Clarke interview on Goals on Sunday

[handbags_harris]

Not sure I agree with either of you tbh. Of course you'd want some contact with the actual owners of the club but really on a day to day there's a chain of command at Reading which hasn't changed much since when we were enjoying our most successful seasons. Clarke would have to run potential transfers , contracts and other stuff past Hammond and Howe just as the likes of Pardew, Coppell etc had to in the past. I suspect the biggest issue with the ownership is that there are 3 of them all based remotely. I'm sure Howe alluded to the fact it can take a while to pin them all down at the same time.

I do agree though that the whole interference in team affairs and signings narrative is overplayed. One of the first things they did was allow Clarke to employ his old mate Spearing from West Brom as Chief Scout. Hardly the actions of a group that wants to do it all themselves. Not to mention the fact they've employed Arsenal's Chief Scout as his replacement.

If you look at Clarke's summer signings they very much mirror the sort of players West Brom bought in while Spearing was chief scout. Only difference was that WBA were a Premier League club while we're a championship club with dwindling parachute payments, hence the large amount of loans.

Yep, but that chain of command stopped abruptly in the UK - and so insulated Clarke from having any direct contact with the owners (and those ultimately setting the budget and signing the cheques). Certainly last summer, which is when I think is most relevant to Clarke, the Thais hadn't delegated responsibility and autonomy to those in the local chain of command, but at the same time were also frequently unavailable for contact or unable to quickly reach decisions/consensus between themselves.

Makes sense. Anyone remember the impromptu interview with SC at Ascot?Signings all done and dusted but awaiting the green light from Thailand. That took another three days to sort out IIRC...

[Vision]

Not sure I agree with either of you tbh. Of course you'd want some contact with the actual owners of the club but really on a day to day there's a chain of command at Reading which hasn't changed much since when we were enjoying our most successful seasons. Clarke would have to run potential transfers , contracts and other stuff past Hammond and Howe just as the likes of Pardew, Coppell etc had to in the past. I suspect the biggest issue with the ownership is that there are 3 of them all based remotely. I'm sure Howe alluded to the fact it can take a while to pin them all down at the same time.

I do agree though that the whole interference in team affairs and signings narrative is overplayed. One of the first things they did was allow Clarke to employ his old mate Spearing from West Brom as Chief Scout. Hardly the actions of a group that wants to do it all themselves. Not to mention the fact they've employed Arsenal's Chief Scout as his replacement.

If you look at Clarke's summer signings they very much mirror the sort of players West Brom bought in while Spearing was chief scout. Only difference was that WBA were a Premier League club while we're a championship club with dwindling parachute payments, hence the large amount of loans.

Yep, but that chain of command stopped abruptly in the UK - and so insulated Clarke from having any direct contact with the owners (and those ultimately setting the budget and signing the cheques). Certainly last summer, which is when I think is most relevant to Clarke, the Thais hadn't delegated responsibility and autonomy to those in the local chain of command, but at the same time were also frequently unavailable for contact or unable to quickly reach decisions/consensus between themselves.

Makes sense. Anyone remember the impromptu interview with SC at Ascot?Signings all done and dusted but awaiting the green light from Thailand. That took another three days to sort out IIRC...

Which I suspect is as much down to there being 3 of them as it is the fact they're based abroad.

It didn't hamper him from doing more business in one summer in players and backroom staff than pretty much any Reading manager I can remember. It smacks more of someone making excuses for a summer transfer strategy that failed as far as I can see.

[The Sum of the Parts]

Which I suspect is as much down to there being 3 of them as it is the fact they're based abroad.

It didn't hamper him from doing more business in one summer in players and backroom staff than pretty much any Reading manager I can remember. It smacks more of someone making excuses for a summer transfer strategy that failed as far as I can see.

Yes, but it supports the point being made, which is that it was difficult to "manage upwards" here - for those very same reasons. It also explains why the transfer dealings were (mostly) done in a rush, at the same time, and relying on loanees. Much of the early summer was lost, so it was all done a bit last minute and hurried once they did (belatedly) decide what the budget was. I don't doubt some players we might have got earlier in the summer were unavailable by the time budget decisions were made.

[George_]

Full transcript:

Shepard: It was back in December that you left, just a month earlier there were reports that you were close to taking the Fulham job - It looks quite confusing from the outside, maybe you can clear it up.

Clarke: “It was confusing from the inside.”

Shephard: What happened?

Clarke: “Not a lot really. At the time the job had become quite difficult, the team was going through a bad patch.

“I got permission from Reading to speak to Fulham, who had approached Reading, I spoke to Fulham and decided that I wanted to stay at Reading.

“That was the gist of it, nothing untoward, there was no big drama. I chose to stay at Reading and three games later they kicked me out the door.

“So, obviously with hindsight if I could live that week again I would do things a bit differently."

Shephard: Would you have moved to Fulham?

Clarke: "If I’d have known that Reading had it in their mind that they were going to get rid of me. That would be the one disappointment for me, when I spoke to Fulham and went back to Reading, they assured me they’d be happy for me to stay.

