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

[working class hero]

Seems barbaric here tbf... I usually reckon it is the inexperience of youth. But here I sense much middle aged stupidity.

[Maguire]

The other things nobody ever really mentions is whether or not Anton will have a clue what to do.

He's young, new to football, i've got no idea how well he gets on with Brian but I can tell you that they went out to dinner together in Windsor last week, who knows if he'll be a level-headed "let's see what happens" kind of guy or an Abramovich "i'll do what i want clone".

[MmmMonsterMunch]

The other things nobody ever really mentions is whether or not Anton will have a clue what to do.

He's young, new to football, i've got no idea how well he gets on with Brian but I can tell you that they went out to dinner together in Windsor last week, who knows if he'll be a level-headed "let's see what happens" kind of guy or an Abramovich "i'll do what i want clone".

My completely unfounded opinion of him would be that he seems calm & will just see what happens.

[Get Carter]

How many goals have we conceded on our right side - Arsenal alone have probably scored 9 out of 12 coming down their left wing.
Surely McD can see our vulnerability and try to fix it.
Man City away could be an 8 or 9 pasting, based on tonight's performance.

[Big Ern]

I can't see Brian getting sacked now, even if we don't pickup another win (highly likely) this season.

6 defeats in a row and the 7th a formality against Man City and still he's in charge. You have to praise Anton's patience and loyalty, even if it means questioning his sanity and financial resources.

[frimmers3]

there is a fine line between loyalty and lunacy.

[RoyalBlue]

The 'club and management can do no wrong' brigade frequently ridicule anyone who dares to offer any criticism/critique and accuse them of being 'Championship Manager' gamers.

Sadly, even a myopic 'Championship Manager' gamer could spot the flaw in McDermott's tactics last night as he absurdly decided to match Tabb and Legs (two good Championship players who would struggle to get a starting place in most PL teams) up against an Arsenal midfield numerically superior and full of world class quality. His 'logic' appears to have been that 'we scored three goals against Manchester United' that way.

Fortunately when we were four goals down, McDermott realised that scoring three goals wouldn't be enough and wisely decided to offer Tabb and Legs some reinforcement!

Then after the game we were treated to 'Listen, we are a team who are used to winning a lot of games' !! No Brian, that's the sodding problem. If we were a team used to winning a lot of games we wouldn't be deep in the shyte at the bottom of the PL and our players would still have some confidence left in them. We were used to winning a lot of games last season but that is history and we haven't carried that form into this league nor is there any sign at all of rediscovering it.

I'm sorry but for all his past achievements Brian McDermott has completely lost the plot this season evidenced by his tactics last night that were widely criticised by football pundits, ex-professionals and managers.

WR - I think the fans turning on Brian would force the owners to make a change actually. Once you lose the fans there isn't really a way back even at a meek club like ours.

(I am not saying I agree with doing that FTR) but if the fans turned he would sooner rather than later be gone.

I don't think Hammond and Zingarevich are so weak as to bow to the wishes of a baying mob.

Reading fans would never turn on Brian to the scale that they would need to in order to fore a change (eg the Keen abuse at Blackburn) and that is something we should be happy about. He doesn't deserve that.

The club will make the change when they deem it necessary and correct, and no amount of mumbling and grumbling in the stands will change that.

Funny isn't it how in football it seems okay to talk about how we can get a guy sacked, a guy who we all consider to be a lovely person and has done great things for our club. If we were considering doing this to any other member of society in a different profession our actions would seem quite barbaric.

No they wouldn't. Nice guys who have great past achievements quite often end up losing their jobs in 'real businesses' and, believe it or not, it can be done compassionately with no ill feelings on either side when both parties realise it is for the best. i.e. when the demands of the job are clearly beyond the capabilities of the job-holder.

It's not unusual for an MD and/or managers of a £20M Company to start to struggle when that Company grows considerably larger. They move on/back to their comfort zones and someone with greater capability succeeds them.

[Cypry]

Sadly, even a myopic 'Championship Manager' gamer could spot the flaw in McDermott's tactics last night as he absurdly decided to match Tabb and Legs (two good Championship players who would struggle to get a starting place in most PL teams) up against an Arsenal midfield numerically superior and full of world class quality. His 'logic' appears to have been that 'we scored three goals against Manchester United' that way.

Problem is, apart from starting Guthrie, who Brain stated has a slight thigh problem and correctly highlighted hasn't played 90 minutes for a long time, what else could he do other than play Leigertwood and Tabb? I suppose he could have started Jobi in the middle (would probably have got loads of stick for that), Karacan is still injured, Gunnarsson?

The biggest issue for me is the right side of defence - Cummings is getting dragged too narrow, and last night Kebe didn't seem to be tracking back as well as he normally does, and was also going narrow which left nothing to stop the Arsenal wide men putting crosses/pull backs into the box....I can't remember a single decent chance that Arsenal created from their right....

