Brian: The right decision?

[NewCorkSeth]

No one likes you though. So fcuk off newbie

Blah blah your mother liked me last night or something else along those lines blah blah

[SydenhamRoyal]

this thread can run on the whole season....depends who does better out of us and Leeds etc

I'd suggest people start positioning themselves now and make statements that cover themselves whichever way it turns out

I think one of Leeds and Reading will probably do better than the other, and that may determine in part (the extent of which is variable) which manager can be considered to be having the better season.

[Woodcote Royal]

Which of course doesn't take into account the run of fixtures or the attempt at changing the way the team played. If he'd had a chance to make the same changes a few months before and then had the run of six pointers we got the square root of naff all from under McDermott, we may well have stayed up.

And if McDermott had started last season with the squad Adkins will be starting this one with, we might have finished mid-table........................probably the same place Adkins would have finished with the squad McDermott won the Championship with.

Only finishing top by 20 points with this squad would equal McDermott's achievement two season's ago.

[Hoop Blah]

I really, really don't understand it. These morons must have cheered Brian like a hero when we went on our cup runs, when we got to the p/o final, and when we stormed to the league title.

Why are they now trawling Twitter trying to find ammunition to fire at him now he's in a completely new job?

I see it more as an overreaction to the emotional defence of McDermott's car crash of a season and the suggestion from his apologists that he didn't deserve to lose his job due to his mis-management

Yeah, it was definitely that way round

Yeah of course you're right, there weren't fans coming on here talking about boycotting the club and bemoaning the death of the club for acting like any other club would from the day he was sacked.....

[Maguire]

He was getting moronic abuse way before he was sacked, and the usual suspects were already rewriting history to show that Brian won the league title in a raffle down the local working men's club.

[RoyalBlue]

Which of course doesn't take into account the run of fixtures or the attempt at changing the way the team played. If he'd had a chance to make the same changes a few months before and then had the run of six pointers we got the square root of naff all from under McDermott, we may well have stayed up.

And if McDermott had started last season with the squad Adkins will be starting this one with, we might have finished mid-table...........
.

And whose fault was it that we started with the squad that we did? I very much doubt it was down to the owner. McDermott might have learned an awful lot of good things from Steve Coppell but sadly he also learned one of his worst weaknesses - over loyalty to players that had achieved things in the past but weren't up to what was required in the present. Added to that, too much belief in the ability of players from the lower leagues to make an immediate impact at the very top of the pyramid.

[Maguire]

Bit of "blame" probably lies with several different people there but Brian certainly has to take his share for overestimating how well his squad could cope with life in the top tier.

That said, I think we all did. Looking at the title-winning side and adding Pogrebnyak (on paper, a better level of striker), Guthrie (on paper, a playmaking midfielder), and the most highly-rated right hand side in the Championship (McCleary and Gunter), everyone on here was pretty damn happy with that.

Turned out they weren't very good.

[melonhead]

He was getting moronic abuse way before he was sacked, and the usual suspects were already rewriting history to show that Brian won the league title in a raffle down the local working men's club.

^this

[winchester_royal]

I'm sure if we could redo last year both sides would do things differently. I don't think Brian was sacked necessarily because of poor performance last year, or because Anton didn't believe we'd have a good chance of getting promoted again with him in charge, but more because Anton wants the club to move in a particular direction in terms of style/philosophy and Brian perhaps wasn't the best suited to be leading that change. Brian has said as much recently, as well as saying that while it was hard to take he understands why the decision was made.

It was also nice to see that Anton sent Brian a text when he got the Leeds job, and shows him not to be the heartless Russian despot that some have made him out to be.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Bit of "blame" probably lies with several different people there but Brian certainly has to take his share for overestimating how well his squad could cope with life in the top tier.

That said, I think we all did. Looking at the title-winning side and adding Pogrebnyak (on paper, a better level of striker), Guthrie (on paper, a playmaking midfielder), and the most highly-rated right hand side in the Championship (McCleary and Gunter), everyone on here was pretty damn happy with that.

Turned out they weren't very good.

Difficult one. There is a reasonable argument to say they may have performed better under a different manager and style.

I'm comfortable with the notion that McDermott’s management honed so perfectly for the Championship was not up to task in the Premier League. That leaves you with the difficult decision of whether to stick and see if he can adapt or twist and go for a new fella who appears to have a style better suited to the league we want to compete in.

But without Brian's results in the Championship we wouldn’t even be in the position to be thinking in such a way, ironically it’s almost as if his success, rather than failure, cost him his job.

[Maguire]

Yep, I wouldn't disagree with any of that, Expo

[Woodcote Royal]

Which of course doesn't take into account the run of fixtures or the attempt at changing the way the team played. If he'd had a chance to make the same changes a few months before and then had the run of six pointers we got the square root of naff all from under McDermott, we may well have stayed up.

