MCDERMOTT SACKED

[Brain Traysers]

This seems very much like a business decision, if it will pay off we will see over the next few seasons.

Don't get me wrong I have said all along the very least Brian should have been given was until the end of next season... but then what? He has been an excellent second tier manager for us, and rebuilt when SJM couldn't afford to keep the big players, somehow maintaining the ability to grind out results in an incredibly competitive league.

I had heard things hadn't been great behind the scenes for a while, an example being Carrico who is apparently 100% fit and ready to play but he was brought in without Brian giving an assessment of him. I had heard that Brian refused to play anyone that he himself hadn't seen play, which fits in with his scouting background. In late January this culminated in a list of players available for fees Anton was willing to pay all of which were rejected with the exception of Gylfi and his late bids were well documented at the time.

Anton wants to take the club to the next level and is very much taking the blame for making the same mistakes as SJM/Coppell did, maybe we do need a manager who is ready to make the next step, and match the ambitions of the owner?

I think we are already down, not because of this decision but because of our failures to beat the teams around us. For me the real achievement is that we have amassed as many points as we have, and that goes down to Brian who leaves with a good reputation with the fans and in wider football (and hopefully a sufficient pay off). He will walk into a job at a championship club and likely finish above us next season, whether he is able to repeat the success he had with us at a different club is yet to be seen. Certainly going now is better for him than inevitably taking us down where there are 2 possible outcomes. First we fail to bounce back and he leaves with a damaged reputation at the end of his contract. Alternatively he does get us back into the prem, but without changing his ways does anybody really think we could take the next step and establish as a premier league club?

All in all, thank you Brian, good luck in the future but your ambitions just fall short of the guy running the joint. A very good reception whenever returning please.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

This seems very much like a business decision, if it will pay off we will see over the next few seasons.

Don't get me wrong I have said all along the very least Brian should have been given was until the end of next season... but then what? He has been an excellent second tier manager for us, and rebuilt when SJM couldn't afford to keep the big players, somehow maintaining the ability to grind out results in an incredibly competitive league.

I had heard things hadn't been great behind the scenes for a while, an example being Carrico who is apparently 100% fit and ready to play but he was brought in without Brian giving an assessment of him. I had heard that Brian refused to play anyone that he himself hadn't seen play, which fits in with his scouting background. In late January this culminated in a list of players available for fees Anton was willing to pay all of which were rejected with the exception of Gylfi and his late bids were well documented at the time.

Anton wants to take the club to the next level and is very much taking the blame for making the same mistakes as SJM/Coppell did, maybe we do need a manager who is ready to make the next step, and match the ambitions of the owner?

I think we are already down, not because of this decision but because of our failures to beat the teams around us. For me the real achievement is that we have amassed as many points as we have, and that goes down to Brian who leaves with a good reputation with the fans and in wider football (and hopefully a sufficient pay off). He will walk into a job at a championship club and likely finish above us next season, whether he is able to repeat the success he had with us at a different club is yet to be seen. Certainly going now is better for him than inevitably taking us down where there are 2 possible outcomes. First we fail to bounce back and he leaves with a damaged reputation at the end of his contract. Alternatively he does get us back into the prem, but without changing his ways does anybody really think we could take the next step and establish as a premier league club?

All in all, thank you Brian, good luck in the future but your ambitions just fall short of the guy running the joint. A very good reception whenever returning please.

The problem is the mental state of the players & mgt team after relegation. This is part of the reason why he had to go really. We could do it now & have more time to prepare for another promotion push next year or drag it out until June but ultimately the decision would have had to be the same. I don't think you can dust yourself off from a season like this - its too damaging.

[joeroyal]

Surpirsed to see such disgust at his sacking.

In any other profression or work place, an employee that had got it so wrong and showed they could not step up would have been sacked...and this is the Premier League where the stakes are sky high.

I think the defining factor was his record againt the fellow strugglers. 1 point from our encouters against the bottom 5 is truely untenable. If we were at least competing to stay up, then he may well have been given until the end of the season, but we are sinking like a lead weight, and apart from a purple patch where we were at times very fortunate to say the least, 22 games or so, we have been clueless and not competitive. We average 40% possession in games, simply not up to standard tactically, and we have dropped 20 points from winning positions, He did not know our best team or formation and simply had no anwser when we needed to change things. It was painful watching the short comings of a man who contributed so much, but this decsions needed to be taken, and as much as I am grateful to brian, it was the right decision.

Some may argue he wasn;t given the money, the truth is none of us actually know how much money was made available, and I am sure the powers that be would have taken that into account when they made their decisons. Anyway, good luck to Brian wherever he ends up. He would do any lower league team proud and I hope he is welcomed back to the Mad Stad in the future as a guest so the fans can say a proper goodbye to him and show their appreciattion for all he has done.

Your to soft He's gone move on next please

[Stretts]

If they were going to get rid of him, they should have done it at Christmas.

Obviously they've left it too late for even God to prevent relegation now.

[silchester rovers]

A shock a real shock maybe the disappointment of the crowd after Villa was the straw that broke the camel's back.

