How Long Will BM Last at this rate?????

[winchester_royal]

id be happy enough with ten

It's a bit naive to think that if we have 10-15 points by Nov/Dec that we're on course to stay up 'pro rata'.

With a squad as thin as ours and the way the PL takes it's toll on players I don't think it's going to be as straightforward as that. Especially as we all know deep down that we're not going to blow the budget on reinforcements in Jan no matter what position we're in.

i didnt say it would mean we would stay up
i said it would make me happy enough.

fully expected to be in a dogfight all season, fully aware there was a good possibility we may go down.would be happy to take the parachute payments, keep brian, and go again next year tbf
but 15 points would mean we were improving, getting points from those around us, and were still in with a shout of staying up.

I think we're all a bit harsh on Anton on this fair portal. Think he's much more level-headed and committed to the Reading way than we give him credit for.

Will McD get sacked if we finish on 12 points? Yes, and deservedly so, but as long as we stay competitive throughout the season I fully expect him to be in charge come August 2013 regardless of which league we find ourselves in.

[melonhead]

we are on a decent run at the minute tbf, considering our positition. just the 1 loss in 7 games? and that by a single goal, away at anfield

if we are up to 15 points by the end of the month ill be more than happy to continue as we are
and tbh id be happy enough with ten, ijust dont think AZ will be

Yes, Melonhead we understand your point in this thread. You don't need to reiterate after every other persons posts.

thanks for your input


im like jimmy kebe
ill do what i want


some one didnt understand though, as they asked a further question/made a further point

its notall about you , you know

[Lacoste]

we are on a decent run at the minute tbf, considering our positition. just the 1 loss in 7 games? and that by a single goal, away at anfield

if we are up to 15 points by the end of the month ill be more than happy to continue as we are
and tbh id be happy enough with ten, ijust dont think AZ will be

Yes, Melonhead we understand your point in this thread. You don't need to reiterate after every other persons posts.

thanks for your input


im like jimmy kebe
ill do what i want

So just to clarify, what are your thoughts on the subject of this thread?

[melonhead]

Yes, Melonhead we understand your point in this thread. You don't need to reiterate after every other persons posts.

thanks for your input


im like jimmy kebe
ill do what i want

So just to clarify, what are your thoughts on the subject of this thread?

thanks for giving me the opportunity

personally i think AZ wil probably give him till end of november
personally id give him all year and to hell with the consequences.

[Lacoste]

[Ian Royal]

we are on a decent run at the minute tbf, considering our positition. just the 1 loss in 7 games? and that by a single goal, away at anfield

TBF you're including two cup games in that which are pretty irrelvant to PL survival. Especially seeing as we lost one of them in extra time against a side that wasn't playing it's full strength team (neither were we, blahdi blah)

So really, W0 D4 L1 which isn't really a particularly decent run it's pretty meh. It's still (just about) relegation form. Especially seeing as the previous four were W0 D1 L3.

Still, it *might* be something we can look at to say we're improving. I'll be happy for you to tell me how wrong an idiot I was and that this was a major sign of it if our results suddenly pick up over the next three or four games.

[maffff]

Look within those games though

Chelsea - turning point the Torres offside goal. Otherwise we might well have won that.
Newcastle - turning point the Ba handballed goal. Otherwise we might wel have won that.
Stoke - Harte hit the bar at the end, Federici's awful miss.
Fulham - great double save by Schwartzer and Pog's near miss header.
QPR - if Kebe had passed back to HRK.

A bit of luck, different referee, slightly more clinical, and the 4 points from those games could have been 15. The margins are so fine right now we could be pushing mid table. As it is, we aren't.

As memory serves;
We were outplayed by Spurs
We were outplayed by Swansea (yet managed a point)
We were outplayed by West Brom
We were outplayed by Liverpool.

We've tailed off in the second half of games, often as the team tires. We could well have gotten a decent result in over half of our games so far and we still don't know our best team yet.

Not great. Not awful.

