Life after Brendan

[Woodcote Royal]

just because Rodgers was shit doesn't make McDermott the saviour.

How many home wins did Coppell and Rodgers manage between them in 2009?

One had a Premiership squad and the other was given four mllion to spend. Rodgers never won four games on the trot and God knows when Coppell's team last reached such dizzy heights.

Without spending a brass farthing, McD wins four on the spin in his first ten games If he isn't the saviour, fcuk knows what that says about Rodgers and Coppell....................................who will both be more to blame if we get relegated than the man tasked with the job of clearing up the mess they left behind.

"Thank you Brendan for making watching my team so much more enjoyable" ALOL.

Which the team he picked for the Burton cup game, after which I made that remark, certainly was......................sadly he blew it big time after that.

[facaldaqui]

I don't hate Steve Coppell but his last 2 seasons almost cancelled out the oustanding successes of the previous two and it's his fan club that need the reality check not me.............................McD is currently placing those wasted seasons in their true perspective.

Coppell's last two seasons may have cancelled out the successes of the previous two, but only by three places (we came 4th instead of 1st). They don't cancel his previous success of establishing us in the top part of this division.

This season we have been floundering in the bottom part of this division, which is something that didn't happen under Coppell. I regard it as a success by both Pardew and Coppell that we went straight from being promoted from the 1st division to a competitive side high in the Championship. That was nectar for long-suffering Reading fans, and promotion to the premiership was heaven. I'm not a blind Coppell fan, and he left at the right time, but for me he's a legend, and I don't subscribe to the theory that it's his fault we're down in the relegation struggle this season.

[Woodcote Royal]

You can blame Coppell (if blame is the right word) for being in the Championship but to blame him for us being in the relegation dogfight really is stretching it particularly when the person doing it was predicting play-offs at the start of the season. Reality check indeed.

Rodgers has to take most of the blame for this relegation scrap but the teams nosedive under Coppell at the beginning of 2009 was nothing short of p*ss poor managment on his part which should not be brushed under the carpet and the same applies to our avoidable relegation from the top flight.

I've never sought to undermine his two best seasons but neither should they stand as reasons to excuse the abject failure of the following two.

He did brilliantly to get us up there; that was the hard part but other smaller clubs who made the same journey look set to make a much better fist of staying there and I don't think it was unreasonable to base our own expectations on how the likes of Wigan fared in the same circumstances.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Would that be the same Wigan that have had millions pumped in by their Chairman, and not as a loan. RFC never had this, and in all reality which are the teams that are doing so much better from a similar position???

Hull, Pompy, Stoke???

The reality is that there will be 20 teams in the Prem, some of those will be no better or worse than we were or might have been, however after relegation we had the chance to get back on a stable footing thanks to sensible signings, which were sold at a good profit.

Wigan have often sold on players, but if Hull are paying £1.5m to Hunt and go down they are unlikely to make a profit on his fee, like we did, same as Wolves with Doyle. Or Stoke with Kitson/Sonko, or even Villa with Sidwell and Shorey.

Burnley spent a lot in the summer, lost the manager, and if they go down will probably struggle to regroup.

[Vision]

You can blame Coppell (if blame is the right word) for being in the Championship but to blame him for us being in the relegation dogfight really is stretching it particularly when the person doing it was predicting play-offs at the start of the season. Reality check indeed.

Rodgers has to take most of the blame for this relegation scrap but the teams nosedive under Coppell at the beginning of 2009 was nothing short of p*ss poor managment on his part which should not be brushed under the carpet and the same applies to our avoidable relegation from the top flight.

I've never sought to undermine his two best seasons but neither should they stand as reasons to excuse the abject failure of the following two.

He did brilliantly to get us up there; that was the hard part but other smaller clubs who made the same journey look set to make a much better fist of staying there and I don't think it was unreasonable to base our own expectations on how the likes of Wigan fared in the same circumstances.

