Brian: The right decision?

[Royalee]

Mcd sacking wasn't a knee jerk-reaction, he had plenty time to turn things around, Readings style of play has been painful to watch and very prdictable, I am not pissed off with Readings failures this season

What you people fail to realize is we HAD to play that way to avoid losing every game 5-0, our team really IS that much worse in terms of quality.
We probably didn't even have more than the 10th best squad last year, yet overperformed.
I fully expected us to beat Derby's record low points tally by a large margin this year, the fact that we've done as well as we have is nothing less than shocking!

Delusional people who think McD has underperformed this year need a serious reality check, if anything we have overperformed and notched up a hell of a lot more points than expected!!!!

We had to play hoofball to get results? We were minutes from getting a great result at Stamford Bridge playing good football, we beat Sunderland with some of the best football we've played this season and nearly got a point at Old Trafford again knocking the ball around well so your argument makes no sense.

On McDermott, how can you argue he hasn't massively underachieved when his three biggest signings have spent most of their time on the bench? Could you imagine where Southampton would be if Rodriguez and Ramirez had been benched? It's a joke.

[Hoop Blah]

Mcd sacking wasn't a knee jerk-reaction, he had plenty time to turn things around, Readings style of play has been painful to watch and very prdictable, I am not pissed off with Readings failures this season

What you people fail to realize is we HAD to play that way to avoid losing every game 5-0, our team really IS that much worse in terms of quality.
We probably didn't even have more than the 10th best squad last year, yet overperformed.
I fully expected us to beat Derby's record low points tally by a large margin this year, the fact that we've done as well as we have is nothing less than shocking!

Delusional people who think McD has underperformed this year need a serious reality check, if anything we have overperformed and notched up a hell of a lot more points than expected!!!!

You're going to have to explain to me how playing injured players, sticking to 4-4-2 far too much, not defending leads to close out winning positions in games, giving the ball back the opposition far too cheaply far too often and not getting the best out of any of your new signings helps to prevent 5-0 defeats that a more defensively organised shape and system of play would've brought about.

McDermott was largely the architect of his own downfall and was given every opportunity by the club to turn things round. He failed and he got the boot.

[Plymouth_Royal]

Mcd sacking wasn't a knee jerk-reaction, he had plenty time to turn things around, Readings style of play has been painful to watch and very prdictable, I am not pissed off with Readings failures this season

What you people fail to realize is we HAD to play that way to avoid losing every game 5-0, our team really IS that much worse in terms of quality.
We probably didn't even have more than the 10th best squad last year, yet overperformed.
I fully expected us to beat Derby's record low points tally by a large margin this year, the fact that we've done as well as we have is nothing less than shocking!

Delusional people who think McD has underperformed this year need a serious reality check, if anything we have overperformed and notched up a hell of a lot more points than expected!!!!

We definitely did not have to play the way we did. It is just the only way McDoughnut knew of and sadly doesn't cut it and this level. If you didn't know we played Manchester Utd recently away and had a caretaker who instills a passing philosophy into our academy. He managed to get the team playing football narrowly losing to a fluke goal.

Don't get me wrong I think McDermott is a top bloke and an excellent Championship Manager who clearly has his style influenced from the great Sir Steve Coppell..but this had its obvious flaws and I am surprised he hadnt learned from our last time in the prem. Right decision in my opinion as we clearly need to modernise the "reading way"

[Maguire]

McDermott was largely the architect of his own downfall and was given every opportunity by the club to turn things round

Well he wasn't was he? He didn't get a whole season.

[Hoop Blah]

McDermott was largely the architect of his own downfall and was given every opportunity by the club to turn things round

Well he wasn't was he? He didn't get a whole season.

Personally I think the 6 pointers (don't tell McDermott I called them that though, they don't exist apparently) against Wigan and Villa were the last real opportunities to turn it around.

[winchester_royal]

McDermott was largely the architect of his own downfall and was given every opportunity by the club to turn things round

Well he wasn't was he? He didn't get a whole season.

Personally I think the 6 pointers (don't tell McDermott I called them that though, they don't exist apparently) against Wigan and Villa were the last real opportunities to turn it around.

Quite, the fact we put in worse performances in those games than we did in our second game against Chelsea speaks wonders about just how little progression we made under McDermott this season.

Lovely man, decent manager. A shame to see him leave in the manner that he did, but ultimately the best decision for all parties.

Time to move on.

[Maguire]

McDermott was largely the architect of his own downfall and was given every opportunity by the club to turn things round

Well he wasn't was he? He didn't get a whole season.

