Life after Brendan

[papereyes]

Somebody has to bring balance to the force though.

You're going to throw Royalee into the reactor shaft of the Death Star?

Harsh.

[Ian Royal]

I actively supported Rodgers (with concerns and frustrations in places) right up to P'boro 10 games in

How generous!

Going through a massive rebuilding program and ROFLeading fans are so patient they wait a whole TEN GAMES before making their minds up.

Fcking hell.

Come one Mags, you're not a retard. That post (in context) shows he only really started to lose me there. And 10 games is a good point into the season to start forming a view. The League table takes on meaning and you can see what sort of effect the manager is having.

You accuse people of rewriting history, yet rewrite it yourself by implying I've always hated Rodgers and never gave him a chance. When actually I was quite vocal in my support of him and what he was trying to do early on. And even after Leicester 16 games was supporting him being given a chance to turn his mistakes around, right up to a couple of weeks before he was sacked when I becoming convinced his improvement was the blip, not the first 15 games...

I wasn't really actively calling for his head even when he got sacked, although I had certainly said that I thought that would be the best decision. I just thought a decision one way or the other had to be made by the time we'd played the next game.

If he hadn't have been sacked by mid-way through January, I would have just gritted my teeth and backed him, because after that there really would have been little point in making a change no matter how badly he did.

[Maguire]

Can we all just agree that we're stuck with McDermott now (and I mean "stuck" in the most polite way possible), that most of us like him, and that we all hope he does well?

At a little more of a stretch, perhaps we could also agree that he needs to show some improvement in the results we're producing in the league, but that transferring cup performances into league games should see that happen.

That's where i'm at, anyway.

[Ian Royal]

Can we all just agree that we're stuck with McDermott now (and I mean "stuck" in the most polite way possible), that most of us like him, and that we all hope he does well?

At a little more of a stretch, perhaps we could also agree that he needs to show some improvement in the results we're producing in the league, but that transferring cup performances into league games should see that happen.

That's where i'm at, anyway.

That's exactly where I'm at.

[readingbedding]

I'm just wondering why Brendan hasn't found a new job yet.

As far as I'm concerned it all starts against Barnsley, getting anything from tomorrow's game would be a bonus.

[Dirk Gently]

Yep.

My feeling is that it's like the classic Irish joke : "How do you get to Dublin? - Well, I wouldn't start from here...."

In an ideal world BMc would not be considered for this post as we'd have finance available for a more experienced manager who'd be able to bring some new players in.

But we're not in an ideal world, and in the financial situation we find ourselves in, the most important factors are the knowledge of the way things work at Reading and the way to get the best out of the players who are here today - no other players will be arriving.

So from where we are today I'm absolutely convinced that BMc is the best possible option to keep us up this year, which is why I'm Backing Brian

[Maguire]

There's simply no other option than to stick with him IMHO. Fully agree he's the best bet given our current situation.

[readingbedding]

Yep.

My feeling is that it's like the classic Irish joke : "How do you get to Dublin? - Well, I wouldn't start from here...."

In an ideal world BMc would not be considered for this post as we'd have finance available for a more experienced manager who'd be able to bring some new players in.

But we're not in an ideal world, and in the financial situation we find ourselves in, the most important factors are the knowledge of the way things work at Reading and the way to get the best out of the players who are here today - no other players will be arriving.

So from where we are today I'm absolutely convinced that BMc is the best possible option to keep us up this year, which is why I'm Backing Brian

If we were battered against Forest, Liverpool and Swansea he wouldn't be considered.
He's shown to me that they're good enough for the battle ahead.
In fact he's shown that the players have a large responsibility for a 1-4 loss against Plymouth then to display a 2-1 win at Anfield.
They've shown me that they're good enough.
Under BR, I wasn't sure - at all.
His results have given the board some hope that there could be some 'green shoots of recovery'.

[Man Friday]

We'll see who is the best manager. My money's on McD. Can't be bothered to trot out the reasons - they've been well-rehearsed these last couple of months. McD's had 4 league games. Give him another 6 to make 10 and then let's compare results. We'll let the facts speak for themselves at that point. No bullshit excuses about injuries on either side. No bullshit excuses about easier/harder fixtures. Let's just see. If I'm wrong, I won't need to say; the facts will speak for themselves.

Well, Brian needs 2 more points from the next 3 matches to beat Brendan's first ten matches (9 points). It ain't over, though, 'till the fat bird sings.

