CONFIMRED - Mark Bowen

[URZZZZ]

According to J Low, Gunter and McCleary are to be brought back into the squad. Can’t find a place for Gunter personally although Yiadom is on awful form (perhaps down to tactics) but even though I’m not McCleary’s biggest fan, he could be an option as one of our only wingers, even if it is just brief spells on the bench

Baldock too? I think he could do a job in this team.

Didn't say about Baldock. Although he was never in the same situation as the other two because at least he was featuring in cup games/training with the first squad. I get a feeling we still won't see him much though, think they'll give Joao and Puscas as much time as possible to start firing giving the investment on them. Who knows though

[The Enfield Royal71]

This made me chuckle a bit tbf

Reading City FC

@ReadingCityFC

·

4h

Well lots of people aren't happy with

@ReadingFC

's new management appointment and want #BowenOut.. Any #readingfc season ticket holders not happy with the decision & thinking about giving Saturday's game a miss, will get free entry at

@Therivermoor

as we take on

@ardleyunitedfc

.

Quote Tweet

Reading FC

@ReadingFC

· 8h

#ReadingFC are pleased to announce that Mark Bowen has been appointed as First Team Manager

READ MORE

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Given we never won 10 games straight under Brian, no. Not even close. Only Coppell managed 10 (in recent years, obvs someone before my time got 13)

I'd have said 8 wins in a row in 2011-12 (as part of a run of 15 in 17) counts as pretty close.

[3points]

haven't read the whole thread, so may have already been said.

However, what if Bowen was actually much more influential behind the scenes last season than we all know. We seemed to do better after he joined, but that's partly due to Gomes getting his feet under the table as well. Maybe, just maybe, it was his tactical nous that got Gomes through last season and, since his elevation to DoF, his training ground and match day influence has reduced. And we are now seeing the outcome of Gomes being fully in control - did O'Shea take on Bowen's role and hasn't been as good?

I'm keeping an open mind on this appointment. I was very anti-Clement and underwhelmed by Gomes (just because I had no idea who he was but his record on Wiki wasn't great). I'm hoping it's more of a McDermott 1.0 similarity than a Rodgers appointment

[Millsy]

haven't read the whole thread, so may have already been said.

However, what if Bowen was actually much more influential behind the scenes last season than we all know. We seemed to do better after he joined, but that's partly due to Gomes getting his feet under the table as well. Maybe, just maybe, it was his tactical nous that got Gomes through last season and, since his elevation to DoF, his training ground and match day influence has reduced. And we are now seeing the outcome of Gomes being fully in control - did O'Shea take on Bowen's role and hasn't been as good?

I'm keeping an open mind on this appointment. I was very anti-Clement and underwhelmed by Gomes (just because I had no idea who he was but his record on Wiki wasn't great). I'm hoping it's more of a McDermott 1.0 similarity than a Rodgers appointment

That's entirely possible and it seems to be what is being suggested. Bowen says he had more of a role last season.

But it could just be a case of taking the credit for the better stuff and distancing himself from the crap.

I have to question just how good you can be if you can sit back and watch a manager like Gomes insist on zonal marking, chancing it out from the back etc etc.. Surely at some point you'd say "oh, Gomes, NO".

Who knows.


Time will tell.

[Snowflake Royal]

Given we never won 10 games straight under Brian, no. Not even close. Only Coppell managed 10 (in recent years, obvs someone before my time got 13)

I'd have said 8 wins in a row in 2011-12 (as part of a run of 15 in 17) counts as pretty close.

I meant winning his first 10.

[3points]

haven't read the whole thread, so may have already been said.

However, what if Bowen was actually much more influential behind the scenes last season than we all know. We seemed to do better after he joined, but that's partly due to Gomes getting his feet under the table as well. Maybe, just maybe, it was his tactical nous that got Gomes through last season and, since his elevation to DoF, his training ground and match day influence has reduced. And we are now seeing the outcome of Gomes being fully in control - did O'Shea take on Bowen's role and hasn't been as good?

