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

[Armadillo Roadkill]

We should be happy with mid table finish if circumstances are as we suspect they will be - a few ins, a few outs, a club without massive ambition and without the struggle to stay afloat and off filed chaos of some others. That would mean a decent season.

if he gets any significant backing during the summer, and a firm indication that the owners really want to go for it and are prepared to invest, and we're not in the top eight the end of November - then I think his job will be under threat.

To sack him now would be just ridiculous - a real case of cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Brian started off okay, some improvement on before, things looked to be - albeit slowly - heading in the right direction. It's kind of stalled a bit, some stuff performances, some unlucky ones, and a shame to see our own players rucking (a sign of problems? Or just heat of the moment idiocy?).

Had expected more by this point, but it's tricky to see if that expectation is unfair considering how the two managers before him also struggled for consistency. Not particularly sure Vydra deserved the time he has had and Kermorgant as a signing looks woeful to me but I'm still behind Brian and reckon he will sort things out next season, deserving as he does what Adkins and Clarke had: a summer window.

Didn't particulary agree with Adkins being sacked, nor Clarke - though I didn't warm to either and can see why they went - so not about to turn my back on Brian either. If we want to improve, we can't keep sacking managers half way into their project.

[Ian Royal]

I haven't been making predictions. I have just stated my expectations.

For me, If we finish fourth from bottom next season and stay in the Championship, I will take that. That will mean that Brian McDermott is an outstanding manager doing an excellent job.

If I was the manager and given the situation that McDermott will be facing next season, I can safely say that I would get us relegated. We would finish bottom of the league with nil points. There is not a poster on this board that would be able to keep Reading in the Championship if they were manager. Sorry Ian Royal, but if you were boss we'd be getting relegated next year. If Hoop Blah was the boss we would have no chance of staying up. If Dave-Royal was manager, he would probably win the Championship just because he knows more about football than the rest of us, has excellent connections and is a talented foreign manager. With the exception of Dave-Royal everyone else would be getting us relegated next season.

Utterly bizarre post for many reasons. Baffling to claim to claim McDermott taking us to our worst finish in well over a decade and a bunch of places lower than this season, when his target is building a team to challenge for promotion would be a sign he's outstanding and doing an excellent job.

Why you're talking about me as manager is just plain weird.

[Portsmouth Royal]

How anyone can say, based upon what we know at the moment, that being in a genuine relegation scrap next season would represent an excellent achievement by the manager is unfathomably bizarre.

[Top Flight]

I haven't been making predictions. I have just stated my expectations.

For me, If we finish fourth from bottom next season and stay in the Championship, I will take that. That will mean that Brian McDermott is an outstanding manager doing an excellent job.

If I was the manager and given the situation that McDermott will be facing next season, I can safely say that I would get us relegated. We would finish bottom of the league with nil points. There is not a poster on this board that would be able to keep Reading in the Championship if they were manager. Sorry Ian Royal, but if you were boss we'd be getting relegated next year. If Hoop Blah was the boss we would have no chance of staying up. If Dave-Royal was manager, he would probably win the Championship just because he knows more about football than the rest of us, has excellent connections and is a talented foreign manager. With the exception of Dave-Royal everyone else would be getting us relegated next season.

Utterly bizarre post for many reasons. Baffling to claim to claim McDermott taking us to our worst finish in well over a decade and a bunch of places lower than this season, when his target is building a team to challenge for promotion would be a sign he's outstanding and doing an excellent job.

Why you're talking about me as manager is just plain weird.

I was just kidding Ian Royal. I wanted to just wind you up a little bit.

Maybe that was a bit extreme talking about 4th from bottom as a success. That wouldn't be a success but I wouldn't see that as a failure on McDermott's part either based on the situation that he is dealing with. It is certainly not a reason to sack him. The summer that is ahead with all the constraints and change that will take place will put serious demands on McDermott as a manager. If he can navigate his way out of this period of transition and keep us respectably placed then that surely has to be a serious achievement.

[Top Flight]

Anyway, sacking McDermott is just plain ridiculous.

Imagine if we had lost patience with Steve Coppell when he was bringing in the likes of Lloyd Owusu and Paul Brooker and we judged him based on that team? You have to give a manager a chance. Sometimes a signing is just a short-term measure to buy you some time and achieve a short-term objective. We needed a striker, Owusu was the best we could get at that time. But Coppell moved him on as soon as he could get a better player in.

Kermorgant is a similar signing for McDermott. We were losing Sa and he needed to get something done to carry us forward for the time being. I very much doubt McDermott is planning to build our team around Kermorgant for the next 3 years.

It's extremely unlikely that McDermott will be able to build a play off chasing side this summer with all the change that will take place. The right players that can really take us forward won't all be obtainable at once. Some of his signings may be to plug a few gaps until he can make stronger enforcements.

McDermott needs 3 or 4 years minimum to get the job done. All this talk about giving him until November. Jeez. We're never gonna have a decent side at Reading ever again. There just isn't the patience.

[Forbury Lion]

If I was manager of Reading next season the club would probably be relegated, possibly with a record low number of points but I reckon I would finish with more than 0 points, in fact I may even avoid relegation by just picking a half decent number 2 and telling them to get on with it.