We should have progressed after the Sunderland game but did not
The MoTD analysis last Saturday indicated a lack of defensive organisation
Underplayed some players (e.g. Guthrie), overplayed others (e.g Harte), bought in players who weren't ready to play (Carrico) and kept players on pitch who needed to be subb'd.

It was a great (over) achievement to go up with a team that played workmanlike football with odd flashes of good wing play.

As Adie Williams said on BBCRB, the reading way is no more

Got 20 min plus of analysis on 5 Live tonight. Claridge and Coyle spoke sense on the lack of investment and quality in the team, but rightly praised BMc as a manager

Question is has a manager been lined up? If so two hard nothing-to-lose games to get bedded in. If someone is not lined up I can't see where the fresh inspiration is going to come from from Gibbs/Dolan etc

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Having a manager lined up immediately really doesn't matter IMO. The board will have taken this decision fully expecting us to go down.

[Man Friday]

Anton wants to take the club to the next level and is very much taking the blame for making the same mistakes as SJM/Coppell did, maybe we do need a manager who is ready to make the next step, and match the ambitions of the owner?

Who so far isn't putting his money where his mouth is. Nobody could have done better than McD this season with the money he had. Adie is right - it's al ldown to money.

More worrying is signs that the owner wanted to select players to buy.

I fear the worst for this club. I really do.

[Maguire]

5 mins Jem Karacan ‏@JemKaracan4
Sad to see gaffer go today. Played a big part in my career since I was 15. Been brilliant for the club taking us to wembley and then winning
the league last season. Wish him nothing but success for the future.

[Maguire]

140 characters you bellends

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
He can be assured that we will provide our continuing support for the team in the weeks ahead. 18 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
At the same time, we also recognise Anton Zingarevich’s right to do what he thinks is best to retain the Club’s Premier League status 20 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
We are sure that he has a fine career ahead of him as a football manager and we wish him every success 21 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
..been ready to publicly acknowledge our support for him and the team 22 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
We should also like to place on record our appreciation of how he has always been concerned for the feelings of the fans and has always. 24 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
Throughout these memorable years of which we are so proud, he has always played a key role in one capacity or another 25 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
..achieved by the Club since he joined as Chief Scout in September 2000.

27 mins STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
..by additionally recognising, and thanking him for, the huge role he has played in the unprecedented and record-breaking success. 29 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
We should like to add to the Club’s statement thanking him for his great success with the Club since his appointment as Manager in 2009. 31 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
We at STAR are shocked and saddened at the sudden dismissal of Brian McDermott as the Manager of Reading FC.

[Big Ern]

Adkins wouldn't be worst choice but does look like the kind of person who has his computer taken away by the police.

[Maguire]

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
He can be assured that we will provide our continuing support for the team in the weeks ahead. 18 mins

STAR-Reading ‏@STARReading
At the same time, we also recognise Anton Zingarevich’s right to do what he thinks is best to retain the Club’s Premier League status 20 mins

[scumbag]

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article ... 08517.aspx

News from Madejski Stadium

Reading Football Club can this evening confirm that first team coach Nigel Gibbs has left the club.

Everyone at Madejski Stadium would like to wholeheartedly thank Nigel for his valuable contribution since arriving at Reading in 2006.

Eamonn Dolan, head of our hugely successful Academy, will assume responsibility for first team matters going into our next Barclays Premier League fixture away to Manchester United.

[Big Ern]

One thing that has confused me. We are all pretty much in agreement that, despite his excellent performances last season, ,Legsofwood has been fairly terrible apart from the odd game and most accept he is out of his depth, some can't even see a future for him at the club at Chump level. Likewise Brian has been poor for all but a couple of games, yet most are in floods of tears to see him go and wanted to give him another season in the chump.

Double standards me thinks.

[Wokingham via Waterloo]

Ridiculous decision and situation. Think that about does it with football for me for a bit. Just not sure what the point of it all is. Brian always appears to be a very decent man in a world full of pretty dislikeable people making obscene amounts of money. He's massively over-achieved by any reasonable objective standard. I'm not overly upset for him, as I'm sure he's paid well and he will walk into a job at many, many teams, as per our recent production line. All just a bit shoddy really.

[bobby1413]

One thing that has confused me. We are all pretty much in agreement that, despite his excellent performances last season, ,Legsofwood has been fairly terrible apart from the odd game and most accept he is out of his depth, some can't even see a future for him at the club at Chump level. Likewise Brian has been poor for all but a couple of games, yet most are in floods of tears to see him go and wanted to give him another season in the chump.

Double standards me thinks.

After villa game HNA? Was (yet again) unbearable with numerous threads of McDonut must go or whatever.

Now he has, a lot of people seem annoyed and in disagreement about it.

[Meeko]

I think for a couple of weeks this has been coming, I can't remember the last time we dominated a game, we have been outplayed for long periods in most games I have seen this season, tactically there has never been a plan B- we seem to
only have gone to 451 after Gary Neville suggested it after the Arsenal game and the transfers he brought in sit on the bench or in the stands bar a couple. He is a passionate guy with a big heart and is a Reading man, but passion and drive can only get you so far, Anton wants Reading to move to the nxt level as a club, Premier League stability, what has Brian shown in terms of stability? We only seem to go on a run of results after Xmas and he chops and changes the team all the time and yet keeps in a couple of under performers through I can only see as loyalty.

