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

[Hoop Blah]

Next year, success means survival. Then we build year by year a new challenge to go for promotion.

How the hell can you say that?

You've no idea on the side McDermott will be able to put together or the freedom he'll have in doing so.

Next year we'll likely have Wigan, Burton and Walsall in the league, plus Rotherham, Bristol City and Huddersfield and Brentford.

Budget isn't everything, and nor are players names and reputations but with the squad McDermott is likely to be able to build survival will not be the measure of success.

[No Fixed Abode]

Take sa and blackmans goals away from Clarke, whats his ppg like?

Moving those goal posts all the time it's no wonder Reading are struggling.

[Royal Ginger]

The team looks to be playing better now though. To my eye they seem to be suffering from individual mistakes rather than system issues.

Under Clarke (who I didn't think got a fair bash at it) I didn't think they ever looked like scoring. It was a perma-midfield durge.

McD has them playing the sort of football where players are missing several chances rather than hoping for a penalty. Sure, there may be some coaching issues that means these players are missing the target repeatedly, but it's not a big leap to say that a small increase in shooting accuracy over the last 10-12 games would have seen the team much further up the table.

[Top Flight]

Next year, success means survival. Then we build year by year a new challenge to go for promotion.

How the hell can you say that?

You've no idea on the side McDermott will be able to put together or the freedom he'll have in doing so.

Next year we'll likely have Wigan, Burton and Walsall in the league, plus Rotherham, Bristol City and Huddersfield and Brentford.

Budget isn't everything, and nor are players names and reputations but with the squad McDermott is likely to be able to build survival will not be the measure of success.

Those are all good sides that you have mentioned who have all enjoyed far greater stability in recent times than we have.

If McDermott can keep us in the division next season, then he will have done a remarkable job and will prove what a great manager he is. Survival next season is a good sign of progression under McDermott. His main aim like the country is to reduce the deficit or in our case, stop the slide. If he can maintain our Championship status for the 2017/2018 season then he will have been a success. Afer that we can start thinking about climbing up the league again.

I think you under-estimate the size of the task that he faces this summer. It is monumental. We are an unstable club about to embark on significant change. If you expect more than survival next season then god help McDermott or any other manager that would have to operate under the weight of ludicrous expectations. If the board reacts on such deluded sentiment then RFC will never be able to progress and the slide down the football league will continue as manager after manager go in and out of that revolving door.

[Ian Royal]

Has BM's PPG taken over Clarke's PPG this season yet?

If you look at rolling average ppg across 6 matches, he's stopped the poor performance dead and improved us for sure.

The league position shows a similar thing. Stopped the nosedive and held us steady where he came in at 13/14/15

A flat ppg comparison is not appropriate in isolation because he's had to come in half way through and deal with a team in a desperate situation.

If you look at Clarke's entire tenure I think he's above him on flat ppg.

[floyd__streete]

Reading arithmetically safe for another season Well done BMc

[BR2]

Top Flight said:-
Those are all good sides that you have mentioned who have all enjoyed far greater stability in recent times than we have.

Er...,Burton, Brentford, Rotherham and Bristol City have all had managerial changes this season so hardly stable environments and the three in our division will finish not far off where we will.

As Hoop Blah says,we have no idea about budgets etc. for next season or the one after so have no greater idea of whether Brian will lead us to promotion, relegation or mid-table mediocrity.

So far most people seem to think that Brian still has cred from the last time which is fair enough-it does require a leap of faith IMHO that Brian will be able to achieve what he did before.
With the players at his disposal now I feel that he hasn't been able to improve them whereas Lee Johnson at Bristol and Warnock at Rotherham have made a significant impact.
That might just be because the Rotherham and Bristol City players were underachieving and ours are only as good (or bad) as they seem to be.

August isn't that far off so roll on next season and some interesting fixtures against Villa, Norwich and one of the big North-Eastern clubs.

[Hoop Blah]

Those are all good sides that you have mentioned who have all enjoyed far greater stability in recent times than we have.

