In or Out?

[Royality creeps In]

I'm out as well

I am bored to tears with the namby, pamby, tippy, tappy displays with no end product.

We have some good players who I don't think are allowed to express themselves as they have to pass backwards or sideways all the time.
Last season was boring and somehow we stumbled through to the playoffs with the final setting a precedent for this seasons rubbish.

[Oilroyal]

That is a massive amount of conjecture, Oilroyal

With an official line - to pursue new challenges after leaving out of the blue, opinion to form a possible conclusion can only ever be conjecture. But you’re right, nothing concrete but still think he added more value last season than was credited for.

[SCIAG]

Unless we get dragged into a relegation battle, he's earned the entire season imo, sick of this short-term approach to managers.

This.

We have good players and could be doing better but there's no sense in wetting the bed over a couple of bad games. Do people not remember when Coppell's side scored four goals in eleven Championship matches?

I like to think of us as the "good guys". We put our values ahead of short-termism. Unless relegation becomes a serious concern then Stam has earned our loyalty through this season and next at the very least.

[East Grinstead Royal]

OUT.

I'm basing this on the fact that going to watch Reading play has become a chore. I wake up on a Saturday and am glad we're away and I don't have a ticket. 42 years after getting my first season ticket, I now regard it as a millstone... but still I go.

There is precious little improvement on where we were a year ago and absolutely no reason to think any improvement will be forthcoming. It's not about missing Yann or any other injured players, it's about forcing a style of play on a bunch of players who simply can't play that way. Previous successful managers at Reading have either (i) developed a style to suit the talents available (e.g. Branfoot) or (ii) recruited players who can play the way the manager wants (e.g. Coppell). Jaap seems to have done neither. His unfortunate swipe at a minority of fans last week (when all he had to say was, no the players didn't respond to the booing, they responded to a change of formation and tactics) has not helped his position and his failure to recruit (or to even acknowledge the need to recruit) a striker have shown his managerial naivety. I can't recall EVER wanting Reading to part company with a manager before (even Rodgers and Adkins!) but I just don't see how things are going to improve. Probably best to line up a replacement before wielding the axe, but I think I hear the sound of the blade being sharpened.

[quickwingerswife]

Out. Reading have the most notoriously fickle and demanding fans in the country. Stam should have researched this before he took the job and now he can't cope with the fallout.We will now enter a dog eat pigeon stage and it starts to get nasty, pumped up by those balloon heads in the West Stand.. Go now please. Bring in Gooding/ Gilles who know how It works in this football backwater. Stam will thrive at Crystal Palace for instance, but not here.

[Lower West]

As bad as recent results have been. We won't be relegated. Was always going to be a challenge turning the club around. After some years of decline. Sacking Stam isn't going to cover up the lack of forward firepower in the squad. Stick with him. The next transfer window is the key. Even an unknown continental player to provide a focal point for the attack would be better than nothing.

[cavillerarusticana]

IN without a doubt, last night was an improvement on Saturday, we should have had a penalty but the Ref bottled it, the players have to pick up the pace, we need to be quicker and bolder, they have got to step up to the plate, they have a responsibility too, we can't absolve them and heap it all onto JS. He also has to recognise that this constant passing around the back is just asking for trouble. It's okay if you have got the players with pace to take the opposition on but they have got wise to our present system and are just picking us off or parking the bus in front of the goal. We have to be faster and smarter.
Anyway, who is out there, anyone that special that is worthing shelling out a shed load of money on, compensation for paying off contracts not to mention any other disruptions or distractions that they may bring without guarantees of success.
Obviously the situation cannot go on for ever but I think it is early enough not to hit the panic button just yet. But that's only my opinion. As I have said in a previous post everyone has one of those.

[Muskrat]

We won't be relegated.

You see it's this kind of complacency that troubles me, and moreover I believe Stam thinks the same way. Of course we can be relegated - in case you hadn't noticed, we're sh1t !!!

If I could see even the faintest glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel then I'd give Stam the benefit of the doubt, but I'm afraid I can't see it, not even a photon. So on that basis.....

[royalp-we]

In

You've got to give Stam till Xmas at least.

It's really tedious. Like, watching paint dry.

But he's still learning. Maybe by seeing Warnock and Wilder doing so well with mediocre squads it might tempt him to abandon this nonsense of not troubling the opposition keeper.

