How Long Will BM Last at this rate?????

[Ian Royal]

And took a team anticipated to be maybe mid-table with an outside chance of play offs into a relegation scrap. Mid-table's really the best we could hope for.

By now it was pretty clear Rodgers was doomed, McDermott still has a bit of grace, although I don't subscribe to the view that he's doing as well as anyone could and should be safe all season.

I'd argue that Rodgers side then were more competitive than McDermotts is now, having come through a very turbulent summer and he was looking to make the kind of changes that, in the long term might've seen us come up but be playing a style of football much easier on the eye and more suitable for Premier League football.

He wasn't given the chance to do that, despite the side improving, because of personal fall outs and a lack of 'bottle' within the club to see through the plan he'd set out with them.

In a lower league. which can't be emphasised enough.

Rodgers was given three years to get us up. It is implicit in that mission that threatening to take us down is unacceptable. If he couldn't work that out, it's not Madejski's problem, it was his. He didn't deserve more time to possibly keep us in the same division rather than falling through the trap door, when he was supposed to be building us towards promotion.

[Get Carter]

McD says we can compete - 1 win in 12 games!!!
Drop the players who are not performing ie Gorkss, Gunter, Federici, McAnuff & Legs - no quality players to replace them - why is that I wonder?
McD is loyal to certain players, but it is costing the team - time for a change.

[Hoop Blah]

In a lower league. which can't be emphasised enough.

What relevance does that have then*?

* I'm aware McDermott masterminded our promotion but comparing his sides competitiveness now with Rodgers has nothing to do with that IMO.

[Lacoste]

Rubbish - Bodgers was taking us one way - into league 1. That's why he was sacked.

Furthermore, the board obviously struggled with the decision as there was plenty of mutual respect between BR & JM at the play-off final & no bad words spoken.

John Madejski didn't want to sack him, it was all down to Nigel Howe; hence the ill feeling towards him now from Rodgers, rather than towards the club itself.

Thats exactly what I was told, Howe hated Rodgers and was the reason behind his sacking.

The first coupole of months into Brians managership, we were playing exceptional football, partly down to the Sig but Bendans philosophy certainly remained for a while after he left. Cant help but feel we were a striker and possiblye a CB short of Brendan getting it spot on with us. The board needed to show some balls but you cant fault what Brian has done up until; this season even though it's been like watching paint dry.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Melonhead:

Difference of opinion aside, I really don’t understand this argument you spout when backed into a corner, that because discussing a matter can’t change it, it’s pointless and irrelevant talking about it?!?

If Reading club / manager / player are doing something wrong, surely it’s entirely relevant to discuss on a Reading FC forum?

Just saying it’s pointless seems like you’ve run out of coherent counter arguments while still wishing to shoot down a different opinion.

I think you are a corkin’ contributor, but that tactic really is a bit sad. Our opinions on games don’t change anything. Our opinions on players doesn’t get them dropped or picked. But we enjoy discussing these things and that is what the forum is built on. Blasting people for having an opinion on a matter they can’t change is pretty cheap.

[melonhead]

And took a team anticipated to be maybe mid-table with an outside chance of play offs into a relegation scrap. Mid-table's really the best we could hope for.

By now it was pretty clear Rodgers was doomed, McDermott still has a bit of grace, although I don't subscribe to the view that he's doing as well as anyone could and should be safe all season.

I'd argue that Rodgers side then were more competitive than McDermotts is now, having come through a very turbulent summer and he was looking to make the kind of changes that, in the long term might've seen us come up but be playing a style of football much easier on the eye and more suitable for Premier League football.

He wasn't given the chance to do that, despite the side improving, because of personal fall outs and a lack of 'bottle' within the club to see through the plan he'd set out with them.

Again, I agree with all that.

He is far too good to have got relegated. It took McGhee 18 months + to bed in a new style fully at Elm Park. Rodgers would have succeeded in the end but no way were we going down.

i like rodgers
i wanted him to succeed, was gutted when we sacked him

but that post is nonsense.
he was making mental decisions, oxf*rd up the dressing room, and coming out with increasingly outlandish statements, losing game after game, and playing insipid toothless football
had to go

[Avon Royal]

he was making mental decisions, oxf*rd up the dressing room, and coming out with increasingly outlandish statements, losing game after game, and playing insipid toothless football
had to go

But arguably all those statements also apply to Brian now, does he have to go as well?

[melonhead]

Melonhead:

Difference of opinion aside, I really don’t understand this argument you spout when backed into a corner, that because discussing a matter can’t change it, it’s pointless and irrelevant talking about it?!?

If Reading club / manager / player are doing something wrong, surely it’s entirely relevant to discuss on a Reading FC forum?

Just saying it’s pointless seems like you’ve run out of coherent counter arguments while still wishing to shoot down a different opinion.

