Are to unhappy Steve Clark is staying?

[Steve_Upper_West]

Dead man walking I would say... the way he generally appears infact

[Mr Optimist]

Ideal situation now would be to go up via the play offs and then relieve Clarke of his duties saying we think we have a better manager than him to take us forward at this stage.

[2.8 lita injection]

Ideal situation now would be to go up via the play offs and then relieve Clarke of his duties saying we think we have a better manager than him to take us forward at this stage.

Sacking him live on tv after a play off victory would be very, very sweet.

[Mr.Swainey]

^ likewise

More interest in what BF ate at Nandos

[Royal Rother]

All this because he dared to meet with an alternative employer who offered him a job on a higher salary and despite the fact that he decided this was the better job....

The level of vitriol is quite hilariously ridiculous.

[Ian Royal]

This thread is a really good indicator of who's a team player and desirable employee and who's a mercenary out for just the bucks.

RR do you not think that this very fan reaction, regardless of whether he has done nothing unreasonable is evidence that his decision was bad for the club?

He's gone from having some minor discontent at a run of poor form to a significant chunk of the fan base vocally wanting rid. Just as with Adkins his position starts to become untenable regardless of how justified that is. Poor results continue and there'll be active calls for his head at matches.

Splitting the fans is always bad for a club and manager.

And lets not forget we know he's pissed off his employers whilst on a bad run. Regardless of whether he was entitled (he wasn't, we had to give permission and the only reason we did is because we remembered what happened with Pards. We wanted and expected him to decline the talks) this has damaged the club and shows he doesn't give a oxf*rd about anyone but himself.

Now, yes most managers are like that. But I'll return to my plausible deniability point. Everyone pretends they're not. Once the genie is out the bottle that someone is... It's the start of the end.

There is no way he's here for long. Mediocre results, let alone poor, and he's sacked. Great results and he'll get more offers and oxf*rd off at the first one that gives him what he wants.

[Royal Rother]

99% of people involved in football are mercenaries out for the bucks.

I don't like that one little bit but have accepted it. Once that and all my other cynicism about modern pro-football settled in nothing much I realised that the opinions of fans hardly matter a jot.

[WoodleyRoyal]

After thinking about this a bit more I have come to the conclusion that this was all just a PR exercise to get a bigger crowd today.

[72 bus]

I think he will get the next three games and if results don't improve he will be gone.
He's pissed off Nigel Howe big time so I can't see him being here much longer.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... s-10477177

[Ian Royal]

99% of people involved in football are mercenaries out for the bucks.

I don't like that one little bit but have accepted it. Once that and all my other cynicism about modern pro-football settled in nothing much I realised that the opinions of fans hardly matter a jot.

Tell me how many managers survive fan protests for long and bring success to the pitch in the process?
Tell me how long managers last pissing off their employers?

Just because you as a individual can't effect long term positive cultural change in football, doesn't mean large groups of fans can't achieve short term negative change.

[Royal Rother]

There won't be a fan protest over this.

[tmesis]

There won't be a fan protest over this.

maybe not (although I'm sure a few will have something to say), but he's put himself on very thin ice if results don't improve, both with the fans, and definitely with the owners.

[Nameless]

99% of people involved in football are mercenaries out for the bucks.

I don't like that one little bit but have accepted it. Once that and all my other cynicism about modern pro-football settled in nothing much I realised that the opinions of fans hardly matter a jot.

It must have taken a huge amount of thought to accept that those involved in professional football do it for the money ! If only we could go back to the 19th century and enjoy the exploits of the southern amateur gentleman footballers !

But doing something for the money shouldn't deprive you of any sense of right and wrong, or absolve you of criticism if you make the wrong call.
I think Clarke got this one badly wrong, fudged his reasons for doing so and stands diminished in the eyes of many fans and clearly in the view of his employers.
Howe is right to turn the pressure back on Clarke - if he delivers results then he is back to doing the job he is handsomely paid for and all can be put to rest. If he doesn't deliver results he has thrown away any good will that may have bought him time to work on things.
We need to be strong promotion challengers by the end of the year or someone else may well get the benefit of the January transfer window......

[Ian Royal]

There won't be a fan protest over this.

I didn't say there would... yet.

You said fans matter not a jot.

You appear to be deliberately avoiding all the points I made that are uncomfortable to your conclusions and views.