[melonhead]

we are on a decent run at the minute tbf, considering our positition. just the loss in 7 games? and that by a single goal, away at anfield(or 2 in 7, or 8 with the arsneal game-stats not my strong point_)

if we are up to 15 points by the end of the month ill be more than happy to continue as we are
and tbh id be happy enough with ten, ijust dont think AZ will be

[melonhead]

we are on a decent run at the minute tbf, considering our positition. just the 1 loss in 7 games? and that by a single goal, away at anfield

TBF you're including two cup games in that which are pretty irrelvant to PL survival. Especially seeing as we lost one of them in extra time against a side that wasn't playing it's full strength team (neither were we, blahdi blah)

So really, W0 D4 L1 which isn't really a particularly decent run it's pretty meh. It's still (just about) relegation form. Especially seeing as the previous four were W0 D1 L3.

Still, it *might* be something we can look at to say we're improving. I'll be happy for you to tell me how wrong an idiot I was and that this was a major sign of it if our results suddenly pick up over the next three or four games.

lol- couldnt care less what you think

these are the reasons i think we are improving
my assessment will change again if we win two of the next 3, or lose them all

[Ian Royal]

Look within those games though

Chelsea - turning point the Torres offside goal. Otherwise we might well have won that.
Newcastle - turning point the Ba handballed goal. Otherwise we might wel have won that.
Stoke - Harte hit the bar at the end, Federici's awful miss.
Fulham - great double save by Schwartzer and Pog's near miss header.
QPR - if Kebe had passed back to HRK.

A bit of luck, different referee, slightly more clinical, and the 4 points from those games could have been 15. The margins are so fine right now we could be pushing mid table. As it is, we aren't.

As memory serves;
We were outplayed by Spurs
We were outplayed by Swansea (yet managed a point)
We were outplayed by West Brom
We were outplayed by Liverpool.

We've tailed off in the second half of games, often as the team tires. We could well have gotten a decent result in over half of our games so far and we still don't know our best team yet.

Not great. Not awful.

My problem is that all those "might have beens" scream to me relegation. That's exactly the sort of thing that happens to teams that aren't good enough to emphatically claim the three points, they get punished by unlucky incidents and they go down as plucky "what might have beens" who just weren't good enough on the day.

[RoyalBlue]

Look within those games though

Chelsea - turning point the Torres offside goal. Otherwise we might well have won that.
Newcastle - turning point the Ba handballed goal. Otherwise we might wel have won that.
Stoke - Harte hit the bar at the end, Federici's awful miss.
Fulham - great double save by Schwartzer and Pog's near miss header.
QPR - if Kebe had passed back to HRK.

A bit of luck, different referee, slightly more clinical, and the 4 points from those games could have been 15. The margins are so fine right now we could be pushing mid table. As it is, we aren't.

As memory serves;
We were outplayed by Spurs
We were outplayed by Swansea (yet managed a point)
We were outplayed by West Brom
We were outplayed by Liverpool.

We've tailed off in the second half of games, often as the team tires. We could well have gotten a decent result in over half of our games so far and we still don't know our best team yet.

Not great. Not awful.

My problem is that all those "might have beens" scream to me relegation. That's exactly the sort of thing that happens to teams that aren't good enough to emphatically claim the three points, they get punished by unlucky incidents and they go down as plucky "what might have beens" who just weren't good enough on the day.

Tbf, IR says it exactly how it is. We're just not good enough to turn the 1 points to 3 and the 0 to 1, no matter how hard we try and well we play. Blueprint for a relegation team/squad.

[Ian Royal]

That's not entirely what I was saying. I think we can do it if we get the team selection & tactics right + get a little confidence together. A lot can change throughout 3/4s of the season. But currently we look like a typical relegation certainty.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Brian will be here all season. Lock the thread!

I agree with Winchester - I think AZ is more rational than many give him credit for. I suspect he realises you can't polish a turd & Brian is currently rolling it in glitter as best he can.

[maffff]

Why Southampton And Reading Cannot Sink To New Football Low

Imagine if you will this scenario.

A hard-working, kind and virtuous man one day encounters a lady who has fallen on difficult times. She is an emotional shipwreck, so paralysed by insecurity and issues it’s a wonder she can leave the house each morning. Her once pretty face is creased by worry-lines and her formerly svelte figure is now solely consigned to photographs from her heady salad days. Worse yet the lady is wracked by financial debt.

A relationship forms between the pair whereupon the man patiently nurtures and encourages his loved one’s potential. With him she feels safe, wanted, and special, and in time she slowly rediscovers her former glories. Her eyes blaze once again with self-worth and this is reflected on the job-front when, on a sunny day in May, she secures a significant promotion at work. Her money woes are behind her and she looks a million dollars.

