How good is Brian McDermott's transfer acumen?

The Reading sixteen involved away at Brighton on Tuesday night consisted of four Steve Coppell signings, two from Brendan Rodgers regime, three products of the youth system and seven Brian McDermott signings.

Due to McDermott’s long association with the club at various levels, he would be well acquainted with all of those players but with less than half being his own signings*, just how good has McDermott been in the transfer market in his time as manager of the club?

With a background in player scouting, McDermott should have a well trained eye when it comes to recognising the requisite skills he requires in a player to fill a problem position or to improve the starting XI but does the hard evidence support this theory?

Below are a list of all of the players McDermott has signed as manager or during his time as caretaker of Reading, grouped into three categories (success, failure, somewhere in between) and a sentence or two explaining why I feel they fall into that category.

Successes

Andy Griffin- signed January 2010 initially on loan but permanent deal made permanent that summer- added much needed experience to a shaky defence and provided a consistent, dependable presence

Zurab Khizanishvili- signed January 2010 initially on loan to end of the season which was made a year-long loan that summer- see above and also built a superb partnership built with Matt Mills last season that our post-January form was built on

Ian Harte- signed Summer 2010- probably initially seen as a one year solution to the left back hole vacated by Ryan Bertrand’s departure but has been just as important this season defensively and in terms of goals and assists

Mikele Leigertwood- signed on loan January 2011 until the end of the season, made permanent in Summer 2011- the turning point of our 2010/11 season and has been just as huge a presence in the centre of midfield this season

Kaspars Gorkss- signed August 2011- brought out the best in Alex Pearce to create arguably the best central defensive pairing in the division and chips in with some handy goals too

Adam le Fondre- signed August 2011- qualified success has he has yet to cement a permanent place in the starting XI but can think of three games this season off of the top of my head he has won us all three points (Watford and Milwall away, Leeds at home)

Jason Roberts- signed January 2012- in a similar fashion to Gorkss, has allowed someone else to shine (Noel Hunt in this case) and has been just as important for his experience and bringing a focal point to our attack, as well as being a focal point for a media coverage come to that

Matthew Connolly- signed January 2012- qualified success again due to his injury problems but brought in as cover for the last four months of the season and has been solid when called upon

Hayden Mullins- signed March 2012- same as above, brought in to add squad depth to see our thin squad through to the end of the year and has been capable at right back and centre midfield

Failures

Gunnar Thorvaldsson- signed January 2010 to end of the season- qualified failure as he was only on a short-term deal to provide cover and was never expected to make it long term at the club

Marcus Williams- signed Summer 2010- genuine mistake by McDermott but one that was quickly realised hence signing of Harte and offloading of Williams after one season

Matthieu Manset- signed January 2011- see above, potential seen but failure to get required fitness levels saw the striker replaced and quickly shown the door

Bongani Khumalo- signed on loan July 2011- see above again, genuine mistake that was alleviated by Gorkss signing and his hasty departure from the club

Somewhere in between/too early to tell

Ethan Gage- signed January 2011- young and on the cheap with time on his side

Erik Opashl- signed January 2011- see above

Cameron Edwards- signed May 2011- see above

Ryan Edwards- signed May 2011- see above

Joseph Mills- signed August 2011- potential is there and has a good tutor in Harte but injury problems hampered progress thus far

Cedric Basseya- signed September 2011- cheap punt that looks like being a failure but for next to no cost

Karl Sheppard- signed January 2012- young and promising striker for the future

Tomasz Cywka- signed January 2012- cheap cover signing that could still prove useful

Benik Afobe- signed March 2012- a short-term loan deal to diversify our attacking options a bit in the run in that hasn’t paid off 100% as of yet

Using crude numbers, that’s nine successes, four failures and nine somewhere in betweens which works out very favourably when the majority of the latter players are young professionals who were probably not expected to have an impact at this stage of their Reading FC careers.

There appear to be three very important points to take from this (admittedly subjective) analysis.

Firstly, McDermott’s ability to identify early on when he has made a mistake when signing a player and making moves to rectify it very quickly, as can be seen in the Williams, Manset and Khumalo signings where they were shipped off after less than a season with us and replaced with players who have paid off (Mills, to a certain extent, Roberts and Gorkss).

Secondly, McDermott’s nose for a potential short term problem developing, solving it and that problem then becoming a long term strength. As can be seen with the signings of Griffin, Harte and, in particular, Leigertwood, McDermott appears to take cheap punts on experienced players who still have something to prove to fill a gap but these players seem to become key components not only in the starting XI but around the club as a whole. It is very conceivable that given time, Gorkss and Roberts will perform a similar role as could Mullins and Connolly if they are given permanent deals. Whether the same will happen to the vast majority of players in the ‘in between’ list who were signed with a view to the future remains a key question regarding McDermott’s otherwise impeccable transfer market record.

Thirdly, the very small amount of money spent on the 22 players listed. With exact transfer fees hard to come by it is difficult to estimate how much the total cost of these signings has been but it is safe to say it is not a great deal, particularly compared to the outgoings seen at Reading the last few years.

McDermott clearly has the skill to pick out, on the cheap or loan, a player that not only has the footballing skills to improve the team but also the personal skills to contribute to the team spirit in evidence at the club during his tenure. Team spirit is the illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory, Steve Archibald famously observed and victory has been a common theme of McDermott’s reign. But the “greater than the sum of our parts” approach, to this season’s team particularly, is a key reason why we are where we are and the fact that McDermott appears to be able to identify factors in a prospective signing that would aid this spirit is crucial to his whole managerial ethos.

As mentioned earlier, it remains to be seen whether the young players McDermott has signed will prove to be as successful as their more senior pro counterparts but the fact that this doubt is the only real, conceivable blot on McDermott’s transfer record so far is testament to the skill of the man after only two and a half seasons in charge.

*this is something of a red herring due to the number of injuries we had going into the game