An admission/apology re BR

[Man Friday]

I don't do this very often (admit mistakes) but I'm pretty sure now that I got Brendan McRodgers wrong. I thought he was a fraud and had been found out. It appears that he was the real McCoy and that I was completely wrong about him. Like the true cop-outer that I am I shall reserve full judgement until the end of the season but I'm pretty sure already that I misjudged him - that in fact we had a good manager all along, in front of our very eyes, and didn't realise it. Brendan, I apologise. God, I hate the taste of humble pie.

Anyone else feeling the same way?

(P.S. I'm glad nevertheless that we've got Brian.)

[Barry the bird boggler]

I didn't want Brendan to go, I thought it was a mistake to push him out so quickly and while I don't think we'd have had the heights that we have had in the last 18 months I think we would be in a stronger position today than we actually are now.

Long term Brendan has unfinished business here and hope he comes back at some point in the future to finish it off.

[Royal Rother]

Some of us did realise it of course.

Those who focused on the big watch, the book of tactics, the Tommy Smith saga and a disappointing start were never going to see it.

[strap]

This is a fishing trip right??

[No Fixed Abode]

You've got to remember BR likes to play good football. When he came into Reading, the club didn't have the players capable of getting the ball down and playing a passing game, so the transition would have taken a while. I don't think Reading would have been relegated, and it was a knee jerk reaction from the club to get rid of him when they did.

I believe he will be a top, top manager and he would have made Reading a good side to watch. Now all you have is the long ball game unpleasing to the eye.

[JoebyRFC]

I didn't want Brendan to go, I thought it was a mistake to push him out so quickly and while I don't think we'd have had the heights that we have had in the last 18 months I think we would be in a stronger position today than we actually are now.

Long term Brendan has unfinished business here and hope he comes back at some point in the future to finish it off.

+1

[Royal Rother]

You've got to remember BR likes to play good football. When he came into Reading, the club didn't have the players capable of getting the ball down and playing a passing game, so the transition would have taken a while. I don't think Reading would have been relegated, and it was a knee jerk reaction from the club to get rid of him when they did.

I believe he will be a top, top manager and he would have made Reading a good side to watch. Now all you have is the long ball game unpleasing to the eye.

Not sure about the last sentence but the rest of the post leads me to think you have a brain after all. Revelation time.

[floyd__streete]

I don't think Reading would have been relegated

Of course, you are entitled to your opinion - but his subsequent success seems to have coloured a lot of people's judgement with regards to BR's time at Reading. We were absolutely relegation candidates, thanks to his stubborn refusal to compromise his principles. He thought he could turn the likes of Kalifa Cisse into ball-playing midfielders.

His success at Swansea has been superb, good luck to him. I would say he was fortunate to inherit a side who had been trained under successive managers to pass the ball in the style Rodgers demands. He has taken that side and improved it, well done to him.

[Man Friday]

I don't think Reading would have been relegated

Of course, you are entitled to your opinion - but his subsequent success seems to have coloured a lot of people's judgement with regards to BR's time at Reading. We were absolutely relegation candidates, thanks to his stubborn refusal to compromise his principles. He thought he could turn the likes of Kalifa Cisse into ball-playing midfielders.

His success at Swansea has been superb, good luck to him. I would say he was fortunate to inherit a side who had been trained under successive managers to pass the ball in the style Rodgers demands. He has taken that side and improved it, well done to him.

I don't disagree with any of this. All I'm saying is that I had him down as a crap manager following his time with us whereas he clearly isn't. It was certainly looking as though he was going to take us down. As you say, good luck to him.

[Schards#2]

What Rodgers has done subsequently demonstrate that he is a talented manager, however, that does not alter the fact that he was simply the wrong fit for Reading at the time.

You could argue that, in the long term, Reading should have taken the relegation to give Rodgers time an ultimately come back stronger but it's not a view I would agree with as we may not have recovered and relegation is certainly where we were heading.

Where I would say I was wrong about Rodgers is that I felt he can across as a bit of an arrogant git in his interviews, yet his response to beating his former employers in a play off final could not have been more gracious. He had the greatest opportunity in history to stick two fingers up at the chairman, the fans and the club in general yet he didn't take it and said, literally, nothing disparaging about Reading then or ever since. That showed a level of class that is rare in the game these days.

Personally, I wish him all the best for the future and find Swansea growing on me as they take on the Premiership. Good luck to them.

[SCIAG]

Rodgers has admitted that he learned from the mistakes he made here.

At the end of his reign he was like a broken man in interviews, saying that the £4-5m he'd spent wasn't enough, blaming his players for his mistakes, and so forth. He didn't manage Long correctly, he annoyed Matt Mills (his big money signing), he wanted to release Gunnarsson and he couldn't motivate Jimmy. Given how important those four were to our revival, I think we made the right decision to sack him.

I do hope he comes back to finish what he started though.

[Wimb]

Might as well plug this all over again!

http://thetilehurstend.co.uk/opinions/w ... eading-fc/

[swansea jack]

BIG WATCH thread #4,356

Can we just make this a stciky / HOF to save everyone's time...?

[Ian Royal]

Good manager, wrong place, wrong time. Made too many mistakes and had to go.

[Royalee]

I told you so.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I told you so.

Wish Pardew had stayed, top Prem manager, always thought he would be, anyone else?

[sandman]

Already had the team and the philosophy at Swansea that he has. Wait until he has to build a team again before calling him the messiah.

[melonhead]

liked him alot- and really wanted him to succeed, but he made some shite decisions, and spent alpt of th etime appearing to be mental when he was manager here
& id imagine the lessons learnt here have made him the manager he is today

[howser]

Yep no surprise he is doing ok, was only very few of us on here could see where he could have taken us, with the support of the club management, but of course as many of us know, that was never going to happen.

[melonhead]

2 million for matt mills is quite alot of support