How impressed are you with BMcD's return to the club?

[leon]

You don't personally. Just twats like you.

Love the way you typed like there. Clever.

I'll tell you the secret one day

[Ian Royal]

Very good.

You know what is meant by my comment. Brian = the yes man, will say anything to please the press/fans, to say it in the right way. He must practice in the mirror several times over what he is going to say next.

Ya know, the really nice guy? Never mind the inept manager of our club.....it doesn't matter how we do in the league, how shit we are, the crappy signings again, as long as he remains a nice guy, he's safe.

Some of you tend to think he's bigger than our club, the messiah. He clearly isn't. Hopefully the Thai's will get rid at the end of the season cause I wouldn't want him anywhere near our next transfers of players in or out again.

saying the right things to keep fans,players and press onside is a pretty key skill in management.
its not being a yes man, its understanding the realities of the club, and working within that. there is literally no point at all in him coming out and criticising the owners, or the players in public, and ive no idea why you think he would/should.his criticism went on behind closed doors as it should do.

hes neither bigger than the club, or the messiah. just someone im incredibly happy is in charge of my club.

The squad was utterly ripped apart by Clarke, then left in an absolute shit state, completely imbalanced, with 6 loan players. He had his two highest scorers sold, replaced with a bargain basement stop gap and a random Latvian. would have been a miracle to get that tanker turned around.
that he has failed to do so is no real surprise at all, given those circumstances

in the summer he will have to get rid of most of those loanees, as well as the remaining high earners, bring in a load of youth players, and be expected to make significant improvement to our league position, and entertainment levels at the same time, or the clamour for him to be sacked will grow until its unignorable.

I think that is utterly daft.

Good post.

How much time would you give him? The end of next season?

Piping up here, I'd give him at least that. We've had too much change and we need some continuity. If that means going down with him next season, well actually, I'd rather do that and give him six months to show if he can turn it around down there and build momentum to take us forward than switch to yet another new face in December - February who will get us yet another inconsistently performing disappointing finish in 13th - 20th. My view might change if we found ourselves 21st at the start of November 2016.

Normally my view is you should get a year and a half unless we're actively in danger of dropping into the third tier at the season halfway point or beyond or you make your position untenable in someway.

[AirRaidSiren]

saying the right things to keep fans,players and press onside is a pretty key skill in management.
its not being a yes man, its understanding the realities of the club, and working within that. there is literally no point at all in him coming out and criticising the owners, or the players in public, and ive no idea why you think he would/should.his criticism went on behind closed doors as it should do.

hes neither bigger than the club, or the messiah. just someone im incredibly happy is in charge of my club.

The squad was utterly ripped apart by Clarke, then left in an absolute shit state, completely imbalanced, with 6 loan players. He had his two highest scorers sold, replaced with a bargain basement stop gap and a random Latvian. would have been a miracle to get that tanker turned around.
that he has failed to do so is no real surprise at all, given those circumstances

in the summer he will have to get rid of most of those loanees, as well as the remaining high earners, bring in a load of youth players, and be expected to make significant improvement to our league position, and entertainment levels at the same time, or the clamour for him to be sacked will grow until its unignorable.

I think that is utterly daft.

Good post.

How much time would you give him? The end of next season?

Piping up here, I'd give him at least that. We've had too much change and we need some continuity. If that means going down with him next season, well actually, I'd rather do that and give him six months to show if he can turn it around down there and build momentum to take us forward than switch to yet another new face in December - February who will get us yet another inconsistently performing disappointing finish in 13th - 20th. My view might change if we found ourselves 21st at the start of November 2016.

Normally my view is you should get a year and a half unless we're actively in danger of dropping into the third tier at the season halfway point or beyond or you make your position untenable in someway.

That's fair enough. I do usually agree to give a manager a fair chance. I didn't want him back, I personally think his second stint here will personally damage him as well as fans legacy towards him. I do think he is a one trick pony as RB has stated. I could be wrong. I know I won't be.

Surely it should be the same case for any manager that comes here? Adkins. Fans didn't really get behind him. Did he get a fair crack? Clarke. Again, fans didn't really warm to him. Did he really get a fair crack? But Brian....my word, I've read some fking daft responses on here like 'I don't care if he takes us down he's back where he belongs'. Is this what our beloved club has come to? It doesn't matter, he's a nice guy.

Ok.....let's keep him for another season. This time next year I put my mortgage on we will be in no better position.

