Brian signs new contract

[Bacon Double Cheese]

I hope top dollar for a top man. Well done Sir Mad

[PlasticRoyale]

Effective but not all that pretty

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Effective but not all that pretty

Yeah but he would look daft in a wig.

This is a massive job for the guy, he will not be on other clubs radars other than he is our manager, I like that. So long as fans can accept that it will not be total success each season then it could be a long term relationship.

As for money in the summer, has it missed the headlines that there is no massive pot for transfers?

[Royal Lady]

This is very good stuff, but may it just reveal that Brian was taken on as a cheap option originally, earning a lot less than Rodgers had been?

I think this is spot on.

*If* we go up this season, JM won't have to pay him more money!

[Svlad Cjelli]

This is very good stuff, but may it just reveal that Brian was taken on as a cheap option originally, earning a lot less than Rodgers had been?

I think this is spot on.

*If* we go up this season, JM won't have to pay him more money!

So define the difference between "good business" and "cheap option"?

And see my post 6 previous to yours.

[SWLR]

So define the difference between "good business" and "cheap option"?

.

Hindsight

[Z175]

I think we probably offered him only a modest improvement on his scout terms to become manager. Keeping us competitive while selling players is worth millions to madejski so he does need to be fairly compensated.

[Royal Marine]

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2327151,00.html

McDermott signs new contract
Posted on: Wed 30 Mar 2011

Reading Football Club are delighted to announce that, in recognition of his outstanding contribution since his appointment, manager Brian McDermott has today agreed an amendment to his contract on improved terms.

Royals Chairman Sir John Madejski said, "Brian has done a magnificent job for Reading Football Club, and I am absolutely delighted with this agreement. We were rightly proactive in approaching him with this new contract, his star is rising and being on a rolling contract suits both parties, it protects the club's position and rightly rewards him for his performance.

"I have complete faith that, under Brian's management, both the team and the club will continue to move forward and we are very well placed for now and indeed the future. He and I have an excellent working relationship and great mutual respect; when we appointed him we knew he was a true Reading man and he has shown himself to be a manager of the utmost integrity and great aptitude."

Brian McDermott added, "I am absolutely delighted, this is the place I want to be and the club I want to work at.

"I've been here close to 11 years and I feel very much part of things. I'd like to thank the Chairman, the board and Nick Hammond, and I'm also fortunate to have fantastic staff and players. As a club we have continuity, it's a great place to work and a great place to be. Now we look to the rest of the season, we've got nine games left and so much to play for."

Brian took charge at Madejski Stadium in December 2009 with the club very much in a relegation dogfight, and he not only guided the club safely away from the wrong end of the table, but we came within a whisker of making last season's play-offs; a task that seemed impossible given our position when he first took over. The season ended as the ninth-best finish in our 139-year history, and in addition we made the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1927, knocking out Liverpool at Anfield as one of our Premier League conquests.

This season McDermott's men have again performed very well, and after a seven-game unbeaten League run we are within touching distance of the top six with a game in hand. And, after waiting 83 years for an FA Cup quarter final our supporters have now experienced two in two seasons, our Wembley bid only ended by a single goal away to Premier League Manchester City.

Brian has engendered excellent relations with our fans thanks to his open approach and genuine respect for their support, and he has also got the best out of a number of players - the likes of Shane Long, Jimmy Kebe and Matt Mills were not in the team when he took over, while 75% of Gylfi Sigurdsson's goals last season came under Brian's tutelage.

This new contract renews the commitment between him and the club, and together we continue to look forward to our future with optimism.




Good on you Brian.

Never been happier to have someone to represent my team (and that includes Steve Coppell)

This is fantastic news. What he's done with so few resources is a testament to him as a man manager and coach. Team spirit is by all accounts at an all time high, certainly since the promotion side went up and stayed up, and it shows on the pitch. They play for each other, and it was that that helped us in abundance to get promoted to the Premier League in the first place.
It's just a shame really that there's so little investment in the team. Promotion is an outside bet this term, but even so, to be able to say that in April again is testament to Brian and the boys.
Next season though is a real test (on the basis we stay down of course). Can we hold onto Shane Long? Will we have to relinquish Jimmy Kebe or Jobi McAnuff in order to balance the deficit? I think it's likely two of those will go, and so we look at the youth once more and hope we pull a few more rabbits out of the hat. All the more, we're having fun again and at the end of the day that's what it's all about, that's what's been missing in the last couple of years, and long may it continue.

[Forbury Lion]

Well deserved, but does SJM think another club might come and poach him from us?

Probably - I imagine the new contract has a bigger buy out clause than the last one.

[facaldaqui]

Well deserved, but does SJM think another club might come and poach him from us?

Probably - I imagine the new contract has a bigger buy out clause than the last one.

It might seem inconceivable that our unknown manager would be wanted by other clubs, but I think managers who can achieve good results without spending much money are going to be in increasing demand. We are only a few games from the (however unlikely) prospect of gaining promotion. Were Brian to do that on his previous salary, you wouldn't have blamed him for accepting a better offer. JM using his nous here.

