If RFC don't make the play-offs....

[Top Flight]

Those ppg stats are as meaningless as our possession stats this year under Stam.

McDermott won the title Clarke won Nothing.

Clarke would have got Reading to an FA Cup Final if it wasn't for Adam Flapperici.

We would have still had to go on and beat Arsenal for that to happen either on penalties or in the remainder of extra time.

At the end of the day, McDermott has achieved considerably more than Clarke in football management. 3 FA Cup quarter finals, 1 play off final and one league title. Clarke just has a semi-final to his name and lots of sackings for poor performance.

You can argue all you like about what you think might have happened with Clarke or McDermott. But in terms of real substance and track record, McDermott has proven himself to be an outstanding manager always achieving great outcomes for his football club even despite having crazy owners constantly selling his star players every transfer window. Clarke has always been backed and achieved nothing. He was backed at WBA. He was backed at Reading and he was backed at Villa. McDermott has always had owners that didn't back him and kept pulling the rug out from under his feet. He still achieved despite all of that.

McDermott was a perfect fit for RFC. He wouldn't walk away in times of trouble or turmoil. He would have just signed another Shane Long from Cork City and propelled us to the top end of the table.

[Davezk]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

[genome]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

Past evidence suggests that his strength is team building. He wasn't given a chance to build one and had to deal with Clarke's mess, a disinterested and demotivated bunch of loan players and expiring contracts.

If the owners weren't even going to give him the summer, the bloke was doomed from the start.

Yeah we've come out of it better off this season, but the way a (IMO) club legend was treated was disgraceful

[Top Flight]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

Well you are of the ipad/iphone generation. You want and expect instant gratification. Unfortunately in the real world it doesn't work like that. If you don't work at something and build properly you end up becoming a loser in the end.

[Top Flight]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

Past evidence suggests that his strength is team building. He wasn't given a chance to build one and had to deal with Clarke's mess, a disinterested and demotivated bunch of loan players and expiring contracts.

If the owners weren't even going to give him the summer, the bloke was doomed from the start.

Yeah we've come out of it better off this season, but the way a (IMO) club legend was treated was disgraceful

Genome, on the issue of Brian McDermott I think we can agree to agree. You are spot on.

[Top Flight]

And I just saw now that Aitor Karanka was sacked.

Is that not a ridiculous decision?

So Boro, like Reading when we were in the top flight have been dire. Sack the boss. Obviously it can't be anything to do with the players or that they might not be good enough for the Prem. Just sack Karanka. A new boss will have the same work to do as Karanka to get Boro up to standard. Why should they be any better than the man that has taken them this far? It's another stupid decision.

[John Smith]

And I just saw now that Aitor Karanka was sacked.

Is that not a ridiculous decision?

So Boro, like Reading when we were in the top flight have been dire. Sack the boss. Obviously it can't be anything to do with the players or that they might not be good enough for the Prem. Just sack Karanka. A new boss will have the same work to do as Karanka to get Boro up to standard. Why should they be any better than the man that has taken them this far? It's another stupid decision.

Timing very much like McDermott's sacking as well.

I wonder who they will get in? Nigel Adkins is out of work...

[Hound]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

Past evidence suggests that his strength is team building. He wasn't given a chance to build one and had to deal with Clarke's mess, a disinterested and demotivated bunch of loan players and expiring contracts.

If the owners weren't even going to give him the summer, the bloke was doomed from the start.

Yeah we've come out of it better off this season, but the way a (IMO) club legend was treated was disgraceful

Agree largely with that, he was certainly given a tough task. Still, I did expect a lot more out of him in terms of making those players look interested. Surely even if their future wasn't at Reading, it shouldn't have been too much of an ask to get the likes of Vydra, Piazon, Hector, HRK and co to pull their fingers out when their future was potentially depending on it.

There were plenty of players still under contract with us - Norwood, Williams, Obita, Gunter, McShane, Quinn etc who looked utterly demotivated at the end of the season - and again you'd have to ask why - and why things seem to perk up so much when Stam joined. Remember Charles Watts reports from the pre-season tour, and he constantly referred to the team spirit under Stam and how much the players were buying into it. I thought this would be McD's USP

I reckon it was the PNE game that did it for him. The owners were there and the performance was absolutely abject. Genuinely never seen a team look so distant and uninterested. Got absolutely battered by a bang average mid table side who also had 'nothing to play for' as such, and as mentioned on here, the only player who genuinely looked bothered was a 17 year old on debut.

[John Smith]

I reckon it was the PNE game that did it for him.

Did what for him? Has Stam been sacked?

[SCIAG]

Why not? Granted we still need to work on a plan B but look where it has got us in a season

Very short sighted IMO .. prefer it when we played BMD hoofball?

We didn't play hoofball under BMcD. We played fluid, exciting attacking football. Spirit and flair. That's the Reading way. That's the BMcD way and that was the Leicester way last night.

I disagree with your comment on the second spell under BMcD, the back end of last season all I can really recall is pumping the ball up to Kermorgant from offsides/goal kicks and hoping to play off anything he won in the air half the time we may as well have just kicked the ball back to the opposition keeper! We even did this with Simon Cox in the games that he played. It made absolutely no sense to sell Orlando Sa at the time given that he was in the mould of what we needed as a lone striker.

