Poll - Adkins In or Out

[Waylenstreet]

Coppell was not the problem.
Brian was not the problem.
Adkins is not the problem.
If Adkins goes in the near future it will be rearranging the deckchairs..and the new guy won't be the problem.

[Royal_jimmy]

I doubt many managers would have us higher in the league than we are right now considering we've played a lot of youngsters with like no football league experience like Hector, Kuhl and Cooper. As long as we are comfortably midtable (which we are) at the very minimum then I will back Adkins.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm intrigued as to what 'the right fit for Reading FC' is, particularly since going forward under our new owners we have no real idea what the identity and culture of the club will actually turn out to be.

Apart from in extreme cases I'd argue it's the fans that dictate the culture of the club and not the owner.

It's the fans that ultimately keep or lose the manager his job.

As a club we seem a lot happier with a more high tempo playing style, a humble and down to earth manager, and a bit of the plucky under-dog approach. We've never been good at spending relatively large sums of money or being the big guns of a division.

I'd agree that Adkins just doesn't feel like a good fit for the club, in stark contrast to the likes of Coppell, McDermott and Evans before him.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

Coppell was not the problem.
Brian was not the problem.
Adkins is not the problem.
If Adkins goes in the near future it will be rearranging the deckchairs..and the new guy won't be the problem.

#newguyout

[Vic_Flange]

As per my Malky Mckay reply -

We need a manager who is a lesbian, a short white Indian asian black Chinese man with Gay Parents - both sides - who has come from a single parent family with no mother or father or has no siblings, plus only has one leg but has three arms, with five nipples on here missing left hand.

They must be deaf too in the right eye and have a glass ear and come from Trinidadad and Tobago.


Please put your applications forward; if you dont match all of the above you will not be put forward.


Or maybe we could stop arsing about?

No? OK, Its back to the deaf lesbians then.

[Waylenstreet]

Coppell was not the problem.
Brian was not the problem.
Adkins is not the problem.
If Adkins goes in the near future it will be rearranging the deckchairs..and the new guy won't be the problem.

#newguyout

Yup lets start the campaign to oust him early, it will save time...
There you go fellah..you've got a minus budget..If by chance you acquire a half decent player with their own teeth..we'll sell 'em quicker than you can say Warsaw..and if you make the fatal error of getting promotion we will use every trick in the book to make your position untenable...won't we Brian ?
Now how about a nice bowlful of Pad Thai with Tow Krap sauce ?

[Schards#2]

This club has been a shambles pretty much since the end of the Championship winning season and certainly throughout Adkins's tenure as manager. This season alone he's had to cope with:

- uncertainty over the ownership
- the sale of three key players
- monumental injury list

At last, there looks to be some more stability now with the new owners at least doing no harm at the moment at removing the threat of administration. Meanwhile the injury situation is also easing but the squad is still suffering from the loss of McCarthy and Morrisson.

The very worst thing we could do is throw everything up in the air again by sacking the manager after a poor run of results. He's only now entering a phase where he can be judged on his own aquisitions and should be given the rest of this season to show what he can do.

There is no sign of players not trying or any internal strife, they all give 100% and seem desperate to win, performances are improving and results will improve as returning players get back up to speed. Put your toys back and the pram and get behind him.

[Hendo]

The very worst thing we could do is throw everything up in the air again by sacking the manager after a poor run of results. He's only now entering a phase where he can be judged on his own aquisitions and should be given the rest of this season to show what he can do.

There is no sign of players not trying or any internal strife, they all give 100% and seem desperate to win, performances are improving and results will improve as returning players get back up to speed. Put your toys back and the pram and get behind him.

100% this.

Don't be so impatient.

If we have a mid-table mediocrity of a season, who cares?

I don't think there has been one season in the last 10-15 years where we haven't either, been in the Prem, won the league, had a play-off campaign, gone into the last day of the season with something to play for.

Yes its nice to be winning every game but as a whole, the supporters have been blessed with exciting/meaningful seasons in recent years and I have no doubt this is having an affect on peoples mind-sets.