The lady begins to hit the town, each week a new swanky club. Despite feeling a little uncomfortable in such ostentatious surroundings her beau always accompanies her, swelling with pride at each compliment she receives. ‘You look fabulous darling. It’s great to see you back at the top where you belong’. Each flattering remark is punctuated with a slightly disdainful look to her companion, the smartly dressed man who has clearly made a little too much effort to fit in with his crisp new shirt and last season’s pullover. Each air-kiss that gushes her way comes with an unspoken caveat – ‘What are you doing with him? Call me’.

After helping rebuild this lady’s confidence and social standing through boundless love and support – after being the knight from the chorus of a thousand songs – this was destined to be the couple’s year. Yet this hard-working, kind and virtuous man arrives home over Christmas to find a Dear John letter hastily scribbled and left on the kitchen table. She has left him for another. A man with wide-boy patter and a Range Rover.

Now that the scenario has been put to you I ask this simple question – how would you view this woman? Ungrateful? Selfish? Cruel?

Because this is exactly how Reading and Southampton should be perceived should they dispense with their managers in the coming months, a circumstance that is looking increasingly more likely by the day. A collective tut of disapproval and curmudgeonly bemoaning that loyalty is a long-gone commodity in the modern hard-business world of football will simply not suffice. Angry columns in the broadsheets suggesting that the game is going to hell in a handcart will not even scratch at the surface atop the depth of betrayal. Because should Nigel Adkins and Brian McDermott find themselves collecting their P45s in the weeks ahead – after coming to the rescue of ailing institutions and completely transforming their fortunes – then even by football’s grubby standards it would be a betrayal too far.

Each club presently resides in the bottom three as a winter of discontent approaches. It is the place and time where chairman traditionally reach for the panic button and look to install a big-name saviour in the dug-out, a saviour incidentally who has usually been given ample opportunity to prove their wares in the Premier League and routinely failed. As is so often the case the names being mentioned are as predictable as the fact they’re being mentioned at all.

The current favourites to usurp Adkins at St Marys are Alan Shearer, Harry Redknapp, and… sweet baby Jesus….Graeme Souness.

Whereas Adkins performed minor miracles at Scunthorpe before taking charge of a flatlining Saints, over-hauling the squad, mentality, hell, the entire club from the ground up, before guiding them to two consecutive promotions, Shearer has bossed precisely eight matches in his entire life. Even those were in an almost ambassadorial role at Newcastle. But of course the monotone charisma vacuum was a top player and a household name and the skewed logic within football remains that those two things somehow automatically qualifies a person for a immensely challenging and convoluted job that has absolutely no requirement for fame or golden boots.

Souness meanwhile is a managerial byword for failure. Whilst at Southampton in a previous age he was duped into playing a con artist who claimed to be George Weah’s cousin. It is inconceivable to the point of comedy to imagine a similar embarrassment befalling the meticulous Adkins.

Lastly, Redknapp also has previous on the South Coast. Plenty of it. His legacy there is like a pile of dogs*** left by his extremely rich dog Rosie on Sandbanks beachfront. After referring to Portsmouth as his ‘spiritual home’ he did the unthinkable and switched to their hated rivals whereupon he did his one-trick of spending lavishly (money that Southampton could ill-afford) and promptly took the club down. At least with the Saints his wheeler-dealing ‘only’ brought relegation. His two stints at Fratton Park have partly contributed to one of the finest clubs in British sport teetering consistently on the edge of existence. So yeah, a great shout is ‘our ‘Arry’ to take over from a man who has spent two years carefully and expertly resuscitating a club from Redknapp’s own f***wittery in the first place. A hard-working, decent and virtuous man who is now facing the boot simply because his team – who only two seasons ago were facing Chesterfield et al –have so far needed ten games to adapt to the harsh climes of the top flight.

At Reading there is less talk of McDermott equally being shot down for his own success but with every week the club resides in the drop-zone the drums are pattering and the gallows are being erected.

The likable gaffer, who hails from nearby Slough, joined the Royals in 2000 and has been a loyal servant ever since, putting in shifts as chief scout, reserve team manager, caretaker manager, before finally being installed in the first team dug-out. In his first season in charge he guided them to their first FA Cup quarter final for 83 years before setting about forging a promotion campaign that took Reading all the way to the heartbreak of a play-off final defeat.