I'm keeping an open mind on this appointment. I was very anti-Clement and underwhelmed by Gomes (just because I had no idea who he was but his record on Wiki wasn't great). I'm hoping it's more of a McDermott 1.0 similarity than a Rodgers appointment

That's entirely possible and it seems to be what is being suggested. Bowen says he had more of a role last season.

But it could just be a case of taking the credit for the better stuff and distancing himself from the crap.

I have to question just how good you can be if you can sit back and watch a manager like Gomes insist on zonal marking, chancing it out from the back etc etc.. Surely at some point you'd say "oh, Gomes, NO".

Who knows.


Time will tell.

yes, we don't know how indignant Gomes was to Bowen's ideas, thoughts and tactics. Perhaps Bowen did say, "Oi, Gomes, No" and Gomes went "piss off Bowen" to which Bowen went "I think it'll be you pissing off mate, get your house on the market".

I've got a slight feeling that this may well work out OK

[Snowflake Royal]

haven't read the whole thread, so may have already been said.

However, what if Bowen was actually much more influential behind the scenes last season than we all know. We seemed to do better after he joined, but that's partly due to Gomes getting his feet under the table as well. Maybe, just maybe, it was his tactical nous that got Gomes through last season and, since his elevation to DoF, his training ground and match day influence has reduced. And we are now seeing the outcome of Gomes being fully in control - did O'Shea take on Bowen's role and hasn't been as good?

I'm keeping an open mind on this appointment. I was very anti-Clement and underwhelmed by Gomes (just because I had no idea who he was but his record on Wiki wasn't great). I'm hoping it's more of a McDermott 1.0 similarity than a Rodgers appointment

That's entirely possible and it seems to be what is being suggested. Bowen says he had more of a role last season.

But it could just be a case of taking the credit for the better stuff and distancing himself from the crap.

I have to question just how good you can be if you can sit back and watch a manager like Gomes insist on zonal marking, chancing it out from the back etc etc.. Surely at some point you'd say "oh, Gomes, NO".

Who knows.


Time will tell.

Maybe he had a sense of integrity and didn't feel he could interfere more than offering advice because he's professional and liked Gomes.

[3points]

It would be interesting to know who else was interviewed for the job, who else was sounded out but said no.

If others were interested, was Bowen doing the interviewing..

Who interviewed Bowen.

It feels very shabby to come in in March, and 6 months later have sacked the manager having potentially been the one who scouted and chose the players, and then give yourself the job.

The owners and CEO gave him the job, he was asked, not appointed by himself.

He also won't have sacked Gomes solely on his own authority, it will have involved the owners and probably Howe too.

Howe tends to be the hatchet man form what I know. Didn't take him long to get into Paul Clement after he was reappointed. And I reckon Howe wasn't overly keen on the Gomes, but had to run with the influence Joorabchian had with the owner. Perhaps now Dai Yongge has more trust in Howe than he did a year ago

[Old Man Andrews]

Ian Holloway confirms on TalkSport he went for the job.

[Stranded]

Ian Holloway confirms on TalkSport he went for the job.

Could have been a lot worse then!

[Einstein agogo]

He also came in as part of Jose’s management team early this year with a particular emphasis on looking at the opposition and helping set up Reading to be effective on the day and this was generally successful so he has some nous about him

I'm sorry, but how was this generally successful?

Surely if it WAS successful, then Gomes wouldn't have been sacked.

What am I missing?

You clearly imply that Bowen has had a big influence on how we play
"looking at the opposition and helping set up Reading to be effective on the day"
but it's patently obvious that we HAVEN'T been effective.

Or maybe Gomes was sacked for ignoring Bowen's advice?

correct , if he was responsible for the set-up then he fcuked up. If I was Gomes I'd say "piss off , I'm the manager , I pick the team " etc.
I am sick and tired of changing half the team every week. Pick your best players and the formation that works best with those players and stick with it. give a couple of guys a bit of rest here and there BUT stick with the BEST TEAM. Coppell did that , it worked out fairly average to poor for a while , but he was given time to get the squad he wanted playing how he wanted week in week out and once he had a team that gelled it was record breaking.now we change manager every year , every manager pisses about with the squad and formation every bloody week. it aint gonna work. players need to get to know each other properly , the more they play together i t gets instinctive , then you're on to a winning formula

[Stranded]

He also came in as part of Jose’s management team early this year with a particular emphasis on looking at the opposition and helping set up Reading to be effective on the day and this was generally successful so he has some nous about him

I'm sorry, but how was this generally successful?