Spirited yes full of determination yes but at times we were doing things that made no sense at all e.g aiming for Simon Cox at goal kicks and hoping for him to win the ball against x2 6ft + defenders. Norwood looking for the hollywood Beckham pass and kicking it out of play when all it required was a little 10 yard pass to keep the momentum going and the opposition working off the ball.

I think this is more than a little revisionist. This time last year all the complaints were that we should be playing more long balls. The crowd were frequently on the players' backs for keeping possession rather than taking risks (most hilariously, there were boos a few seconds before McCleary scored against Brentford). The Birmingham match was probably the most extreme example of us overplaying it. We had over 70% possession but no real chances.

Long balls to Cox stick in the mind because they're frustrating, but they weren't typical of the way we were playing under McDermott. In terms of style, if not formation, we've basically been playing the same way since Adkins took over, barring Clarke's first half season.

[Top Flight]

I reckon it was the PNE game that did it for him.

Did what for him? Has Stam been sacked?

He was saying that it was the home defeat against Preston that lost McDermott his job. The game where we were rubbish and fell a goal behind before Quinny popped up with an unlikely equaliser before we pathetically allowed Johnson to pass through our defence and steal the points at the end.

That pathetic display cost McDermott his job.

Everyone is forgetting that we were long safe from relegation and couldn't go up so our season was finished weeks before. Numerous loan players couldn't be arsed and some senior players were preserving themselves for the summer of their lives at the Euros. Noone wanted to get injured and miss out.

I don't blame McDermott for that terrible set of circumstances. He would have soon re-organised everything and would have had us challenging for the top six this year just like Stam.

[SCIAG]

I don't blame McDermott for that terrible set of circumstances. He would have soon re-organised everything and would have had us challenging for the top six this year just like Stam.

Really? Because a year ago you were saying that 21st was the best we could hope for and would be a fantastic achievement.

[John Smith]

I reckon it was the PNE game that did it for him.

Did what for him? Has Stam been sacked?

He was saying that it was the home defeat against Preston that lost McDermott his job. The game where we were rubbish and fell a goal behind before Quinny popped up with an unlikely equaliser before we pathetically allowed Johnson to pass through our defence and steal the points at the end.

That pathetic display cost McDermott his job.

Everyone is forgetting that we were long safe from relegation and couldn't go up so our season was finished weeks before. Numerous loan players couldn't be arsed and some senior players were preserving themselves for the summer of their lives at the Euros. Noone wanted to get injured and miss out.

I don't blame McDermott for that terrible set of circumstances. He would have soon re-organised everything and would have had us challenging for the top six this year just like Stam.

Oh right. No in that case you're talking shit Top Flight

[Ian Royal]

Fcuks sake Ian, I'm going to break my "don't engage with Kes on the Team board" rule if you keep biting

Don't worry. I may occasionally chuck a couple of replies his way over a couple of days, but you can be assured I'm trying to keep it to a minimum.

[BR0B0T]

:)

Ian Royal do you ever choose the 'Ian Royal' selection...

In your shoes, I most definitely wood!

answer the god-damn question

[Top Flight]

Did what for him? Has Stam been sacked?

He was saying that it was the home defeat against Preston that lost McDermott his job. The game where we were rubbish and fell a goal behind before Quinny popped up with an unlikely equaliser before we pathetically allowed Johnson to pass through our defence and steal the points at the end.

That pathetic display cost McDermott his job.

Everyone is forgetting that we were long safe from relegation and couldn't go up so our season was finished weeks before. Numerous loan players couldn't be arsed and some senior players were preserving themselves for the summer of their lives at the Euros. Noone wanted to get injured and miss out.

I don't blame McDermott for that terrible set of circumstances. He would have soon re-organised everything and would have had us challenging for the top six this year just like Stam.

Oh right. No in that case you're talking shit Top Flight

True.

[Top Flight]

I got a tenner on Yorkhill at the 1:30 at Cheltenham. Let's see if it comes in. Race starting shortly.

[Top Flight]

GET IN THERE!

[Davezk]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

Well you are of the ipad/iphone generation. You want and expect instant gratification. Unfortunately in the real world it doesn't work like that. If you don't work at something and build properly you end up becoming a loser in the end.

In age but not mentality... I can live without instant gratification but the performances were poor with no sign of inprovement. Personally he should have been given more time but I still think the original post was a bit OTT on how good BM actually is.

[Top Flight]

I think you've 'romanticised' historical events in your own mind. He did fantastic in his 1st stint but 2nd stint was dire...

Well you are of the ipad/iphone generation. You want and expect instant gratification. Unfortunately in the real world it doesn't work like that. If you don't work at something and build properly you end up becoming a loser in the end.

In age but not mentality... I can live without instant gratification but the performances were poor with no sign of inprovement. Personally he should have been given more time but I still think the original post was a bit OTT on how good BM actually is.

You say that, but you judged his second stint as being dire because he wasn't able to instantly gratify you during that short period that he had in charge.

The problems at the club last season are well documented. He didn't really have a leg to stand on. And his hands were tied behind his back.