We can only hope.

[Snowflake Royal]

We won't be relegated.

You see it's this kind of complacency that troubles me, and moreover I believe Stam thinks the same way. Of course we can be relegated - in case you hadn't noticed, we're sh1t !!!

If I could see even the faintest glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel then I'd give Stam the benefit of the doubt, but I'm afraid I can't see it, not even a photon. So on that basis.....

So far we've had a couple of good performances with results, a couple of decent performances without results and few poor performances. It wouldn't take much to get a couple of results against teams having an off-day or getting the rub of the green. Pump a bit of confidence from some good results into the side and get a couple of important players back involved, like Barrow, Bacuna, Kermie and I could easily see this all seeming like a silly little bit of bed-wetting over nothing,

It's very early on and we haven't even played 10 league games yet, whilst most of the rest of the division has. It's all a bit worrying right now, but to suggest it's impossible to see a positive turn-around is doom mongering nonsense.

Stam cocked up a few times last season. The side played cluelessly a few times last season. We turned things around, every time. It can certainly be done. And Stam's record is good, so there's every reason to believe he can do it. Remember he's got about a 50% win rate... even Coppell and McDermott only managed 44% ish.

[CountryRoyal]

It doesn't really make sense getting rid of him in December like people have said. Why sack him just before he has the chance to legitimately rectify certain problems and get a decent striker in? For me you either do it now-ish or Feb/March depending on results. Anything else is just wasting time.

As much as I'd like to say we should give him the year regardless, it's utterly demoralising seeing little progression and the same recurrent mistakes and performances. So much of what he does and says screams he doesn't know what he's doing and maybe last season was a fluke... I'm sure he's got the answers somewhere inside his head and he really is a managing genius. Let's hope.

[Hound]

It doesn't really make sense getting rid of him in December like people have said. Why sack him just before he has the chance to legitimately rectify certain problems and get a decent striker in? For me you either do it now-ish or Feb/March depending on results. Anything else is just wasting time.

As much as I'd like to say we should give him the year regardless, it's utterly demoralising seeing little progression and the same recurrent mistakes and performances. So much of what he does and says screams he doesn't know what he's doing and maybe last season was a fluke... I'm sure he's got the answers somewhere inside his head and he really is a managing genius. Let's hope.

tbh, he was borderline genius in getting us to the PO final last year. The tactics against Fulham were as good as I've seen, and we deservedly beat a team who were absolutely flying at the time.

He has clearly messed up badly in the past few weeks, but lets not forget what he did.

My take is a little bit that he was great and making do with a weak squad last year, and at times the team picked itself. He didn't do great with the players he took on in January last year, and again I think he is struggling to fit in the host of new players we have this,

To me it seems managing the squad is a weakness of his. It seems he almost picked the last two sides on seniority rather than the players that should be playing. Weird as it sounds with his playing history, I wonder if he finds it easier to drop the likes of Evans, Swift, Kelly and Popa than he does the bigger 'names' like McCleary, Joey and Beerens.

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

As bad as recent results have been. We won't be relegated. Was always going to be a challenge turning the club around. After some years of decline. Sacking Stam isn't going to cover up the lack of forward firepower in the squad. Stick with him. The next transfer window is the key. Even an unknown continental player to provide a focal point for the attack would be better than nothing.

Like Mendes?

[Snowflake Royal]

Even Mendes would be an improvement on a front three of McCleary, Aluko and Beerens. Not that we need him whilst Bodvarsson is fit.

[windermereROYAL]

Where is Mendes?

[muirinho]

It doesn't really make sense getting rid of him in December like people have said. Why sack him just before he has the chance to legitimately rectify certain problems and get a decent striker in? For me you either do it now-ish or Feb/March depending on results. Anything else is just wasting time.

As much as I'd like to say we should give him the year regardless, it's utterly demoralising seeing little progression and the same recurrent mistakes and performances. So much of what he does and says screams he doesn't know what he's doing and maybe last season was a fluke... I'm sure he's got the answers somewhere inside his head and he really is a managing genius. Let's hope.

tbh, he was borderline genius in getting us to the PO final last year. The tactics against Fulham were as good as I've seen, and we deservedly beat a team who were absolutely flying at the time.