It's been that way for a number of games now, I strongly expect that we'll see some kind of reinforcement at RB in January, probably a loan...

I have to be honest, and a lot of people probably won't like this, but I'm starting to think that the best thing the club can do is take the reality of the situation on the chin and look to build a decent Championship side for next year now, rather than throw the kitchen sink at a vain hope of staying up this year.....

[Royalwaster]

Sadly, even a myopic 'Championship Manager' gamer could spot the flaw in McDermott's tactics last night as he absurdly decided to match Tabb and Legs (two good Championship players who would struggle to get a starting place in most PL teams) up against an Arsenal midfield numerically superior and full of world class quality. His 'logic' appears to have been that 'we scored three goals against Manchester United' that way.

Problem is, apart from starting Guthrie, who Brain stated has a slight thigh problem and correctly highlighted hasn't played 90 minutes for a long time, what else could he do other than play Leigertwood and Tabb? I suppose he could have started Jobi in the middle (would probably have got loads of stick for that), Karacan is still injured, Gunnarsson?

The biggest issue for me is the right side of defence - Cummings is getting dragged too narrow, and last night Kebe didn't seem to be tracking back as well as he normally does, and was also going narrow which left nothing to stop the Arsenal wide men putting crosses/pull backs into the box....I can't remember a single decent chance that Arsenal created from their right....

It's been that way for a number of games now, I strongly expect that we'll see some kind of reinforcement at RB in January, probably a loan...

I have to be honest, and a lot of people probably won't like this, but I'm starting to think that the best thing the club can do is take the reality of the situation on the chin and look to build a decent Championship side for next year now, rather than throw the kitchen sink at a vain hope of staying up this year.....

Agree - if we don't get anything out of the West Ham/Swansea games there's no point wasting money as we'll have no chance of staying up. Best thing would be to bring someone in like we did with Griffin - experienced but unspectacular RB who knows how to defend.

Re. the comment on sacking the manager - surely discussing sacking an employee is a lot different from talking of sacking a CEO or MD; I didn't see many people having much qualms about discussing the job of the RBS CEO ...

[Broxroyal]

The 'club and management can do no wrong' brigade frequently ridicule anyone who dares to offer any criticism/critique and accuse them of being 'Championship Manager' gamers.

Sadly, even a myopic 'Championship Manager' gamer could spot the flaw in McDermott's tactics last night as he absurdly decided to match Tabb and Legs (two good Championship players who would struggle to get a starting place in most PL teams) up against an Arsenal midfield numerically superior and full of world class quality. His 'logic' appears to have been that 'we scored three goals against Manchester United' that way.

Fortunately when we were four goals down, McDermott realised that scoring three goals wouldn't be enough and wisely decided to offer Tabb and Legs some reinforcement!

Then after the game we were treated to 'Listen, we are a team who are used to winning a lot of games' !! No Brian, that's the sodding problem. If we were a team used to winning a lot of games we wouldn't be deep in the shyte at the bottom of the PL and our players would still have some confidence left in them. We were used to winning a lot of games last season but that is history and we haven't carried that form into this league nor is there any sign at all of rediscovering it.

I'm sorry but for all his past achievements Brian McDermott has completely lost the plot this season evidenced by his tactics last night that were widely criticised by football pundits, ex-professionals and managers.

WR - I think the fans turning on Brian would force the owners to make a change actually. Once you lose the fans there isn't really a way back even at a meek club like ours.

(I am not saying I agree with doing that FTR) but if the fans turned he would sooner rather than later be gone.

I don't think Hammond and Zingarevich are so weak as to bow to the wishes of a baying mob.

Reading fans would never turn on Brian to the scale that they would need to in order to fore a change (eg the Keen abuse at Blackburn) and that is something we should be happy about. He doesn't deserve that.

The club will make the change when they deem it necessary and correct, and no amount of mumbling and grumbling in the stands will change that.

Funny isn't it how in football it seems okay to talk about how we can get a guy sacked, a guy who we all consider to be a lovely person and has done great things for our club. If we were considering doing this to any other member of society in a different profession our actions would seem quite barbaric.

No they wouldn't. Nice guys who have great past achievements quite often end up losing their jobs in 'real businesses' and, believe it or not, it can be done compassionately with no ill feelings on either side when both parties realise it is for the best. i.e. when the demands of the job are clearly beyond the capabilities of the job-holder.

It's not unusual for an MD and/or managers of a £20M Company to start to struggle when that Company grows considerably larger. They move on/back to their comfort zones and someone with greater capability succeeds them.

Can't put it much better than that.

