Pauno out

[Ascotexgunner]

I think he's deliberately throwing games so we can pull off the great escape and he can get a half decent offer for next season. We'll lose our next 2 and drop into the relegation zone, before winning 6 of the final 15 games to stay up against all the odds.

And the team can come out to Phil Collins.

[andrew1957]

Having calmed down from the rubbish performance against Luton it seems to me that Pauno should be given the next two games. Both are tough ones against top teams, but what we need to see is at least some more fight from the players. If they don't show up in these two we can only think that Pauno has entirely lost the players and just simply has to go. 4 points from these games (unlikely) and Pauno saves his job for me, but if we have two more heavy defeats then surely the owners must act and the manager must go, otherwise they will almost certainly be condemning us to relegation.

After QPR there will then be a 10 day break until we have a run of "must get points" matches and so if a new manager is to come in that seems to me like the perfect time and gives us a great chance of a new manager bounce in the games from 9th Feb onwards.

I stand by what I said a couple of weeks back. We now have a lot of winnable matches coming up. If the owner is serious about wanting us to survive in this division, then tomorrow is the obvious time to act. The transfer window will be shut and we will then have the squad we have and it needs someone to motivate this group of players and I just don't have faith that Pauno is that man. The awful performances in the last few matches would suggest that he has lost the players.

if the owners don't act this week then I doubt they will and we will just have to hope that form improves enough to hold off Derby and Peterborough (as Barnsley look down already).

[tidus_mi2]

If he's staying, he has put a lot of stock in our February run, he should really go if there are no improvements by the end of the month but by then it would probably be too late.

[Millsy]

I absolutely don't hate the guy. Annoying as he is, shit as he is, he is paid to do a job in difficult circumstances and is just out of his depth.

But... surely there comes a point where as a decent human being you think "Ok... I think I'm out of my depth here and my employers deserve better. I'm going to do the honourable thing and walk."

Some say this never happens but I have known it to happen where I worked in my 20s an agency manager came in from Hungary to run things and he was bloody awful. I had to teach him how things worked/how things are done in the UK. He had the decency at the first opportunity to say he was out of his depth, underestimated the situation, and asked to be relieved of the rest of the contract. Thoroughly top bloke whom we all respected.

Nothing wrong with Pauno saying "English football is much more challenging than I had imagined and I don't think I'm doing the club the service they deserve, so I'm going to leave if I may."

He'd save the club. He'd save his face. He'd be respected and chances are someone else in England will try their luck on him as they'd understand some of the difficulties he was under here and look favourably on his integrity and that amazing run last season.

But stay for the remaining £100k or so, take us down, be hated by owners, fans, and looked down upon as an overwhelming failure by the English football community in general. What's the point.

[Simon's Church]

I think he's deliberately throwing games so we can pull off the great escape and he can get a half decent offer for next season. We'll lose our next 2 and drop into the relegation zone, before winning 6 of the final 15 games to stay up against all the odds.

And the team can come out to Phil Collins.

Great shout. Maybe we could get Barry from eastenders to sing it from the centre circle.

[andrew1957]

I absolutely don't hate the guy. Annoying as he is, shit as he is, he is paid to do a job in difficult circumstances and is just out of his depth.

But... surely there comes a point where as a decent human being you think "Ok... I think I'm out of my depth here and my employers deserve better. I'm going to do the honourable thing and walk."

Some say this never happens but I have known it to happen where I worked in my 20s an agency manager came in from Hungary to run things and he was bloody awful. I had to teach him how things worked/how things are done in the UK. He had the decency at the first opportunity to say he was out of his depth, underestimated the situation, and asked to be relieved of the rest of the contract. Thoroughly top bloke whom we all respected.

Nothing wrong with Pauno saying "English football is much more challenging than I had imagined and I don't think I'm doing the club the service they deserve, so I'm going to leave if I may."

He'd save the club. He'd save his face. He'd be respected and chances are someone else in England will try their luck on him as they'd understand some of the difficulties he was under here and look favourably on his integrity and that amazing run last season.