[Elm Park]

This club has been a shambles pretty much since the end of the Championship winning season and certainly throughout Adkins's tenure as manager. This season alone he's had to cope with:

- uncertainty over the ownership
- the sale of three key players
- monumental injury list

At last, there looks to be some more stability now with the new owners at least doing no harm at the moment at removing the threat of administration. Meanwhile the injury situation is also easing but the squad is still suffering from the loss of McCarthy and Morrisson.

The very worst thing we could do is throw everything up in the air again by sacking the manager after a poor run of results. He's only now entering a phase where he can be judged on his own aquisitions and should be given the rest of this season to show what he can do.

There is no sign of players not trying or any internal strife, they all give 100% and seem desperate to win, performances are improving and results will improve as returning players get back up to speed. Put your toys back and the pram and get behind him.

+1 It's not been the best of seasons, but I'm looking forward to the rest of it with hope.

[Royalwaster]

The Adkins haters should take a long hard look at themselves ..... look what's happened at Newcastle.

Yes look at the situation at a totally different club to us. Why don't we look at the situation at Bolton or Birmingham as well?

Two clubs in financial meltdown .... hmmm.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

This club has been a shambles pretty much since the end of the Championship winning season and certainly throughout Adkins's tenure as manager. This season alone he's had to cope with:

- uncertainty over the ownership
- the sale of three key players
- monumental injury list

At last, there looks to be some more stability now with the new owners at least doing no harm at the moment at removing the threat of administration. Meanwhile the injury situation is also easing but the squad is still suffering from the loss of McCarthy and Morrisson.

The very worst thing we could do is throw everything up in the air again by sacking the manager after a poor run of results. He's only now entering a phase where he can be judged on his own aquisitions and should be given the rest of this season to show what he can do.

There is no sign of players not trying or any internal strife, they all give 100% and seem desperate to win, performances are improving and results will improve as returning players get back up to speed. Put your toys back and the pram and get behind him.

I don't remember you being this good of a poster, that's two power posts you've had now. Keep it up champ.

[Ian Royal]

This forum is almost equally divided between pro and anti Adkins, one way or another something needs to be done. either we need to improve . or he needs to go to unite us all to the Reading cause again , I`m sicerely hoping it`s the former, but even I accept the next 7 fixture before the new year will define whether he is right for the long term future of our club

Thankfully, at the match the support for him is significantly greater in number than the haters.

To be honest the one reason for him to go is to shut up the whining morons who can't get over McDermott's sacking so they can move on and as you say we can get some unity.

Just cos some people chant "Nigel Adkins' Barmy Army" and others don't boo him does not mean that the support for him at the match is significantly greater than the "haters" I know lots of people at the games who don't want him here - they just have slightly greater intellect than to think it's worth booing him or however else you should show you "hate" as you put it. It's interesting that attendance has been down, perhaps a lot of "haters" have been voting with their feet?

Well he's not going anywhere til it's blatantly obvious he's lost the fans, or we're in direct danger of relegation.

And if people who want him out aren't going, great.

[Portsmouth Royal]

I voted IN for a number of reasons.

I genuinely don't think relegation represents a real threat this year, even most of those voting out would probably concede we are winning enough of the games against the bottom third sides to sail clear of that obstacle.

The signings Adkins has made in the half a transfer window he has had with some cash and no interference have all been decent to good (again, I think even most of the out voters would concede Norwood, Murray, Mackie and Cox are worthwhile acquisitions) . On this basis giving him the January transfer window doesn't represent a 'risk' so to speak. He will likely buy well.

I happen to think some progress is being made. The Reading side of a few years back simply could not have maintained 60% possession whether the over team sat back or otherwise. Clearly results are not yet catching up, but once you have the base then you could be a couple of players from 'boring sideways passing' to 'incisive attacking passing'. I think Norwood already looks bought to fit this model.

You also really shouldn't discount the injury problems. Not only in terms of points lost (How many points is a third of the season without your best winger and one of your first choice central midfielders?) but also in terms of disruption.

For me, Barring being deep in the mire come Late Feb/early march he deserves at least the season and in all likelihood will work out his contract. We simply won't get a manager with a better track record for the money to my mind, certainly not if we have to stump up compensation to him too.

[Man Friday]

Not a bad post but you're really overstating the value of possession. It's what you do with it that counts. Plus some teams like Chelsea deliberately lose position in order to re-group.