[Winston Smith]

99% of people involved in football are mercenaries

some of you lot really need to calm down a little

[Royal Rother]

There won't be a fan protest over this.

I didn't say there would... yet.

You said fans matter not a jot.

You appear to be deliberately avoiding all the points I made that are uncomfortable to your conclusions and views.

To be honest I've got nothing to debate.

This will all be forgotten if we win a few games. If we don't we will be in exactly the position we'd have been in if he hadn't chatted to Fulham - i.e. with a manager on dodgy ground.

Fans can dislike him for all they are worth but they are reacting like big kids in my opinion.

If the club do sack him for daring to speak to another club then they are even bigger muppets than the majority of those who appear to have voted on this thread.

I can't say it any other ways than I've already said it and trying again by responding to individual points I believe are almost completely irrelevant will be a waste of my and everybody else's time.

A week is a long time in football - people really should be over this by now but if some want to bear a grudge sobeit. More fool them.

[strap]

If the club do sack him for daring to speak to another club then they are .... muppets .....

A week is a long time in football - people really should be over this by now but if some want to bear a grudge sobeit. More fool them.

The Club won;t sack him for daring to speak to another club. These are the charlatan's own words : "The club were great to me, they gave me the go-ahead to speak to Fulham. I had a good conversation with them and decided that what I had here was better for me at this stage."

The 2nd emphasis added is the reason many are so annoyed with him. He is merely using little RFC as a stepping stone, nothing more. He thinks he's Billy Big-bollocks yet his managerial "record" speaks far more eloquently than he ever could. He's no more than a scottish Brenda Bodgers. A sad little egotistical tw@t with an over-inflated opinion of himself. (If you wonder why I am more restrained today it is because my wife found my medication ).

[RoyalBlue]

So Fulham offered to pay the compensation that would activate the release clause in Clarke's contract but Nigel Howe hadn't told them what that figure was?

So were they really working blind in that respect or had the conniving Scottish Barsteward already communicated with them, either direct or through an agent, to let them know what the figure was?

I know what my money's on!

Haven't thought a lot of Howe in the past but he is absolutely spot on with regard to his comments on Clarke.

If the club do sack him for daring to speak to another club then they are .... muppets .....

A week is a long time in football - people really should be over this by now but if some want to bear a grudge sobeit. More fool them.

The Club won;t sack him for daring to speak to another club. These are the charlatan's own words : "The club were great to me, they gave me the go-ahead to speak to Fulham. I had a good conversation with them and decided that what I had here was better for me at this stage."

The 2nd emphasis added is the reason many are so annoyed with him. He is merely using little RFC as a stepping stone, nothing more. He thinks he's Billy Big-bollocks yet his managerial "record" speaks far more eloquently than he ever could. He's no more than a scottish Brenda Bodgers. A sad little egotistical tw@t with an over-inflated opinion of himself. (If you wonder why I am more restrained today it is because my wife found my medication ).

He is nowhere near as good as Rodgers. At least Rodgers did a lot for the club in his early days with us (academy). I also think he is a better manager/coach than Clarke.

[CountryRoyal]

RR you are right in saying this will be forgotten (by most) if we win a few games, but it's a big if. I've seen nothing over the last month or so (admittedly I didn't go today) to suggest that is a liklihood. The fact of the matter is that we beat a team today that is truly shocking, and by all accounts we didn't have to play well to do it. Penalty or not that was the second goal Bolton had scored in 7 games, against originally supposedly "automatic promotion candidates". It's not good enough.

I'm sorry but we have such a good squad at our disposable, everyone to a man is capable of being part of one of the best teams in the championship, perhaps bar our keepers (although credit to al-Habsi today). Anything less than consistently putting in good performances is a huge underachievement, and ultimately the bulk of the blame had to land at the manager's feet.

I haven't rated Clarke since we got him, I was underwhelmed at his arrival but supported him because he was an integral part of the club which I support and love. It has to be said being harder to beat made it easier to like him, especially after the Nigel ship-3-goals Adkins debacle.

Unfortunately he's proven that he's not actually a very successful manager, his win ratio has been consistently mediocre and it's not reached the stage where his involvement is, in my opinion, detrimental to the success of the club.

He needs to go.

[Royal Rother]

I'm not a great fan of his either but if he needs to go it will be nothing to do with the chat he had with Fulham.