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

[Caskeys Lovechild]

And many believe that The Reading Way could also be the reason that we have had to rise TWICE to the biggest, most competitive league in the world. It could also lead to us having to try to do it a third time, so I would rather see a modified Reading Way that gives us a better chance of staying there.

Being GOOD ENOUGH to stay up, is absolutely not a guarantee of staying up though. West Ham, Blackburn, Bolton - All have shown that despite having the individual players who should have kept them up at a canter, that this means absolutely nothing if those players don't gel together. What McD is good at, is gelling a team - and yes, it seems to lead to a slow start - but don't forget we rose from 19th (?) last season after the first 10 games - to WIN the league - He knows what he's doing.

Fortunately for the rest of us - your view of a "modified" Reading way, which is short termist, and gambles the future viability of the football club, has no bearing on what will actually happen.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

And many believe that The Reading Way could also be the reason that we have had to rise TWICE to the biggest, most competitive league in the world. It could also lead to us having to try to do it a third time, so I would rather see a modified Reading Way that gives us a better chance of staying there.

You spent the whole of the last season moaning, we got promoted as champions and you are straight back with the unrelenting negativity.

As a club we spent half a century in the third tier,flirted with oblivion and we now play in the top tier of one of the biggest leagues in the world.

If we have to do what West Brom et al did and bounce around the top two divisions for a few seasons then, in the grand historical sweep of things, that is not really the end of the world is it?

To spend more than we have we either need to borrow more money or secure a still more indulgent owner. Do you fancy financing a loss making business for a few years so we can all take pictures of Oscar on our camera phones with no fear of relegation?

[Caskeys Lovechild]

It doesn'r work in the prem my friend as was proved last time. Paying more out on actual fees would have got as a better quality of player, other teams paid out fees as well as transfer fees and they are better for it.

Are you really this ill informed?? A transfer fee does not indicate the quality of a player - it indicates that the player has previously signed a contract which commits him to the club for a set amount of time - the transfer fee is simply a compensation to the club for breaking that agreement assuming you can convince the player to make the move. There are very few Premier League standard players in the Championship - and the Premier League quality players you ask for, already play in the Premier League, and aren't likely to want to join the most recently promoted club. You will find better quality players in the section of the market which has been "Unable to agree personal temrs with their current club" - and you'll see better value in this area than the level of player we can afford to buy from Premier League clubs.

West Ham are slightly different in that they are a club who come with a huge reputation - and are therefore a more attractive proposition for someone like Andy Carrol - the consensus of opinion is that he wouldn't really fit in here though.

[Reading4eva]

And many believe that The Reading Way could also be the reason that we have had to rise TWICE to the biggest, most competitive league in the world. It could also lead to us having to try to do it a third time, so I would rather see a modified Reading Way that gives us a better chance of staying there.

Being GOOD ENOUGH to stay up, is absolutely not a guarantee of staying up though. West Ham, Blackburn, Bolton - All have shown that despite having the individual players who should have kept them up at a canter, that this means absolutely nothing if those players don't gel together. What McD is good at, is gelling a team - and yes, it seems to lead to a slow start - but don't forget we rose from 19th (?) last season after the first 10 games - to WIN the league - He knows what he's doing.

Fortunately for the rest of us - your view of a "modified" Reading way, which is short termist, and gambles the future viability of the football club, has no bearing on what will actually happen.

23rd Before Doncaster game

[3 veesinarow]

LOL at "we should of (sic) spent millions on other players" - what would now be said if we had spunked £30m on 4 players and still found ourselves with one point from 4 games?

Good old Reading, don't know how to spend all that money /Hammond out / we don't know what we're doing / you can't just spend all that money without results being immediately better etc etc - take your pick.

[Rex]

LOL at "we should of (sic) spent millions on other players" - what would now be said if we had spunked £30m on 4 players and still found ourselves with one point from 4 games?

Good old Reading, don't know how to spend all that money /Hammond out / we don't know what we're doing / you can't just spend all that money without results being immediately better etc etc - take your pick.

That's blown the next 4 threads at least.

[Royal Biscuitman]

The fact we started the last two seasons slowly dicing with relegation and finished strong (play off final and Champions) will not be overlooked at board level - that will give the manager some time.