“Three games later I was out the door, and one of those games was a win. One was a defeat away from home, a difficult game at Nottingham Forest and then we lost an injury time goal to lose a home game against QPR and suddenly I was back on my holidays.

“It was a strange time. I’ll learn from the experiences as you always try and do.”

“It was quite a difficult job, Reading. It was a job that came about very quickly. I was literally lying on the beach in the Caribbean, I got a phone call and it was like ‘if you want the job it’s yours but you have to be back in the country tomorrow’, so I rushed back.

“I was out the game for a year and I was looking forward to getting back in, I didn’t really do enough due diligence on the actual club."

Shephard: Because you didn't have enough time?

Clarke: "I didn’t have enough time, I had to make a spur of the moment decision and I made it.

“When I got in there it was quite a difficult situation, the club had frittered their money away under the Russian owner, he'd left and the club had been sold to a Thai consortium which had enough money to buy the club but didn’t really have enough to put into the club, to develop it.

“And they wanted promotion to the Premier League. When you add all that together, it was quite a difficult job.

“We did a lot of work in the summer, brought in a lot of players, a lot of key players from the previous regime left because they got better contract offers elsewhere, so I think when you make so many changes you need a bit of time for that team to gel and come together.

“We had some good moments. It was interesting I was looking at the top of the Championship - you look at those teams at the top now.

"Middlesbrough we beat, Burnley we beat and Brighton we drew with - that's the top three now. So at that stage the team was good.

“We went off the boil a little bit. I lost three key players - Stephen Quinn, Aaron Tshibola and Hal Robson-Kanu at the same time. They were three key players for the team and we lost a little bit of shape.

“That meant we had a tricky spell, but I'm sure given time to manage the other side of it that everything would have been OK.

“The team hasn’t done fantastic since I left, it’s not as if I wasn’t getting the best out the team, because they haven’t shot up the table.

“They’ve actually not picked up that many points since Brian took over, but I can understand for Brian that it’s a difficult job because when you look above you - everyone says when you get a job you should manage upwards - and managing upwards at that club was quite difficult."

[wingnut]

Amongst other things, this is bullshit:

Clarke: "If I’d have known that Reading had it in their mind that they were going to get rid of me. That would be the one disappointment for me, when I spoke to Fulham and went back to Reading, they assured me they’d be happy for me to stay.

It was clear from Nigel Howe's cooments at the press conference immediately after the will-he-won't-he go to Fullham debacle, that he was a dead man walking so he can't have been in any doubt how precarious his situation was then.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

If the only way he can achieve anything is to have a huge budget, absolute power and have no one to answer to, I'd suggest he's going to struggle anywhere.

Poor fella eh? - he got to sack the tried and tested staff and bring his own people in, got unprecedented backing bringing in players with a great pedigree for Championship players (Sa, Quinn, Vydra, Piazon, McShane, Taylor, Al-Habsi) plus others (Bond, Hurtado) and an Category 1 academy to work with.

And his abject failure was the fault of a proven, Chief Executive a widely respected and successful Director of Football, and a group of Thai business people who had the temerity to want to know where their money (money that saved this club from possible extinction) was going.

Yeh. Good luck with your next job Steve. Like I said, Kes loves him so much, I hope it's Chelsea.

[Vision]

Which I suspect is as much down to there being 3 of them as it is the fact they're based abroad.

It didn't hamper him from doing more business in one summer in players and backroom staff than pretty much any Reading manager I can remember. It smacks more of someone making excuses for a summer transfer strategy that failed as far as I can see.

Yes, but it supports the point being made, which is that it was difficult to "manage upwards" here - for those very same reasons. It also explains why the transfer dealings were (mostly) done in a rush, at the same time, and relying on loanees. Much of the early summer was lost, so it was all done a bit last minute and hurried once they did (belatedly) decide what the budget was. I don't doubt some players we might have got earlier in the summer were unavailable by the time budget decisions were made.

More than the 11 players we did get? There's always one or two that get away as happens pretty much every window but again I think you're overplaying the Thai factor.

It's just as likely we knew what the budget was and the last minute Vydra and John players were gettable because we got last minute money for Hector. Did Clarke really believe that Vydra and John would be within our price range on a permanent deal?

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are issues with the Thais as there are with most owners and the increased foreign ownership means that actually this is something managers are going to have to accept as part of the job. I can also see why Clarke may have had an issue if he was trying to get some idea from the owners about what their January Window plans were (as this was around the time they seemed to just disappear having been reasonably visual in the early part of the season). Really though it strikes me from that interview and his time here that he doesn't seem to accept any responsibility for his own part in proceedings.

He oversaw the biggest ever change in staff personnel in one summer but claims he couldn't get any decisions made. Perhaps he should have focused a bit more on managing those below him a little better rather than worrying about going directly to the owners when he had a perfectly experienced and for the most part successful buffer inbetween.

I do think you have a point about the owners not really seeming to have a definitive plan for the football side and I've shared my own concerns over this. However I actually think what we did in January makes far more sense going forward than the short termism of the summer so hopefully things are heading in a more focused direction.

