Adkins - Pros and Cons

[Ouroboros]

Oh and still apportioning SJM blame for the current spending policy of the club is, of course, utterly bonkers.

FYI,
SJM is co-chairman, has a seat on the board, and was at pains to point out at the TV interview he did with the Thai woman that they wished to continue in the same way as the club had been run, pre-Zingarevitch. Watch the interview again.

Yeah.

It's unbelievable that SJM keeps his deathly grasp on the carcass of this club while potential buyers are out there desperate to pump millions or even billions into its coffers. We could be the next Man City or Chelsea.

It's like he doesn't even want us to succeed.

[under the tin]

Not at all, Wingnut. SJM said that the THAIS liked the ethos of the prudent "reading way".
Get real. They are not itching to throw money at our football club. Watch the interview.
What they are providing is the ability to prop up an unsustainable wageroll in the short term. SJM could not afford to underwrite this.
Not only have the Thais underwritten this, they have increased the wage bill further with the additions of Cox, Mackie, Murray and Norwood.
HIgh earning deadwood is going to have to be stripped out of the squad before the proper rebuild is possible.

[Alan Partridge]

Got to be honest, i barely follow RFC any more these days for a host of different reasons but looking in from afar I kind of don't know what you were all expecting this season? Looking at that team on paper it is mediocre at best, the club has basically been in turmoil for 18 months off the field and you can't be successful on it if you are a shambles off it. The whole ownership nightmare combined with letting your best players go over a period of time to be replaced by unproven young kids along with a few championship plodders is never going to mean a side that challenges at the top of the league. Funnily enough teams not at the top of the league lose more than they win......

The new 'consortium' would worry me in the same way the last one did, change isn't often a good thing within football clubs especially relatively stable ones and ever since Madejski has made it clear he REALLY wants out the downward spiral has kicked in, it's made it exceptionally difficult for both managers Reading have had in this time. You felt that during the Pardew/Coppell era everyone at the club was singing from the same hymn sheet and had the same sort of motivation and goals, albeit on a budget but Reading never sold their best players to sides in the same league. Both managers were supported well in the transfer market (even Rodgers was) and both had a plan in how they were going to do it. You don't get that same feeling now, in that aspect Adkins job has been extremely tough from day 1. He hasn't had that support or stability that previous managers have had.

However I've always thought Adkins would make a great politician, he has a remarkable way of making a 10 second interview last 5 minutes where he talks and talks but says absolutely nothing. He's just a bit weird and a bit timid, if he's like this with the players then I would find it difficult to understand how he'd pick people up when their confidence was low or really turnaround a side. He's not the sort of muck and nettles in your face manager that might inherit a struggling club and keep them up or really turn it around. That would concern me about this run Reading are on, they've got the ideal fixture Saturday but if they don't win it they could be in some serious bother and like I said I don't think he's the guy you want in a fight.

With this core of predominantly young players, a lot of them homegrown or been at the club for a long time I think you could make a case for a manager that knows the club a bit more, that has a feeling for it to galvanise players and fans, Dolan or Parkinson would be the obvious choices. Parkinson would probably be the supporters choice but Dolan has worked with all of these players before and probably should have got the job in the first place once they'd decided to move McDermott on, a decision that was ridiculous at the time and nothing has happened since to suggest it was the right thing to do.

[Cureton's Volley]

Adkins is a one trick pony.

Nothing was ever going to change significantly tonight; not because of lack of options but because the manager only wants to play one way. He has never been any different since the day he arrived.

We have had worse squads than this but previous managers have recognised, as any manager at this level must, that you have to play to the strengths of the players at your disposal.

We haven't just marked time under Adkins we have gone backwards.

Who remembers this team and what it achieved?

Hahnemann
Murty
Sonko
Ingermarsson
Shorey
Little
Harper
Sidwell
Convey/Hunt
Kitson
Doyle

We had all of Pardew, Coppell, McDermott & Hammond to thank for that team and you can add Wally Downes for making them good enough defensively to finish a point shy of making the EUFA Cup.

Good teams, like the one above, are built from the back but defend from the front. There is simply NO excuse for what we have witnessed in our own penalty area for most of Adkin's tenure.

Who remembers the howls of "No Ambition!! (eh, Royal Blue ) when the likes of Dave Kitson was signed from Cambridge. I wouldn't mind betting that we could have paid all that team with change to spare from what we fork out for the largely useless Pog

I'd still turn up every week to see the 106 regardless of what it would cost me in lost earnings whereas Adkins version of total football is tantamount to watching paint dry.

Who remembers Glen Little away to Wolves, surrounded by 3 defenders and beating them all or, his peach of a cross that allowed Lita to score off Coles? shin at the Bridge? There's more chance of hell freezing over than witnessing the like again while Adkins remains at the helm.

Shame on those who slag off the Reading way that produced the best team ever to grace this league, in favour of what we have witnessed since McDermott was sacked.

I wish I could say I was disappointed with tonight's result but I'm not as anything that hastens Adkins departure is now a blessing in disguise.

I want my club back and I want to sit in my seat again, neither of which will happen unless Adkin's goes.