But stay for the remaining £100k or so, take us down, be hated by owners, fans, and looked down upon as an overwhelming failure by the English football community in general. What's the point.

All fair but I really cannot remember the last manager who has done that in recent years. They almost always have to be pushed. Perhaps you have to be arrogant to be a manager and so admitting your are not up to it is just too hard. I think he will believe that he can still turn it round with a good February - and to be fair we cannot rule that possibility out. The problem is that if he fails and we have a bad month there is a good chance that it will be too late for a replacement and that we will go down.

[Millsy]

I absolutely don't hate the guy. Annoying as he is, shit as he is, he is paid to do a job in difficult circumstances and is just out of his depth.

But... surely there comes a point where as a decent human being you think "Ok... I think I'm out of my depth here and my employers deserve better. I'm going to do the honourable thing and walk."

Some say this never happens but I have known it to happen where I worked in my 20s an agency manager came in from Hungary to run things and he was bloody awful. I had to teach him how things worked/how things are done in the UK. He had the decency at the first opportunity to say he was out of his depth, underestimated the situation, and asked to be relieved of the rest of the contract. Thoroughly top bloke whom we all respected.

Nothing wrong with Pauno saying "English football is much more challenging than I had imagined and I don't think I'm doing the club the service they deserve, so I'm going to leave if I may."

He'd save the club. He'd save his face. He'd be respected and chances are someone else in England will try their luck on him as they'd understand some of the difficulties he was under here and look favourably on his integrity and that amazing run last season.

But stay for the remaining £100k or so, take us down, be hated by owners, fans, and looked down upon as an overwhelming failure by the English football community in general. What's the point.

All fair but I really cannot remember the last manager who has done that in recent years. They almost always have to be pushed. Perhaps you have to be arrogant to be a manager and so admitting your are not up to it is just too hard. I think he will believe that he can still turn it round with a good February - and to be fair we cannot rule that possibility out. The problem is that if he fails and we have a bad month there is a good chance that it will be too late for a replacement and that we will go down.

True. It'll never happen.

A nasty protest against him though might make him think "ok what am I doing here?". That's all I'm hoping.

[Elm Park Kid]

I absolutely don't hate the guy. Annoying as he is, shit as he is, he is paid to do a job in difficult circumstances and is just out of his depth.

But... surely there comes a point where as a decent human being you think "Ok... I think I'm out of my depth here and my employers deserve better. I'm going to do the honourable thing and walk."

Some say this never happens but I have known it to happen where I worked in my 20s an agency manager came in from Hungary to run things and he was bloody awful. I had to teach him how things worked/how things are done in the UK. He had the decency at the first opportunity to say he was out of his depth, underestimated the situation, and asked to be relieved of the rest of the contract. Thoroughly top bloke whom we all respected.

Nothing wrong with Pauno saying "English football is much more challenging than I had imagined and I don't think I'm doing the club the service they deserve, so I'm going to leave if I may."

He'd save the club. He'd save his face. He'd be respected and chances are someone else in England will try their luck on him as they'd understand some of the difficulties he was under here and look favourably on his integrity and that amazing run last season.

But stay for the remaining £100k or so, take us down, be hated by owners, fans, and looked down upon as an overwhelming failure by the English football community in general. What's the point.

But your agency manager wasn't on the guaranteed wages that Pauno is. He knew that he'd probably get fired at some point - and for an employee it looks far better to quit then it is to have a dismal on your record.

Look at this from Pauno's perspective - £100k (I don't know if that is his salary) is an awful lot of money to give up to 'do the right thing'. He'd also be publicly accepting that Reading's situation is his fault and that he's not good enough to manage at Championship level. That would be a significant blow to his career - Say what you like but the football world is not as critical on managers as supporters are, they are wiling to give people benefits of the doubt that their club's failure was due to elements out of their control or that they were just a poor 'fit'. Managers who are fired when their clubs are tanking get rehired all the time - and from Pauno's perspective he's going to assume that he will still get some credit for having managed a Championship club for two seasons, finishing 7th in the first one. A lot of national leagues will see him as a good gamble.