Surely if it WAS successful, then Gomes wouldn't have been sacked.

What am I missing?

You clearly imply that Bowen has had a big influence on how we play
"looking at the opposition and helping set up Reading to be effective on the day"
but it's patently obvious that we HAVEN'T been effective.

Or maybe Gomes was sacked for ignoring Bowen's advice?

Bowen came in in March at which point we showed much more tactical flexibility i.e. the set up at Norwich whereby we suddenly packed midfield and defence but kept two quick players up top to stretch their defence on quick outlet balls - was of course very close to getting us a famous win (in the context of the last few years at least).

Bowen then had no official role over the summer but was still involved with the club but no longer on the training ground and was formerly appointed Sporting Director on 21st August. He was no longer working directly with Gomes as he was last season - this was the only real change to the coaching set up.

[Stranded]

He also came in as part of Jose’s management team early this year with a particular emphasis on looking at the opposition and helping set up Reading to be effective on the day and this was generally successful so he has some nous about him

I'm sorry, but how was this generally successful?

Surely if it WAS successful, then Gomes wouldn't have been sacked.

What am I missing?

You clearly imply that Bowen has had a big influence on how we play
"looking at the opposition and helping set up Reading to be effective on the day"
but it's patently obvious that we HAVEN'T been effective.

Or maybe Gomes was sacked for ignoring Bowen's advice?

correct , if he was responsible for the set-up then he fcuked up. If I was Gomes I'd say "piss off , I'm the manager , I pick the team " etc.
I am sick and tired of changing half the team every week. Pick your best players and the formation that works best with those players and stick with it. give a couple of guys a bit of rest here and there BUT stick with the BEST TEAM. Coppell did that , it worked out fairly average to poor for a while , but he was given time to get the squad he wanted playing how he wanted week in week out and once he had a team that gelled it was record breaking.now we change manager every year , every manager pisses about with the squad and formation every bloody week. it aint gonna work. players need to get to know each other properly , the more they play together i t gets instinctive , then you're on to a winning formula

Bowen has not been involved with the squad, in a training sense, this season - he had stepped back from that. He was brought in last season with a brief to view our opponents and make recommendations on how we could best set up to maximise our chances to get a result.

[Einstein agogo]

who does Bowen's job now?

[Millsy]

So let me get this straight: Bowen had some team/formation input last season and our results improved, and then this season he didn't have any such input and we've been shit again? So the owners are thinking "okay this guy looks like he knows what he's doing, let's make him manager". Seems reasonable if true.

[From Despair To Where?]

3rd poor appointment in a row.

Its a lack of ambition yet again. When we hired Adkins he was generally a sought after man. I suspect the same with Steve Clarke, and to a lesser extent Stam.

What has changed? Have we given up going for the best candidate?

Yeah, because the man who took us to a playoff final and then promotion in consecutive seasons was so sought after

I understand that Pardew and McDermott were successes. I also understand that Clement, Gomes were not. Bowen is not Pardew of McDermott, he hasnt worked with lots of the players in training, or scouted them, or worked with the u21s. He joined in March.

If anyone is more excited about this than getting in Chris Hughton, then f*** me. fair play, you really see the sunny side of life. But Hughton is unemployed, has repeatedly got teams recently out of this division and comes across well. The fact we havent got him as a manager is a dissapointment to me.

The fact that Hughton hasn't got the job might be a huge plus for him. We don't know.

Underwhelming appointment but then again, Pardew and McDermott were as well.

FFS, let him at least do the job before slagging him off. Clean slate and all that.

[Millsy]

who does Bowen's job now?

Gomes has applied.

[Old Man Andrews]

who does Bowen's job now?

Bowen.

[Stranded]

who does Bowen's job now?

Whoever they employ to do it. We went a few months without one between Nani leaving and Bowen taking on the role officially so may be a while again until that gap is filled.