It'll be Clarke's fault though....it's still his team. It'll be the owners fault though....for not giving him the financial clout. It'll be Madejski's fault for trying to squeeze every penny out of him. Excuse after excuse. Again, it doesn't matter cause he's a nice guy.

Meh...

[Maneki Neko]

Just kinda baffling that so-called fan of this club would want to rubbish and belittle one of our few moments of glory. I find it really sad. I mean, you can imagine rival fans wanting to discredit and downplay such an achievement as a fluke or effortless non-achievement but one of our own fans?

Even Kes has the grace to get behind his own team and sing their achievements with pride. Jesus, our boys are more interested in discrediting one of only two promotion successes in our history so it better fits with their bizare campaign of hate against a manager who wasn't their first choice.

Fine, they think it was a cop out appointment, that Reading should have aimed higher and they are frustrated. But are they so frustrated by it they would drag their own clubs history through the mud, just to save face in an argument?

Lame. You aren't Reading fans. You aren't even football fans.

Only just sentient. Barely human

[Maneki Neko]

Very good.

You know what is meant by my comment. Brian = the yes man, will say anything to please the press/fans, to say it in the right way. He must practice in the mirror several times over what he is going to say next.

Ya know, the really nice guy? Never mind the inept manager of our club.....it doesn't matter how we do in the league, how shit we are, the crappy signings again, as long as he remains a nice guy, he's safe.

Some of you tend to think he's bigger than our club, the messiah. He clearly isn't. Hopefully the Thai's will get rid at the end of the season cause I wouldn't want him anywhere near our next transfers of players in or out again.

saying the right things to keep fans,players and press onside is a pretty key skill in management.
its not being a yes man, its understanding the realities of the club, and working within that. there is literally no point at all in him coming out and criticising the owners, or the players in public, and ive no idea why you think he would/should.his criticism went on behind closed doors as it should do.

hes neither bigger than the club, or the messiah. just someone im incredibly happy is in charge of my club.

The squad was utterly ripped apart by Clarke, then left in an absolute shit state, completely imbalanced, with 6 loan players. He had his two highest scorers sold, replaced with a bargain basement stop gap and a random Latvian. would have been a miracle to get that tanker turned around.
that he has failed to do so is no real surprise at all, given those circumstances

in the summer he will have to get rid of most of those loanees, as well as the remaining high earners, bring in a load of youth players, and be expected to make significant improvement to our league position, and entertainment levels at the same time, or the clamour for him to be sacked will grow until its unignorable.

I think that is utterly daft.

Good post.

How much time would you give him? The end of next season?

Depends on the plan. If hes given licence to rebuild, and finances to back that, Maybe till Jan to show some real imrpovements. If the plan is to use the academy to replace our best most highly paid players, and more of the sell to buy policy, then id give him the whole season. Maybe more.
But thats just me.

[leon]

Good post.

How much time would you give him? The end of next season?

Piping up here, I'd give him at least that. We've had too much change and we need some continuity. If that means going down with him next season, well actually, I'd rather do that and give him six months to show if he can turn it around down there and build momentum to take us forward than switch to yet another new face in December - February who will get us yet another inconsistently performing disappointing finish in 13th - 20th. My view might change if we found ourselves 21st at the start of November 2016.

Normally my view is you should get a year and a half unless we're actively in danger of dropping into the third tier at the season halfway point or beyond or you make your position untenable in someway.

That's fair enough. I do usually agree to give a manager a fair chance. I didn't want him back, I personally think his second stint here will personally damage him as well as fans legacy towards him. I do think he is a one trick pony as RB has stated. I could be wrong. I know I won't be.

Surely it should be the same case for any manager that comes here? Adkins. Fans didn't really get behind him. Did he get a fair crack? Clarke. Again, fans didn't really warm to him. Did he really get a fair crack? But Brian....my word, I've read some fking daft responses on here like 'I don't care if he takes us down he's back where he belongs'. Is this what our beloved club has come to? It doesn't matter, he's a nice guy.

Ok.....let's keep him for another season. This time next year I put my mortgage on we will be in no better position.

It'll be Clarke's fault though....it's still his team. It'll be the owners fault though....for not giving him the financial clout. It'll be Madejski's fault for trying to squeeze every penny out of him. Excuse after excuse. Again, it doesn't matter cause he's a nice guy.

Meh...

Oh dear you're upset

[Ian Royal]

Good post.

How much time would you give him? The end of next season?