There's just zero logic in believing that the football community view him as a better manager if he publicly stated that he was crap.

[Snowflake Royal]

Face it lads - he's staying, to pull us into Div One.

I’m still hopeful. If he hasn’t gone after Peterborough then 100% he’s not going anywhere.

Same.

Today is a big blow.

[Millsy]

I absolutely don't hate the guy. Annoying as he is, shit as he is, he is paid to do a job in difficult circumstances and is just out of his depth.

But... surely there comes a point where as a decent human being you think "Ok... I think I'm out of my depth here and my employers deserve better. I'm going to do the honourable thing and walk."

Some say this never happens but I have known it to happen where I worked in my 20s an agency manager came in from Hungary to run things and he was bloody awful. I had to teach him how things worked/how things are done in the UK. He had the decency at the first opportunity to say he was out of his depth, underestimated the situation, and asked to be relieved of the rest of the contract. Thoroughly top bloke whom we all respected.

Nothing wrong with Pauno saying "English football is much more challenging than I had imagined and I don't think I'm doing the club the service they deserve, so I'm going to leave if I may."

He'd save the club. He'd save his face. He'd be respected and chances are someone else in England will try their luck on him as they'd understand some of the difficulties he was under here and look favourably on his integrity and that amazing run last season.

But stay for the remaining £100k or so, take us down, be hated by owners, fans, and looked down upon as an overwhelming failure by the English football community in general. What's the point.

But your agency manager wasn't on the guaranteed wages that Pauno is. He knew that he'd probably get fired at some point - and for an employee it looks far better to quit then it is to have a dismal on your record.

Look at this from Pauno's perspective - £100k (I don't know if that is his salary) is an awful lot of money to give up to 'do the right thing'. He'd also be publicly accepting that Reading's situation is his fault and that he's not good enough to manage at Championship level. That would be a significant blow to his career - Say what you like but the football world is not as critical on managers as supporters are, they are wiling to give people benefits of the doubt that their club's failure was due to elements out of their control or that they were just a poor 'fit'. Managers who are fired when their clubs are tanking get rehired all the time - and from Pauno's perspective he's going to assume that he will still get some credit for having managed a Championship club for two seasons, finishing 7th in the first one. A lot of national leagues will see him as a good gamble.

There's just zero logic in believing that the football community view him as a better manager if he publicly stated that he was crap.

He was on a fixed-term guaranteed contract and probably wouldn't be fired but did the right thing. But you're right it was a different situation with smaller fees involved anyway.

You're right I think he is unlikely to walk for the reasons you mentioned. It won't happen.

A more reasonable and realistic option is he wouldn't of course publicly state he's crap he could come up with any excuse like "the situation is unbearable here with FFP, injuries, covid, etc etc". Coppell left after 33days or so didn't he? Some here thought that was a problem but most of us looked at his record and were delighted to have him. If he walks away blaming it on the situation no one will look down on that, most will look at the season where there weren't the issues and just see a 7th place finish.

Staying with us to take us down though... that's got to be damaging.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I absolutely don't hate the guy. Annoying as he is, shit as he is, he is paid to do a job in difficult circumstances and is just out of his depth.

But... surely there comes a point where as a decent human being you think "Ok... I think I'm out of my depth here and my employers deserve better. I'm going to do the honourable thing and walk."

Some say this never happens but I have known it to happen where I worked in my 20s an agency manager came in from Hungary to run things and he was bloody awful. I had to teach him how things worked/how things are done in the UK. He had the decency at the first opportunity to say he was out of his depth, underestimated the situation, and asked to be relieved of the rest of the contract. Thoroughly top bloke whom we all respected.

Nothing wrong with Pauno saying "English football is much more challenging than I had imagined and I don't think I'm doing the club the service they deserve, so I'm going to leave if I may."

He'd save the club. He'd save his face. He'd be respected and chances are someone else in England will try their luck on him as they'd understand some of the difficulties he was under here and look favourably on his integrity and that amazing run last season.

But stay for the remaining £100k or so, take us down, be hated by owners, fans, and looked down upon as an overwhelming failure by the English football community in general. What's the point.