And if McDermott had started last season with the squad Adkins will be starting this one with, we might have finished mid-table...........
.

And whose fault was it that we started with the squad that we did? I very much doubt it was down to the owner. McDermott might have learned an awful lot of good things from Steve Coppell but sadly he also learned one of his worst weaknesses - over loyalty to players that had achieved things in the past but weren't up to what was required in the present. Added to that, too much belief in the ability of players from the lower leagues to make an immediate impact at the very top of the pyramid.

There's no doubting (particularly in the case of Federici) that McDermott was afflicted with a mild dose of Coppellitis but there's also no doubting that he was forced to off load Long etc having already been given precious few resources to finance a Championship winning squad.

However, there's also little evidence to suggest that, back then, our Abramovich wannabe was willing to open his wallet to the same extent he is now.

I like Adkins (and still think we are damn lucky to have him given the way McDermott was treated) but surely he is starting this campaign with the strongest squad we have ever had and a second string that is not much worse than Brian's first 11 after Long left for WBA.

If Adkin's future here hangs by a similar thread to McDermott's, nothing less than a soft landing in next season's top flight will justify the resources he has enjoyed in just a few short months.

[One8Seven1]

There's no doubting (particularly in the case of Federici) that McDermott was afflicted with a mild dose of Coppellitis but there's also no doubting that he was forced to off load Long etc having already been given precious few resources to finance a Championship winning squad.

Whilst I agree, the season we wont the league we had the second highest wage budget in the league, so it's a bit of a myth to suggest Brian had to do it on the cheap. The addition of Roberts' wages wouldn't have moved us up the wages league table a great deal either.

[Cypry]

There's no doubting (particularly in the case of Federici) that McDermott was afflicted with a mild dose of Coppellitis but there's also no doubting that he was forced to off load Long etc having already been given precious few resources to finance a Championship winning squad.

However, there's also little evidence to suggest that, back then, our Abramovich wannabe was willing to open his wallet to the same extent he is now.

I like Adkins (and still think we are damn lucky to have him given the way McDermott was treated) but surely he is starting this campaign with the strongest squad we have ever had and a second string that is not much worse than Brian's first 11 after Long left for WBA.

If Adkin's future here hangs by a similar thread to McDermott's, nothing less than a soft landing in next season's top flight will justify the resources he has enjoyed in just a few short months.

Right, so this is where I have a problem.

I liked Brian and think we have a lot to thank him for, but he was a manager who was failing to deliver what was required of him, and like pretty much any other manager in that situation, he was moved on because of it...

I simply don't get this idea that he was in some way treated shoddily - he was given way longer to try and turn things around than many other managers would've been in his situation....most owners would've sacked him just before Christmas and given a new man a chance in the January transfer window, but we gave Brian the opportunity to spend big (for Reading) and he failed to take advantage of it...

Your entire argument rests on the assumption that he was not given any support in the transfer market last Summer and in January - an assumption which, I have heard from more than one reliable source, is completely incorrect. He was simply too loyal to the players that got us up (not just when they failed to deliver on the pitch during the season, but in the transfer window last Summer), and admitted himself (at the Fans Forum - am I allowed to mention this now?) that his aim in the market was to have two players for every position. How many did we offload? None....so he decided to stick with what he had and try to strengthen where he was short of numbers, a policy which, I doubt anyone would disagree, was far too simplistic and patently didn't work.

As for the "resources enjoyed by Adkins" - what are those then? How much have we spent on inbound transfers so far this Summer? Less than Brian spent last year I think you'll find.....

Opinions seem very polarised on this, but I try to see both sides. Yes, Brian is a hero as far as his history at Reading goes, but he was also shown to be lacking in both experience and tactics at the Premier League level last year, and, tough as it is, the correct decision was taken to give someone else a go....

[G'La]

I appreciate that we won promotion off the back of an overachieving team and Brian should take credit for that, however, when it came to strengthening the team he failed completely. This has always been my view. The Chelsea mong was insistent that sacking Brian was the wrong thing to do especially the season after he won the title. When asked if sacking Di Matteo or axing Rafa was the right thing to do he claimed it was.

[Hoop Blah]

He was getting moronic abuse way before he was sacked, and the usual suspects were already rewriting history to show that Brian won the league title in a raffle down the local working men's club.

^this

Pointing out his errors and wanting better for the club isn't moronic abuse, that's rewriting history.

As mentioned above, the make up of the squad wasn't too bad but I don't think one player played to his potential (McCarthy aside) and from day one (selecting an unfit and unready Federici) mistakes were made that led to relegation. Failure to accept that and hark back to his excellent previous achievements has, IMO, created the situation we see here where posters are still trying to score points for and against McDermott.