[winchester_royal]

WR - I think the fans turning on Brian would force the owners to make a change actually. Once you lose the fans there isn't really a way back even at a meek club like ours.

(I am not saying I agree with doing that FTR) but if the fans turned he would sooner rather than later be gone.

I don't think Hammond and Zingarevich are so weak as to bow to the wishes of a baying mob.

Reading fans would never turn on Brian to the scale that they would need to in order to fore a change (eg the Keen abuse at Blackburn) and that is something we should be happy about. He doesn't deserve that.

The club will make the change when they deem it necessary and correct, and no amount of mumbling and grumbling in the stands will change that.

Funny isn't it how in football it seems okay to talk about how we can get a guy sacked, a guy who we all consider to be a lovely person and has done great things for our club. If we were considering doing this to any other member of society in a different profession our actions would seem quite barbaric.

No they wouldn't. Nice guys who have great past achievements quite often end up losing their jobs in 'real businesses' and, believe it or not, it can be done compassionately with no ill feelings on either side when both parties realise it is for the best. i.e. when the demands of the job are clearly beyond the capabilities of the job-holder.

It's not unusual for an MD and/or managers of a £20M Company to start to struggle when that Company grows considerably larger. They move on/back to their comfort zones and someone with greater capability succeeds them.

Not really addressing my post tbh. I agree that McD seems totally out of his depth and it's probably best for him to go, however the idea of abusing him publicly to the level that will get him the sack is something that I find quite abhorrent.

Leave this decision to the professionals.

[Royal Rother]

Leave this decision to the professionals.

I like it. Nice and subtle.

It's not intended as a boast but I would wager I have overseen far more of these types of situations in business, as part of my profession

[maffff]

At this rate, longer than Pardew's contract...

[Zaretsky]

Obvs I'm not reading this whole thread but I thought I'd just point out (not that I'm endorsing it) that the 'Reading Way' shouldn't actually be a case of holding on to a manager because we think he's the only one capable of bringing the club success. That would, by definition, be unsustainable. Swansea get ditched by a manager, they get a new one who fits their mold. Lyon reached the pinnacles not by religiously holding onto a manager but by regarding him as an asset like the players.

[Mr Controversial]

if I was Brian McDermott I would walk out on the club and stick two fingers up to some of the numpty fans....just remember where we were this time last year - rock bottom of the Championship.

Cant people see that the issue here isnt "just" McDemott, more of the responsibility lies with "the Reading way" of not spending any money. As others have said, even if Sir Alex Ferguson was to be appointed today I dont think he would do a better job and save us from relegation.

If we are honest with ourselves then we would realise that the current squad would actually be struggling for a midtable position in the Championship so expecting them to even compete in the Premiership is a joke - you are deluding yourselves.

I understand that Brian has made some mistakes (Guthrie, Pearce, Tactics) but who on this board can hold their hands up and claim to be perfect at their job - none of you. If you think about the pressure that Brian is being put under by some sections of the fans then it is inevitable that he will make errors.

We were relegated the second we won promotion to the Premiership and anyone who thought differently is a mug. If anything we shouldnt be making any rash purchases in January and we should be stashing the money to ensure we can compete next year in the Championship - just imagine if we were to spunk millions of pounds on players, wages and agents and still get relegated. It does not bear thinking about as so many other clubs have shown in the past.

I hope McDermott stays and proves his worth just to shut some of the cvnts up on here....if in the meantime you are struggling to be positive about the team and are one of the "boo boys" then might I suggest that my attending the matches you are actually adding to the problems that you are booing about.

Mr C

[Focher]

if I was Brian McDermott I would walk out on the club and stick two fingers up to some of the numpty fans....just remember where we were this time last year - rock bottom of the Championship.

Mr C

now this is where i think you are one of the numpties. that was last year, this is the premier league.

Explain to me what makes you think McDermott is cut out for Premier League management What do you think about the fact he has fallen out with our 3 highest profile and best players What do you think about him selecting Tabb and Leigertwood in midfield What do you think about him not selecting Pearce What do you think about us being 6 points adrift and lost 6 games on the spin and we appear to be getting worse what do you think about us losing a 4-0 lead, and numerous other leads this season.

He has been as bad this season as he was good the last 2, he cannot manage players that will cut it in this division, his tactics and team selection considering our opposition has been nothing short of appalling (442 against Arsenal ).

If we are happy to go down, pocket the cash, and try and come back up next season then fine stick with him, but before considering that id take a look at Blackburn, Wolves, and Bolton.

[Mr Controversial]

if I was Brian McDermott I would walk out on the club and stick two fingers up to some of the numpty fans....just remember where we were this time last year - rock bottom of the Championship.

Mr C

now this is where i think you are one of the numpties. that was last year, this is the premier league.