I think you are a corkin’ contributor, but that tactic really is a bit sad. Our opinions on games don’t change anything. Our opinions on players doesn’t get them dropped or picked. But we enjoy discussing these things and that is what the forum is built on. Blasting people for having an opinion on a matter they can’t change is pretty cheap.

you want more money to invest- there isnt any
you want brian to have spent more on better players, there wasnt the money

ive not blasted anyone you sensitive little soul, im just saying what do you want to do about it?
and lol at having a go at me for stating my opinion, then saying that its the purpose of the board for people to discuss opinions.

i understand you are frustrated, and just want us to be succesful,i am too.
i understand that you believe another 5-10 million may have made the difference, and i agree
but it aint my money, and it aint your money, and theres no one else lining up to throw their money away, so im not sure how repeating the same old stuff over and over again is going to help change the situation


you are of course welcome to ignore my point and carry on. thats fine, ill just keep repeating mine in response.

[Lacoste]

Problem is that the money he did get given, for both fees and wages, he has wasted and then said he signed every player he wanted.

[melonhead]

he was making mental decisions, oxf*rd up the dressing room, and coming out with increasingly outlandish statements, losing game after game, and playing insipid toothless football
had to go

But arguably all those statements also apply to Brian now, does he have to go as well?

we were going to be relegated from the championship, not the prem.
its a bit different, though i take your point, and fully expect brian to go if weve not improved by january
and if that happens ill be gutted, but ill eventuallly shrug and get behind the next man who will also not have much money to spend

ill take brians responses anyday over rodgers total bollox.
brians all seem quite reasonable to me

(pearce/gorkss decision apart- though i think thats more to do with gorkss left footedness than pearces contract, and while i disagree with it, i can see why he has gone that way)

[melonhead]

Problem is that the money he did get given, for both fees and wages, he has wasted and then said he signed every player he wanted.

disagree
he had a budget of 10 million for transfers and wages, and had at least 5 positions that require filling to go into a season, i dont think he could have done any better with that money. given that we couldnt go into a season with only 1 LB, 1 RB, 2 CB, 3 CM and 3 strikers(+church)

i understand you disagree, but ive not seen you come up with an alternative, other than buy 1 brilliant CM, and leave the other positions totally short of pure numbers let alone quality

[Lacoste]

Problem is that the money he did get given, for both fees and wages, he has wasted and then said he signed every player he wanted.

disagree
he had a budget of 10 million for transfers and wages, and had at least 5 positions that require filling to go into a season, i dont think he could have done any better with that money. given that we couldnt go into a season with only 1 LB, 1 RB, 2 CB, 3 CM and 3 strikers(+church)

i understand you disagree, but ive not seen you come up with an alternative, other than buy 1 brilliant CM, and leave the other positions totally short of pure numbers let alone quality

I don't think I said that.

[melonhead]

then explain. discuss.


which positions would you not have covered in order to buy the quality we needed.
do you think that having a great CM and better striker would help us win matches if we had harte at left back every week with gunnarsson as his back up, or if gunnarsson was the only back up if gorkss/pearce were injured? or if we went into the season with only three wingers, one of which being the injury prone kebe, and another the unproven HRK?


talk to me man, i want to understand.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Melonhead:

Difference of opinion aside, I really don’t understand this argument you spout when backed into a corner, that because discussing a matter can’t change it, it’s pointless and irrelevant talking about it?!?

If Reading club / manager / player are doing something wrong, surely it’s entirely relevant to discuss on a Reading FC forum?

Just saying it’s pointless seems like you’ve run out of coherent counter arguments while still wishing to shoot down a different opinion.

I think you are a corkin’ contributor, but that tactic really is a bit sad. Our opinions on games don’t change anything. Our opinions on players doesn’t get them dropped or picked. But we enjoy discussing these things and that is what the forum is built on. Blasting people for having an opinion on a matter they can’t change is pretty cheap.

you want more money to invest- there isnt any
you want brian to have spent more on better players, there wasnt the money

ive not blasted anyone you sensitive little soul, im just saying what do you want to do about it?
and lol at having a go at me for stating my opinion, then saying that its the purpose of the board for people to discuss opinions.

i understand you are frustrated, and just want us to be succesful,i am too.
i understand that you believe another 5-10 million may have made the difference, and i agree
but it aint my money, and it aint your money, and theres no one else lining up to throw their money away, so im not sure how repeating the same old stuff over and over again is going to help change the situation


you are of course welcome to ignore my point and carry on. thats fine, ill just keep repeating mine in response.

Sorry, but you don’t make any sense, mate.

Why offer an opinion at all? You yourself make comments on players and on games, or even what your favourite crisps are or what animals you like and dislike.

