Reading have confirmed that midfielder Jay Tabb is to join the Blues on an initial one-month loan. News of Town’s interest in the 29-year-old former Ireland U21 international first broke yesterday.

The paperwork on the deal is expected to be completed on Friday with Tabb available for Saturday's trip to Peterborough.

Tabb is out of contract at the Madejski Stadium at the end of the season and has been told he will not be offered new terms.

The 5ft 7in tall Tooting-born midfielder hasn’t featured in the Premier League since December and was previously been mentioned in connection with a move to Blackburn.

The loan is understood to be with an eye on a full-time switch in the close season. The Blues recently signed Manchester United’s Reece Brown, who is also out of contract in the summer, on a similar basis.

Photo: Action Images

sirbenofmorlingshire added 20:07 - Mar 7 Thats great thanks for the link!
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RetroBlue added 20:09 - Mar 7 ...so a kind of late into the box, Johnny Wark type of player?
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Talbs77 added 20:10 - Mar 7 Wish him the very best, if he can help the team thats all that matters.
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No32 added 20:31 - Mar 7 The sort of Midfeilder that can make things happen going forward.....?! Are you serious...? WTF will this guy bring to the team unless N'Daw Hyam and Drury suddenly come down with some life threatening illness..?! This makes me seriously question what MM is up to for the first time (Half concerned about Brown Jnr) but this is Crass stupidity. An ULTRA defensive tackling midfielder... Nothing like what we need. To compare him to Lee Martin..? Do you even watch football jas099...???????

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BoxerBlue added 20:38 - Mar 7 Welcome aboard JT
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ChrisMakin2012 added 20:44 - Mar 7 Tabb isn't a playmaker or a box to box player.
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ChrisMakin2012 added 20:51 - Mar 7 But a brilliant defensive midfielder with a crunching tackle or two! Brilliant addition town
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runaround added 21:00 - Mar 7 Welcome Jay
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wkj added 21:01 - Mar 7 Of all the loan players we have had recently; as special as DJC, Bullard and Keith Andrews were for us- I have a very very weird but feeling this fella may just turn out to be the special one who ends up a town player; a modern day scenario to mirror Jim Magilton joining the blues. What evidence do I have to back this gut feeling? absolutely nothing! And that's why I like it!

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TimmyH added 21:02 - Mar 7 certainly not a playmaker but will put himself about a bit, whether he has that much quality is open to question hence why Reading are putting him out on loan, sort of player I should be ok in this division and what Mick would like.
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AdScHi9678 added 21:14 - Mar 7 Decent signing.
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petermorris added 21:23 - Mar 7 So, now we have a JET and a JAT.
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Nthsuffolkblue added 21:40 - Mar 7 Martin's sending off was for retaliation - he lashed out but Lansbury did seem to make a meal of it. Looking at the knee, etc that Lansbury did on Martin initially to me suggested a yellow each was a more reasonable response. What Martin did was a red card offence to the letter of the law. Stearman's, though, I think the ref should be embarrassed with his decision when he sees it back. Reid made out he had been elbowed in the face and clearly he hadn't been. It looked shoulder-to-shoulder and Reid decided to take a dive. McCarthy seemed to say it was in keeping with his character without actually going so far as saying he took a dive in the post-match interview.

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Tractorog added 22:34 - Mar 7 Why do people write welcoming him as an "attacking" midfielder? Can they not read? A quality signing though so I'm pleased, but worried that we will be a "hard to beat and hard to watch" team next year. A midfield of N'Daw, Hyam and Tabb is not going to set many pulses racing.
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Blue_Fred added 22:50 - Mar 7 so he runs about a lot, tries hard but doesn't score goals................ sounds like a LM replacement to me!!
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daniel9624 added 23:26 - Mar 7 Every time I've watched him play I've always thought he looked really... really .. industrious, not the super creative midfielder we were hoping for, but he will win the ball, and work his nuts off. And he has a great habit of arriving late into the box and working the keeper, not a great finisher but a poacher will get a few goals from those kinds of things.
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daniel9624 added 23:28 - Mar 7 Muccletonjoe, it is the perfect time to be bringing in a player like this, someone who is desperate for a new deal, gagging to impress, no brainer really
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hollywoodginge added 00:23 - Mar 8 I saw him play a few years ago and he was sensational, one I'd hoped we signed, glad we have
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BrettenhamBlue added 00:52 - Mar 8 Seen him play twice for Reading and was deeply impressed. Never gives up and fights, fights, fights. We are in a relegation battle and its exactly what we need. On both occasions I saw him he was left-wide midfield- but he's no winger.More a "defensive midfield left" Certainly a fighter and will never quit
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yun added 02:35 - Mar 8 Looks like a shrewd signing. Versatile, a fighter and someone who will motivate team mates as well as introducing competition for places.
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yun added 02:35 - Mar 8 Looks like a shrewd signing. Versatile, a fighter and someone who will motivate team mates as well as introducing competition for places.
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lojd added 08:58 - Mar 8 Would Tabb be fit for Saturday? It's a good opportunity to come into the team, a decent addition I think, he appears to have a good attitude and an 'up for the fight' attitude. I still think Mick will be looking to add flair in the summer when/if we survive. I would be interested to see the ref's report from Tuesday, to see if he booked Lansbury for the tackle or his knee/tread on Martin, the ref was looking at the whole thing and IMO should have sent them both off. But quite simply both reactions by Lansbury and Reid were pathetic.

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HighgateBlue added 09:13 - Mar 8 As a few have now said, he is not a playmaker or a goalscorer. But a quality player with something to prove. Decent signing on paper, let's not have a go at the guy before he's been given a chance. And let's not have a go at MM. He's prevented us from being odds on to go down to the 3rd tier for the first time since the 1950s. We do need more creativity in the side next season, but I'm sure MM will deal with that in the summer. Unless you have hatfuls of cash to spend, bringing in a risk-free creative player is impossible, and we cannot afford risks at this stage of the season. Our position remains precarious...

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eddiegrundy added 10:01 - Mar 8 Good thread on Hob Nob about him http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=117194
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brian_a_mul added 10:15 - Mar 8 With Martin out it leaves us light. Tabb is a better player to play wide right than Drury. Great engine and work rate which is required to provide defensive cover and support for the inexperienced RB (Brown or Elliott).
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