[Maneki Neko]

not a yes man like BM

what exactly is wrong with understanding the budgetary constraints of any club, and working within them.
why do you feel that pissing and moaning about it in private or public would improve matters?

[Maneki Neko]

he doesn't seem to accept any responsibility for his own part in proceedings.

yeah, its that, and this kind of thing that's the most annoying:

why did you talk to Fulham?: the job had become quite difficult, the team was going through a bad patch.

oh right, that's ok then,
it must get difficult to manage players when that is your attitude tbf.

[No Fixed Abode]

It's it possible for a Reading manager (who doesn't leave to retire) to move on from the club without the fans being highly bitter about it?

[genome]

We've had our fair share of snakes though.

At least we don't abuse managers while they are still in the post and guiding the club to continental trophies!

[Elm Park Kid]

I honestly don't think it's fair to judge Clarke on the results by November. You need at least a full season to sort out your own team and get them playing how you want. I understand that given the number of loan players we brought in it was a bit of a 'one season' gamble but he didn't even get that.

What is fair is to say that no manager should be talking to another club at the same level as the one he's at unless he plans to leave. Sure, if someone like Chelsea come in for you most Reading fans would accept that's an opportunity you can't give up. But the sheer lack of loyalty of even wanting to talk to Fulham was unacceptable. Sure you can say that the owners shouldn't have given him the option but look at it from their perspective - they thought he wanted to go so what was the point of hindering that.

[No Fixed Abode]

Sure, if someone like Chelsea come in for you most Reading fans would accept that's an opportunity you can't give up. t.

Didn't happen with Pardew when he moved to West Ham.

[Maneki Neko]

we were above them. he said the day before that he was staying.


other than that, exactly the same

[andrew1957]

This all seems clear to me.

Clarke was given pretty much free range last summer within a relatively tight budget to bring in new players that he wanted and to rebuild the team and the back room staff. I think the Thai owners had great faith in him and supported him well financially without putting ridiculous amounts of money into the club.

Results were ok to start with but as he said in his interview we then had some injuries and things fell apart. I think in general the fans were still supportive of Clarke at that time and were prepared to wait out the long game and that he would have been given another season.

Then he made the IMO crazy decision to speak to Fulham. Again IMO as he had been well backed by the Thais in the summer and made all the changes that he wanted to suddenly be prepared to look at alternative employment was odd in the extreme. In that one action he lost the respect of fans and owners alike and had to go.

The problem for Brian is that I very much doubt that the Thais will be willing to put so much money in this summer. I think he will only be allowed to promote youth and bring in a few free/low cost replacements to fill the gaps left by the large number of outgoing players. Therefore, the squad at the start of next season is very likely to be much inferior to the one that Clarke had on 1st September 2015 and I think barring us doing a Leicester that the realistic best we can hope for next season is Championship survival and at worst would be to follow Bolton down the tubes. IMO Championship survival in 2016/17 will be a success.

I hope Brian is given time by both fans and owners alike because if we can survive at this level next season then Brian has a track record of building a squad capable of promotion if he can be allowed to do so over the next 2-3 seasons.

Personally I would love to see a number of academy products promoted to the first team and given a chance to shine next season. It would make it worth attending games again. I stopped going this season as I was fed up with watching 5-6 loan or other leaving players each match - who we all know won't be here next season.

[Maneki Neko]

“That was a surprise to me,” said Charles. I liked Steve, he was interesting to talk to and he was very savvy sort of guy.

“So to come out and say something like that was strange - It would have taken five minutes for him to Google it.

“He said he was on the beach in the Caribbean when he heard about the job and he had to get on a plane straight over here.

“Well even on the cab ride to the airport he would have had enough time to search and see that Reading was in a bit of a mess after Zingarevich and that the Thais didn’t have that much money.”

Charlie watts has it about right, imo

[No Fixed Abode]

we were above them. he said the day before that he was staying.


other than that, exactly the same

West Ham are a much bigger club tbf.

[MoorgateRoyal]

I honestly don't think it's fair to judge Clarke on the results by November. You need at least a full season to sort out your own team and get them playing how you want. I understand that given the number of loan players we brought in it was a bit of a 'one season' gamble but he didn't even get that.

What is fair is to say that no manager should be talking to another club at the same level as the one he's at unless he plans to leave. Sure, if someone like Chelsea come in for you most Reading fans would accept that's an opportunity you can't give up. But the sheer lack of loyalty of even wanting to talk to Fulham was unacceptable. Sure you can say that the owners shouldn't have given him the option but look at it from their perspective - they thought he wanted to go so what was the point of hindering that.

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

Regardless of how well Clarke did, or how well McDermott is doing now, as soon as Clarke spoke to Fulham he was gone.

[sandman]

we were above them. he said the day before that he was staying.


other than that, exactly the same

West Ham are a much bigger club tbf.

No shit! Really?

[No Fixed Abode]

we were above them. he said the day before that he was staying.


other than that, exactly the same

West Ham are a much bigger club tbf.

No shit! Really?

I know - it needs spelling out to some on here!