Is "The Reading Way" over?

[Binfield Royal]

SJM would probably not have sacked Brian now. SJM would probably have given Brian another whole season in the Championship.

Its telling that its Anton being quoted in the press release.

For better or worse, I think Anton is going to step up now. I would not be surprised if we get a "big name" manager this time. I know there have been lots of names thrown about and I hope FFS its not Di Canio because, however passionate he may be, he's not experienced, even at Championship level and he'd probably be marking time waiting for the West Ham job anyway so no thanks.

If Anton is finally going to throw some rubles at giving us a proper shot at Premier League then it marks the end for bargain basements and making do.

We need to be able to, not just bid for Siggurdsson, but actually buy him, and another dozen who are in his league, because thats what you need to thrive in the PL - players with top level talent as well as the good attitude and work ethic.

I want top level sustainable success for Reading. Stoke have managed it. Swansea seem to be managing it. I am ambitious and I want Reading to be ambitious too.

It maybe that Brian is a victim of lack of enough funds and in that, I am sorry for him but I hope he will bounce back and get another job in football. Lets not forget, Premier League managers are very well paid.

The point is, it looks like the board (sic Anton) have learned that The Reading Way doesn't work in the top flight.

[WoodleyRoyal]

not reading all that but in answer to the thread title. we won't know till the new manager is announced and we've had a transfer window

[RoyalBlue]

SJM would probably not have sacked Brian now. SJM would probably have given Brian another whole season in the Championship.

.

Don't bank on it. And if Madejski didn't agree, he could have resigned over the issue (he will get his remaining 49% whether or not he is Chairman). I mentioned elsewhere that it would be rather ironic if two of the firing squad were guys who had made McDermott's challenge so much more difficult because of their fervent belief that the Reading Way is the only way and that it could succeed in the PL.

Personally I hope the 'Reading Way' (which would be more honestly described as 'The Madejski Way') is over.

[sandman]

And how far can we actually go. Unless we get someone vaastly richer than Zingarevich then at best we will only ever be a mid table PL side. Like it or not there is always going to be a ceiling that we will never break through. Personally, I couldn't think of worse than finishing mid table in the PL every year like a Stoke or a Fulham that's not ambition it's fukking dull.

[Royal91]

And how far can we actually go. Unless we get someone vaastly richer than Zingarevich then at best we will only ever be a mid table PL side. Like it or not there is always going to be a glass ceiling that we will never break through. Personally, I couldn't think of worse than finishing mid table in the PL every year like a Stoke or a Fulham that's not ambition it's fukking dull.

Finishing mid table is fine with me. We can focus on winning domestic cups then. Realistically 5th is the glass ceiling. We finished 8th with no money, one place outside of Europe!

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

And how far can we actually go. Unless we get someone vaastly richer than Zingarevich then at best we will only ever be a mid table PL side. Like it or not there is always going to be a glass ceiling that we will never break through. Personally, I couldn't think of worse than finishing mid table in the PL every year like a Stoke or a Fulham that's not ambition it's fukking dull.

Finishing mid table is fine with me. We can focus on winning domestic cups then. Realistically 5th is the glass ceiling. We finished 8th with no money, one place outside of Europe!

...and finishing 8th was the worst thing that could have happened...as that was the blueprint for "The Reading Way"......and that doing things on a shoestring was the first bit of that strategy.....still find it hard to think that a club who will have spent a total of 3 seasons in the EPL come May, have a club record transfer fee of £2.5m...money doesn't guarantee anything but it helps and this seasons paltry investment and subsequent results are proof of that ....

[facaldaqui]

The Reading Way will continue because it has to. There is nothing unique about it: it is the way of most humble football clubs that need a sense of solidarity and an avoidance of Fancy Dan airs and graces and reckless short-termism. It's not that different from the Stoke Way, the West Brom Way, the Swansea Way, or whatever. If it seems to have failed temporarily it is because we are losing; as soon as we start winning again, the Reading Way will get its kudos back.

The alternatives seem to involve either radical management or flamboyant player purchasing or both, but how long would they succeed at a club like ours? These methods soon burned themselves out at Blackpool, Swindon, Notts County...might work at QPR, might not. Sooner or later, a small club has to settle back to the basics of simple football, team spirit, prudent spending, family values, etc.

[JamieY26]

And how far can we actually go. Unless we get someone vaastly richer than Zingarevich then at best we will only ever be a mid table PL side. Like it or not there is always going to be a glass ceiling that we will never break through. Personally, I couldn't think of worse than finishing mid table in the PL every year like a Stoke or a Fulham that's not ambition it's fukking dull.

Finishing mid table is fine with me. We can focus on winning domestic cups then. Realistically 5th is the glass ceiling. We finished 8th with no money, one place outside of Europe!

we are probably £15million away from finishing 17th. lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet

[Hampshire Royal]

The 'Reading Way' is not all about sensible economics, it's more about honesty and integrity. It's about refusing to risk becoming like a number of teams who've been dragged down by the stupidity of PL spending policy. As someone said above, that got us to eighth in the PL before, what got us relegated the following season was certain players chasing the fool's gold of the PL.

The Reading Way made me very proud to be a Reading fan.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

The Reading way is spending within your means and avoiding risky levels of debt.

How is this in any way not the right thing for club?

Just because everybody else in the room is mental does not mean you have to stick two pencils up your nose and put your pants on your head.

If anybody on here is willing to subsidize a loss making business so we can finally achieve the dream of finishing mid table most years in the Premiership then fantastic, if not sometimes you have to accept that life is just not fair and that we don't have an owner as rich and indulgent as many of our competitors.

[Millsy]

not reading all that but in answer to the thread title. we won't know till the new manager is announced and we've had a transfer window

Not reading all that but in answer to my own curiosity does anyone know what our average attendance has been this season?