No they aren't. They're just a bunch of average sides who will face their own challenges and ups and downs in the coming months.

How you can suggest Wigan are a stable club I don't know, and Brentford have hardly been the most stable of clubs considering their recent history of chopping and changing managers (one of them being the Walsall boss as it happens).

Money talks in football and there isn't too much to suggest that McDermott won't have a decent budget to work with next season, at least more than most of those clubs I mentioned.

If McDermott can keep us in the division next season, then he will have done a remarkable job and will prove what a great manager he is. Survival next season is a good sign of progression under McDermott. His main aim like the country is to reduce the deficit or in our case, stop the slide. If he can maintain our Championship status for the 2017/2018 season then he will have been a success. Afer that we can start thinking about climbing up the league again.

It all depends on how things pan out, which is a massive unknown at the moment, but survival alone will not be an achievement next season unless the arse is pulled out from under McDermott. I don't see that as likely right now hence why I can't see how you could make such a prediction on next seasons expectations.

I think you under-estimate the size of the task that he faces this summer. It is monumental. We are an unstable club about to embark on significant change. If you expect more than survival next season then god help McDermott or any other manager that would have to operate under the weight of ludicrous expectations. If the board reacts on such deluded sentiment then RFC will never be able to progress and the slide down the football league will continue as manager after manager go in and out of that revolving door.

I think you also underestimate what McDermott should have in place next season. As above, unless we sell of the family silver we'll have a squad with some pretty proven players in it in Al Habsi, McShane, Cooper, Gunter, Obita, Norwood, Williams, Quinn, Tshibola, McLeary and Kermagant.

Yeah we'll have quite a busy summer replacing the 6 or 7 that are likely to leave but that's not out of the ordinary, it's just what good managers do every season.

[No Fixed Abode]

Has BM's PPG taken over Clarke's PPG this season yet?

If you look at rolling average ppg across 6 matches, he's stopped the poor performance dead and improved us for sure.

The league position shows a similar thing. Stopped the nosedive and held us steady where he came in at 13/14/15

A flat ppg comparison is not appropriate in isolation because he's had to come in half way through and deal with a team in a desperate situation.

If you look at Clarke's entire tenure I think he's above him on flat ppg.

3 defeats on the trot. 7 goals conceded, Good job BM has made the team more solid.

[Top Flight]

Those are all good sides that you have mentioned who have all enjoyed far greater stability in recent times than we have.

No they aren't. They're just a bunch of average sides who will face their own challenges and ups and downs in the coming months.

How you can suggest Wigan are a stable club I don't know, and Brentford have hardly been the most stable of clubs considering their recent history of chopping and changing managers (one of them being the Walsall boss as it happens).

Money talks in football and there isn't too much to suggest that McDermott won't have a decent budget to work with next season, at least more than most of those clubs I mentioned.

If McDermott can keep us in the division next season, then he will have done a remarkable job and will prove what a great manager he is. Survival next season is a good sign of progression under McDermott. His main aim like the country is to reduce the deficit or in our case, stop the slide. If he can maintain our Championship status for the 2017/2018 season then he will have been a success. Afer that we can start thinking about climbing up the league again.

It all depends on how things pan out, which is a massive unknown at the moment, but survival alone will not be an achievement next season unless the arse is pulled out from under McDermott. I don't see that as likely right now hence why I can't see how you could make such a prediction on next seasons expectations.

I think you under-estimate the size of the task that he faces this summer. It is monumental. We are an unstable club about to embark on significant change. If you expect more than survival next season then god help McDermott or any other manager that would have to operate under the weight of ludicrous expectations. If the board reacts on such deluded sentiment then RFC will never be able to progress and the slide down the football league will continue as manager after manager go in and out of that revolving door.

I think you also underestimate what McDermott should have in place next season. As above, unless we sell of the family silver we'll have a squad with some pretty proven players in it in Al Habsi, McShane, Cooper, Gunter, Obita, Norwood, Williams, Quinn, Tshibola, McLeary and Kermagant.

