Brian: The right decision?

[Ian Royal]

We sacked someone for being totally out of his depth in his third full season in charge being the man with the most responsibility for getting the club relegated and had shown himself reluctant to make the changes needed and spend the money required in order to improve the squad enough to compete

So, when McDermott was sacked for being "totally out of his depth" how many less points had he gained per match than Adkins who was allowed to spend £30m+ strengthening his squad? per match?

1 ppg vs 0.92 ppg. Or 38 points over a season which is usually enough to stay up vs 34 which will usually see you down.

We look set to give a big wad of cash to a man who's shown is willing and able to spend that on good players and get them playing in a way that is, long term, going to provide us with a better platform for success and should be more entertaining to watch.

So, again, having spent the kind of money that no one has suggested was made available to McDermott (and admittedly on some decent players) how many extra points did he gain with Southampton for all those extra millions denied to the man supposedly so far out of his depth

Enough to have them out of the relegation zone and looking like they'd survive.

Southampton, and Adkins himself, have also had to deal with set backs to their squad building with the loss of key/quality players over the years (Surman, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dyer & Bale before that) so we can hardly claim to be alone in that sense. The best way to keep those quality players is to be successful. If he hadn't have lost that play off final then McDermott wouldn't have lost Long.

So, having lost Long because we lost the play-off final, McDermott's inferior squad went on to beat Adkins superior squad to the Championship title

Last season has nothing to do with this season.

There must be professionals in all walks off life dreaming of being so far out of their depth

I only wish Adkins all the best in his time as Reading manager but there is nothing to suggest he is markedly superior to McDermott and if, in inheriting a more than decent Championship squad he's going to be given the funds to strengthen in a way that Brian could only dream about, WTF should he get 3 seasons to make his mark

He won't be given 3 seasons to make his mark, he'll be given as long as he is doing a reasonable job. Something McDermott couldn't manage this season.

[kwik-silva]

Basing the future off one performance is always dangerous.

[Scarface]

Basing the future off one performance is always dangerous.

I would agree with that, but he showed today what a good manager he is during the first half when he barked a torrant of orders, got the centre backs to split when we had the ball, pushed us up pressing more and got us playing better football. That massively improved us, although realistically we still deserved to lose. For the first 15 mins we played like a Mcdermott team surrending possession and sitting too deep.

[Woodcote Royal]

So, when McDermott was sacked for being "totally out of his depth" how many less points had he gained per match than Adkins who was allowed to spend £30m+ strengthening his squad? per match?

1 ppg vs 0.92 ppg. Or 38 points over a season which is usually enough to stay up vs 34 which will usually see you down.

So, across an entire, and with at least an extra £20 million to spend, Adkins was destined to gain 4 more points

And, on this basis, McDermott was out of is depth and Adkins is a superior manager

[windermere_royal]

Lock this thread, he`s gone, get over it.

[Ian Royal]

So, when McDermott was sacked for being "totally out of his depth" how many less points had he gained per match than Adkins who was allowed to spend £30m+ strengthening his squad? per match?

1 ppg vs 0.92 ppg. Or 38 points over a season which is usually enough to stay up vs 34 which will usually see you down.

So, across an entire, and with at least an extra £20 million to spend, Adkins was destined to gain 4 more points

And, on this basis, McDermott was out of is depth and Adkins is a superior manager

One survival from a team that didn't look out of place. One relegation from a team that did. One manager who addressed the problems in his side and took them from relegation position to clear of the drop. One who took his side steadily downward. One manager with four promotions, including a play off victory. One with one promotion and a play off defeat. One who recognised his squad wasn't good enough and strengtherned with good players. One who didn't.

There's not a great deal between the two of them overall, but Adkins produces better football, has more experience and has done a better job at this level. And we're moving towards better football now. Yes, McDermott did look utterly out of his depth this season.

[Woodcote Royal]

Adkins has done the marginally better job (4pts a season by your reckoning) having had the benefit of an extra £20m+ budget.

Given their respective resources, McDermott is the better manager and was less out of his depth both this season and last.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Woodcote:

Sorry chap but Adkins CV>>>>>>>>>>McDermott's CV.

The fact Adkins spent money is hardly surprising. The chairman backed him from the off & they've had successive promotions. Jumping 2 leagues in 2 seasons is going to require investment.

[RoyalBlue]

Adkins has done the marginally better job (4pts a season by your reckoning) having had the benefit of an extra £20m+ budget.

Given their respective resources, McDermott is the better manager and was less out of his depth both this season and last.

And that 'marginally better job' results in a whole league of difference worth significantly more than the money invested. McDermott also had money (we will never know just how much unless we can pump Madejski, Hammond and AZ full of a truth drug) but wasted it with some very poor signings and his unwillingness to then play some of the key players he had signed.

Adkins teams play the style of football that can be sucessful in both the Championship and the PL. It is also very attractive to watch. The same can not be said about McDermott's preferred style.

And further confirmation that it was the right decision appeared to come from the post match interviews with some of the players yesterday who all seemed absolutely delighted that they were now being allowed and encouraged to playing passing football out from the back.