Nobody gave Reading a chance the following year, citing a probable play-off hangover and key departures, but incredibly McDermott bolstered the belief and in an infamously difficult division to get out of he took them that crucial step further into dreamland and riches.

One of the reasons proffered for McDermott’s position now looking untenable is his lack of Premier League experience. This is despite Shearer being punted for the Saints role with an exact quarter of that said experience. Ah but McDermott isn’t a ‘name’ and chairman – even the good ones – are prone to getting star-struck and stupid when panic arises.

Both Reading and Southampton have unquestionably struggled at times since August; their defences have been breached too often and too easily. But in both instances there has been more than enough adventure, fluidity and intent to offer considerable hope.

Indeed it could be argued that all that is required are a couple of quality purchases in the forthcoming January window to significantly improve matters and both McDermott and Adkins have proven beyond doubt their shrewdness in the transfer market. They will have their targets in place.

Should Redknapp, Shearer, or whichever ‘saviour’ is being lined up at St Marys and the Madejski, swan in, make these minor surgeries and then be credited with turning the club’s fortunes around this would not only be a travesty of justice. It would be abhorrent.

It is said that Nigel Adkins often recites a poem to himself in times of stress. Called ‘The Guy In the Glass’ it suggests that judgement from others does not compare in magnitude to the importance of being able to look in the mirror and meet your own critical gaze.

Whatever happens Nigel Adkins and Brian McDermott will be able to look square in the glass. Will Southampton and Reading?

http://www.thedaisycutter.co.uk/2012/11 ... tball-low/

[melonhead]

summed up to perfection-100% spot on

[Ian Royal]

Great writing. I'd agree with it entirely if we were just looking a bit shit and like firm relegation candidates. And if I didn't think someone else might be able to do better. My issue is I think we could and should be doing at least a little better than we are and that McDermott is a significant factor in that.

If he can improve us to the point that we aren't taking leads regularly and then throwing them away stupidly. Maybe winning the odd game and keeping the odd clean sheet then I'm happy to see him stay even if it still results in relegation. My concern is we're looking a bit Derbyesque and I don't find that sort of season acceptable, even for him.

If Souness, Rednapp and Shearer were the only alternatives, I'd keep McDermott even if he was in a persistent vegitative state and we were losing 30-0 every week.

[The Quiet Man]

Who do you think could do a better job than Brian given the Reading way of not appointing big name managers. Redknapp - failed at Soton when given the same sort of job and hugely disruptive if he doesn't get his way over transfers. One of the Sky Sports Studio crew who haven't been near the pressure of league management in 4 or 5 years. Or would prefer Poyet or similar from the champ league who have no track record and wouldn't be any real difference to McD.

If Brian were to go and the Russians are serious about spending money (and there's been no evidence to date they have spent anything much except in acquiring the club) it's likely to be a foreign coach because the huge number of failed english managers cluttering up the tv studios couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag.

[melonhead]

Great writing. I'd agree with it entirely if we were just looking a bit shit and like firm relegation candidates. And if I didn't think someone else might be able to do better. My issue is I think we could and should be doing at least a little better than we are and that McDermott is a significant factor in that.

If he can improve us to the point that we aren't taking leads regularly and then throwing them away stupidly. Maybe winning the odd game and keeping the odd clean sheet then I'm happy to see him stay even if it still results in relegation. My concern is we're looking a bit Derbyesque and I don't find that sort of season acceptable, even for him.

If Souness, Rednapp and Shearer were the only alternatives, I'd keep McDermott even if he was in a persistent vegitative state and we were losing 30-0 every week.

aret you one of those who thinks coppell is an awful manager though?

[Ian Royal]

No I'm bloody not!! I don't know what's wrong with you at the moment brendy, you've gone right bloody mental.

I am not one of the Woodcote, RoyalBlue, Royalee STG brigade. Normally I'm a staunch RTG alongside you. Coppell cocked up when we got relegated, but nothing more than some bad choices in bad circumstances. If it hadn't been an 80 mile round trip during the working week I'd have been right there at the car park trying to persuade him to stay after we got relegated.

And I'd feel exactly the same for McDermott if something similar happens this season. But it isn't at the moment, we've started very badly - both for results and 90 minute performances. In fairness to MaccyD, he hasn't been helped by niggling injuries and loss of form to key players that we'd normally expect much more from.

[Extended-Phenotype]

The point is, it's not just the team and players that need to improve, it's McD too.