[melonhead]

West Ham are slightly different in that they are a club who come with a huge reputation - and are therefore a more attractive proposition for someone like Andy Carrol - the consensus of opinion is that he wouldn't really fit in here though.

and even he said he really didnt want to go there

[Caskeys Lovechild]

That's mainly because some bell-end came in and paid £35million for him, and now he thinks he's gods gift, despite the fact that he's only marginally above average.

[facaldaqui]

That's mainly because some bell-end came in and paid £35million for him, and now he thinks he's gods gift, despite the fact that he's only marginally above average.

One of the sorriest things that happened last season was when Doncaster got rid of O'Driscoll. Just because of a bad start they threw aside a tried and tested manager and replaced him with a blagger type who brought in all sorts of name players who did not improve the team in the slightest. Now the whole club is back at square one.

[melonhead]

he thinks he's gods gift, despite the fact that he's only marginally above average.

same applies to west ham

[harryroyal]

I hear steve kean is available

[Theroyalbox]

We are 4 games in and already destine for relagation apparently , what a joke

[grey_squirrel]

McD.

"He knows what he is doing" - No he doesn't. He has never managed at Premier level. Saying he has done well at Championship level is like comparing Neil Armstrong to a hang-glider-ist when it comes to the Premiership.

We always start poorly under him. Not good enough. You would have thought he would have learned the previous preparedness errors pre-season to ensure this didn't happen in arguably our most important season ever.

We will improve. Well the first player's head that noticeably went down after Chelsea's 3rd was Guthrie. Arguably our best hope of saviour and creativity in the midfield. Brilliant.

"I believe in the Group". "The group this, the group that......" Bollox. We have no Lambert or Lallana or Noble or anything near. Not good enough.

It is patently obvious McD is not good enough and his "Group" is nowhere near good enough.

I hate to see us as the whpping boys, but we already are and I can't see an easy fix. Forget Madejski, the Russian's will be trigger happy and they might just have every reason to be so.

[Maguire]

McD.

"He knows what he is doing" - No he doesn't. He has never managed at Premier level. Saying he has done well at Championship level is like comparing Neil Armstrong to a hang-glider-ist when it comes to the Premiership.

We always start poorly under him. Not good enough. You would have thought he would have learned the previous preparedness errors pre-season to ensure this didn't happen in arguably our most important season ever.

We will improve. Well the first player's head that noticeably went down after Chelsea's 3rd was Guthrie. Arguably our best hope of saviour and creativity in the midfield. Brilliant.

"I believe in the Group". "The group this, the group that......" Bollox. We have no Lambert or Lallana or Noble or anything near. Not good enough.

It is patently obvious McD is not good enough and his "Group" is nowhere near good enough.

I hate to see us as the whpping boys, but we already are and I can't see an easy fix. Forget Madejski, the Russian's will be trigger happy and they might just have every reason to be so.

Shit troll is shit

[larry1971]

It doesn'r work in the prem my friend as was proved last time. Paying more out on actual fees would have got as a better quality of player, other teams paid out fees as well as transfer fees and they are better for it.

Are you really this ill informed?? A transfer fee does not indicate the quality of a player - it indicates that the player has previously signed a contract which commits him to the club for a set amount of time - the transfer fee is simply a compensation to the club for breaking that agreement assuming you can convince the player to make the move. There are very few Premier League standard players in the Championship - and the Premier League quality players you ask for, already play in the Premier League, and aren't likely to want to join the most recently promoted club. You will find better quality players in the section of the market which has been "Unable to agree personal temrs with their current club" - and you'll see better value in this area than the level of player we can afford to buy from Premier League clubs.

West Ham are slightly different in that they are a club who come with a huge reputation - and are therefore a more attractive proposition for someone like Andy Carrol - the consensus of opinion is that he wouldn't really fit in here though.

Carroll didn't fit in at Liverpool, because they never played to his strengths and if Carroll, had come to Reading, Mcdermott would of had to completely change the styile of football the team plays to accomodate him and I'm not sure he would of been prepared to do that also as I understand it West Ham, are paying a large chunck of Caroll's wages which is again some thing Im not sure Reading would of been prepared to do.