All rather hypocritical of you to then dismiss my opinion as pointless and irrelevant because it “can’t change the situation”. How does saying Feds had a bad game change his performance? How does saying the result against Wigan was crap change how many points we get? How does banging on about how much you hate Pandas change their population?

You don’t really seem to have a grasp of what you are saying, nor are you quite able to appreciate that you are contradicting yourself.

We can’t change anything by what we are saying. But a forum is a place where people discuss stuff. The argument is “the risk of investing more money to stay up” vs “running things cheaply for the benefit of the club”. We can disagree, but the conversation isn’t pointless, nor is either opinion irrelevant.

You just seem rather stroppy suggesting that it is. If you don't have a counter argument, just don't argue. Simple, really.

[Hoop Blah]

ill take brians responses anyday over rodgers total bollox.
brians all seem quite reasonable to me

Read the quotes and Brian comes out with just as much rubbish as Rodgers, he just comes over as a much more amiable guy and makes it sound less cringeworthy.

Who said (roughly speaking): "this team needed to find it's identity, it found it today"

What a load of Rodgers'esque bullsh*t.

As for McDermott v Rodgers in terms of making odd decisions, I'd say McDermott is winning that hands down on his last few months of stumbling around in this division. Rodgers was starting with a new squad and trying to test out different things. He tried too much too quickly yes, but I could see what he was trying to do and his team was playing reasonably well towards the end of his tenure, we just needed to find the back of the net.

[melonhead]

i do have a counter argument E-P- there isnt the money
its just not enough of one for you



lets talk about it, explain to me, im aching to understand you
where do you want the money to come from?
do you want AZ to put more money in?
what if he cant afford it?
which players would you have bought/not bought with th ebudget we did have of ten million quid?

“the risk of investing more money to stay up” vs “running things cheaply for the benefit of the club”. We can disagree, but the conversation isn’t pointless, nor is either opinion irrelevant.

what if its not about risk though?
what if simply AZ has given us what he can afford to this summer?
what if he doesnt really have much more to throw away?
what then?
im sure he will put in what he can afford to in january as well, but if that isnt enough what can we do about it.

you can sit there typing we need more all you like, but how is it helping?

[melonhead]

Who said (roughly speaking): "this team needed to find it's identity, it found it today"

thats was after a game in which we FINALLY played like we did last year(and before), doing all the things we did last year, harrying hard in midfield and high up the pitch, breaking up play in the middle, defending as a team, getting th eball to th ewingers quickly, getting alot of crosses in, and using our set plays well.

therefore i dont think it was mental at all.
makes perfect sense in context.

& i just plain disagree about rodgers decisions Vs brians.

[Cobi]

Who said (roughly speaking): "this team needed to find it's identity, it found it today"

thats was after a game in which we FINALLY played like we did last year(and before), doing all the things we did last year -

Sitting back, sucking up the pressure, the opposition having an off day in front of goal, and we hit them on the counter and snatched a result.

We got lucky last season, but Brian has so much faith in that system that he's adamant it will work for us at this level. If he can't see we were fortunate last season then if we go down with him, he'll stick with it next season too and we'll be where we should have been without a few fortunate wins last season - hustling for a play-off spot -- at best.

[Lacoste]

Who said (roughly speaking): "this team needed to find it's identity, it found it today"

thats was after a game in which we FINALLY played like we did last year(and before), doing all the things we did last year -

Sitting back, sucking up the pressure, the opposition having an off day in front of goal, and we hit them on the counter and snatched a result.

We got lucky last season, but Brian has so much faith in that system that he's adamant it will work for us at this level. If he can't see we were fortunate last season then if we go down with him, he'll stick with it next season too and we'll be where we should have been without a few fortunate wins last season - hustling for a play-off spot -- at best.

Massive +1^^^^^

He relys too much on the other team having an off day infront of goal and at this level teams are more clinical. Simple as that.

Cant remember many games in the last couple of years where we have actually dominated a game from start to finish while limiting the opposition to few chances. How many games did we win last season where we came away thinking that we had robbed the opposition? Everton this season was the same, in our only win we should have been buried by half time.

[andrew1957]

When Rodgers tried playing a patient build up style that was later successful at Swansea – on here there was a hobnob outcry of Biblical proportions that the football was boring and ineffective and everyone howled to get him sacked. I was one of the few who wanted us to stick with him and give the new style a chance. McD was then hailed as a hero for going back to a direct style - which has been successful.

Now everyone seems to want a manager like Rodgers again. How ironic.

The truth is that without spending tens of millions we won’t have the players who can play that way - so we need to accept that our style is the “Reading way” and we need to stick with Brian. Lets face it the current style has just brought the most successful ever decade at the club by far.

The truth is most on here just want us to win at all costs and have not grasped yet that the PL is an unforgiving place where wins are few are far between. If you just want to support a winning team the **** off and support Chelsea.