Reading FC

Tomas Cywka has been told his contract with Reading will not be renewed
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Reading FC to offer new deals to Harte and Gunnarsson, but Howard and Cywka are free to leave

By Lewis Rudd
May 02, 2012

Reading are to begin contract discussions with 10 players including Ian Harte and Brynjar Gunnarsson, but Brian Howard and Tomasz Cywka have both been told they are free to find new clubs.

Howard, who was brought by Brendan Rodgers for £500,000 from Sheffield United in 2009 and Cywka, who joined on a short-term contract from Derby County in January, join full back Andy Griffin in heading for the Madejski Stadium exit door having been told by boss Brian McDermott their contracts will not be renewed.

Midfielder Howard has not appeared for the Royals since their 2-1 Carling Cup exit to Charlton Athletic at the end of August, while Cywka's last outing was a 60 minute appearance in the 1-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month.

Cedric Baseya, Cameron Edwards, Ethan Gage, John Goddard, Simon Locke, Carl McHugh, Jack Mills, David Murphy, Frankie Raymond and Jacob Walcott have also been handed free transfers, while youth team players Dan Carr and James Murphy will not be having their scholarships extended.

Director of Football Nick Hammond, said: "On behalf of everyone I wanted to thank every single player for their contribution to the club. There are so many examples, right from Andy Griffin up to Tomasz Cywka, who made an impact this season both on and off the pitch and with his personality around the group, but it is not just those two, because everyone goes with our very best wishes and gratitude."

The club, however, has confirmed it is to sit down and discuss new deals with out-of-contract players Harte and Gunnarsson who, should he put pen to paper and extend his stay at Madejski Stadium, will be preparing for a third season as a Premier League player with the Royals.

Nick Arnold, Michael Hector, Charlie Losasso, Gozie Ugwu are also discussing new contracts, while academy goalkeepers Jonathan Henly and Dean Santangelo, defender Matt Partridge and midfielder Josh Webb have been offered professional terms.

Loanees Benik Afobe, Matthew Connolly and Hayden Mullins have all returned to Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers and Portsmouth respectively having helped Royals lift the Championship trophy and secure promotion to the Premier League.

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Most recent user comments 4 of 4

Gunnarsson is, to quote RFC 'in discussions with the club about his role and the options open to him.' This is likely to result in an offer to be a coach, or captain of the reserves, but not a first team player. If he wasn't good enough, except for a couple of cameos at the start and end of the season, to feature in a Championship campaign he certainly will not feature in a Premiership campaign.

LarryS
03/05/2012 at 10:33

Standard Procedure to send loanees back at the end of a season then negotiate with parent club if they are wanted.

I would have thought Connolly & Mullins maybe offered contracts if we can agree a price with parent clubs. QPR may go down and thus Connolly will probably be required as they offload more expensive acquistions to cut wage bill. Mullins will be a steal as Pompey are almost bust. Gunnarsson will be offered a coaching/playing contract I expect. I felt a little sorry for Cykwa.

Centreback, Fullback, Midfielder & Striker required.

McD already stated that they will bring 4 or 5 players and my guesses would be from the following - Matt Connolly, Hayden Mullins, Nathaniel Clyne, Kevin Doyle, Simon Cox, Andy Johnson & Jacob Butterfield - but who knows! I heard Yakubu has been mentioned in dispatches........

Time will tell

Always does

Robsy , Reading
02/05/2012 at 15:48

I would have thought Connolly had more chance of being offered a contract than Gunnarsson, but who am I to judge? With Howard, Cywka, Connolly, Mullins and Griffin all leaving, it is quite clear that defence and midfield will be considerably strengthened in the transfer market. IMO we need an experienced striker as well.

Tilidie, Reading
02/05/2012 at 14:54

I thought the club wanted Connolly to stick around? Perhaps he never got a chance to prove himself as got injured after a few games but I thought he was OK.

Anyone know what the situation is with Manset? Is he coming back from China? Not that I expect him to ever pull on a Reading shirt again.