Next Reading Manager: Press Conference @ 9:15

[Agent Balti]

Royal lady .. The tactics we are trying to move on from started with Coppell, would be a terrible choice for manager.

Yeah, so terrible he took us to 106 points in the chump and 8th in the prem.. terribLOLe resuLOLts indeed...

Replace the manager who has nearly got us relegated with the manager who actually did get us relegated, is another way to look at it.

Coppell's results, nor Brian's results in the Championship are in any question. It's the style we play and the tactics we employ that IS the question. We do not play 'modern' football, our players do not play with any technical flair or style. Football has moved on, and we, sadly, have not. THAT, is the crux of it all, not any percentages or harking back to past glories.

Move forward, not back...and we are in big, big danger of slipping back much more than some people believe.

[Snowball]

Agreed, last time I checked Jobi was still towards the top of the assists table for the PL and McCleary was nowhere.

Y'think maybe that's because McAnuff has played 2,496 Minutes v McCleary's 936?




There's a table on line for combined goals - assists. ALF is 24th, Kebe is on there
but McAnuff ISN'T because he hasn't scored a Premiership goal in 29 games.

McCleary has in about 35% of the game time.

Kebe has FIVE goals in just over half McAnuff's game-time


So McAnuff's goal-scoring is zilch, his assists per minute played is not exactly fantastic
but combining goals and assists he fails miserably against the other two (and HRK)

[Royalee]

Coppellol...in fairness he'd probably resign before we got relegated this time round and claim his heart's not in it.

[Snowball]

Seriously, how can you say that an attacking player who has failed to score in 29 games
and only has one assist every 4 games is doing well?

Plus, defensively, he isn't doing better than Jimmy

[Royal Lady]

Coppellol...in fairness he'd probably resign before we got relegated this time round and claim his heart's not in it.

Not if he came in to manage until end of the season he wouldn't. If he managed to keep him up he would be the messiah, if he didn't, no hard feelings and he's still a legend. Win, win!

[Mike Hunt]

"apparently"




hammond has clearly been nothing but brilliant for this club. imo

Agreed. He is a Legend.

[Royalee]

Coppellol...in fairness he'd probably resign before we got relegated this time round and claim his heart's not in it.

Not if he came in to manage until end of the season he wouldn't. If he managed to keep him up he would be the messiah, if he didn't, no hard feelings and he's still a legend. Win, win!

Thing is with Coppell, he never could make changes when they were needed and they're needed more than ever now.

[Royal Lady]

Well, maybe he's learned and there are diffent players completely now, so maybe he would look at them as a whole squad and play a different set of players to those that McD used to pick.

[Royalee]

Learning was never one of Coppell's strong points - the 2005/6 team was brought about because the likes of Hughes were bidded for by Norwich and he faced the certainty of the sack unless wholesale changes were made on the 2004/5 team. In 2008 he didn't use the January window just because we won a couple of games which paved over massive cracks and then in 2008/9 he couldn't halt the horrendous post-Christmas slump. He's alright when things are going rosy at keeping people's feet on the ground, but he's the worst person possible when things turn bad, which is why he never quite established himself as a top manager.

[Divvy]

Learning was never one of Coppell's strong points - the 2005/6 team was brought about because the likes of Hughes were bidded for by Norwich and he faced the certainty of the sack unless wholesale changes were made on the 2004/5 team.

What utter nonsense. You only have to look back at the tables to see we were continually progressing in the right direction! He was adding to the squad carefully, under far tighter restraints than we see under the new ownership, and he built by far and away the best football league side to date!

In 2008 he didn't use the January window just because we won a couple of games which paved over massive cracks and then in 2008/9 he couldn't halt the horrendous post-Christmas slump. He's alright when things are going rosy at keeping people's feet on the ground, but he's the worst person possible when things turn bad, which is why he never quite established himself as a top manager.

You don't suppose not having a great deal of backing from SJM had anything to do with it? Yes he was too loyal to some, but every manager would have bought had they had the backing to do so!

[Royalee]

Learning was never one of Coppell's strong points - the 2005/6 team was brought about because the likes of Hughes were bidded for by Norwich and he faced the certainty of the sack unless wholesale changes were made on the 2004/5 team.

What utter nonsense. You only have to look back at the tables to see we were continually progressing in the right direction! He was adding to the squad carefully, under far tighter restraints than we see under the new ownership, and he built by far and away the best football league side to date!

2002/3 (Pardew's last season) finished 4th on 79 points
2003/4 (Coppell's first season) finished 9th on 70 points
2004/5 finished 7th on 70 points
...where is the progression there? Without the likes of Convey coming in for Hughes and Doyle's signing plus the contracts of players like Brooker, Owusu, Goater and so on expiring to force change, I'm still not sure Coppell stumbles across that team, as great as it was.

In 2008 he didn't use the January window just because we won a couple of games which paved over massive cracks and then in 2008/9 he couldn't halt the horrendous post-Christmas slump. He's alright when things are going rosy at keeping people's feet on the ground, but he's the worst person possible when things turn bad, which is why he never quite established himself as a top manager.

You don't suppose not having a great deal of backing from SJM had anything to do with it? Yes he was too loyal to some, but every manager would have bought had they had the backing to do so!
Coppell's biggest signings were Seol, Fae and Halford and all were flops. McDermott's biggest signings have been Carrico, Gunter, Guthrie and Pogrebnyak - with the exception of Pog, none have delivered thus far...whilst I agree with the point when Madejski didn't invest much last time we were up, what was spent was wasted and Zingarevich has proven through the wages we've spent and bids we've made that money was there to be used, McDermott just didn't spend it wisely enough.

[sandman]

Why are you lot arguing with a Fella who for 6 months went on and on about how he was ''enjoying the Rodger's revolution'' and calling Sir Steve all the names under the sun? You can't win, he's a nutter and not the loveable Sheldon Cooper type either.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Have we got a new manager yet? Bored of waiting.

[Agent Balti]

Have we got a new manager yet? Bored of waiting.

No, people seem to be content to play Top Trumps with "Former Manager who was quite good, but not good enough" vs "Former Manager who was very good, but also, quite good enough.

[Badger Finger]

Is no one even claiming to be ITK?

[Royal Dee]

Sorry if anyones suggested this but what about Mick Mcarthy?

[Snowball]

Sorry if anyones suggested this but what about Mick Mcarthy?

Good manager IMO but I'd like Adkins/Poyet or Fergusson (Alex)

[AthleticoSpizz]

I would like Mourhino

[sandman]

Wouldn't mind Carlo Ancelotti personally.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Bill Shankley? whats he doing thesedays?