Brian: The right decision?

[sandman]

How many trophies has Nige won for Reading?

He might have struggled given he's not completed a full f*cking season yet.

And given the fact that the only cup competition we've been in we got dicked 6-0.

[Ian Royal]

How many trophies has Nige won for Reading?

He might have struggled given he's not completed a full f*cking season yet.

And given the fact that the only cup competition we've been in we got dicked 6-0.

So he's won no fewer cup competitions than McDermott then.

Losing 2-1 to Charlton in an equally gutless performance, or going out on penalties to NoROFLthampton Town is far superior to Adkins performance in the LOLeague Cup.

[floyd__streete]

are you trying to convince us that we had a bad record in the cups under McDermott, Ian?

The 6-0 at Peterborough was - in context of resources available - the most gutless, pathetic, disorganised and contemptible Reading performance I have ever seen.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

So he's won no fewer cup competitions than McDermott then.

Losing 2-1 to Charlton in an equally gutless performance, or going out on penalties to NoROFLthampton Town is far superior to Adkins performance in the LOLeague Cup.

We lost 6-0 to Peterborough....

Ian ROFLoyal.

[Man Friday]

How many trophies has Nige won for Reading?

He might have struggled given he's not completed a full f*cking season yet.

You're easily impressed. No wonder you're a fan of Nige!

[Ian Royal]

:lol: are you trying to convince us that we had a bad record in the cups under McDermott, Ian?

The 6-0 at Peterborough was - in context of resources available - the most gutless, pathetic, disorganised and contemptible Reading performance I have ever seen.

Bit surprised you're hooking yourself on that lame offering Floyd me old chum. I thought that was the sort of thing that only sandy would swallow.

Not at all. We had an excellent record in the FA Cup. But then Adkins hasn't managed a single FA Cup game for us, so it'd be even more ridiculous to compare their records in that competition than it is for sandy and co to compare Adkins League Cup or League performance against McDermotts.

McDermott's League Cup achievements in the Championship were pretty lame. Obviously did a bit better in the PL, squeezing past Peterborough and QPR narrowly.

[Ian Royal]

So he's won no fewer cup competitions than McDermott then.

Losing 2-1 to Charlton in an equally gutless performance, or going out on penalties to NoROFLthampton Town is far superior to Adkins performance in the LOLeague Cup.

We lost 6-0 to Peterborough....

Ian ROFLoyal.

Yes, I know. I was at both Posh and Charlton. Both shambolic performances.

I'm not so surprised about hooking you though.

[Extended-Phenotype]

You're easily impressed. No wonder you're a fan of Nige!

Not really. Just rather amused at the retardedness of penalising someone for failing to achieve something made impossible by the laws of the universe.

[Man Friday]

...then your laughing Smilie should have been placed after my comment, not the comment after.

Besides, the last 2 Chelsea managers seemed to achieve it...

Last, but not least, it was obviously said in jest. You take things far too seriously (as confirmed by your pretentious username - but I've told you about that before...).

[Hoop Blah]

As usual there's some utter guff and history re-writing on this thread.

Firstly this notion that we used to be a club that looked after managers who served us well for many years. Take Maurice Evans, about as decent and loyal a guy as you could get who was unceromoniously dumped in favour of Ian Branfoot.

Brendan Rodgers who despite being tasked with a huge transition in personnel and playing style was given barely 6 months in the job. His many years helping to develop the Academy into something the club frequently boast about now didn't count for shit.

Likewise McD's 10 years of service don't come into the reckoning if the chairman can't see any future with him at the helm.

Personally I didn't agree with any of those dismissals but sometimes tough decisions have to be made and they need to be made with a clear mind not distracted by misty eyed notions of loyalty. In that sense the club hasn't changed one little bit and as much as i might not agree with it, it's probably the best way for them to operate.

The only time I can remember loyalty getting in the way of making a cold decision was when fan power effectively kept Coppell around for an extra season when neither his head nor his heart were really in it.

I'd, as per usual, agree with pretty much all of that. Under Sir John we've been a pretty patient and understanding boss for our managers but we've still got rid when we've felt it necessary for whatever reason (good or bad). Not a lot has changed there.

On the flipside though is the absurd revisionism of the McD era from the Adkins disciples. I'm not sure what league those people are looking at but the last time I looked at the championship it was made up of 24 teams and being in and around the top 6 doesn't constitute mid table. Also the 4th Highest wage bill in the division? Once we got promoted and paid the title winning bonuses it might have been up there but whilst we were actually playing the games we certainly weren't that high up on the salary front. Certainly i'd wager that we're closer to that level now under Adkins than we ever were under McD but even that's to be expected as a recently relegated Premiership team.

Disagree on that front though Vision. Personally I make it 3rd highest wages for 2012, paying £26.5m.