[Woodcote Royal]

There's no doubting (particularly in the case of Federici) that McDermott was afflicted with a mild dose of Coppellitis but there's also no doubting that he was forced to off load Long etc having already been given precious few resources to finance a Championship winning squad.

Whilst I agree, the season we wont the league we had the second highest wage budget in the league, so it's a bit of a myth to suggest Brian had to do it on the cheap. The addition of Roberts' wages wouldn't have moved us up the wages league table a great deal either.

And the fees received for Siggy, Long and Mills would have paid a big slice of those wages...........................a balancing act Adkins will never have to perform.

[sandman]

There's no doubting (particularly in the case of Federici) that McDermott was afflicted with a mild dose of Coppellitis but there's also no doubting that he was forced to off load Long etc having already been given precious few resources to finance a Championship winning squad.

Whilst I agree, the season we wont the league we had the second highest wage budget in the league, so it's a bit of a myth to suggest Brian had to do it on the cheap. The addition of Roberts' wages wouldn't have moved us up the wages league table a great deal either.

Hammond negotiates the contracts so if you have a problem with the size of the wage bill then talk to him. When you look at signings then losing £12 million+ in talent and having to replace it with a player from league 2 Rotherham and two QPR reserves then you can see that the resources Brian was given to identify talent and buy players in his transfer budget were limited in comparison with what went out.

[Woodcote Royal]

As for the "resources enjoyed by Adkins" - what are those then? How much have we spent on inbound transfers so far this Summer? Less than Brian spent last year I think you'll find.....

Opinions seem very polarised on this, but I try to see both sides.

If that's your best effort at a balanced view, God knows how you cope trying to remain upright throughout the day

Rather than comparing McDermott's Premiership budget with Adkins Championship one, why not compare like for like, this being my main point had you bothered to read it properly ..........................this would be McDermott's Championship winning season being under pinned by the £5m? fire sale of Long having lost Siggy and Mills in the previous book balancing exercise.................now tell me Adkins has had less money than McDermott.

[winchester_royal]

There's no doubting (particularly in the case of Federici) that McDermott was afflicted with a mild dose of Coppellitis but there's also no doubting that he was forced to off load Long etc having already been given precious few resources to finance a Championship winning squad.

However, there's also little evidence to suggest that, back then, our Abramovich wannabe was willing to open his wallet to the same extent he is now.

I like Adkins (and still think we are damn lucky to have him given the way McDermott was treated) but surely he is starting this campaign with the strongest squad we have ever had and a second string that is not much worse than Brian's first 11 after Long left for WBA.

If Adkin's future here hangs by a similar thread to McDermott's, nothing less than a soft landing in next season's top flight will justify the resources he has enjoyed in just a few short months.

Right, so this is where I have a problem.

I liked Brian and think we have a lot to thank him for, but he was a manager who was failing to deliver what was required of him, and like pretty much any other manager in that situation, he was moved on because of it...

I simply don't get this idea that he was in some way treated shoddily - he was given way longer to try and turn things around than many other managers would've been in his situation....most owners would've sacked him just before Christmas and given a new man a chance in the January transfer window, but we gave Brian the opportunity to spend big (for Reading) and he failed to take advantage of it...

Your entire argument rests on the assumption that he was not given any support in the transfer market last Summer and in January - an assumption which, I have heard from more than one reliable source, is completely incorrect. He was simply too loyal to the players that got us up (not just when they failed to deliver on the pitch during the season, but in the transfer window last Summer), and admitted himself (at the Fans Forum - am I allowed to mention this now?) that his aim in the market was to have two players for every position. How many did we offload? None....so he decided to stick with what he had and try to strengthen where he was short of numbers, a policy which, I doubt anyone would disagree, was far too simplistic and patently didn't work.

As for the "resources enjoyed by Adkins" - what are those then? How much have we spent on inbound transfers so far this Summer? Less than Brian spent last year I think you'll find.....

Opinions seem very polarised on this, but I try to see both sides. Yes, Brian is a hero as far as his history at Reading goes, but he was also shown to be lacking in both experience and tactics at the Premier League level last year, and, tough as it is, the correct decision was taken to give someone else a go....

Absolutely. I think it's important to establish that many of us who support the decision still recognise Brian's achievements at the club, but no longer felt he was the man to take us forward. Some (including myself) are guilty of downplaying those achievements in order to score points, but that's only in response to those exaggerating to harsh nature of the dismissal. Of course there are a couple of belmonts who refuse to recognise in anyway what Brian did for the club, but fortunately they are in the extreme minority.