Rodgers and those that appointed him surely. Certainly if we're going to play the blame game then there are plenty in the queue for this season ahead of Coppell I'd have thought.

FWIW Wigan's 2nd season saw them survive on the last day cos Warnock's lot bottled it. Fine margins between that and your "abject failure". When we went down we still had the 3rd lowest wage bill in the Premiership so in terms of resources then we finished precisely where our budget would suggest. What other smaller clubs? Watford? Derby? West Brom? Burnley? Hull?. Not sure any of those have or will fare that much better.

As for last season then I'm not sure anyone can explain how a team can go from the best home form in the whole country for the first half of the season to the worst home form in the whole country in the 2nd half. Mind you, despite being an unapologetic Coppell fan I never wanted him to manage us last season anyway.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

And there is the difference Vision, Woody was happy with Coppell, until it went wrong, whereas your view was always that he should have moved on after relegation. There were many comments from Woody slating Schards for the mid table mediocrity stuff, yet when it came and got worse he turned against Coppell.
Sadly Schards seems to have called the tide correctly, the desire was not there, and I am sure that it was not just Coppell that Schards was saying was not looking forward, but JM as well. Whom WR won't have a word against.

[brendywendy]

I don't hate Steve Coppell but his last 2 seasons almost cancelled out the oustanding successes of the previous two and it's his fan club that need the reality check not me.............................McD is currently placing those wasted seasons in their true perspective.

pffft

bollox

[brendywendy]

I don't hate Steve Coppell but his last 2 seasons almost cancelled out the oustanding successes of the previous two and it's his fan club that need the reality check not me.............................McD is currently placing those wasted seasons in their true perspective.

you say "his fan club with disdain" like they are deranged or summink

[brendywendy]

And there is the difference Vision, Woody was happy with Coppell, until it went wrong, whereas your view was always that he should have moved on after relegation. There were many comments from Woody slating Schards for the mid table mediocrity stuff, yet when it came and got worse he turned against Coppell.
Sadly Schards seems to have called the tide correctly, the desire was not there, and I am sure that it was not just Coppell that Schards was saying was not looking forward, but JM as well. Whom WR won't have a word against.

please dont give schards credit for owt regarding "that" thread

[Woodcote Royal]

I don't hate Steve Coppell but his last 2 seasons almost cancelled out the oustanding successes of the previous two and it's his fan club that need the reality check not me.............................McD is currently placing those wasted seasons in their true perspective.

you say "his fan club with disdain" like they are deranged or summink

Says the deranged person who wrote this

pffft
bollox

[Woodcote Royal]

And there is the difference Vision, Woody was happy with Coppell, until it went wrong, whereas your view was always that he should have moved on after relegation. There were many comments from Woody slating Schards for the mid table mediocrity stuff, yet when it came and got worse he turned against Coppell.
Sadly Schards seems to have called the tide correctly, the desire was not there, and I am sure that it was not just Coppell that Schards was saying was not looking forward, but JM as well. Whom WR won't have a word against.

As far as my position at the time is concerned, that is complete and utter nonsense..............fell free to check back if you wish.

For the UMPTEENTH!!! time, this was my position.

Whilst you and your friends were doing whatever ones does when spending hour upon hour in the same parking space, I said that Coppell's past record meant that he deserved the chance to right his mistakes PROVIDED he had learnt from those errors and would not be making them again.

I get the distinct impression that the board did not ask the pointed questions required and acted more as an extension of the car park crew but, obviously, I have no proof of that.

Either way, his final season ended in total disarray and was the precursor of where we find ourselves today.

Furthermore, I'm damn sure you know what my position was at the time so the above guff does you no credit.

[Woodcote Royal]

You can blame Coppell (if blame is the right word) for being in the Championship but to blame him for us being in the relegation dogfight really is stretching it particularly when the person doing it was predicting play-offs at the start of the season. Reality check indeed.

Rodgers has to take most of the blame for this relegation scrap but the teams nosedive under Coppell at the beginning of 2009 was nothing short of p*ss poor managment on his part which should not be brushed under the carpet and the same applies to our avoidable relegation from the top flight.