Top post.

Reading had a successful formula. When we try & change it with the likes of Brendan & Nigel it goes tits up. I'm not saying either are bad managers, but to make such a change they need serious financial backing. Reading will never invest beyond our means, and I'm quite happy we don't.

We should stick with honest pragmatism as opposed to chasing the pipe dream of pretty football & challenging for Europe (lol)

[wingnut]

Not at all, Wingnut. SJM said that the THAIS liked the ethos of the prudent "reading way".
Get real. They are not itching to throw money at our football club. Watch the interview.

Quite. I never said they were - quite the opposite in fact.
What I was trying to do, utterly pointlessly I admit, was to counter RB's manic assertion that SJM still had control of the club's spending policy.

[muddyfeet]

Got to be honest, i barely follow RFC any more these days for a host of different reasons but looking in from afar I kind of don't know what you were all expecting this season? Looking at that team on paper it is mediocre at best, the club has basically been in turmoil for 18 months off the field and you can't be successful on it if you are a shambles off it. The whole ownership nightmare combined with letting your best players go over a period of time to be replaced by unproven young kids along with a few championship plodders is never going to mean a side that challenges at the top of the league. Funnily enough teams not at the top of the league lose more than they win......

The new 'consortium' would worry me in the same way the last one did, change isn't often a good thing within football clubs especially relatively stable ones and ever since Madejski has made it clear he REALLY wants out the downward spiral has kicked in, it's made it exceptionally difficult for both managers Reading have had in this time. You felt that during the Pardew/Coppell era everyone at the club was singing from the same hymn sheet and had the same sort of motivation and goals, albeit on a budget but Reading never sold their best players to sides in the same league. Both managers were supported well in the transfer market (even Rodgers was) and both had a plan in how they were going to do it. You don't get that same feeling now, in that aspect Adkins job has been extremely tough from day 1. He hasn't had that support or stability that previous managers have had.

However I've always thought Adkins would make a great politician, he has a remarkable way of making a 10 second interview last 5 minutes where he talks and talks but says absolutely nothing. He's just a bit weird and a bit timid, if he's like this with the players then I would find it difficult to understand how he'd pick people up when their confidence was low or really turnaround a side. He's not the sort of muck and nettles in your face manager that might inherit a struggling club and keep them up or really turn it around. That would concern me about this run Reading are on, they've got the ideal fixture Saturday but if they don't win it they could be in some serious bother and like I said I don't think he's the guy you want in a fight.

With this core of predominantly young players, a lot of them homegrown or been at the club for a long time I think you could make a case for a manager that knows the club a bit more, that has a feeling for it to galvanise players and fans, Dolan or Parkinson would be the obvious choices. Parkinson would probably be the supporters choice but Dolan has worked with all of these players before and probably should have got the job in the first place once they'd decided to move McDermott on, a decision that was ridiculous at the time and nothing has happened since to suggest it was the right thing to do.

massive +1

Whilst we have been playing poorly and I dont think Adkins tactics are right for us, everyone is having a complete crisis over losing a few games. We were never going to challenge playoff's this year with our squad and we avoided administration which was an actual crisis
We have some players with a lot of potential but we are lacking in experience and depth so I always felt the best we could hope for was mid table
If we are deep in relegation shit by January then I may panic a bit more. Until then I am willing to let the situation play out for a few more games and hopefully get some of the injured players back

[CzechRoyal]

If we want to start judging Adkins in terms of his passion and drive you need to look at the end of the Bournemouth match when you have Pearce, Hector, Gunter, Obita and others coming to thanks the fans for their support; Adkins disappeared down the tunnel straight away which ,considering there wasn't a single 'Adkins Out' chant that I heard, at least shows that he's not willing to face the fans which could in tern be a sign of how he is unwilling to really face up to the problems in the defense and make big calls like giving Tanner a run in the first team. I do agree however that he can't be judged until he's had some of the Thai money to spend in January. Same goes for the new owners.

[Coppell's Ghost]

The man stands on the touchline and shout incessantly for 90 mins yet nothing ever gets through... I wouldn't trust him with tuck shop money let alone a transfer kitty. This will be a good test of the Thais' intentions to see how they deal with abject failure.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Hi Coppell's Goat, welcome to the board. Also, I think Steve Coppell is alive and well.

[savage 4 england]

Seriously what did people expect this season?

Bringing through youngsters and finishing mid-table would be a successful season in my view.

[Norfolk Royal]

Most seasoned RFC observers on here said we would struggle this season and guess what, we are. Get over it.

[Royality creeps In]

Most seasoned RFC observers on here said we would struggle this season and guess what, we are. Get over it.

Yes your correct with the squad we had . However he (Adkins) has bought in Mackie, Norwood and Cox, which should improve the squad.
Whilst at the same time not addressing our defensive issues.
Adkins is in charge of the squad

He is sending us backwards and some of you blinkered lot can't see it.


We better get used to playing in front of 8,000 fans like last night because without action it will be happening folks!

[under the tin]

Most seasoned RFC observers on here said we would struggle this season and guess what, we are. Get over it.