If they already have a manager in mind, have tapped him up and know its a goer then the timing is perfect if your man is available now grab him when you can- if there is no plan or replacement lined up then it's a joke decision and should have waited to the summer and given Brian the chance to fix it as nothing to lose.

Under Brian we didn't play good football, got lucky a decent amount of times over the couple of years -winning when we prob didn't deserve it and we get out played and out passed by most teams. Adkins plays good football, has come through the leagues and I think of all available he is the only Reading 'fit' manager out there, get him in then I think maybe we will see this decision was a smart move in time- fans want a manager with passion for the club, but they also need to have the skills to adapt and evolve- not sure Brian has that skill, maybe one day but not yet and how long do you wait to see? Loyalty can be blinding to progression.

[SLAMMED]

STAR trying very hard not to step on anyone's toes on twitter

We at STAR are shocked and saddened at the sudden dismissal of Brian McDermott as the Manager of Reading FC.

Shortly followed by;

At the same time, we also recognise Anton Zingarevich’s right to do what he thinks is best to retain the Club’s Premier League status.

It's like they are not allowed an opinion

[MmmMonsterMunch]

STAR trying very hard not to step on anyone's toes on twitter

We at STAR are shocked and saddened at the sudden dismissal of Brian McDermott as the Manager of Reading FC.

Shortly followed by;

At the same time, we also recognise Anton Zingarevich’s right to do what he thinks is best to retain the Club’s Premier League status.

It's like they are not allowed an opinion

Anton has blatantly offered to be the fall guy in all this so JM gets no flack.

[P!ssed Off]

One thing that has confused me. We are all pretty much in agreement that, despite his excellent performances last season, ,Legsofwood has been fairly terrible apart from the odd game and most accept he is out of his depth, some can't even see a future for him at the club at Chump level. Likewise Brian has been poor for all but a couple of games, yet most are in floods of tears to see him go and wanted to give him another season in the chump.

Double standards me thinks.

After villa game HNA? Was (yet again) unbearable with numerous threads of McDonut must go or whatever.

Now he has, a lot of people seem annoyed and in disagreement about it.

Presumably, those suggesting he should go after the Aston Villa game are not the same people as those who now "seem annoyed and in disagreement about it".
I really don't understand how this seems to have confused you.

[The Rouge]

I have some thoughts that probably won't get read - on the sacking and other things..

----

As a person I like Brian McDermott.
As a manager, he completed the amazing feat of taking us up to the Premier League as Champions.
He deserved the chance to have a shot of keeping us up in the Premier League.
In general, I think you should stand by managers when you can. Continuity is often better than change.

Having said all that, my views are actually mixed on the sacking of McDermott. I feel l really sorry for the guy, but taking emotion out of it, I think the following:

Arguments For The Sacking
- Like Coppell in the year we got relegated, McDermott has been guilty of being a little too loyal to certain players
- Allegedly he had the money to spend and I have heard from a good source that Anton lightly suggested another striker (not an individual) but McDermott was happy with what we had
- McD hasn't been tactically astute this season. For all the high-level forum chat of 4-4-2 and 4-5-1, looking deeper than that, we got it wrong tactically a few times (e.g. Wigan wasn't just down to their better players)
- Looking at our playing staff, we were set up to play 4-4-2. Part of the carrot that got Jason Roberts to the club. We had forward players to play 4-4-2, Pog was the best at playing the lone '1', but he wasn't as ideally suited to the role as Long or Doyle for example. Beyond 'Pog' we had no one to play this role (because of the way we were set up)
- (many of you may disagree with me on this one but..) We started the season under-cooked in terms of how we were set up to play. Having seen many Reading teams kick-off the season, and 2 Reading teams in the Prem, I firmly believe this was the case at the beginning. What we were trying to do was not visible at this point, nor fully formed.
- The signings haven't brought the desired improvement
- We may have a slightly higher (slim) chance of staying up with a new manager (new impetus, players playing for places/futures)

Arguments Against
- With regard to the timing, we are virtually down and it seems a strange time to roll the dice
- He recently won manager of the month and there were only 4 defeats in a row
- He deserved the full season to try and keep us up
- (MAIN REASON) In theory, he should be great in the Championship, absolutely no reason why he wouldn't be unless he has lost some of the players and we want continuity as on paper we have a great team to try and get promoted from that (if we can only lose 3-4 players)

The sacking becomes more understandable if:
- The management thought Brian would not be the right man for Reading in The Championship

Possible Unrest at the Club
IF Madejski and Hammond did not agree with this then the calm leadership of the club may be threatened. I don't know the arrangement but I am assuming Anton, with 51% can pull rank.

The Danger of Change
Listening to some people who have held/hold the Director of Football role, the philosophy is that the manager is temporary but the DoF, the philosophy, the academy, the style of play should remain consistent. We completely went against this with the appointment of Rodgers but I hope they have learnt this now. People calling for Di Matteo to come in should be warned about trying to play a certain way with players who are not suited.