I've never sought to undermine his two best seasons but neither should they stand as reasons to excuse the abject failure of the following two.

He did brilliantly to get us up there; that was the hard part but other smaller clubs who made the same journey look set to make a much better fist of staying there and I don't think it was unreasonable to base our own expectations on how the likes of Wigan fared in the same circumstances.

Rodgers and those that appointed him surely. Certainly if we're going to play the blame game then there are plenty in the queue for this season ahead of Coppell I'd have thought.

FWIW Wigan's 2nd season saw them survive on the last day cos Warnock's lot bottled it. Fine margins between that and your "abject failure". When we went down we still had the 3rd lowest wage bill in the Premiership so in terms of resources then we finished precisely where our budget would suggest. What other smaller clubs? Watford? Derby? West Brom? Burnley? Hull?. Not sure any of those have or will fare that much better.

As for last season then I'm not sure anyone can explain how a team can go from the best home form in the whole country for the first half of the season to the worst home form in the whole country in the 2nd half. Mind you, despite being an unapologetic Coppell fan I never wanted him to manage us last season anyway.

With the benefit of hindsight, you were right with bells on and that, in my view, was the boards biggest mistake in recent years.

Do you think Stoke will go down? Brum came down, went straight back up and look where they are now. We finished 8th in our first season but failed to build on that in any shape or form. We signed no one who strengthened our starting 11 in those 2 seasons.

In other words, it is my view that Coppell performed poorly from the end of our first season up until the day he left. He built a fantastic team, got 2 fantastic seasons out of it and then got stuck like a broken record. He couldn't, or didn't want to, move on.......................which makes your view that he should have left 12 months earlier even more spot on.

[facaldaqui]

As for last season then I'm not sure anyone can explain how a team can go from the best home form in the whole country for the first half of the season to the worst home form in the whole country in the 2nd half. Mind you, despite being an unapologetic Coppell fan I never wanted him to manage us last season anyway.

True, it's inexplicable; but I'm increasingly leaning to the view that some of the players' heads weren't right after they came close to leaving in last year's January transfer window. I noticed that Hunt recently admitted what we all suspected, that the transfer speculation last Christmas affected his game. The same may be true for others, such as Harper; and our loanees Kitson and Little would not have been settled mentally either.

In other words, it is my view that Coppell performed poorly from the end of our first season up until the day he left. He built a fantastic team, got 2 fantastic seasons out of it and then got stuck like a broken record. He couldn't, or didn't want to, move on.......................which makes your view that he should have left 12 months earlier even more spot on.

My explanation, given what I said above, is that Coppell was a victim of his own success. His players, who had once mainly been unknowns, had had two seasons in the premier and acquired the wages and expectations that that brings. Coppell tried to keep them together on the promise of promotion, but I think some of them couldn't wait, and in the end no longer fully wanted to play for Reading. That and the financial problems of their wages led to their leaving when we failed to go up. Coppell didn't suddenly become a bad manager; his hand just worsened and worsened. Therefore, it was the right time for him to go; but many of his problem players left during the clearout, and Rodgers had mostly a new team, what with his buys and bringing in young players. So I can't blame Coppell for Rodgers' terrible management.

[Vision]

Do you think Stoke will go down? Brum came down, went straight back up and look where they are now. We finished 8th in our first season but failed to build on that in any shape or form. We signed no one who strengthened our starting 11 in those 2 seasons.

Stoke have spent upwards of 40m since promotion so you can't really call them "smaller" in any conceivable way. McCleish might finish as high as Coppell did in his first season after promotion but I wouldn't bet on it and their new owners will put them in a whole different financial bracket to Madejski so I'm not sure they're comparable either.