Yes your correct with the squad we had . However he (Adkins) has bought in Mackie, Norwood and Cox, which should improve the squad.
Adkins is sending us backwards.

Some of you blinkered fools can't see it.

Last season, the typical post match gripe on here was not our leaky defence, because it wasn't leaky. That's why we were close to making the play offs. The usual gripe was the small number of attempts on goal we made in matches.
Owing to the financial state of the club, Adkins was prevented from doing any business during the summer to address this.
With new ownership, he has been able to try to address this with the new attack minded players you mention.
You forgot Murray. IMHO, he is an upgrade on Pogrebnyak. Cox is an upgrade on Noel Hunt. Norwood is an upgrade on Guthrie. The jury's out on Mackie, and I doubt he will get a game once GMac's fit.

How a sudden loss of form and confidence by the existing defence (who are only backed up by kids) can be construed as Adkins taking the club backwards, only you know.

[wingnut]

How a sudden loss of form and confidence by the existing defence (who are only backed up by kids) can be construed as Adkins taking the club backwards, only you know.

Bit of an odd st8ment. Part of, in fact probably the most important part of, the manager's job is coaching. If he's not capable of coaching out basic errors and inculc8ing confidence in young players, it's only natural to question his suitability for the job.

[Wycombe Royal]

Most seasoned RFC observers on here said we would struggle this season and guess what, we are. Get over it.

Yes, but its the manner in which it is happening.

[under the tin]

How a sudden loss of form and confidence by the existing defence (who are only backed up by kids) can be construed as Adkins taking the club backwards, only you know.

Bit of an odd st8ment. Part of, in fact probably the most important part of, the manager's job is coaching. If he's not capable of coaching out basic errors and inculc8ing confidence in young players, it's only natural to question his suitability for the job.

All of us know that confidence, or lack of it completely changes a player's performance .
You can't coach confidence.
Mistakes happen. You don't really believe that Obita booting the ball straight to that Wolves player was under the instructions of Coaching staff/manager, do you? Pearce falling over at Brentford?
All most managers do is take the players in question out of the firing line, and replace them. Adkins doesn't have that luxury.

[wingnut]

I disagree that you can't coach confidence. You can absolutely educ8 a player to trust their own abilities and improve their technique such that they have faith in their abilities.
Of course you can't rule out individual mistakes but what we're seeing week in and week out is the defence acting like they've never played together. It's clear that they don't trust each other - something else they should be trained to do.

As for alternatives, well Adkins brought in 4 players, only one of whom was a defender and who has been so far a complete and utter waste of a signing - something that was fairly predictable even at the beginning. It was obvious (to me at least) that better cover on our flanks has been needed for bloddy ages.

[Sanguine]

I disagree that you can't coach confidence. You can absolutely educ8 a player to trust their own abilities and improve their technique such that they have faith in their abilities.

Rodgers and Sterling a great example of this.

[Royal Rother]

Most seasoned RFC observers on here said we would struggle this season and guess what, we are. Get over it.

Absolutely spot on.

This season was always likely to be a test of strength of character for the management, the playing staff and the fans.

Say what you like about the 1st 2, it's no surprise that the usual Hobnob suspects are failing the test dismally in their droves.

At various times I have called for faith to be shown in Pardew, Coppell, Rodgers, McDermott and Adkins. Most would agree that the faith that has been shown is part of the reason for the run of unprecedented and largely undreamed of success we've experienced in the last 10-15 years.

Keep the faith in Adkins - we aren't going up or down and there's very little difference between finishing 8th and 18th, but accepting no promotion early on will mean the youngsters will get more pitch time and in a couple of years that could bear huge dividends.

Chase an unrealistic dream by signing more players this year and it will cost many millions that could be better directed elsewhere and at a later more advantageous point in the club's development.

[Maguire]

I'm quite surprised at how many people are rolling out the "we were always going to struggle this season" line and placidly accepting the dross on the pitch.

Professional athletes and coaches should be driven and committed to success, not sat about going "oh well, 14th place is better than it might have been".

People say we're weak on paper but a team like this:

Federici

Gunter - Pearce - Hector - Obita

Mackie - Norwood - Guthrie - Blackman

Murray - Cox

shouldn't be getting turned over every week. That's millions of pounds of transfer fees in there, players who have played in the Prem or been linked with a move there. On top of that you have internationals like Pogrebnyak and HRK who I've not even mentioned. Federici and Pearce have played in a title-winning defensive unit. Obita was POTS last time out. Murray has scored bundles of goals in this league. Sure we're missing a couple of decent players but that side ^^ or something close to it should be playing better than it is.

I haven't seen a jot of progress during Adkins tenure and there comes a point when the excuses have to stop and achievement has to begin. I'm not saying get rid of the guy now but if I was his boss i'd be asking some questions that's for sure.

PS when "he" took over this forum was awash with smug types saying "oh the more intelligent among us appreciate he will bring a superior brand of football to the limited style imposed by McDermott". Yeah well I hope you were there last night enjoying the superior way we pick the ball out of the back of the net every fcking week.