Who do you want to replace Clarke?

[Cureton's Volley]

Brian's coming home

[WAZZOCK]

The Rowett link is an interesting one, the work he's done at Birmingham is nothing short of a minor miracle.

Would Birmingham entertain the idea of losing him to us? Probably not.

Would Rowett want to leave Birmingham given how they all worship him there? Probably not, but I imagine we can offer bigger budgets given their financial mind-fuck.

Watch this space...

[AthleticoSpizz]

....then we are no better than Fulham and the Steve Clarke thing

[Ian Royal]

....then we are no better than Fulham and the Steve Clarke thing

I don't think anyone has a problem with Fulham having tried to speak to Clarke, it's Clarke wanting to speak to Fulham.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Yes....and?

[RoyallyFcuked]

A lot of people saying we were harsh to sack Clarke and from an outside perspective it may look that way, but the fact he lost the dressing room was the main reason he had to go. Still pretty ruthless from us though. I think there is more to the Clarke/Fulham story than has been let out, and we probably won't find out the full story for quite some time. A little surprised to see us sack him this early as I did have faith he could have turned it out round but I'd say we have more chance of doing that by bringing in someone in new at this point, cleary our board felt the same.

Hopefully Pearson would come here but I'm not so sure, and I'm not sure we would even go for him, remember Leicester also have Thai owners and I'm sure our owners know about what happened there.

If we can't have Pearson I'd say get Bergkamp. A risk yes, but sometimes you have to take a chance on a guy like that and give him his first managers job. Could end up being a masterstroke. A lot of the players would have grown up watching him and will know his quality, surely they would be motivated to impress him?

[LoyalRoyal22]

McDermott would be an emotional appointment, although it would bring the fans & club back together. Be nice to get some of the 106 squad onto the coaching staff aswell.

Maybe give Brian a contract until the end of the season ?

[RoyallyFcuked]

Oh yeah anyone wanting McDermott back is a fool.

Move on, seriously.....

[sandman]

Brian's coming home

Would be (pleasantly) surprised if that did happen. He enjoys scouting too much, has said that if he was to go back to management then he would choose the owner, which rules the Thais out, rather than the club and after the way the fans treated him (and still do in some quarters "McDonut", "McHoofball", "he can stay wiping Wenger's arse" etc) in his last season here I doubt he'd be too keen on coming back.

[glass half full]

that'll be the Hope Akpan that is starting virtually every game and doing well at Blackburn?.....the difference a decent run in the starting line-up can make.

Just a bit-part player here with us, but had some decent moments.....but by definition of his cameos...they were just moments.

Hope springs eternal!

[RG7Fan]

I have it on fairly good authority that we're in talks with BrIan McDermott.

reading fc have not talk to McDermott
sorry your wrong Pepe

For once Dave please just oxf*rd off

[Cureton's Volley]

Brian's coming home

Would be (pleasantly) surprised if that did happen. He enjoys scouting too much, has said that he would choose the owner rather than the club and after the way the fans treated him (and still do in some quarters "McDonut", "McHoofball", "he can stay wiping Wenger's arse" etc) in his last season here I doubt he'd be too keen on coming back.

He obviously still has a lot to prove to some, and I hope he takes on that challenge. He's a proven success in this league and at this club so I have no doubt he'd do well.

[OldBiscuit]

I'm currently sat at the hotel and Coppell is here with Stephen Hunt

are you serious Steve hunt not a manager.. Coppell is but won't come back.

Bergkamp or Pearson is the new manager.

Mug!

[Royal Ginger]

He's a proven success in this league and at this club so I have no doubt he'd do well.

His coaches have gone, the ownership has changed, only Hal Robson-Kanu remains as a regular from his promotion squad, it's not the same club anymore.

[The Prisoner]

Fairly "meh" with all the names being thrown about.

Bookies have it as BM vs NP with nobody else in the frame.

Suppose I still am a bit upset @ BM for having no plan B in the prem during the "over performing championship side" season.

[genome]

I understand the hesitation with Brian, but it's exactly the kind of appointment that will get disillusioned fans back on side again so I could see why the owners would want to approach him.

I'd be happy with it because I love the bastard and I'm sure he feels he has unfinished business here.

[genome]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03b2mgd

If Kits is up for it, I am

[Libertine]

No Brian, please. Love the man, Reading legend, was gutted when he was sacked, but he's the wrong man at the wrong time right now. Hate to see his legacy with us tarnished at all.

It'll probably be Pearson, longshot pick Bergkamp, or it will be someone from outside the UK whose name has yet to be sighted on this thread...

[RoyalinBracknell]

He's a proven success in this league and at this club so I have no doubt he'd do well.

His coaches have gone, the ownership has changed, only Hal Robson-Kanu remains as a regular from his promotion squad, it's not the same club anymore.

There's obviously been quite a bit of change over the past two and a half years - some of it necessary, some of it perhaps not so much.

But I don't think that should automatically preclude us from appointing McDermott.

There was plenty of change to the squad in the few years McDermott was here - from the team he had around the time he took over to the team he got promoted with in April 2012 Griffin, Mills, Zurab, Ivar, Bertrand, Howard, Gylfi and Long had either gone or were pretty much gone. And of course the ownership changed in that time too.

I really enjoyed watching us in that first 6 months or so in particular, which suggests to me the style of play criticisms aren't necessarily fair. I think the style of play we ended up with was as much a consequence of short-term pragmatism based on the players we were able to bring in than any conscious preference for playing in an unattractive way. I'd actually be interested to see how McDermott would get on if he had reasonable backing from the board to bring new players in and was in a position where we perhaps weren't regularly selling our best players.

For those criticising him regarding the lack of a Plan B in the Premier League - whilst I agree he made several mistakes that season, I also think it would have taken an exceptional effort to keep that squad of players up. Indeed I think some other managers wouldn't have done as well and eventually McDermott was able to settle on the 4-5-1 formation which got us a great run of results and maybe if a few things had gone a bit differently we might just have done it. So whilst I agree there were various errors in management made that season (and not just from him I might add) I don't think it's at all fair to say he was completely clueless and for a stage we had a really good go at it.

In any case, first and foremost we need to concentrate on getting back into the Premier League before we concern ourselves with trying to stay there. With the current squad I think a decent Championship manager like McDermott would have every chance of a top 6 finish (we've got the same number of points as we did at this stage in the year we won the title under him, and are a point better off than the year before when we reached the play-off final.) I'd certainly prefer him than us taking a big risk on someone with no knowledge of the club or much managerial experience.

[blueroyals]

Probably worth a go until the end of the season given who else is available.