But your agency manager wasn't on the guaranteed wages that Pauno is. He knew that he'd probably get fired at some point - and for an employee it looks far better to quit then it is to have a dismal on your record.

Look at this from Pauno's perspective - £100k (I don't know if that is his salary) is an awful lot of money to give up to 'do the right thing'. He'd also be publicly accepting that Reading's situation is his fault and that he's not good enough to manage at Championship level. That would be a significant blow to his career - Say what you like but the football world is not as critical on managers as supporters are, they are wiling to give people benefits of the doubt that their club's failure was due to elements out of their control or that they were just a poor 'fit'. Managers who are fired when their clubs are tanking get rehired all the time - and from Pauno's perspective he's going to assume that he will still get some credit for having managed a Championship club for two seasons, finishing 7th in the first one. A lot of national leagues will see him as a good gamble.

There's just zero logic in believing that the football community view him as a better manager if he publicly stated that he was crap.

He was on a fixed-term guaranteed contract and probably wouldn't be fired but did the right thing. But you're right it was a different situation with smaller fees involved anyway.

You're right I think he is unlikely to walk for the reasons you mentioned. It won't happen.

A more reasonable and realistic option is he wouldn't of course publicly state he's crap he could come up with any excuse like "the situation is unbearable here with FFP, injuries, covid, etc etc". Coppell left after 33days or so didn't he? Some here thought that was a problem but most of us looked at his record and were delighted to have him. If he walks away blaming it on the situation no one will look down on that, most will look at the season where there weren't the issues and just see a 7th place finish.

Staying with us to take us down though... that's got to be damaging.

It depends really. He had a good season last season all things considered and Pauno is probably justified if he puts this season down to unprecedented situations, such as injuries, embargos, points deductions etc. It's almost like a no-lose situation for his reputation really as we are a club in freefall anyway but if he keeps us up then that looks even better.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Waiting till the window is shut to fire your manager doesn't make sense. It makes it impossible to recruit anybody. Especially when you have an agent who only wants to further his players progress so he can profit on their success in charge of the incomings.

Seeing that we can only get in a 19yr old keeper with zero league experience and over the month there has only been 2 or 3 rumours about players suggests that we are struggling to even get our names beyond initial contact.

[Ascotexgunner]

Looks like Big Mick is off the cards....off to Sunderland I hear.

[NathStPaul]

Looks like Big Mick is off the cards....off to Sunderland I hear.

McManus?

[Ascotexgunner]

Looks like Big Mick is off the cards....off to Sunderland I hear.

McManus?

Would be a useful addition to the coaching staff. Would hopefully cause injury to Drinkwater and Moore everytime they f*cked up and prevent them playing matches.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Waiting till the window is shut to fire your manager doesn't make sense. It makes it impossible to recruit anybody. Especially when you have an agent who only wants to further his players progress so he can profit on their success in charge of the incomings.

Seeing that we can only get in a 19yr old keeper with zero league experience and over the month there has only been 2 or 3 rumours about players suggests that we are struggling to even get our names beyond initial contact.

The benefit of it though is that you know what your squad is, and it's not like we have a squad lacking quality all things considered. We lack depth in full back areas, but otherwise we have numbers and quality everywhere else, it's just completely under-fire at the moment. You wouldn't want to be a new manager, have one of your players performing well and then losing them in January because suitors can come along with a deal which we cannot refuse. Any new manager knows what he's working with now.

As you have briefly mentioned below, we've signed a teenage goalkeeper with no league experience and we've been linked with Rhys Williams who has very little experience as well as a young winger at Crystal Palace with no league experience. It's not like a new manager would have done much better given our restrictions anyway.

[Elm Park Kid]

But your agency manager wasn't on the guaranteed wages that Pauno is. He knew that he'd probably get fired at some point - and for an employee it looks far better to quit then it is to have a dismal on your record.

