Brendan given vote of confidence

[RoyalBlue]

Who in their right mind would want to come to a club where there are no funds available and the cloth has been cut to shreds? And even if someone did, they would have to be an absolute miracle worker to turn things around with the squad that has been left post JM & NH's balancing the books.

Yes, there's always a shortage of applicants for manager's posts aren't there?

I'm sure there is a shortage of good applicants, prepared to work miracles with no meaningful resources and a 'balanced books' salary.

[Uke]

Who in their right mind would want to come to a club where there are no funds available and the cloth has been cut to shreds? And even if someone did, they would have to be an absolute miracle worker to turn things around with the squad that has been left post JM & NH's balancing the books.

Yes, there's always a shortage of applicants for manager's posts aren't there?

I'm sure there is a shortage of good applicants, prepared to work miracles with no meaningful resources and a 'balanced books' salary.

Doubt it, most of the League 1/League 2/ Conference managers would be working to tighter constraints than RFC and it doesn't make them bad managers. Darren Ferguson is an example.

[Seal]

Interesting perspective from Steve Claridge on the BBC....

Ask Steve Claridge

Should Reading stick with manager Brendan Rodgers? I know he is inexperienced and needs time, and I am aware of the famous examples of when patience has very handsomely paid off (e.g. Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United). But the team seems to have degenerated from nice-looking passing to an aimless long-ball style. I am wondering if things will ever click? Or will we be relegated?

Douglas Chester, Reading

Steve Claridge says:-

I would never advocate that anybody should get sacked so, yes, they should stick with Brendan and give him the opportunity to turn things around.

But for me he still has an awful lot to prove. I have spoken to him a few times for BBC Radio 5 Live and he comes across as a lovely fellow but that doesn't make him a manager, and neither does his association with Jose Mourinho from his days as youth team coach at Chelsea.


Brendan Rodgers talks about his new job as manager for Reading Football Club
I was really surprised he got the Reading job at the stage he did because I didn't feel like he had done enough to earn it - I thought there were better candidates because, although Brendan had done OK at Watford, he hadn't pulled up any trees.

Even at the time, though, it didn't seem like a good job to take. Not because Reading are not a good club but because of the timing of it - following Steve Coppell was never going to be easy.

Why aren't they clicking under Brendan? Well, I have seen them play and he seems determined to stick with a 4-3-3 formation, which hasn't really worked. I think they are still getting used to it but it is a certain way of playing and you need certain types of player to play it.

It was always going to be a difficult season for them but, as far as relegation goes, I can't see them going from the play-offs to that in one year. They must have kept enough good players to avoid that.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Written by somone there who has no idea what has gone on, we must have kept enough good players!!!!!!

[CMRoyal]

Interesting perspective from Steve Claridge on the BBC....

This is the highly-paid pundit who responded to a question on The Football League Programme about what's gone wrong this season for us with the answer "I don't know, I haven't seen them play much this season." That was after the Boro game. And suddenly now he's an expert? The guy's taking the piss - with our licence money as well!

[Seal]

I know. I am going to write a strongly worded letter to the BBC complaining that Steve Claridge has not seen all 72 Football League clubs play regularly this season.

After all what does he know about the football league? He only played for about 16 football league clubs, over a 20+ year period. Typical BBC wasting our money, why can't we have Garth Crooks as our Football League expert?

It's a disgrace.

[CMRoyal]

I know. I am going to write a strongly worded letter to the BBC complaining that Steve Claridge has not seen all 72 Football League clubs play regularly this season.

After all what does he know about the football league? He only played for about 16 football league clubs, over a 20+ year period. Typical BBC wasting our money, why can't we have Garth Crooks as our Football League expert?

It's a disgrace.

Straw man reply. Where did I say he should see all 72 teams play regularly? He only needs to pay enough attention to be able to give informed comment. The much-maligned Lawrenson can do it with the Prem - surely Claridge can do it with the Championship? I don't know what Garth Crooks has to do with it - another straw man no doubt.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

That's the final nail in the coffin for Brendan then.....

[Ryn]

Garth Crooks is a penis. Google it.

[Ian Royal]

Maybe since the show he's watched a load of videos and done some research so he feels better placed to comment.

He certainly doesn't say in that was HAS gone wrong, just that we shouldn't really be where we are and that there isn't a great sign of things improving under Rodgers. Pretty much spot on IMO.