[Maguire]

On todays performance...should we have sacked BMD sooner? Given Adkins more time to teach the players how to play football...?

Yeah I liked today's performance, particularly the bit where we got completely shat on and couldn't string two passes together ie the entire first half

[Snowball]

On todays performance...should we have sacked BMD sooner? Given Adkins more time to teach the players how to play football...?

Yeah I liked today's performance, particularly the bit where we got completely shat on and couldn't string two passes together ie the entire first half

We went in 0-0 and ended the game 0-0 and could have stolen it. That, against a very good, still improving team.

We'd've lost by at least 4 goals under BMc

[creative_username_1]

On todays performance...should we have sacked BMD sooner? Given Adkins more time to teach the players how to play football...?

Yeah I liked today's performance, particularly the bit where we got completely shat on and couldn't string two passes together ie the entire first half

We went in 0-0 and ended the game 0-0 and could have stolen it. That, against a very good, still improving team.

We'd've lost by at least 4 goals under BMc

Are you saying that Liverpool would have finished at least 4 of the many chances they had if McD had been in charge

[Snowball]

I'm saying they would have had even more chances, more time to pick their spot, and a weaker goalkeeper between the sticks.

I'm saying we would have had far lower confidence and almost certainly no clear-cut chances to score.

I'm saying that the Reading fans would have been quieter, or possibly booing.

Adkins had reminded our players that they CAN play football and IMO has already shown he's a better manager than Brian.

[Maguire]

On todays performance...should we have sacked BMD sooner? Given Adkins more time to teach the players how to play football...?

Yeah I liked today's performance, particularly the bit where we got completely shat on and couldn't string two passes together ie the entire first half

We went in 0-0 and ended the game 0-0 and could have stolen it. That, against a very good, still improving team.

We'd've lost by at least 4 goals under BMc

There's is literally nothing to back up your baseless assertion.

I would have bet heavily that we wouldn't have lost by 4 goals at home.

[Ian Royal]

Adkins has done the marginally better job (4pts a season by your reckoning) having had the benefit of an extra £20m+ budget.

Given their respective resources, McDermott is the better manager and was less out of his depth both this season and last.

Except Brian had another £12m odd he could have spent in January and could and should have pushed harder for more in the summer. So the margin of budget is actually much smaller. The only yardstick that's important, is one manager was taking his team down, making lots of mistakes and not learning from them. The other was keeping his side up.

Given McDermott guided us to finish above Adkins' Saints last season, by your own measure that must surely mean Adkins has done a better job this season to have had Saints leave us in their dust, despite a worse start to the season.

Anyway, I'm done with you, you're not worth any further effort.

[Snowball]

SupinionMagsinnit?

[ankeny]

The future looks much brighter under Adkins,pity we could not have had him earlier.

[Snowball]

Adkins has done the marginally better job (4pts a season by your reckoning) having had the benefit of an extra £20m+ budget.

Given their respective resources, McDermott is the better manager and was less out of his depth both this season and last.

Except Brian had another £12m odd he could have spent in January and could and should have pushed harder for more in the summer. So the margin of budget is actually much smaller. The only yardstick that's important, is one manager was taking his team down, making lots of mistakes and not learning from them. The other was keeping his side up.

Given McDermott guided us to finish above Adkins' Saints last season, by your own measure that must surely mean Adkins has done a better job this season to have had Saints leave us in their dust, despite a worse start to the season.

Anyway, I'm done with you, you're not worth any further effort.

Yes, Ian, and the simple points-differences are not really the point.

Adkins built a CULTURE at saints, good football, lots of goals, and an incredible home record.

He was building a team, a way of playing, an ethos within a club that would suit it, long-term
to playing at the highest level.

McDermott selected such a narrow set of ways of playing that decent footballers lost the ability
to play decent football. Our Championship-winning season wasn't joyful, wasn't great to watch,
not like the 106 team, or the first half of the season after we came back down. Scraping 1-0s
and hanging on isn't my idea of "fun". We all understand it happens sometimes, where a team goes
away to a top side, but a season's worth of it (almost) is too much.

The Reading FC 2011-12 style was always doomed, and the manager should have known it

[Snowball]

The future looks much brighter under Adkins,pity we could not have had him earlier.

Agreed

[Royalclapper]

Adkins just has the edge over Brian for me in that he has built two successful sides at different clubs and he seemed more aware of what it takes to be competitive In the Prem. The crash bang wallop approach has been ruthlessly exposed for what it is as we've quickly found out this season.

There is simply no substitute for having some quality in the side that is capable of offering any kind of threat/resistance to much higher quality opposition. Norwich have been somewhat of an exception to this now almost certain requirement. They only had a squad of decent Champ/Football League players when they came up and have definitely overachieved when they don't appear to have too much obvious quality. You just have to wonder whether Brian could actually harness, nurture and develop these higher quality players needed to be competitive. David Moyes seems to have had the ability to go from what was pretty much a team of battlers doing their best to being able to step up the quality of signings and playing style against better resourced opposition, It's not clear whether Brian has this ability or not whereas I feel Adkins may well have that little bit more potential.