Look at this from Pauno's perspective - £100k (I don't know if that is his salary) is an awful lot of money to give up to 'do the right thing'. He'd also be publicly accepting that Reading's situation is his fault and that he's not good enough to manage at Championship level. That would be a significant blow to his career - Say what you like but the football world is not as critical on managers as supporters are, they are wiling to give people benefits of the doubt that their club's failure was due to elements out of their control or that they were just a poor 'fit'. Managers who are fired when their clubs are tanking get rehired all the time - and from Pauno's perspective he's going to assume that he will still get some credit for having managed a Championship club for two seasons, finishing 7th in the first one. A lot of national leagues will see him as a good gamble.

There's just zero logic in believing that the football community view him as a better manager if he publicly stated that he was crap.

He was on a fixed-term guaranteed contract and probably wouldn't be fired but did the right thing. But you're right it was a different situation with smaller fees involved anyway.

You're right I think he is unlikely to walk for the reasons you mentioned. It won't happen.

A more reasonable and realistic option is he wouldn't of course publicly state he's crap he could come up with any excuse like "the situation is unbearable here with FFP, injuries, covid, etc etc". Coppell left after 33days or so didn't he? Some here thought that was a problem but most of us looked at his record and were delighted to have him. If he walks away blaming it on the situation no one will look down on that, most will look at the season where there weren't the issues and just see a 7th place finish.

Staying with us to take us down though... that's got to be damaging.

It depends really. He had a good season last season all things considered and Pauno is probably justified if he puts this season down to unprecedented situations, such as injuries, embargos, points deductions etc. It's almost like a no-lose situation for his reputation really as we are a club in freefall anyway but if he keeps us up then that looks even better.

If we were just a bit shit and struggling to get into the top half of the table then Pauno might be justified in blaming the situation. But 22 points after 28 games with the players we do have can't be waived away as factors outside his control. The way the team is losing games at the moment is frankly awful - and Pauno has to take the blame.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

He was on a fixed-term guaranteed contract and probably wouldn't be fired but did the right thing. But you're right it was a different situation with smaller fees involved anyway.

You're right I think he is unlikely to walk for the reasons you mentioned. It won't happen.

A more reasonable and realistic option is he wouldn't of course publicly state he's crap he could come up with any excuse like "the situation is unbearable here with FFP, injuries, covid, etc etc". Coppell left after 33days or so didn't he? Some here thought that was a problem but most of us looked at his record and were delighted to have him. If he walks away blaming it on the situation no one will look down on that, most will look at the season where there weren't the issues and just see a 7th place finish.

Staying with us to take us down though... that's got to be damaging.

It depends really. He had a good season last season all things considered and Pauno is probably justified if he puts this season down to unprecedented situations, such as injuries, embargos, points deductions etc. It's almost like a no-lose situation for his reputation really as we are a club in freefall anyway but if he keeps us up then that looks even better.

If we were just a bit shit and struggling to get into the top half of the table then Pauno might be justified in blaming the situation. But 22 points after 28 games with the players we do have can't be waived away as factors outside his control. The way the team is losing games at the moment is frankly awful - and Pauno has to take the blame.

I do actually agree, we've underperformed massively this season no doubt about that. I was referencing what Pauno would likely say to describe the issues he's surrounded whilst underperforming here this season. Again, it's justifiable to a degree, but he does have to take blame for the underperforming players.

[blythspartan]

I don’t think it matters what we say or do as Pauno will be here until the last game of the season. I am really disappointed that there has been no announcement. I blame, Pauno, the owner and some of the players.

Also, the EFL for imposing restrictions that are effectively condemning us to league 1. I get that we have oxf*rd up as a club but the fans haven’t. oxf*rd off to the lot of them.

[tidus_mi2]

I don’t think it matters what we say or do as Pauno will be here until the last game of the season. I am really disappointed that there has been no announcement. I blame, Pauno, the owner and some of the players.

Also, the EFL for imposing restrictions that are effectively condemning us to league 1. I get that we have oxf*rd up as a club but the fans haven’t. oxf*rd off to the lot of them.

The EFL can get oxf*rd really, they've had us under an embargo for what, 3 windows now? Then they decide to slap us with a points deduction, same with Derby really.