Piping up here, I'd give him at least that. We've had too much change and we need some continuity. If that means going down with him next season, well actually, I'd rather do that and give him six months to show if he can turn it around down there and build momentum to take us forward than switch to yet another new face in December - February who will get us yet another inconsistently performing disappointing finish in 13th - 20th. My view might change if we found ourselves 21st at the start of November 2016.

Normally my view is you should get a year and a half unless we're actively in danger of dropping into the third tier at the season halfway point or beyond or you make your position untenable in someway.

That's fair enough. I do usually agree to give a manager a fair chance. I didn't want him back, I personally think his second stint here will personally damage him as well as fans legacy towards him. I do think he is a one trick pony as RB has stated. I could be wrong. I know I won't be.

Surely it should be the same case for any manager that comes here? Adkins. Fans didn't really get behind him. Did he get a fair crack? Clarke. Again, fans didn't really warm to him. Did he really get a fair crack? But Brian....my word, I've read some fking daft responses on here like 'I don't care if he takes us down he's back where he belongs'. Is this what our beloved club has come to? It doesn't matter, he's a nice guy.

Ok.....let's keep him for another season. This time next year I put my mortgage on we will be in no better position.

It'll be Clarke's fault though....it's still his team. It'll be the owners fault though....for not giving him the financial clout. It'll be Madejski's fault for trying to squeeze every penny out of him. Excuse after excuse. Again, it doesn't matter cause he's a nice guy.

Meh...

Tell me, how much did him being a nice guy matter when we were getting relegated in the PL and he lost 3-0 to Villa and Wigan? The Thai's are in charge now. They'll do well to listen to Madejski and Howe, but they'll pull the plug on McDermott with little care for sentiment if they think he's doing a poor job and risks their plans.

[Longhorn1970]

Piping up here, I'd give him at least that. We've had too much change and we need some continuity. If that means going down with him next season, well actually, I'd rather do that and give him six months to show if he can turn it around down there and build momentum to take us forward than switch to yet another new face in December - February who will get us yet another inconsistently performing disappointing finish in 13th - 20th. My view might change if we found ourselves 21st at the start of November 2016.

Normally my view is you should get a year and a half unless we're actively in danger of dropping into the third tier at the season halfway point or beyond or you make your position untenable in someway.

That's fair enough. I do usually agree to give a manager a fair chance. I didn't want him back, I personally think his second stint here will personally damage him as well as fans legacy towards him. I do think he is a one trick pony as RB has stated. I could be wrong. I know I won't be.

Surely it should be the same case for any manager that comes here? Adkins. Fans didn't really get behind him. Did he get a fair crack? Clarke. Again, fans didn't really warm to him. Did he really get a fair crack? But Brian....my word, I've read some fking daft responses on here like 'I don't care if he takes us down he's back where he belongs'. Is this what our beloved club has come to? It doesn't matter, he's a nice guy.

Ok.....let's keep him for another season. This time next year I put my mortgage on we will be in no better position.

It'll be Clarke's fault though....it's still his team. It'll be the owners fault though....for not giving him the financial clout. It'll be Madejski's fault for trying to squeeze every penny out of him. Excuse after excuse. Again, it doesn't matter cause he's a nice guy.

Meh...

Tell me, how much did him being a nice guy matter when we were getting relegated in the PL and he lost 3-0 to Villa and Wigan? The Thai's are in charge now. They'll do well to listen to Madejski and Howe, but they'll pull the plug on McDermott with little care for sentiment if they think he's doing a poor job and risks their plans.

What do Myjetski and Howe know about football really ! That's why Hammond was brought in but he has only kicked around the lower leagues and that was two decades ago !

[Ian Royal]

That's fair enough. I do usually agree to give a manager a fair chance. I didn't want him back, I personally think his second stint here will personally damage him as well as fans legacy towards him. I do think he is a one trick pony as RB has stated. I could be wrong. I know I won't be.

Surely it should be the same case for any manager that comes here? Adkins. Fans didn't really get behind him. Did he get a fair crack? Clarke. Again, fans didn't really warm to him. Did he really get a fair crack? But Brian....my word, I've read some fking daft responses on here like 'I don't care if he takes us down he's back where he belongs'. Is this what our beloved club has come to? It doesn't matter, he's a nice guy.

Ok.....let's keep him for another season. This time next year I put my mortgage on we will be in no better position.

It'll be Clarke's fault though....it's still his team. It'll be the owners fault though....for not giving him the financial clout. It'll be Madejski's fault for trying to squeeze every penny out of him. Excuse after excuse. Again, it doesn't matter cause he's a nice guy.