[Baines]

It was always going to be a difficult season for them but, as far as relegation goes, I can't see them going from the play-offs to that in one year. They must have kept enough good players to avoid that.

How much does he actually know about the club?

[Seal]

I think you're missing the more interesting elements of his response -

a) that he, as an ex-footballer of some pedigree who is still well connected to the game was surprised that Rogers got the job
b) that his work at Watford wasn't actually that amazing
c) the correct assertion that having worked with Mourinho is no guarantee you'll be any good (esp. as a no. 1)
d) that 4-3-3 only works if you have the right players (and we sure as hell don't have Drogba)

Picking up on the last point re: staying up is mute, no one knows the answer to that, Rogers included.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I think you're missing the more interesting elements of his response -

a) that he, as an ex-footballer of some pedigree who is still well connected to the game wasn't surprised that Rogers got the job
b) that his work at Watford was amazing, considering what he had to work with
c) the assertion that having worked with Mourinho will have done him no harm at all
d) that 4-3-3 only works if you have the right players (and he has signed players to make it work)

Of course this would have been his opinion had we been top of the league, alledgly.

[CMRoyal]

I think you're missing the more interesting elements of his response -

a) that he, as an ex-footballer of some pedigree who is still well connected to the game was surprised that Rogers got the job
b) that his work at Watford wasn't actually that amazing
c) the correct assertion that having worked with Mourinho is no guarantee you'll be any good (esp. as a no. 1)
d) that 4-3-3 only works if you have the right players (and we sure as hell don't have Drogba)

Picking up on the last point re: staying up is mute, no one knows the answer to that, Rogers included.

I'd have been more impressed with a) if he had said it before the season started.

b), c) and d) are opinions expressed in the boozers of Reading every night of the week. I guess his pedigree adds weight to the views, and maybe Ian Royal's right and Claridge has done his homework since the Boro game. What he needs to do now is use the weight of his knowledge and experience to tell us something we don't already know, ie where we go from here. Maybe I'll email him at the Beeb and ask....

[Ian Royal]

I don't think he has done his home work. But he might have done.

[Ryn]

Picking up on the last point re: staying up is mute, no one knows the answer to that, Rogers included.

I've just worked out that you meant moot and not mute

Sorry English is not my first language

[Seal]

Nope, that's my bad, should of course be "moot point", which ironically, is a moot point in itself, as the bigger issue is a pundit's opinion of Rogers.

I'm not saying Claridge is indeed an absolute expert on our team (or anything else for that matter). However I just find it a bit dull that almost everytime a pundit says anything about our club, this board dismisses them as knowing nothing unless they were at the last 8 home games. I just think someone like Claridge, who has played in and around our level for 20+ years, probably as some relevant insights now and again, and it's just interesting to get a "football man's" opinion on the appointment of Rogers.

Still i accept that Garth Crooks and Andy Townsend (who was on sparkling form again last night), kind of ruin my argument.

[Ryn]

I really don't like watching football on ITV, the commentary is really bad. They talk about statistics all the time and not about what is going on on the pitch.

BBC is much better, even Sky is better than ITV.

And the picture quality on ITV is always very poor.

[CMRoyal]

I'm not saying Claridge is indeed an absolute expert on our team (or anything else for that matter). However I just find it a bit dull that almost everytime a pundit says anything about our club, this board dismisses them as knowing nothing unless they were at the last 8 home games. I just think someone like Claridge, who has played in and around our level for 20+ years, probably as some relevant insights now and again, and it's just interesting to get a "football man's" opinion on the appointment of Rogers.

Fair enough, although again you over-egg your point by saying that "this board dismisses them as knowing nothing unless they were at the last 8 home games". My criticism comes not from that, but from the disappointment at having a (presumably) well-paid pundit expressing complete disinterest in the team last week on the BBC's flagship League highlights programme. It undermines my faith in his later response, to say the least. It just reads like his views come second-hand, derived from what others are saying. There's nothing I'd like more than to hear some insight and wisdom from Claridge about how we might get out of this hole, or who he would bring in to replace the man he feels shouldn't have got the job in the first place, or which players he feels aren't fitting into the 4-3-3 (and who would do so in their stead). I don't expect him to become an expert on our season in order to deliver that.

[Dorset-Knob]

Clearly our troubles are all Steve Claridge's fault, sack the muppet!