Yeah we'll have quite a busy summer replacing the 6 or 7 that are likely to leave but that's not out of the ordinary, it's just what good managers do every season.

I'm not making any predictions on where we'll finish. I'm just saying, that given the circumstances, and everything that he will have to change over the course of the summer, if he can keep us in the Championship then he will have done a very decent job. I'll be happy with that. That would tell me that he is a good manager, doing a good job.

You are praising Warnock for keeping Rotherham up this season. I will be praising McDermott if he keeps Reading up next season. He will have shown what a good manager he is.

It's alot easier to give a fair and balanced view of how a manager is doing at another club like Rotherham, but we all want so much more for Reading than just survival. So even though he is dealing with a Fffd up situation we still expect him to run away with the league and smash every team in sight. A neutral observer would evaluate that McDermott is doing a good job for Reading so far and will have done a fantastic job if he keeps us in the Championship next season.

But Hoop Blah, as Reading fans, we are all biased and biased with our expectations as well.

[LUX]

Reading arithmetically safe for another season Well done BMc

ah, but how about mathematically

[Hoop Blah]

Warnock has done a good job keeping Rotherham up because he's taken a side who were 1 point ahead of Bolton and Charlton well clear of relegation and they now sit 21 and 11 ahead of those two.

You might not be predicting where we'll finished but you are predicting that survival would be an achievement. To my mind that would be a failure unless there is a total lack of support for McDermott over the summer and I can't see that happening.

[Top Flight]

Warnock has done a good job keeping Rotherham up because he's taken a side who were 1 point ahead of Bolton and Charlton well clear of relegation and they now sit 21 and 11 ahead of those two.

You might not be predicting where we'll finished but you are predicting that survival would be an achievement. To my mind that would be a failure unless there is a total lack of support for McDermott over the summer and I can't see that happening.

I feel, and it's only my opinion that based on everything that we know right now, that if McDermott can keep us in the division next season then that in itself would be a very decent achievement. The situation going into the summer looks totally Fffd up.

Of course, expectations can change. A promising start to the current season sent expectations soaring and you could argue that Steve Clarke has paid the price for that and even McDermott is feeling the effects of it because many of our supporters think that our squad is alot better than they really are and can't understand why our amazing players (who are really sh*te) keep losing every week.

You could also argue that McDermott lost his job when we were last in the Premier League again because of expectations that he sent rocketing as a result of his success gaining promotion to the Premier League with an inferior squad. McDermott was a victim of his own success.

It's easy to be objective about other clubs. But very difficult with your own club. But we need to be, otherwise our lack of patience becomes lack of support which feeds itself in negative ways through to management, board and players which result in negative consequences that take us backwards and not forwards.

[Maneki Neko]

Take sa and blackmans goals away from Clarke, whats his ppg like?

Moving those goal posts all the time it's no wonder Reading are struggling.

depends on the direction you are moving them in

[Hoop Blah]

I feel, and it's only my opinion that based on everything that we know right now, that if McDermott can keep us in the division next season then that in itself would be a very decent achievement. The situation going into the summer looks totally Fffd up.

Well fair enough, I'm just calling that out as pretty ridiculous and unfounded considering the financial backing the owners have already given and the spine of the squad we [should] have in place come the summer and the other clubs that we'll be competing with.

[No Fixed Abode]

Well, your basis was you've look a lot tighter as a unit under BM - but 7 goals conceded in 3 games and 3 defeats on the trot would suggest otherwise. Then it's because you sold your top two goalscorers (who weren't that good at the time) but now in hindsight you miss them.....

[Maneki Neko]

Top Flight said:-
Those are all good sides that you have mentioned who have all enjoyed far greater stability in recent times than we have.

Er...,Burton, Brentford, Rotherham and Bristol City have all had managerial changes this season so hardly stable environments and the three in our division will finish not far off where we will.