We were never going to "build on our 8th place" finish because quite rightly in my opinion we were not prepared to spend the sort of money it would take to do so. Of course that doesn't mean we shouldn't have stayed up the following season or that there wasn't more money available to Coppell to aid this but ultimately under JM we'd still be amongst the lowest wage bills in the Premiership & at some stage relegation is inevitable. Coppell of course has to shoulder the bulk of the blame as the manager but as i say it would have happened at some stage anyway. You can only buck the financial realities for so long.

[Hoop Blah]

Do you think Stoke will go down? Brum came down, went straight back up and look where they are now. We finished 8th in our first season but failed to build on that in any shape or form. We signed no one who strengthened our starting 11 in those 2 seasons.

I'm sure you argued at the time that we didn't really need to strengthen at times because we had the likes of Oster and Gunnarsson who were more than capable to play to the same levels, if not higher, than the guys who'd been keeping them out of the team.

I agree with your take on Coppell and the clubs failures though, and that Coppell shouldn't really have stayed on for that last season, but you're re-writing your history a little bit if you ask me.

Stoke have spent upwards of 40m since promotion so you can't really call them "smaller" in any conceivable way. McCleish might finish as high as Coppell did in his first season after promotion but I wouldn't bet on it and their new owners will put them in a whole different financial bracket to Madejski so I'm not sure they're comparable either.

We were never going to "build on our 8th place" finish because quite rightly in my opinion we were not prepared to spend the sort of money it would take to do so. Of course that doesn't mean we shouldn't have stayed up the following season or that there wasn't more money available to Coppell to aid this but ultimately under JM we'd still be amongst the lowest wage bills in the Premiership & at some stage relegation is inevitable. Coppell of course has to shoulder the bulk of the blame as the manager but as i say it would have happened at some stage anyway. You can only buck the financial realities for so long.

The money Stoke have received is quite a bit more than we did, but I agree Vision, we were never going to spend that kind of money.

I believed then, and still do, that we should've invested more in proven and experienced Premiership players who were within our budget, and that as soon as we didn't go for our rightful spot in Europe the wheels started to come off the whole thing. We were never realistically going to be challenging for 6th to 10th place again the next season but by not showing any ambition or desire to better ourselves it sent all the wrong messages to the players and we set ourselves up for the massive fall we then suffered.

We should've built on the 8th place, but building realistically would've been spending £6m to £10m on 2 or 3 Premiership players (and of course their wages) to keep the squad fresh and to create more competition and cover within the team.

[georgerob]

Since's he come in for Rodgers he has done an outstanding job by being the first manager to get the club to the quarter finals for the first time in 83 years, along the way beating Liverpool, Burnley and West Brom and a date at Wembley is still very much on the cards.
In the league he has steered us away from the depths of the relegation zone by getting four wins on the bounce, and has been at Reading Football Club for ten years now and has done a credible job in winning many honours as reserve team manager.
His record as a manager is adequate as well with seven wins, four draws and four defeats in 15 games compared to Brendan Rodgers with three wins, four draws and eight losses in his first 15 games.
Mcdermott as well has turned Reading's home form around without consolidating to a defeat at the Madejski Stadium, with 3 wins and 3 draws under his belt.
McDermott deserves a lot of credit and plaudits for the work he has done in acquiring the signings of Griffin to sure up the right back position, Zurab and Gunnar who has not made an impact as yet.

[Dirk Gently]

Is he leaving?

[georgerob]

Is he leaving?

No its just to appreciate and give McDermott recognition for the work he has done since in charge

[yappy]

I know he's not everybody's favourite, but Brian Howard is starting to show real form aswell. He's not spectacular but he's steady, hard working and he is a goalscorer, something were finally starting to see from him. Under Rodgers, Gylfi looked our only midfielder who wasn't afraid of the goal, but now Kebe and Howard seem to have found a new composure in the box!

To be fair I could spend all day singing McDermott's praises. MACCY D= I'M LOVING IT

[weybridgewanderer]

I believed then, and still do, that we should've invested more in proven and experienced Premiership players who were within our budget

And there in lies the problem we had. At 25K+ a week, proven experienced Premiership players were well outside our budget.