRC, I got the impression it wasn't about valuation and them overpricing him. If memory serves, they made out they wanted him as part of their setup. They sent him to us to get him up to speed, and once we did that for him, they frustratingly decided they didn't want to sell him to us, at any price. He was originally not in their picture, surplus to requirements. Once we had him up and running they decided he was 'not for sale'. However, having decided they wanted to keep him, they let him go out on loan again. I'll like to get him back on loan or for a modest fee. If we can get him back to the performance levels he was putting in for us, then it would be a good deal.
beatlesaint Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 Forte has quite a good record this season doesn't he?! Does he ? Against Preston in the Carling Cup he was absolutely bloody dreadful.
s0108787 Posted 11 October, 2011 Posted 11 October, 2011 more potential than forte by a country mile! Wouldn't mind him in the squad at all
agboola Posted 12 October, 2011 Posted 12 October, 2011 Reading kept Antonio because they were shedding their high wage earners during that close season. Their expectation was that McAnuf and Kebe would both leave and Antonio would be in their starting line up. They didn't. He wasn't. When he did get picked he was not good so went down the pecking order. Luck of the draw, I guess.
sandwichsaint Posted 12 October, 2011 Posted 12 October, 2011 I'm afraid we are straying into CMS territory here; good player but where would he play? I thought at the time we should have paid the fee and I don't think with hindsight we would have lost out if we had. He would have been awesome last year coming on in the last 20 minutes of games, and I'd like to think that after a settled 18 months on our bus he would now be a very good squad player at this level and probably worth what we paid for him. I don't think he would ever have been ahead of AOC, Gully or SDR in the pecking order therefore the squad position he would have taken would be Forte's, guess we weren't prepared to pay a decent fee for a squad player (though we do seem to have spent a relative fortune on left backs in recent years, funny old game football).
alpine_saint Posted 12 October, 2011 Posted 12 October, 2011 Reading woudnt let us sign him in the summer of last year. Yeah good decision Reading. Now the player is doing far worse than he would have done and they have f*ck all chance of getting a decent fee for him. yep. W*nkers. Still trying to work out the point of the thread though..
Cricketphilly Posted 12 October, 2011 Posted 12 October, 2011 yep. W*nkers. Still trying to work out the point of the thread though.. Never seemed to be pre-requisite Alps!
The9 Posted 12 October, 2011 Posted 12 October, 2011 If we'd signed Antonio we either wouldn't have got £12m for Chamberlain or would have just wasted a sum of money on a bench-warming Antonio. Which we pretty much did on Forte anyway.
the saint in winchester Posted 12 October, 2011 Posted 12 October, 2011 Reading seem to be tracking his strike rate at Colchester. They have an option on a third month, but hopefully we could take him in January? I would certainly rank him above Forte, who I can't really see a place for. Anyway, here's Reading's take on Antonio. http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2471861,00.html
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