Personally I think the 6 pointers (don't tell McDermott I called them that though, they don't exist apparently) against Wigan and Villa were the last real opportunities to turn it around.

Well you certainly won't catch me defending the Wigan game (either the team selection or the performance); a total shambles.

Problem is that we're eight games away from relegation and we've just sacked a manager who has done better in the Championship that anyone.

[Hoop Blah]

Better than anyone? Perhaps we should give Warnock or Dave Bassett the job?

I strongly believe that Managers have a shelf life and sometimes you just need change to revitalise things. If McDermott had stayed I'm not sure he'd have been able to shake the squad out of the rut of losing and the negative momentum relegation will have caused. I'm also not sure he was the best man to spend the money that it appears Zingaravich is looking to spend next season (assuming the Poyet interest is real and backed up by spending plans).

A major failing of this season has appeared to be dealing with the increasing egos in the squad. To move forward from where we are I think it probably needs better players and the bigger egos that often come with them. I'm not convinced on this years evidence that McDermott was the man to handle that either.

Like players, sometimes Managers just have a level they're good at. Above that they can struggle. We're possibly looking to move to a level beyond that which McDermott and his style of management and football is effective. If that's the case, or at least Zingaravich thinks it is, then getting rid now so that the new man has time to build his squad and style for next season and beyond then I think it's been a wise move.

[Maguire]

I guess I see it more in the same way I view anyone moving up a level in management, no matter what their business. Brian had only been doing the job for three years (and been doing it very well I think we can all agree) and this was his first attempt at managing in the Premiership. Is there really an expectation that somebody should be able to excel at that immediately and if not then they should be written off as "a championship level manager at best" ?

Surely there's something to be gained from growing talent, letting people learn from experience, and so on. McDermott can't have reached his ceiling after 29 games - there must be room for improvement. I think a lot of new(ish) managers struggle with the behaviour and sense of entitlement of players have at the top level; Coppell clearly wasn't comfortable with it either.

If you're desperate to stay in the PL and you don't feel you can afford to invest the time in that member of staff then get rid of them in January, not now when relegation is all but certain.

[Ian Royal]

I guess I see it more in the same way I view anyone moving up a level in management, no matter what their business. Brian had only been doing the job for three years (and been doing it very well I think we can all agree) and this was his first attempt at managing in the Premiership. Is there really an expectation that somebody should be able to excel at that immediately and if not then they should be written off as "a championship level manager at best" ?

Surely there's something to be gained from growing talent, letting people learn from experience, and so on. McDermott can't have reached his ceiling after 29 games - there must be room for improvement. I think a lot of new(ish) managers struggle with the behaviour and sense of entitlement of players have at the top level; Coppell clearly wasn't comfortable with it either.

If you're desperate to stay in the PL and you don't feel you can afford to invest the time in that member of staff then get rid of them in January, not now when relegation is all but certain.

That's all fine if there aren't major consequences of poor performance, and if the person involved is showing enough signs that they're learning from their mistakes and improving. McDermott may have only been in the job three years, but I think that's already towards the top end of the average managerial lifespan at a club.

I'm sure when he's had a chance to reflect dispassionately on the season he'll learn from it and be a better manager for it elsewhere. We weren't going in the right direction under him. He may well have done a good job in the Championship next season despite the problem of turning around a team in bad form and low in confidence. But we'd probably be playing the same sort of football and we've seen it doesn't work in the Premier League. We're looking for a fresh approach for next season.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I just hope that you all get what you wish for

[themadstad]

Well we still go down but now have to pay compensation to Brian and sit managerless. Not entirely sure it was a good move although Brian was making mistakes a lot.

Looks a bit too similar to Wolves and now look at them. It does look like the Reading way is what kept us competing in the championship etc.

Does a new manager get financial backing? What are the expectations from us and Anton? Many a club have been relegated and not even made the play offs. Would that lead to another sacking?

[winchester_royal]

the fact we put in worse performances in those games than we did in our second game against Chelsea speaks wonders about just how little progression we made under McDermott this season.

You seem to completely lack any understanding of football and the history of the promoted teams.
IT'S WHAT ALWAYS HAPPENS, YOU FOOL!

The promoted team tends to start the season brightly, the players being eager to prove themselves, and putting in an excessive workrate, let's say 120%, 20% more effort than normal.
However these early good results always tend to be due to pure effort and workrate, willingness to go the extra mile, and as the season runs on the physical ability to maintain this sort of extreme physical effort wears off, also the mental strain wears on the players so they can no longer maintain the high morale necessary to produce these sort of workrates.

