Rival Watch

[SouthDownsRoyal]

nobody cares about football before 1991/92, it was shit
HTH

Brian Deane would like a word m8

[URZZZZ]

Luton showed tonight what you can do with a good recruitment policy and management, they were non-league 10 years ago and in many people`s eyes a small club.
So strong all over the pitch, Coventry or boro will have to be very good to beat them.

Yep - they were excellent. Shows what you can do with a fairly limited budget and even limited players to an extent. Don’t need to splash the cash to be successful

Two lads up top in particular worked extremely hard. Defending starts from the front and they relieved a lot of pressure on their defence. Lesson we could seriously learn from

[Silver Fox]

Yeah, and I will enjoy the thought of them ‘slaughtering the fatted calf’ when* they host some of footballs elite liggers.

I quite like the idea of a team whose never been in the PL being there

Either them or Coventry

Back when Luton were 1in the top flight, we beat them in the Simod Cup final in 88. We on the other hand were relegated from the 3rd Division that season. Makes that cup win all the more impressive.

Errrr, no we weren't

[Loafer]

nobody cares about football before 1991/92, it was shit
HTH

Brian Deane would like a word m8

No idea who that is

[Snowflake Royal]

We aren't the sort of team who hastily sacks an underperforming manager, in fact we are the exact opposite, we keep hold of most for too long (Ince, Pauno, Stam and I'd argue even Clement). So by not sacking an underperforming manager, that's not learning from previous mistakes.

If the demands are to be challenging for promotion next season, with the play offs being a minimum, then if we are 11th come January I'd be expecting the manager to be under a huge amount of pressure, particularly if the manager is a high profile name like Chris Wilder.

Clement managed 30 games. A few of them at the end of 1 season.

20 ish is not giving someone too long. Sacking Rodgers in ~22 games after taking us from POs to relegation threatened is about right. But relegation threatened to relegation threatened is pretty damn quick.

Adkins probably went a bit quick. McDermott2 and Bowen were sacked too soon. Many think McDermott1.

We got rid of Gomes quick.

All of those were before the Dai's bar Clement and Bowen, so I wouldn't be including them as they were employed under different owners.

Clement lasted 30 games but I saw many fans arguing that he should have gone after the defeat at Swansea. Bowen I don't know about, it was obvious we were after going for promotion in that season and Bowen probably wasn't going for that realistically.

I suppose context is important. If we are 11th but only 3~ points outside the play offs, then fair enough. If we are 11th but 6+ points outside the play offs then pressure will be on. January would be a good time to sack any underperforming manager, as an incoming manager can look to change their squad if needs be.

like anyone thought Paunovic would be pushing for promotion when he was brought in. And all his good form came off the back of Bowen's team and preseason.

oxf*rd off sacking a manager less than six months into their tenure just because we're midtable. Go support Leeds or Watford if you want that.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Football didn't start until 1992/93, Sutekh.

This might as well be true though. Football was proper shite before then. Pele, Cruyff etc wouldn't last a season in the prem.

[Sutekh]

Football didn't start until 1992/93, Sutekh.

This might as well be true though. Football was proper shite before then. Pele, Cruyff etc wouldn't last a season in the prem.

Yeah, and as for that wannabe Dixie Dean with a mere strike rate of 1.5 goals a game in 1927...

[NathStPaul]

This might as well be true though. Football was proper shite before then. Pele, Cruyff etc wouldn't last a season in the prem.

Yeah, and as for that wannabe Dixie Dean with a mere strike rate of 1.5 goals a game in 1927...

Could Dixie or Pele have done it on a cold Tuesday night at Boundary Park? No, absolutely not.

[Pepe the Horseman]

This might as well be true though. Football was proper shite before then. Pele, Cruyff etc wouldn't last a season in the prem.

Yeah, and as for that wannabe Dixie Dean with a mere strike rate of 1.5 goals a game in 1927...

Playing against Sunday league teams.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Clement managed 30 games. A few of them at the end of 1 season.

20 ish is not giving someone too long. Sacking Rodgers in ~22 games after taking us from POs to relegation threatened is about right. But relegation threatened to relegation threatened is pretty damn quick.

Adkins probably went a bit quick. McDermott2 and Bowen were sacked too soon. Many think McDermott1.

We got rid of Gomes quick.

All of those were before the Dai's bar Clement and Bowen, so I wouldn't be including them as they were employed under different owners.

Clement lasted 30 games but I saw many fans arguing that he should have gone after the defeat at Swansea. Bowen I don't know about, it was obvious we were after going for promotion in that season and Bowen probably wasn't going for that realistically.