Meh...

Tell me, how much did him being a nice guy matter when we were getting relegated in the PL and he lost 3-0 to Villa and Wigan? The Thai's are in charge now. They'll do well to listen to Madejski and Howe, but they'll pull the plug on McDermott with little care for sentiment if they think he's doing a poor job and risks their plans.

What do Myjetski and Howe know about football really ! That's why Hammond was brought in but he has only kicked around the lower leagues and that was two decades ago !

20 years of footballing success.

[Longhorn1970]

Tell me, how much did him being a nice guy matter when we were getting relegated in the PL and he lost 3-0 to Villa and Wigan? The Thai's are in charge now. They'll do well to listen to Madejski and Howe, but they'll pull the plug on McDermott with little care for sentiment if they think he's doing a poor job and risks their plans.

What do Myjetski and Howe know about football really ! That's why Hammond was brought in but he has only kicked around the lower leagues and that was two decades ago !

20 years of footballing success.

Depends what you consider success ! Existence maybe. Essentially he's a property developer who runs a number of companies which JM also has a financial interest in ..

[Ian Royal]

What do Myjetski and Howe know about football really ! That's why Hammond was brought in but he has only kicked around the lower leagues and that was two decades ago !

20 years of footballing success.

Depends what you consider success ! Existence maybe. Essentially he's a property developer who runs a number of companies which JM also has a financial interest in ..

I consider 4 FA Cup QFs, 1 FA Cup SF, 2 Championship Titles, a Football League points record, 1 Top Half Top Flight finish, 1 Division One Runners Up, 2 Championship Play Off Finals, 1 Division Two Runners Up, 1 Division Two Play Off Final and the vast majority of the top 20 beat League positions in the club's history to be pretty successful.

It certainly beats the arse off consistently finishing nowhere in the third tier.

[Royal_jimmy]

We've been so poor even an awful Bristol City side are about to overtake us.

Fans who think we have improved are clueless. We were 9th when McDermott took over, we are now 17th!!!!

[Ian Royal]

We've been so poor even an awful Bristol City side are about to overtake us.

Fans who think we have improved are clueless. We were 9th when McDermott took over, we are now 17th!!!!

We were about 13th actually and we've only dropped below 15th twice in 16 games.

It's not going very well, but considering he inherited a team from Clarke in absolute freefall, 1 win in 8 when Clarke left and 1 win in 10 by the time McDermott arrived, it's certainly not going any worse. McDermott, by comparison has won (a disappointing) 4 in 16, plus 3 out of 5 cup games.

The way things were going with Clarke, if he'd stayed in charge and our form continued as was under him, we'd be 4 points worse off and right in the relegation battle. Assuming he hadn't just jumped ship for one of the other vacancies that came up in the meantime.

Prior to McDermott: P8, W1, D2, L5, F7, A13, Pts5
Early McDermott: P8, W2, D2, L4, F6, A8, Pts8
Recent McDermott: P8, W2, D4, L2, F9, A10, Pts10

It's a bit desperate, but breaking down in 8 game runs (because he's had 16 games) there is minor improvement there.

[RoyalBlue]

Negative and stupid formation, negative tactics, and piss poor substitutions today, yet according to Brian it's all the ref's fault!

[royalp-we]

We've been so poor even an awful Bristol City side are about to overtake us.

Fans who think we have improved are clueless. We were 9th when McDermott took over, we are now 17th!!!!

We were about 13th actually and we've only dropped below 15th twice in 16 games.

It's not going very well, but considering he inherited a team from Clarke in absolute freefall, 1 win in 8 when Clarke left and 1 win in 10 by the time McDermott arrived, it's certainly not going any worse. McDermott, by comparison has won (a disappointing) 4 in 16, plus 3 out of 5 cup games.

The way things were going with Clarke, if he'd stayed in charge and our form continued as was under him, we'd be 4 points worse off and right in the relegation battle. Assuming he hadn't just jumped ship for one of the other vacancies that came up in the meantime.

Prior to McDermott: P8, W1, D2, L5, F7, A13, Pts5
Early McDermott: P8, W2, D2, L4, F6, A8, Pts8
Recent McDermott: P8, W2, D4, L2, F9, A10, Pts10

It's a bit desperate, but breaking down in 8 game runs (because he's had 16 games) there is minor improvement there.