Clearly our early promises of good efforts, were down to just this - pure effort and mentality, which is unsustainable in the long run and this should come as no surprise to anyone.
You seem either unwilling to consider this, or you do not know anything about football - which is it?

Why is effort unsustainable? If the players are no longer trying as hard as they were 6 months ago then that's a problem with their motivation, which is down to the manager. '38 cup finals'. The players should get better as they become more experienced with the league, and the shape of the team should improve as the management understand what is needed. Like it did last season.

If he thought the effort would not be sustainable throughout then he should have gone to greater lengths to improve the quality of the team. Fact of the matter is we've played our best football this season with 4-5-1, and yet he persisted in playing 4-4-2. We lost a number of crucial games due to either the manager's stubborness or stupidity.

We're 19th with seemingly no chance of survival. McDermott was not doing a good job. The sacking was harsh but perfectly justifiable. Move on.

[royalsteve]

I thought it was crazy at first, but maybe its right - whether its fair is another matter, I think its unfair but ultimately results count - maybe az thought the club was too cozy

Tough one. as much as I think brian was a great manager given the resources he had - royals massively overachieved last season - playoffs at best is what I thought, with 12th being realistic. This season the royals have been found out, brian and his players reached their limit. you look at other squads and most are far better with some like Norwich and Villa probably being only marginally better.

I thought regardless of what happened this season, even if we stayed up brian would probably go and az would get the manager he wants, poor brian looked a bit lost - hope he gets another decent job and I thought he'll come back stronger

Hard to know who the best candidate is - adkins would be a good fit for reading as would poyet

[royalsteve]

the fact we put in worse performances in those games than we did in our second game against Chelsea speaks wonders about just how little progression we made under McDermott this season.

You seem to completely lack any understanding of football and the history of the promoted teams.
IT'S WHAT ALWAYS HAPPENS, YOU FOOL!

The promoted team tends to start the season brightly, the players being eager to prove themselves, and putting in an excessive workrate, let's say 120%, 20% more effort than normal.
However these early good results always tend to be due to pure effort and workrate, willingness to go the extra mile, and as the season runs on the physical ability to maintain this sort of extreme physical effort wears off, also the mental strain wears on the players so they can no longer maintain the high morale necessary to produce these sort of workrates.

Clearly our early promises of good efforts, were down to just this - pure effort and mentality, which is unsustainable in the long run and this should come as no surprise to anyone.
You seem either unwilling to consider this, or you do not know anything about football - which is it?

Why is effort unsustainable? If the players are no longer trying as hard as they were 6 months ago then that's a problem with their motivation, which is down to the manager. '38 cup finals'. The players should get better as they become more experienced with the league, and the shape of the team should improve as the management understand what is needed. Like it did last season.

If he thought the effort would not be sustainable throughout then he should have gone to greater lengths to improve the quality of the team. Fact of the matter is we've played our best football this season with 4-5-1, and yet he persisted in playing 4-4-2. We lost a number of crucial games due to either the manager's stubborness or stupidity.

We're 19th with seemingly no chance of survival. McDermott was not doing a good job. The sacking was harsh but perfectly justifiable. Move on.

not sure I agree, can see your point but if it was a level playing field then id agree but a lot of the clubs in the league have spent 5-10 times what we have, plus most clubs teams are worth 10 times ours, so your view in this respect doesn't hold true.

[Maguire]

He may well have done a good job in the Championship next season despite the problem of turning around a team in bad form and low in confidence. But we'd probably be playing the same sort of football and we've seen it doesn't work in the Premier League

He's already turned around a team in bad form and low in confidence.

And we're going down, so if we play "the same type of football" then that's fine by me as it won us the league title.

[loyalroyal4life]

Should have kept him until the summer at this rate we won't have a manager in place until summer anyway. ED on caretaker basis

[Bandini]

It's not looking like a stroke of genius, is it


WEINSTATE BWIAN

[Hoop Blah]

Would it really have been better to stick with a man that wasn't doing the job?

Even if we get Dolan for the short term I think it was probably a worthwhile roll of the dice by Zingaravich.

I'm not sold by the argument that McDermott would be the best man to rebuild post-relegation so my take on it is probably different to many.

[maffff]

I'm firmly in ths "yes this was the right decision" camp. After 3 years it seems like he'd started to burn out.