He has clearly messed up badly in the past few weeks, but lets not forget what he did.

My take is a little bit that he was great and making do with a weak squad last year, and at times the team picked itself. He didn't do great with the players he took on in January last year, and again I think he is struggling to fit in the host of new players we have this,

To me it seems managing the squad is a weakness of his. It seems he almost picked the last two sides on seniority rather than the players that should be playing. Weird as it sounds with his playing history, I wonder if he finds it easier to drop the likes of Evans, Swift, Kelly and Popa than he does the bigger 'names' like McCleary, Joey and Beerens.

I wondered about this as well. Those three in particular I think are not helping the team right now. Although in McCleary's defence, playing him through the middle doesn't suit him anyway, he might be better if he was let play in his natural position.

I'm still IN though, at least for this season. I think if he doesn't do well this season he may well fall on his sword anyway.

[Maneki Neko]

I'm basing this on the fact that going to watch Reading play has become a chore.

started way before stam, and he rectified it, before slipping back a bit due to injuries and failure to land a proper striker in the summer

[Hound]

I'm basing this on the fact that going to watch Reading play has become a chore.

started way before stam, and he rectified it, before slipping back a bit due to injuries and failure to land a proper striker in the summer

I think the proper striker thing is still a bit misleading. From the admittedly small sample I've seen this year, Bod is a proper striker who has scored two proper striker goals. Its just Stam hasn't picked him.

I'm not sure if you'd replaced McCleary with Oliveira for the last couple things would have been any better, as we just haven't been creating chances. Its the lack of movement and not playing to our strengths up front that has been the issue for me.

Do agree with the chore bit. Tbh, that second half of the Clarke/McD season was an absolute chore. Really didn't enjoy those games. I enjoyed pretty much every game I went to last season, and even quite enjoyed the Hull game despite the obvious frustrations

[PistolPete]

Unless we get dragged into a relegation battle, he's earned the entire season imo, sick of this short-term approach to managers.

Also this ^

However...

90% of the time, the players know whether the manager is any good. After Brendan Rogers half this board was thrilled (big watch bumper book of tactics) that a pmanager with nauseating post match comments and no tactical nous had gone. How wrong they were (please don't try to argue that you weren't). What always resonated with me was that Darren O'Dea, a player totally mistreated by Rodgers had only great things to say about him, that he had helped his game etc...

What happened is we went for the polar opposite and had success and all was good. If we had then decided we are a 4-4-2 energetic side and conitinued to appoint accordingly, all would be fine, but we flip-flopped between styles and only appear to have cracked a style of play again, a philosophy, an identity (if you like that kind of thing) with Stam.

Sack Stam now and we need to decide whether we follow Swansea by appointing a Martinez - Rogers - Laudrup - Monk - Clement type succession, or change direction once again. Of course, it's best if the Bradley, Guidolin and Paulo Sousa's are not given the job!

In conclusion, it's fine to sack Stam, but only if the successor is better!

[John Smith]

Unless we get dragged into a relegation battle, he's earned the entire season imo, sick of this short-term approach to managers.

Also this ^

However...

90% of the time, the players know whether the manager is any good. After Brendan Rogers half this board was thrilled (big watch bumper book of tactics) that a pmanager with nauseating post match comments and no tactical nous had gone. How wrong they were (please don't try to argue that you weren't). What always resonated with me was that Darren O'Dea, a player totally mistreated by Rodgers had only great things to say about him, that he had helped his game etc...

What happened is we went for the polar opposite and had success and all was good. If we had then decided we are a 4-4-2 energetic side and conitinued to appoint accordingly, all would be fine, but we flip-flopped between styles and only appear to have cracked a style of play again, a philosophy, an identity (if you like that kind of thing) with Stam.

Sack Stam now and we need to decide whether we follow Swansea by appointing a Martinez - Rogers - Laudrup - Monk - Clement type succession, or change direction once again. Of course, it's best if the Bradley, Guidolin and Paulo Sousa's are not given the job!

In conclusion, it's fine to sack Stam, but only if the successor is better!

Finally some sense in amongst this ridiculous witch hunt/blame fest going on. Reading have never attracted big name managers so if Stam was to go we'd probably be looking at Parkinson/an up and coming young manager. If that's what you want then carry on.