[Top Flight]

If I was manager of Reading next season the club would probably be relegated, possibly with a record low number of points but I reckon I would finish with more than 0 points, in fact I may even avoid relegation by just picking a half decent number 2 and telling them to get on with it.

If Steve Coppell were your number 2, we'd end up winning the league. But not before 3 or 4 years of team building and 6 or 7 transfer windows.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm still totally miffed by your expectations for both the summer and McDermott's chances next season.

I get that we're going to lose a number of players, but few of them have really been positive influences on this season, and I understand there are some question marks over the budget that McDermott will have to work within but if he's half as good a manager as some people seem to suggest he is then he should be able to build a team better than the one we've seen this season.

Look at Brighton as an example. They finished 20th last season, signed more players than we'll likely need and have a proper team gunning for promotion (yeah they backed the manager with a few £m for transfer fee's but I'm still not convinced the Thai's won't give McDermott some decent funds). That's good management by Houghton as much as splashing the cash.

I do agree that we need some long term planning and sticking with a manager at some point. I find the transient nature of the modern game very frustrating so I hope McDermott shows enough progress to get the chance to build. Purely surviving isn't, and shouldn't, be enough for that chance though.

[Maneki Neko]

he should be able to build a team better than the one we've seen this season.

I think he will, its just that on the budget he will have it may take a little longer than 8 games to build it, and get it playing together.
so I expect moaners to start piping up pretty early and I have no idea how the owners will react to that.

[genome]

When Brian took us up it was following steady progress from relegation candidates, to a play off final, and then the league. I can't see the owners giving him 3 or 4 years with no progress in that time.

I will start judging him in January at the earliest. The second half of this season was about steadying the ship after Clarke's shenanigans, which he has done save for the recent wobble. But if it gets to this point next year and there is no sign of progress then the owners should rightly look at him, I think fan pressure will be too much anyway, considering how much flak he's getting already.

[No Fixed Abode]

steadying the ship after Clarke's shenanigans, which he has done :

3 losses on the trot - 7 goals conceded. Ship steadied.

[Maneki Neko]

we are safe, foot off pedal, flip flops on

[genome]

steadying the ship after Clarke's shenanigans, which he has done :

3 losses on the trot - 7 goals conceded. Ship steadied.

You really don't like reading whole sentences do you?

[BR2]

We should be happy with mid table finish if circumstances are as we suspect they will be - a few ins, a few outs, a club without massive ambition and without the struggle to stay afloat and off filed chaos of some others. That would mean a decent season.

if he gets any significant backing during the summer, and a firm indication that the owners really want to go for it and are prepared to invest, and we're not in the top eight the end of November - then I think his job will be under threat.

To sack him now would be just ridiculous - a real case of cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

I disagree-if "We" are going to sack him and replace him immediately, before the season ends,then "we" should just get on and do it and give a new manager a few months to get cracking.

I say "We" loosely because it is not our decision.
Most people posting on here suggest that stability is important and a manager needs time (clearly Watford are the exception) but that is us talking as fans.
In the world of professional football managers aren't given time-we don't agree with it but that is what happens.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Thais , having sat through games like the recent Birmingham debacle, decided that an error has been made in bringing Brian back and ,rightly or wrongly,decide to make a change sooner rather than later.
It may come down to how much influence Madejski and Howe have-the Thais might feel that they shouldn't have listened to them when the decision was taken to sack Clarke.

We will get a good idea in the next few weeks whether we are an ambitious football club or a UK property interest for the mystery folk from the Far East.

[Maguire]

Brian started off okay, some improvement on before, things looked to be - albeit slowly - heading in the right direction. It's kind of stalled a bit, some stuff performances, some unlucky ones, and a shame to see our own players rucking (a sign of problems? Or just heat of the moment idiocy?).

Had expected more by this point, but it's tricky to see if that expectation is unfair considering how the two managers before him also struggled for consistency. Not particularly sure Vydra deserved the time he has had and Kermorgant as a signing looks woeful to me but I'm still behind Brian and reckon he will sort things out next season, deserving as he does what Adkins and Clarke had: a summer window.

Didn't particulary agree with Adkins being sacked, nor Clarke - though I didn't warm to either and can see why they went - so not about to turn my back on Brian either. If we want to improve, we can't keep sacking managers half way into their project.

Pretty much spot on.

Bit disappointed we haven't seen a return to playing with width and decent crosses but I guess we've had injuries and he's had to go with what we've got. Lot of work to be done in the summer.

[No Fixed Abode]

steadying the ship after Clarke's shenanigans, which he has done :

3 losses on the trot - 7 goals conceded. Ship steadied.

You really don't like reading whole sentences do you?

Ship steadied.

[Maneki Neko]

3 losses on the trot - 7 goals conceded. Ship steadied.

You really don't like reading whole sentences do you?

Ship steadied.

agreed- we are the Chelsea of the championship

[No Fixed Abode]

Except we got rid of manager when things were really bad - you got rid of one when you were 1 point outside the play-offs.

[Maneki Neko]

lets concentrate on Chelsea m8


been to the bridge often this season?