In 2011 we were 5th on £18.3m and only significantly behind Champions QPR who paid out £27.5m (so think of all those promotion bonuses on top of a supposedly expensively assembled squad) and two relegated sides with parachute payments in Hull, £21.2m, and Burnley, £19.3m. 'Boro may have been up there too but they don't disclose their wage bill.

In 2010, when we finished 9th, our wage bill was £18.2m, which to my reckoning made us the 3rd highest payers behind Newcastle and West Brom.

With the extra wages for Roberts, Mullins, Cywka, Connolly and Afobe bolstering our normally budgetted wage bill post TSI I think we'll have been right up there in the payers league anyway. In my opinion the promotion bonuses won't have pushed us massively ahead of the second tier of payers in the division (West Ham were out there as the top payers, but Leicester, Southampton, Birmingham and ourselves were in a tight little pack about £8-10m above the few clubs paying £16-£18m) and we would've comfortably been in the top 6 and not far behind 2nd if you exclude everyones bonuses.

Oh and don't get me started on the whole McD only played hoofball debate either. Because it's bollocks.

FWIW I think Adkins is doing a decent job. he has a talented (if a little lopsided in places) squad for sure but is probably dealing with more changes and issues on and off the field than he envisioned when he took over. Sure he's a bit of a smarmfest when interviewed and I'm not convinced that the style of football is as progressive as some would have us believe but we're still in a very good position in the league. I'm hoping that he'll stop tinkering around with formations and personnel as much as he does (injuries permitting of course) and manages to settle things down a bit more for the second half of the season.

Either way, comparisons with McD's time here are pointless as it's a whole different situation. He's doing a decent job and any talk of sacking him (aside from the dubious trolling enjoyment) is ridiculous really.

Disagree on the hoofball rejection too.

When we had Sigurdsson he rightly played a much better brand of football, using Tabb and Howard in the middle to get the best from Sigurdsson and Long. Once Sigurdsson left though, and the promotion and relegation sides especially, we would very rarely get the ball down and patiently pass the ball. Karacan and Leigertwood were obviously under instructions to get the ball forward as quickly as possible and we tirelessly worked the channels and played on oppositions mistakes by keeping them under as much pressure as possible. It was very effective, so it's hard to knock him for that, but I'd say it's more revisionist to say we weren't a direct side for the majority of McDermotts tenure.

[Cureton's Volley]

Watching some lower-league side in the cup belt it long to relieve the defence is hoofball.

Playing percentage balls into channels to continually pressure the opponents on the attack, is direct.

There is a difference I feel. Admittedly relegation year we were more hoof than direct.

[Ian Royal]

Watching some lower-league side in the cup belt it long to relieve the defence is hoofball.

Playing percentage balls into channels to continually pressure the opponents on the attack, is direct.

There is a difference I feel. Admittedly relegation year we were more hoof than direct.

Hoofball is when it doesn't work. Direct is when it works.

[Cureton's Volley]

Fair enough. What is short passing called when that doesn't work?

[Elm Park Kid]

Fair enough. What is short passing called when that doesn't work?

Jay Tabb's career

[sandman]

Fair enough. What is short passing called when that doesn't work?

Faffing about like a fifty pence tart.

[Hoop Blah]

Watching some lower-league side in the cup belt it long to relieve the defence is hoofball.

Playing percentage balls into channels to continually pressure the opponents on the attack, is direct.

There is a difference I feel. Admittedly relegation year we were more hoof than direct.

Hoofball is when it doesn't work. Direct is when it works.

I disagree. Hoofball is just a childish term used on the internet for a style of play that's based around getting the ball forward early, or in other words being direct.

[Maguire]

There's a difference between dropping balls into the channels for strikers to chase (and either win the ball or force the defender to play it out for a throw-in) and sticking a big man up top with a plan to bang long balls onto his head.

The reason Reading were hopeless in the Premier League wasn't so much to do with "McDermott being found out tactically" as the fact that we didn't have very good players. And yes, that was partly Brian's fault but when your team is playing against superior opposition it's natural for them to panic/get rid of the ball too early/send it long and so on.

[Royal91]

It was hoofing!

Direct play is deliberate strategy that you buy players for.

In our case it was hoofing because we played Pog, Alf and Hunt up top. ALL OF WHICH ARE NOT DIRECT TYPE PLAYERS (Hunt on some level is).

Furthermore you don't buy a deep lying player maker and get him to start playing DIRECT football.

Admit it. WE WERE SHIT AND WE HOOFED IT.

[floyd__streete]

Admit it. WE WERE SHIT AND WE HOOFED IT.

Using capital letters doesn't reinforce your point or make it any less ludicrous, Brick.

[Royal91]

Admit it. WE WERE SHIT AND WE HOOFED IT.

Using capital letters doesn't reinforce your point or make it any less ludicrous, Brick.

Never said it did you complete c/nt.

Please enlighten me. You cannot tell me my point is ludicrous and then not provide a critique.