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

[stealthpapes]

All in the space of a a few months my gr8 m8.

It's a throwaway st8ment anyway, just to illustr8 the competitiveness of the league

I disagree that it is more or less competitive than many other leagues. The boys who spend the most usually finish near the top, those that spend the least finish near the bottom and the results obv have to fall in line with that. There are always exceptions to that but they are just that, exceptions.

I remember when we went up under Bri Bri and it was all 'wahay little ol Reading against all odds' etc then a few months later it was shown that the 3 promoted teams that season were 3 of the 4 highest wage payers in the division.

I didn't say that other leagues weren't competitive, and over the course of the season it does tend to iron out like that. But I still think it's a highly competitive league and you certainly get your fair share of upsets.

Define competitiveness.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheo ... e-football

Anyway, the problem is that most studies only focus on top flights, but I think given any metric and enough time the championship would stack up well, but only because the differences between the clubs are actually quite small.

So I agree with both of you, from a certain point of view.

[genome]

At least we aren't stuck in a division like Ligue 1!

[stealthpapes]

I do think that, over a couple of years, it does a good job of moving clubs up and down. Form, random events such as injuries and momentum matter a lot, so clubs can vary their 'performance' a great deal over a short space of time due to fluctuations and random events.

[Maneki Neko]

:lol:
that's genius coming from our kes, that is

? You've never seen me mock the likes of Chris Armstrong etc have you?

are you really saying you've remained classy in all your HNA? dealings?

[No Fixed Abode]

I think you should be aiming your vernacular at Royal Forester who for some reason decided to mock a life threatening incident totally out of context with anything on this thread.

[Victor Meldrew]

But in a competitive league like the Championship, where anyone can beat anyone. You need consistency. Those teams probably have some form of consistency or at least a plan for the future, and haven't tried to gamble their way up.

Accept it m8, Mr. Chelsea gambled, failed, tried to jump ship and was sacked. Brian came in, steadied the ship without his top two scorers and is now having to see the season out with a team that just wants the season to end.

I'm not sure that your cliche is correct.
Bolton, MK Dons and Charlton haven't beaten many and we have only beaten a few more.
The top 3 are quite a long way clear of the 4th.
I only mention it as a BTW and for no other reason than I think it is wrong.

[Maneki Neko]

I think you should be aiming your vernacular at Royal Forester who for some reason decided to mock a life threatening incident totally out of context with anything on this thread.

yeah. no one is going to take lectures on morality from you kes.
and rightly so.

[Ian Royal]

Personally, at RB

McCleary >>>>>>>>>>>>> Gunter

I saw the goals on Sky and it looked to me that their player waltzed through the right hand side of our team with relative ease for the winner

He was outpaced for the goal which is a shame as he was otherwise superb.

From what i remember the ball broke loose to him and because of our narrow midfield no one was near to pick him up so McCleary had to race out, but couldn't get near enough because of the powerful run, then strong finish. I wouldn't blame McCleary for that, rather lack of effectively clearing our lines and having someone left in acres of space.

[No Fixed Abode]

I think you should be aiming your vernacular at Royal Forester who for some reason decided to mock a life threatening incident totally out of context with anything on this thread.

yeah. no one is going to take lectures on morality from you kes.
and rightly so.

#IBMWAW

[Crux]

I'll be honest, I genuinely feel sorry for No Fixed Abode with the way he acts. Perhaps it's his up bringing or something more sinister but any 40 year old that still lives with his mum/sister and feels the need to come on here to wind kids up must be deeply troubled.

Anyway, back on subject, I was expecting more from Brian although he wasn't my first choice. While Clarke built an awfully unbalanced squad, I think there is enough in the team to have performed better than we have.

I think he deserves the summer and up until November to show us improvement. Will the Thais invest though?

[Top Flight]

I was expecting more from Brian although he wasn't my first choice. While Clarke built an awfully unbalanced squad, I think there is enough in the team to have performed better than we have.

I don't think so Crux. We really are this bad. We have been this bad for a while now. There is nothing new about the fact that we are sh*te. The truth is we really are a p*ss poor excuse of a football team at the moment.

We are exactly where we deserve to be. The current players that we have are a lower half Championship team.