[jellytot]

An interesting thread. Firstly, without SJM we would not have a club! I remember walking into the Southbank at Elm Park in the dark days before SJM took over. The club was days from ending. SJM took us out of that situation and slowly built foundations and a bloody lovely stadium to boot! Without SJM we would be in league 1 or 2 at best. We owe him everything!

SJM could not go on forever. We needed a new owner to come in and take the club forward. Remember TSI only bought Reading in January last year and no deal went through til the end of last season. TSI's investment helped us to go up with the help of a good manager and reasonable squad for that level.

I do believe that a 'New Reading Way' will now be started. I do not see us avoiding relegation sadly. Perhaps AZ has seen too late that the club made transfer mistakes. Perhaps he has finally noted that there needs to be a new way to take us forward. In the recent interview on the BBC (11th March on BBC Sport website) he talks about the need to want to attract supporters to watch RFC. We have not played nice football at all. That is not AZ's fault most of RFC's side were bought in under SJM's regime. Now perhaps AZ realizes that major changes are needed. He wants to improve the youth set up, training ground, playing staff and stadium and make us a decent sized club. I imagine that vision will take 5 years minimum.

I think on Saturday a lot of fans finally lost faith with BM's decision making. Throughout the season there have been some baffling squad and sub selections. We were slow to adapt to the PL. 9 points in the first half of the season killed us. You can see that confidence in the side is brittle. Of course players talk a good game for the media but the truth is we have a squad that is way short on class and direction at THIS LEVEL.

I hope now this is a new exciting chapter for the royals. Thank you BM but managers always leave. Time to keep moving forward with the plan. Fans need to see signs that we are actually progressing now. The season has been disappointing. Let's get things right! Come on the royals! Get the right staff in please!

[howser]

I think Anton has sat back and looked at us and other Prem clubs and seen where our deficiencies are and has now acted, never thought the "Reading way" was going to work with him at the helm, guys like him no matter how many millions they have, don't take backward steps and fauliure well ! I really have sympathy for him over the last two home matches on these forums he has been harranged by writers to do something, now he has he is being harranged for doing it ! was the right decision that should have been done earlier, think he may have got the grasp of not getting too friendly to the manager thus making it easier to shift them on in the future, IMHO we are in a better place tonight, amazing job done to get us up here but McD has faltered badly, sincerely hope he gets back into football sooner rather than later, but he is not the first this has happened to, Dowie, Warnock, Bassett are also members of the "get you in the Prem but cock it up when we get there club"

[paultheroyal]

No time for sentiment.

Lets be honest here, football served up by McDermott has been dire all season.

He will earn legend status at Reading FC but time to move on.

Reading way over? Nope, just a new chapter of it.

[loyalroyal4life]

The lack of funds that everyone is on about could it not be down to fact that perhaps AZ didn't have full faith in Brian??

The only positive from this is the potential to get a manager who can actually bring in some half decent players. From the names linked that would be RDM

[Millsy]

Exactly. A new chapter.

I've wanted Madejski out for a long time largely because he admittedly couldn't cut it in the prem and the Pem needs a slightly different way.

Anton can hopefully give us that. Yes we'll still be careful and brick by brick like Madejski, but in the Prem that doesn't equate to heap league one signings like it does in the champ. It requires a bit more balls.

Goodbye shoestring budget managers like Coppell and Brian who are great for getting to the promised land on pennies. Hello (hopefully) shrewd managers who have the balls to spend a little bit more money to compete in the Prem.

Im gutted fo Brian, and would like to have given him another year in the champ and prem, but I can't help but feel excited.

[72 bus]

I would love to read your post Ideal, but until you get rid of that avatar I cannot bring myself to take you off my blocked posters list.
Cheers

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

I may be suffereing mild PTSD after the McD sacking but I think this is a 'pivot point'. Those who considered SJM and Coppell/McD too nice/conservative/cautious might want to look back in a few years when a naive Russian baby oligarch, and a fascist, unstable italian transform the club from moderate/stable to over-spent and erratic.

I would not be surprised to see us in tier 3, debt-laden and looking for new owners within five years.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

I rarely post here these days but I wanted to put my thoughts into writing, so here goes:

Brian McDermott did an unbelievable job of getting the group of players he had to perform to such a level that we won the Championship last season. He will forever hold legendary status for coming from within the club to steady the ship after the Rodgers experiment failed, and everything he achieved will be remembered and appreciated by the genuine fans amongst us.

However, I do not believe that McDermott had the managerial-nouse to succeed in the Premier League. Not only were his tactics slightly naive and one dimensional, but his man-management skills seemed to be lacking somewhat when it came to handling the 'bigger personalities' amongst the squad. Installing passion and belief in a group of largely lower league players, adding the experience of Roberts, and installing a real sense of togetherness last season is one thing, but when it came to managing the likes of Guthrie, an unhappy Federici, and an increasingly frustrated Pavel Pogrebnyak, unltimately I think Brian failed. Knowing he has a far better track record of managing professionals from the lower leagues who have had to show determination and willingness to get to where they are and would undoubtedly be thankful for a shot at the 'big time', he turned to the likes of Akpan and Blackman in the January transfer window, and picks the likes of Leigertwood and McAnuff over Guthrie and co. Those personalities are far easier to manage for a character like Brian and I think that played a massive part in both team selection and transfer targets.

Whilst I feel for Brian and am incredibly thankful for what he achieved at the club, if the new regime are serious about making us an established top-flight side, I feel the change was necessary. It's still yet to be seen who will replace Brian, but I doubt it'll be another quiet, reserved ex-scout (no disrespect intended).

[ManchesterRoyals]

Fucck off the Madejski Way