Desperate being the understatement of the year there Ian it's not got any better; and I hope for his sake something clicks in the summer. Top guy, legend for us; but will disappear in to the managerial scrap heap if something doesn't change over the summer. Forget about Clarke; whoever is in charge; with this squad we should have scored and won more games. End of. I hope he can turn this around and let's be honest, I think he'll get the until November/December to do so.

[Ian Royal]

Just pointing out that there are metrics that do show minor improvement, and we certainly haven't gotten worse, which seemed to be the implication.

I think we've definitely seen areas of improvement in the side's play, just they haven't added up to enough to do anything much about the results. A lot of damage was done before McDermott arrived and we've just found no way to really fix it.

[Snowball]

Agreed. The sudden, total collapse hinted at Rotherham but confirmed
from our second goal at Fulham is the weirdest change of form I've ever
seen. From going second and thinking even winning this league, we went
to relegation form. Without that 6 wins from 7 we're be in the bottom 3

I know conspiracy theories abound, "lost the dressing room", egos,
"The Thais are bailing", whatever, but, really it smacked of an internal,
very fundamental problem.

Brian hinted at issues when he arrived, when he said we needed to lose
the egos. I have no idea what exactly the problem is, but I'm certain there
is one, a dressing-room schism, for example, or arguments over playing/
not-playing loanees.

It must be quite weird to be a big name, touted as having a huge future
and then playing for a middling (ATM) Championship side (Piazon). Sure
he might be lightweight, but he will also be used to skill-levels far higher
than his team-mates, and must be utterly peed-off to be on the bench.

Such natural p!ssed-offness can spread through the squad.

Or take Hector. He is/was a developing talent (but still raw and makes a lot of mistakes)
but then Chelsea come along and in a day transform him into a star (in his eyes, pay-rise
etc etc etc) then he has to go back and work with the riff-raff. While that might work, if he's
casual and gives away a goal, do colleagues have a go because he's now "jumped-up"
a Billy Big B0ll0ks?

I don't mean either of these specifically, but you had selfish Blackman, cocky as hell, sulky
Sa (convinced he should be first on the team-sheet), "better than you journeymen" Piazon,
exiled Fernandez wondering what a bloke's got to do to get into a side that is barely
averaging a point a game, two keepers who were making mistakes, not saves, HRK
thinking of his next club, Norwood miserable because he wants a new contract and
can't get one, all finished off with Headless Williams playing for himself.

If you were a dynamic business manager, you'd look at the "sales team" and cry.

There's a lot wrong "fundamentally". The heart is wrong, something.

I think the Summer, just being a break with the past, could help a lot, but IMO
we need at least one "big character" (not necessarily a brilliant player) someone
who can "explain" to the dilettantes that this is still a man's game and a team game.

We may only need one player, (maybe two) a combo of Hunt and Long, a run-through-walls type
and the rest might follow

[Lower West]

The squad was utterly ripped apart by Clarke, then left in an absolute shit state, completely imbalanced, with 6 loan players.

The squad needed reinforcement last summer. Looking at what we've got now. The squad is depleted. We've moved no further forward in a year. Only ray of sunshine is Cooper. Brave move of McD to throw him in week in week out. Be so easy to play Hector or Ferdinand instead.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I will admit that I didn't want Brian to come back as I've never been a fan of his preferred footballing style.

However, I thought yesterday's game showed some improvement. I thought the players looked far more up for it, especially g-mac, Williams and Quinn.

Quinn seemed to throw himself into everything yesterday and there seemed to be more energy in our performance. I think Brian may actually be on the road to turning it round.

I'll also cut him some slack for being dealt a pretty crap hand to begin with. A club that was surely looking for playoff positions at the start of the season should never, in my opinion, have considered loan players, let alone 5 of them. Clubs taking players on loan are generally those who just aim to stay in the division until the finances level off. It seems a desperate act to take unless there is a clause to buy the player at the end fit a pre-determined price.

[Lower West]

I'll also cut him some slack for being dealt a pretty crap hand to begin with. A club that was surely looking for playoff positions at the start of the season should never, in my opinion, have considered loan players, let alone 5 of them. Clubs taking players on loan are generally those who just aim to stay in the division until the finances level off. It seems a desperate act to take unless there is a clause to buy the player at the end fit a pre-determined price.

Wonder if the Thai's learnt a lesson as well in the process. Perhaps the focus is transform the area around the stadium (aka MK Dons) rather than be overly concerned about promotion. Sound finances first.