[Hoop Blah]

This is very good stuff, but may it just reveal that Brian was taken on as a cheap option originally, earning a lot less than Rodgers had been?

That's a given. Rodgers was a name going places and McDermott was ex-manager of Slough Town and our Chief Scout.

Nope, it's not.

They want a progression of appointments from within, like the old Liverpool bootroom. BMc just got his chance a number of years earlier than expected when BR didn't work out, but he was always in teh succession planning.

I'm sure that's pretty true, but how much longer do you think McDermott was going to have to hang around before being given the chance then?

Having been Reserve team manager for a few years and been at the club for a total of 9 years (??) before Rodgers was appointed it would've seemed a pretty good time to throw him in if they had it in mind.

If Rodgers had been the success they obviously wanted him to be then McDermott would've had to wait something like another 5 years. Doesn't sound like a realistic prospect to me. I was under the impression that it was Dolan they had their eye on as the prospective appointment from within.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Is it just me who thinks BMc will only succeed at Reading? Surely his biggest asset is his knowledge of teh players and how to motivate them to get teh best out of them?

That only comes with time, which is a luxury he'd be unlikely to get at another club.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Nope, it's not.

They want a progression of appointments from within, like the old Liverpool bootroom. BMc just got his chance a number of years earlier than expected when BR didn't work out, but he was always in the succession planning.

I'm sure that's pretty true, but how much longer do you think McDermott was going to have to hang around before being given the chance then?

Having been Reserve team manager for a few years and been at the club for a total of 9 years (??) before Rodgers was appointed it would've seemed a pretty good time to throw him in if they had it in mind.

If Rodgers had been the success they obviously wanted him to be then McDermott would've had to wait something like another 5 years. Doesn't sound like a realistic prospect to me. I was under the impression that it was Dolan they had their eye on as the prospective appointment from within.

I understand that before Dec 16th 2009 BMc had never actually put himself forward as wanting the job.

[Hoop Blah]

How does that effect the succession planning though? You don't wait for your planned replacement to put his hand up for the position, you go out and suggest they do it or ask them to apply.

If you say he was always part of their plan it just seems odd that he wasn't 6 months earlier after 9 years previous service.

Didn't the powers that be approach him to take over as caretaker manager and that's how the ball started rolling? Or are you suggesting that McDermott went running to Hammond for the job as soon as Rodgers was out the door as that wasn't my understanding.

[Hoop Blah]

Is it just me who thinks BMc will only succeed at Reading? Surely his biggest asset is his knowledge of teh players and how to motivate them to get teh best out of them?

That only comes with time, which is a luxury he'd be unlikely to get at another club.

I have that feeling too.

It's nothing against him, but like you say, his greatest asset is the players relationship with him and his knowledge of what they can do.

I think his record in the transfer market is mixed so far, and I think he might be too passive to shake up an unknown squad. I think he's made a few mistakes along the way but to give him credit he's worked wonders and deserves all the praise and rewards he's getting.

[Svlad Cjelli]

BR had always been ahead of him in the succession planning to a certain extent - one of "our own" but who'd gone off for external training at Chelsea and Watford, was how he was viewed at the time.

BMc presumably had the opportunity to put himself forward in the summer when SC left, but didn't. It's only when BR's reign was clearly coming to an end that he stuck his head above the parapet and said "I could do that job."

In fact, there's a school of thought that says the sudden realisation that there actually was a ready-made internal replacement for BR influenced the timing of his departure.

[Hoop Blah]

Totally agree that Rodgers was always in the back of their mind as a Reading manager in waiting even though he'd left the club. All the more shame that things didn't work out as I think he could've been a good thing for us in the right circumstances.

As you say though, there did seem to be a sudden realisation (or a sudden panic to find someone to pick up the pieces) which put McDermott in the frame. That's why I think it's a little odd to say he was always in the clubs succession planning thoughts.

[facaldaqui]

The fact that McDermott's promotion has worked is a feather in everyone's cap, because such moves rarely do. Malky Mackay's done all right, but the jury's out on the likes of Keith Millan and the guy at Blackburn. I wonder if Coppell recommended McDermott (or Dillon and co) as his replacement. And that JM disregarded this, only to have second thoughts when Rodgers started to sing from his own hymn sheet (I believe Rodgers was sacked more for unrealistic spending requirements rather than just for the results). Coppell certainly gives the impression that he fully endorses Brian and sees him as a continuity appointment.

[Svlad Cjelli]

He was seen as the successor to BR - but he stepped up when the chance came sooner rather than later.

[Ian Royal]

This is very good stuff, but may it just reveal that Brian was taken on as a cheap option originally, earning a lot less than Rodgers had been?

That's a given. Rodgers was a name going places and McDermott was ex-manager of Slough Town and our Chief Scout.

Nope, it's not.

They want a progression of appointments from within, like the old Liverpool bootroom. BMc just got his chance a number of years earlier than expected when BR didn't work out, but he was always in teh succession planning.

I was more thinking about him being on a lot less than Rodgers was originally, rather than that he was a cheap option. I think he'll struggle to be as effective elsewhere, but I'm not so sure he won't succeed. I'm also doubtful about this succession strategy you suggest.