by Mr Angry »
11 Nov 2013 10:05
Personally I was both surprised and disappointed that McDermott was sacked when he was, regardless of the reasoning; it seemed to me a hugely negative thing to dispense with the services of someone who had proved he could get a football team promoted from the Championship. I genuinely hope he does well at Leeds, and for the first time in 40 Years, I don't want Leeds to get relegated or suffer weekly humiliation.
Despite the sacking of McDermott, I'm not disappointed in the appointment of Adkins, who will clearly need time to develop the squad to fit into how he wants the game to be played, and for the change in style to become embedded and to work effectively - time that many who post on this board appear unwilling to give him.
Reading FC are - to use a couple of footballing cliches - a work in progress and in transition; to achieve automatic promotion this season will be both a miracle and, IMHO, far from the panacea to all things that many make out, as I feel at this stage in our development playing in the Premier League would be a disaster. Far better to develop the new style in the Championship for another season after this, and then we should be better equipped to survive should we get promotion.
However, a play-off spot is not beyond the bounds of possibility this season, and achieving that should be seen as a success for Adkins; sadly though, there will be some for whom the guy will never be any good purely because he isn't McDermott.