[Man Friday]

We'll see who is the best manager. My money's on McD. Can't be bothered to trot out the reasons - they've been well-rehearsed these last couple of months. McD's had 4 league games. Give him another 6 to make 10 and then let's compare results. We'll let the facts speak for themselves at that point. No bullshit excuses about injuries on either side. No bullshit excuses about easier/harder fixtures. Let's just see. If I'm wrong, I won't need to say; the facts will speak for themselves.

Well, Brian needs 2 more points from the next 3 matches to beat Brendan's first ten matches (9 points). It ain't over, though, 'till the fat bird sings.

Well he's now got 3 of them - with 2 matches to spare.
Brian is officially the better manager. Or, to put it another way, we were right to say goodbye to Brendan.

[readingbedding]

Yep.

My feeling is that it's like the classic Irish joke : "How do you get to Dublin? - Well, I wouldn't start from here...."

In an ideal world BMc would not be considered for this post as we'd have finance available for a more experienced manager who'd be able to bring some new players in.

But we're not in an ideal world, and in the financial situation we find ourselves in, the most important factors are the knowledge of the way things work at Reading and the way to get the best out of the players who are here today - no other players will be arriving.

So from where we are today I'm absolutely convinced that BMc is the best possible option to keep us up this year, which is why I'm Backing Brian

If we were battered against Forest, Liverpool and Swansea he wouldn't be considered.
He's shown to me that they're good enough for the battle ahead.
In fact he's shown that the players have a large responsibility for a 1-4 loss against Plymouth then to display a 2-1 win at Anfield.
They've shown me that they're good enough.
Under BR, I wasn't sure - at all.
His results have given the board some hope that there could be some 'green shoots of recovery'.

I still believe this.

[Man Friday]

We'll see who is the best manager. My money's on McD. Can't be bothered to trot out the reasons - they've been well-rehearsed these last couple of months. McD's had 4 league games. Give him another 6 to make 10 and then let's compare results. We'll let the facts speak for themselves at that point. No bullshit excuses about injuries on either side. No bullshit excuses about easier/harder fixtures. Let's just see. If I'm wrong, I won't need to say; the facts will speak for themselves.

Well, Brian needs 2 more points from the next 3 matches to beat Brendan's first ten matches (9 points). It ain't over, though, 'till the fat bird sings.

Well he's now got 3 of them - with 2 matches to spare.
Brian is officially the better manager. Or, to put it another way, we were right to say goodbye to Brendan.

Looks like Brian wins hands down - with a game to spare! (9 points from 10 Vs 13 from 9). All in all, vindicates the parting of the ways.

[readingbedding]

Mos def.

[Maguire]

No doubt if we lose the next two and slump back into the bottom three, popular HNA opinion will swing back the other way once more

[readingbedding]

Not bothered about that.

[Man Friday]

No doubt if we lose the next two and slump back into the bottom three, popular HNA opinion will swing back the other way once more

It doesn't matter about "popular opinion". Brian has a better set of results so the change was worthwhile.

[CMRoyal]

No doubt if we lose the next two and slump back into the bottom three, popular HNA opinion will swing back the other way once more

Fans in judging a manager by his results shock.

[Maguire]

No doubt if we lose the next two and slump back into the bottom three, popular HNA opinion will swing back the other way once more

It doesn't matter about "popular opinion". Brian has a better set of results so the change was worthwhile.

Pretty simplistic view don't you think?

When B-Mac didn't have such a good set of results did you think it was a bad change?

How do you know what the results would've been for the same games under Rodgers?

Surely you appreciate that taking over during the turmoil of the close season and early season means that Rodgers first games were played under much harder circumstances than Brian's (when the team was getting settled and results were already improving?), thus rendering a comparison pointless?

Overall, delighted with McDermott's progress but that doesn't mean I don't think getting rid of Rodgers was overly hasty.

[Maguire]

No doubt if we lose the next two and slump back into the bottom three, popular HNA opinion will swing back the other way once more

Fans in judging a manager by his results shock.

Stupid comment.

The point is that you should have an opinion and hold it, not change it with the wind depending on our results. One week Jimmy's the worst player ever, the next week he's getting cheered to the rafters. One week Shane Long will never make it, the next he's a goal machine destined for the premiership.

Fickle is as fickle does.

[Man Friday]

You've got Brendan's problem (you're not Brendan are you?) - waffleitis.

Let's just go on facts. It is, after all, a results business. To my knowledge you don't get any bonus points for talking a good game, blaming other people or any other excuses.