The fact we started the last two seasons slowly dicing with relegation and finished strong (play off final and Champions) will not be overlooked at board level - that will give the manager some time.

there is a huge difference between starting badly in the Championship and starting badly in the Premiership for one thing the quality of the other teams is far better in the Premiership making it far more difficult to make up lost ground without looking at the stats I can't say for certain but I suspect if you look back at every season of the Premiership I suspect that you'll find that promoted teams who start off badly are more often than not relegated at the end of the season.

[BrockManson]

He's earned his shot at the big time and it's still very early days.

Stoke was definitely a must win and the team was very unlucky not to do so. He managed to conjure a spirited performance away to Chelsea too, which showed that when the team is in the right frame of mind then they can score goals at this level.

Right now though there's a worrying trend in games - barely any chances are created and there doesn't seem to be any game plan. There needs to be some serious work on the training ground as the team just aren't even getting the basics right - the last two performances were absolutely unacceptable.

I'm sure McD knows this and will work with the team. It's his biggest test as Reading manager and he'll be given time to pass it, just need to take each game as they come. Far too early to call for him being sacked after he's made such progress with a very average team!

[Jim Leighton]

Our first win is vitally important. As soon as we take our first 3 points off a team that will give us massive confidence, which we badly need - I QPR is a masive game, the league pressure will be off, and a win will boost our confidence no end.

Oh, and f*ck off newbie (to myself!!).

[Royal Bahamas]

I'm on record saying I believe we were (and then only just about) the third-best team in last year's championship
and that we stole the championship "somehow". It would have taken very little to have happened differently for
us to have lost at West Ham, Saints and Brighton, for example, and had we lost those games, we might have dropped other points.

I'm aware, just as everybody is, that we won the league, but it always felt (to me) like "WTF, how did we win that?"


If the reality is we were really "just about a play-off side" then we were going to need a major overhaul rather then "improvement"
but wouldn't it be hard for a manager to say to owners, "West Ham and Southampton have much better players than we do." ?

Last season I said we didn't have game-changers. Only Kebe, IMO is/was a player who MIGHT do something out of the ordinary.

In the premiership, who would we have who might do something special and make a goal from nothing?

IMO we were always going to be up against it, and fourth-bottom would have been (will be) an achievement.

Let's remember that this is pretty much the norm. MOST promoted sides struggle to stay up.



IMO Gunter is a definite improvement on Cummings, a far more positive player, and he's "OK" as a Prem RB, but a bottom-third player.

I said before the season (tho' I admire Harte the man) that if Harte was our No 1 LB in January we would be relegated. If Shorey
is to replace him, again, he's an OK, just about Premiership player, but bottom third.

Guthrie looks a step up in quality for us (would look awesome in the Championship) but he looks to be playing to a script
and the scrip isn't working because our wingers, when given opportunities, seem to have lost the plot. If we are to
continue the Reading way we have to be banging in many, many more crosses, so Pog/Roberts and ALF/Hunt have
something to work with.

Marriappa is still to play. I think that might turn out to be a mistake.

What worries me most is the FEEL of the team. I do wonder if there is dressing room unrest or something. Whether we were outclassed
or not we usually FOUGHT (the exception being home to Watford last year) but the players look a shadow of themselves energy-wise
and attitude-wise. Shorey must have been getting more and more peed-off, ditto Mariappa, and/or maybe something isn't gelling
in the middle. I really don't KNOW what the problem is but the tempo, the sheer bloody enthusiasm has gone and we need it back.

Will Guthrie give 101% if we continue losing? Will Pog run through brick walls like Long did?


I have to say, right now we smell like a side destined never to get out of the bottom three, and though
I can't put my finger on it, something feels slightly "off" in a squad renowned for its spirit

This feels so right in it's sentiment. All we can ask for, is that Brian McD shows us all once again that he CAN make the TEAM work!

[Stuboo]

We all know that traditionally McD takes the first few games to get the team right and playing well together. I see no reason why that isn't the case here, so I don't see the need to panic. Whether our squad isn't the best on paper is not so relevant (I agree that West Ham and Southampton had/have better squads) because we always seem to compensate for this by having a great team togetherness, great team work and an excellent manager. Plus, we do have some real talent in our squad (Pog, Kebe, Guthrie, Roberts, McCannuf) and when they start to fire I think we'll be OK.