Explain to me what makes you think McDermott is cut out for Premier League management What do you think about the fact he has fallen out with our 3 highest profile and best players What do you think about him selecting Tabb and Leigertwood in midfield What do you think about him not selecting Pearce What do you think about us being 6 points adrift and lost 6 games on the spin and we appear to be getting worse what do you think about us losing a 4-0 lead, and numerous other leads this season.

He has been as bad this season as he was good the last 2, he cannot manage players that will cut it in this division, his tactics and team selection considering our opposition has been nothing short of appalling (442 against Arsenal ).

If we are happy to go down, pocket the cash, and try and come back up next season then fine stick with him, but before considering that id take a look at Blackburn, Wolves, and Bolton.

I think McDermott has better credentials for premier league management than many other candidates (such as Warnock!!). The truth is, even if Alex Ferguson/Mourinho had been at the club since the start of the season then I dont think our position would be too different from where we find ourselves now, thats my honest opinion.

to answer your points one by one;

What do you think about the fact he has fallen out with our 3 highest profile and best players - there are not many managers that havnt fallen out with players. This says more to be about the players lack of respect for the manager than it does about McDemotts ability to manage.

What do you think about him selecting Tabb and Leigertwood in midfield - who else is there that he can rely on? perhaps the golden gamble tickets could be for a starting place in midfield rather than money?

What do you think about him not selecting Pearce - I trust McDermott and if he and Pearce has fallen out then it would sound like Pearce is being a tit.

What do you think about us being 6 points adrift and lost 6 games on the spin and we appear to be getting worse - it was inevitable from the start of the season that this was going to be the case

what do you think about us losing a 4-0 lead, and numerous other leads this season - I agree, the Arsenal cup game was unacceptable, other than that did anyone really believe we would be competitive in this league?

He has been as bad this season as he was good the last 2, he cannot manage players that will cut it in this division, his tactics and team selection considering our opposition has been nothing short of appalling (442 against Arsenal - Have you got a CV up to date - perhaps you can post it to Madejski as you clearly would do a better job than McDermott.

[The Beardy Man]

Whilst I agree that even with a top, top class manager at the helm we would still be at the wrong end of the table....to assert that we would have lost badly to all our relegation rivals is a step beyond to my mind.

You certainly can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear....but you can fashion a sturdy (if ugly) device for transporting your loose change.

We most assuredly could have been tighter, less gung ho against our opposition. Aimed to try and be tight, stifle midfield and sneak some 1-0's and 0-0's against superior opposition.

We would still have been in a relegation scrap...but the point is we would be fighting, and probably a little better off points wise.

Losing 5-2 to Arsenal is not in and as of itself problematic....It coming off the back of a number of defeats that were less acceptable, and with non real spirit being shown is.

[Focher]

I think McDermott has better credentials for premier league management than many other candidates (such as Warnock!!). The truth is, even if Alex Ferguson/Mourinho had been at the club since the start of the season then I dont think our position would be too different from where we find ourselves now, thats my honest opinion.

to answer your points one by one;

What do you think about the fact he has fallen out with our 3 highest profile and best players - there are not many managers that havnt fallen out with players. This says more to be about the players lack of respect for the manager than it does about McDemotts ability to manage.

What do you think about him selecting Tabb and Leigertwood in midfield - who else is there that he can rely on? perhaps the golden gamble tickets could be for a starting place in midfield rather than money?

What do you think about him not selecting Pearce - I trust McDermott and if he and Pearce has fallen out then it would sound like Pearce is being a tit.

What do you think about us being 6 points adrift and lost 6 games on the spin and we appear to be getting worse - it was inevitable from the start of the season that this was going to be the case

what do you think about us losing a 4-0 lead, and numerous other leads this season - I agree, the Arsenal cup game was unacceptable, other than that did anyone really believe we would be competitive in this league?

He has been as bad this season as he was good the last 2, he cannot manage players that will cut it in this division, his tactics and team selection considering our opposition has been nothing short of appalling (442 against Arsenal - Have you got a CV up to date - perhaps you can post it to Madejski as you clearly would do a better job than McDermott.

what an appalling set of answers.

Why was it inevitable considering what Norwich and Swansea have done recently

When have i ever said i could do a better job

What options do we have in midfield Guthrie, irrespective of a falling out or not, we need points.

All managers fall out with high profile players what all 3 at 1 time...give me another example

Whether Pearce is being a tit or not, we are bottom and we need points, this should only be an issue if we are in a position to forfeit players for points.

We need to face CURRENT facts here, the team and management are an utter shambles.

[Zaretsky]

I think McDermott is as driven and forward looking as any. Continually harping on about where we were [x] years ago is patronising and degrading to his professionalism. I'm not saying he necessarily should be sacked mind. He should be judged strongly on the results he's been getting this season.