I suppose context is important. If we are 11th but only 3~ points outside the play offs, then fair enough. If we are 11th but 6+ points outside the play offs then pressure will be on. January would be a good time to sack any underperforming manager, as an incoming manager can look to change their squad if needs be.

like anyone thought Paunovic would be pushing for promotion when he was brought in. And all his good form came off the back of Bowen's team and preseason.

oxf*rd off sacking a manager less than six months into their tenure just because we're midtable. Go support Leeds or Watford if you want that.

Obviously the board did at the time of making the decision.

Mid table in L1, despite your extremely low standards, is a failure though. There probably aren't that many clubs who would keep hold of an underperforming manager for 6 months or more, depending on the situation. If the board don't really care where we finish next season and just want to start a rebuild to get a side capable of going up again, then fair enough. If we are targeting the play offs, which I think we should be and likely will be, then I can't see a manager lasting much more than 6 months if we are underachieving.

Why should we have to settle for mid table when the likes of Derby, who started last season in far worse situations than ourselves, can still manage to compete for a play off position? Again, apologies, but I just think being happy to be mid table is just shite. If that's the sort of "ambition" the club would want to encourage as well, then I'd be saying sack the lot of them without very good reasoning (i.e. the owner budgeting for a mid table finish, for which I'd then be saying get shut of the owner).

[PATRIQT]

I quite like the idea of a team whose never been in the PL being there

Either them or Coventry

Back when Luton were 1in the top flight, we beat them in the Simod Cup final in 88. We on the other hand were relegated from the 3rd Division that season. Makes that cup win all the more impressive.

Errrr, no we weren't

Second Division relegation then...

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news ... 88-season/

[Snowflake Royal]

All of those were before the Dai's bar Clement and Bowen, so I wouldn't be including them as they were employed under different owners.

Clement lasted 30 games but I saw many fans arguing that he should have gone after the defeat at Swansea. Bowen I don't know about, it was obvious we were after going for promotion in that season and Bowen probably wasn't going for that realistically.

I suppose context is important. If we are 11th but only 3~ points outside the play offs, then fair enough. If we are 11th but 6+ points outside the play offs then pressure will be on. January would be a good time to sack any underperforming manager, as an incoming manager can look to change their squad if needs be.

like anyone thought Paunovic would be pushing for promotion when he was brought in. And all his good form came off the back of Bowen's team and preseason.

oxf*rd off sacking a manager less than six months into their tenure just because we're midtable. Go support Leeds or Watford if you want that.

Obviously the board did at the time of making the decision.

Mid table in L1, despite your extremely low standards, is a failure though. There probably aren't that many clubs who would keep hold of an underperforming manager for 6 months or more, depending on the situation. If the board don't really care where we finish next season and just want to start a rebuild to get a side capable of going up again, then fair enough. If we are targeting the play offs, which I think we should be and likely will be, then I can't see a manager lasting much more than 6 months if we are underachieving.

Why should we have to settle for mid table when the likes of Derby, who started last season in far worse situations than ourselves, can still manage to compete for a play off position? Again, apologies, but I just think being happy to be mid table is just shite. If that's the sort of "ambition" the club would want to encourage as well, then I'd be saying sack the lot of them without very good reasoning (i.e. the owner budgeting for a mid table finish, for which I'd then be saying get shut of the owner).

Yeah let's continue having a manager or two a season. Real route to success.

[From Despair To Where?]

I kind of see Ian's point. Finishing mid table wouldn't be a disaster if we can see some foundations being laid to push on the season after. Depending on what happens behind the scenes, I dont think we should necessarily get fixated on league position next season.

[blythspartan]

I kind of see Ian's point. Finishing mid table wouldn't be a disaster if we can see some foundations being laid to push on the season after. Depending on what happens behind the scenes, I dont think we should necessarily get fixated on league position next season.

I agree, the last time we went down to League One we struggled for a large part of the season and I’ll never forget the 6-0 thrashing at home by Rovers. However, we gradually improved following a win against Rovers in the equivalent of the Papa Johns trophy from memory. The following season we made further improvement and got to the playoffs and then the rest is history.

If we finish mid table and then improve over the following 2 or 3 seasons I’d be happy with that. I just want to see us win some games and actually deserve to win them by playing decent football.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Just gotta hope our incumbent ‘decision makers’ agree with you and have that same patience.
That, and the discerning Reading fans of course.

[NathStPaul]

Luton or Coventry being in the Premier League next season is quite amazing. Got to take your hats off to them both, unreal achievement.

[genome]

Fcuking hell. How different does Adi Viveash look now

[Loafer]

Luton and Coventry are no longer considered our rivals. HTH.

[Loafer]

Although i want Coventry to absolutely pound them like Lisa Ann gets

[genome]

Luton and Coventry are no longer considered our rivals. HTH.

I made the thread and we can talk about any of the playoffs