Reading's Shane Long Joins WBA

bugger!!

how much?

And Reading very complementary about their departing Player

Reading OFficial Site

Long moves to West Brom
Posted on: Tue 09 Aug 2011

Striker Shane Long has this evening completed a move to Premier League club West Bromwich Albion.

The frontman had been in Ireland with his national team, but flew back to England yesterday with his representative in order to finalise his own personal terms with Roy Hodgson's team and sign a long-term contract at the Hawthorns.

Long, 24, was in the final year of his contract with us, and while he loved being at Madejski Stadium, he has understandably taken this opportunity to play in the Premier League and could now make his debut against Champions Manchester United this coming Sunday.

This move to West Brom is a fitting decision for both the player and the club; Shane is coming into the final year of his contract and would therefore have become a free agent next summer. The transfer advances Shane's career and also keeps a promise we made to him after we fought off interest from other clubs in the January transfer window, as well as when he signed a new contract last summer; Shane agreed to stay on both occasions because of his relationship with the club and the manager.

With the board continuing to manage our club on a sustainable long-term footing, this transfer enables us to again run a very competitive squad for the coming season, and with more than two weeks remaining of the transfer window, the opportunity and financial backing remain in place to further strengthen our playing staff.

Chairman Sir John Madejski said, "I want to pay great tribute to Shane, he is a fine sportsman and has been a conscientious & loyal servant for Reading Football Club. We all wish him well at his new club in the Premier League.

"Water will always find its own level, and nobody can deny a talented young player the opportunity to play at the highest level when they have the ability to do so.

"Had we won at Wembley, I have no doubt that Shane would still be playing for Reading, but we wish him great luck at West Brom, he has been an outstanding example here, and a really fine person as well."

Manager Brian McDermott added, "West Bromwich Albion & Roy Hodgson are very lucky to get Shane and I'm sure their fans will see what a great talent he is and how hard he'll work for the team.

"We'll miss him as a player and a person, but I'm sure his mum Anne will come and watch a few games and it wouldn't be a shock to see Shane on one of our supporter coaches because he's a real Reading boy. It goes without saying but we wish him all the very best."

Brian's squad reached the play-off final last season, and his players will be going all out to achieve success under his tutelage again. The boss said, "We've got really good players around who I am sure will step up to the mark, they will want to do that. They'll feel they've got something to prove in every game we play, and they are ready to do it."

Shane became such a prized asset after maturing superbly in 2010/11 under Brian McDermott's management, enjoying by far the best season of his career. He scored 25 goals for the Royals, including superb strikes of all types; finding the 23 times in the League and play-offs, 7 of them from the penalty spot.

He really hit the goalscoring trail after a brilliant strike at QPR in November, his first from open play of the season, going on a sequence of 12 goals in 16 games from then until the end of January.

His journey to the Premier League is nothing short of sensational, having been scouted by Brian McDermott and Nick Hammond at the age of 17 while playing for Cork City, and coming across to England for a small fee. A hurler in his early teenage years, he had only played professional football for a short time before moving to our training ground, initially joining our Academy squad but soon progressing to the first team.

He went all the way to the Premier League with the Royals, and scored 5 goals in the top flight in our two seasons in the best league in the world.

He netted a total of 53 goals in a Reading shirt from 120(+83) appearances, and goes to the Hawthorns with the very best wishes of everyone at Madejski Stadium.

www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2414680,00.html