The Steve Coppell appreciation and thank you thread

[Ian Royal]

Would happily see Coppell back, although I'd rather a blood and thunder manager with a bit of esperience in the short term to get us through this piss poor slump.

We have the players to survive. To be honest, I think sticking from the start of the season to the acadamy products would have brought us more success.

[Royal With Cheese]

Anyone thinks that getting Coppell back is a good idea really needs to think long and hard about it.

I, for one, would rather remember the good times than watch him struggle with what is basically a sub standard unmotivated bunch of players that would ultimately make him leave under a cloud a few months later.

For all Coppells "failings" stupidity isn't one of them. He'll not be back.

[adamh4608]

Would happily see Coppell back, although I'd rather a blood and thunder manager with a bit of esperience in the short term to get us through this piss poor slump.

We have the players to survive. To be honest, I think sticking from the start of the season to the acadamy products would have brought us more success.

we need an experienced manager,to bring the best out of our inexperienced player's, not a inexperienced manager.
and i would be glad to see coppell back

[Royalee]

turning on him already royalee?

but what about all that crap you were coming out with before?

I'm not asking for him to be sacked yet, but he appears to be backtracking on what he set out to do, which I for one did not see coming and had I done I'm not sure I'd have wanted Rodgers here.

aaahhhhhh

with friends like you ...etc

Get over yourself - I have the balls to admit when something isn't working unlike you with your Coppell hero-worship you bellend.

[Ian Royal]

Would happily see Coppell back, although I'd rather a blood and thunder manager with a bit of esperience in the short term to get us through this piss poor slump.

We have the players to survive. To be honest, I think sticking from the start of the season to the acadamy products would have brought us more success.

we need an experienced manager,to bring the best out of our inexperienced player's, not a inexperienced manager.
and i would be glad to see coppell back

Er, where did I say I wanted an inexperienced manager? idiot.

[Dirk Gently]

Never, ever going to happen, and would be a disaster if it did.

SC's whole style and ethos was about getting in clever players and giving them the to responsibility on the pitch to succeed.

Sadly, the current crop of players don't have the experience or the intelligence (and I'm not talking just about IQ intelligence - but football intelligence, too) to take that on.

[Victor Meldrew]

As a matter of interest Harry Harris in the Sunday Express,an old mate of Coppell's,says today that Steve is ready to manage again after supporting his son in USA during early golf tournaments.
If our sole ambition now (regardless of what our chairman says) is not to get relegated I would prefer an experienced manager like Coppell rather than what looks more and more like a youth team manager out of his depth.
Whether we would want Steve (or whether he would want to be with us ) for the long term I'm not sure.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

SC took RFC to a high we aspire to again, despite some saying they prefer football outside the prem, he will not come back, he knows the limitations imposed. Wherever Sc moves to next i wish him well, we had good seasons with him, time to move on.

[winchester_royal]

SC on the SS1 panel for the 'Pool-Scum Utd game. Didn't realise how much I missed him, talks so much sense compared to the rest.

[madreadingfan]

WE WANT OUR COPPELL BACK

[Ryn]

SC on the SS1 panel for the 'Pool-Scum Utd game. Didn't realise how much I missed him, talks so much sense compared to the rest.

+1, was great to hear him speak again.

[No Hoops]

Yes, he's been on a couple of TV shows in the last few weeks, looks like he's putting himself about for a job.

God I miss him.

[Dirk Gently]

I think in the fullness of time there's going to be some major revisionism of the SC years.

[brendywendy]

upwards or downwards dirkers?

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I think in the fullness of time there's going to be some major revisionism of the SC years.

Unlikely as most were happy with him and how he took us where he did, and how he acted as we slid.

there are only a few that really think it was all his fault.

[Hoop Blah]

I think in the fullness of time there's going to be some major revisionism of the SC years.

Unlikely as most were happy with him and how he took us where he did, and how he acted as we slid.

there are only a few that really think it was all his fault.

As I've said before, I think Coppell got the best out of a pretty exceptional squad of players for RFC. At the same time I think he fluked the mix a bit but when we hit form his style of management was perfect for keeping it going.

When we needed to kick on and build on that success he was fatelly flawed though and a lot of what is happening now is a direct consequence of his inability to turn round poor form and to refresh an aging squad when parts of it was passed it's best.

I'm not sure what Dirk means by his comment though.

[Still Hate Futcher!]

There's no doubt Coppell made mistakes in his time here - not replacing Sidwell, being overly loyal to underperforming players, a few poor big money (for us) signings, but the extent of his failings have been greatly exagerated.

All managers make mistakes and few have a track record anywhere near as good as Coppell's. He worked miracles for this club and those who see our success as a fluke should remember he worked similar wonders at Palace more than once. Even his disasterous last two seasons were only shambolic by the recent high standards he'd set. 3rd from bottom in the Premier League and 4th place in the Championship - we've had worse seasons!

Thoughtful, intelligent and successful managers like Coppell are few and far between. I'm still not sure if I'd like him to return but must admit I can't think of many people I'd rather see as our next manager (who knows, maybe Rodgers will turn things around and we won't need one for a while).

[Terminal Boardom]

Coppell retuning would be a disaster. He would lose the iconic status he has.

What we need is someone to kick arse! Would BR stay on if such an appointment was made? Would BR be happy to become a #2? It would show how much of a Reading fan he actually is if nothing else.

[Hoop Blah]

Blah Blah Blah

I agree he did some exceptional work here, and elsewhere, and that he's a very good manager.

That doesn't absolve him from his part in the position we're in now. That goes for Madejski and Hammond too, although I would say Coppell should take the largest portion of responsibility as he himself admitted it was his decision, and mistake, not to strengthen when he had the chance.

As for working similar wonders at Palace, you also have to remember that he made exactly the same mistakes too and showed too much loyalty to players not capable of achieving the results the club needed.

[rhroyal]

I think in the fullness of time there's going to be some major revisionism of the SC years.

Unlikely as most were happy with him and how he took us where he did, and how he acted as we slid.

there are only a few that really think it was all his fault.

As I've said before, I think Coppell got the best out of a pretty exceptional squad of players for RFC. At the same time I think he fluked the mix a bit but when we hit form his style of management was perfect for keeping it going.

When we needed to kick on and build on that success he was fatelly flawed though and a lot of what is happening now is a direct consequence of his inability to turn round poor form and to refresh an aging squad when parts of it was passed it's best.

I'm not sure what Dirk means by his comment though.

I suppose he also fluked taking Palace up and guiding them to 3rd. He did he also fluke his 2nd spell at Palace, where he kept them in Division 1 when they were in a worse state than us with relegation? And then his next spell where he guided them back to the Premiership? Then his spell at Brentford where he won promotion from Div 3 to Div 2 and the next season was only beaten on the final day by us. And what about his spell at Brighton - 12 points adrift at the bottom or so when he took over. Only went down on the final day and were top when we took him the next season.

Was this all fluke?

Of course he's made mistakes - 3 relegations in his career, 2 of them in very similar circumstances. Likewise, Man City. Enough said. However the reality is there are few better managers out there with a better record, none who Reading would have a chance of signing. Whoever employs Coppell next are very lucky, I wouldn't complain if it turned out to be us. His original team is dead now, but if he came back he wouldn't have the chance to try and resurrect it again. He would be forced to start over and create a new team. Likewise the break would help him too.

His previous reign had come to an end, it was time for that era to finish. We his new era to start in a weeks time I would not have a problem with that.