As the division is so tight and so competitive, we, just like all the teams in this league are only a few decent signings away from becoming a good side. But right now, we have to admit that we are utter cr*p.

[Longhorn1970]

I was expecting more from Brian although he wasn't my first choice. While Clarke built an awfully unbalanced squad, I think there is enough in the team to have performed better than we have.

I don't think so Crux. We really are this bad. We have been this bad for a while now. There is nothing new about the fact that we are sh*te. The truth is we really are a p*ss poor excuse of a football team at the moment.

We are exactly where we deserve to be. The current players that we have are a lower half Championship team.

As the division is so tight and so competitive, we, just like all the teams in this league are only a few decent signings away from becoming a good side. But right now, we have to admit that we are utter cr*p.

The buck stops with the manager, its not a bad squad as we've seen already this year ..

[Maneki Neko]

Which squad?
Cos this isnt the same one.
Hes had 4 million of striker sold for starters
Considering how we struggle to score its laughabke to blame brian.
We were shit under clarke for the last 9 games too, and he had two players who could score

What orher striker would you have played in last 4 games?

[Ian Royal]

I was expecting more from Brian although he wasn't my first choice. While Clarke built an awfully unbalanced squad, I think there is enough in the team to have performed better than we have.

I don't think so Crux. We really are this bad. We have been this bad for a while now. There is nothing new about the fact that we are sh*te. The truth is we really are a p*ss poor excuse of a football team at the moment.

We are exactly where we deserve to be. The current players that we have are a lower half Championship team.

As the division is so tight and so competitive, we, just like all the teams in this league are only a few decent signings away from becoming a good side. But right now, we have to admit that we are utter cr*p.

The buck stops with the manager, its not a bad squad as we've seen already this year ..

Happily you aren't in charge.

[Top Flight]

I was expecting more from Brian although he wasn't my first choice. While Clarke built an awfully unbalanced squad, I think there is enough in the team to have performed better than we have.

I don't think so Crux. We really are this bad. We have been this bad for a while now. There is nothing new about the fact that we are sh*te. The truth is we really are a p*ss poor excuse of a football team at the moment.

We are exactly where we deserve to be. The current players that we have are a lower half Championship team.

As the division is so tight and so competitive, we, just like all the teams in this league are only a few decent signings away from becoming a good side. But right now, we have to admit that we are utter cr*p.

The buck stops with the manager, its not a bad squad as we've seen already this year ..

The season is measured over 46 games Longhorn. Not 10. They have consistently underperformed over 138 games.

[Ian Royal]

Fact is, all our best times over the last two or three decades have come from having a steady hand at the rudder for a goodly period, not ditching someone the second things aren't working.

McGhee, Pardew, Coppell, McDermott.

[Top Flight]

Exactly. I can't think of any manager that has made the kind of quick impact that people seem to be expecting from McDermott. It won't happen like that at Reading. We don't have the money.

Quinny and Gooding had a great first 6 months but they inherited a team that was flying following several years of building by Mark McGhee.

Most of the time a new manager gets the job because his predeccesor left a mess. Only Coppell and Quinn/Gooding inherited a set-up that was on the up.

McDermott has the biggest mess to sort out in all the time that I've been following the Royals and it goes back to the 80s. I don't think I have seen a bigger shambles for a manager to sort out than this.

We have to be patient and as supportive as possible. Let's just stand on the terraces and support our team and get behind them. They have never needed us more than now to get behind them and support them properly. I'm just going to go to QPR on Saturday and out sing the Rangers support. It doesn't matter if we lose 3-0. It's all about building for next season now under the leadership of our outstanding manager McDermott. No one is better qualified than our Brian to sort this all out. Any other manager would be a dangerous experiment. Brian is the man I trust the most to get us back on the right track. Long live Brian, long live RFC and long live Sir John.

[Ian Royal]

You are pretty much the only one who thinks things this is the worst mess we've been in and we're looking at relegation next season.

Christ, two seasons ago we were an inch from administration with no owners a massive wage bill and a bunch of shirkers and you think this is the worst?

[BhatMhen]

I hope it's not that hard for him to adjust.

[BhatMhen]

I hope it's not that hard for him to adjust.