As Hoop Blah says,we have no idea about budgets etc. for next season or the one after so have no greater idea of whether Brian will lead us to promotion, relegation or mid-table mediocrity.

So far most people seem to think that Brian still has cred from the last time which is fair enough-it does require a leap of faith IMHO that Brian will be able to achieve what he did before.
With the players at his disposal now I feel that he hasn't been able to improve them whereas Lee Johnson at Bristol and Warnock at Rotherham have made a significant impact.
That might just be because the Rotherham and Bristol City players were underachieving and ours are only as good (or bad) as they seem to be.

.

AlHabsi, Piazon, Cox, gunter,Obita,Hector,quinn, etc

all playing better under brian than Clarke this season. imo

im not giving him any grace regarding past performance, im happy to judge his performance this season as adequate, given the context.
anyone who cant see the improvement since Clarke went is mad imo, but that's up to you, its not something I can convince you on.

[Maneki Neko]

Those are all good sides that you have mentioned who have all enjoyed far greater stability in recent times than we have.

No they aren't. They're just a bunch of average sides who will face their own challenges and ups and downs in the coming months.

How you can suggest Wigan are a stable club I don't know, and Brentford have hardly been the most stable of clubs considering their recent history of chopping and changing managers (one of them being the Walsall boss as it happens).

Money talks in football and there isn't too much to suggest that McDermott won't have a decent budget to work with next season, at least more than most of those clubs I mentioned.

If McDermott can keep us in the division next season, then he will have done a remarkable job and will prove what a great manager he is. Survival next season is a good sign of progression under McDermott. His main aim like the country is to reduce the deficit or in our case, stop the slide. If he can maintain our Championship status for the 2017/2018 season then he will have been a success. Afer that we can start thinking about climbing up the league again.

It all depends on how things pan out, which is a massive unknown at the moment, but survival alone will not be an achievement next season unless the arse is pulled out from under McDermott. I don't see that as likely right now hence why I can't see how you could make such a prediction on next seasons expectations.

I think you under-estimate the size of the task that he faces this summer. It is monumental. We are an unstable club about to embark on significant change. If you expect more than survival next season then god help McDermott or any other manager that would have to operate under the weight of ludicrous expectations. If the board reacts on such deluded sentiment then RFC will never be able to progress and the slide down the football league will continue as manager after manager go in and out of that revolving door.

I think you also underestimate what McDermott should have in place next season. As above, unless we sell of the family silver we'll have a squad with some pretty proven players in it in Al Habsi, McShane, Cooper, Gunter, Obita, Norwood, Williams, Quinn, Tshibola, McLeary and Kermagant.

Yeah we'll have quite a busy summer replacing the 6 or 7 that are likely to leave but that's not out of the ordinary, it's just what good managers do every season.

seriously challenge the idea that 7 in and 7 out every season is good management

[Maneki Neko]

Warnock has done a good job keeping Rotherham up because he's taken a side who were 1 point ahead of Bolton and Charlton well clear of relegation and they now sit 21 and 11 ahead of those two.

You might not be predicting where we'll finished but you are predicting that survival would be an achievement. To my mind that would be a failure unless there is a total lack of support for McDermott over the summer and I can't see that happening.

its already started in the winter window. we will shift as many of our high earners as we can. contracts that are done will be given the same pay-cut contracts as pearce and karacan, the loans will go back, and brian will expected to build the side out of promising youth players and lower league cheap punts all on much lower wages.

this is good AFAIC, and im looking forward to it

[Hoop Blah]

Yeah we'll have quite a busy summer replacing the 6 or 7 that are likely to leave but that's not out of the ordinary, it's just what good managers do every season.

seriously challenge the idea that 7 in and 7 out every season is good management

I meant good managers deal with that situation most summers, not that they plan it.

If you look back to 2005/06 we brought in 7 (Doyle, Long, Hunt, Lita, Gunnarsson, Oster and Makin) and we probably did similar before 11/12 too.