[Portsmouth Royal]

Not a bad post but you're really overstating the value of possession. It's what you do with it that counts. Plus some teams like Chelsea deliberately lose position in order to re-group.

Agree with your point. I was more alluding to the fact that if a possession based model of play is what Adkins is building towards, then we are seeing evidence of advancement. As You say, there is of course more than one way to win.

[marlowuk]

It doesn't feel to me that Adkins has been our manager for very long but, in fact, he is the 4th longest serving manager in the Championship! Not an argument to keep him or get rid of him but a surprise to me!

[JS28ZoD]

I voted out on the basis that our displays have lacked desire for a while now and I don't believe the players are behind him.

That being said I'm happy for him to be given January to try and sort the defence out, although I think our system is the problem, not the players, we are far too open as a team. As sad as it sounds I'd much rather watch us be solid and nick a goal than what we have been seeing for the last couple of years.

If it was my choice I would like to see Eamonn Dolan given the managers job next, but I'm sure it's not a question of if he'll be offered the job, more like when.

[sandman]

I voted IN for a number of reasons.

I genuinely don't think relegation represents a real threat this year, even most of those voting out would probably concede we are winning enough of the games against the bottom third sides to sail clear of that obstacle.

The signings Adkins has made in the half a transfer window he has had with some cash and no interference have all been decent to good (again, I think even most of the out voters would concede Norwood, Murray, Mackie and Cox are worthwhile acquisitions) . On this basis giving him the January transfer window doesn't represent a 'risk' so to speak. He will likely buy well.

I happen to think some progress is being made. The Reading side of a few years back simply could not have maintained 60% possession whether the over team sat back or otherwise. Clearly results are not yet catching up, but once you have the base then you could be a couple of players from 'boring sideways passing' to 'incisive attacking passing'. I think Norwood already looks bought to fit this model.

You also really shouldn't discount the injury problems. Not only in terms of points lost (How many points is a third of the season without your best winger and one of your first choice central midfielders?) but also in terms of disruption.

For me, Barring being deep in the mire come Late Feb/early march he deserves at least the season and in all likelihood will work out his contract. We simply won't get a manager with a better track record for the money to my mind, certainly not if we have to stump up compensation to him too.

Plenty of teams have been "too good to go down" but the longer this goes on, and with the next run of fixtures until the end of the year it's tough to see when it will end, the harder it gets to recover. Atm we are beating the teams in the bottom third but we don't exactly have the greatest history of making things easy against those teams.

Norwood started off well but his performances have dropped off a little bit since his first few games, let's hope he can pick it up again. Murray has scored a few but personally I've been a bit disappointed with him, his lack of pace is a concern. Mackie has kicked on the last few games after a slow start hopefully he will keep that going. Cox has done well, drifted in and out of games a little bit but is probably the best of the bunch so far. Problem both Cox and Mackie in particular have is the fact that even when they do play ok they seem to be out of the team for the next game, poor team selection from the manager there.

Possession is no good unless you use it in areas that hurt the opposition, most of our passing is in our own half. The other question is whether possession football is the best way to go now. There is a notable shift, a couple of years ago the Barcelona/Spain style was the style to follow, these days the best team in Europe is a counter attacking machine and Germany are World Champions playing a game where possession is not the be all and end all. Football goes in phases and fashion, possession football is going the way of the Dodo.

There have been injury problems yes but it's not as if we haven't had any experienced players available in this period. There have been plenty of more than experienced players at this level available to the manager this season and unfortunately he doesn't help himself when he takes players like Cox and Mackie out of the team when they have performed well.

Adkins record before he got here is not in question but that doesn't count for anything here and certainly doesn't mean he is going to be a success at RFC.

[P!ssed Off]

60% possession against Charlton Athletic might help Nigel sleep at night, but do we think Bob Peeters gives a oxf*rd that his team were 'dominated'?
We're not the 1st team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.
We're not the 2nd team.
We're not the 3rd team.
We're not the 4th team.
We're not the 5th team.
We're not the 6th team.
We're not the 7th team.
We are the 8th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.

And how many of those 8 games did Charlton lose? ZERO

Presumably the 9th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton will also claim they were "unlucky not to win", rather than admit they were tactically outclassed by technically limited opposition.

[marcusopp]

I voted IN for a number of reasons.

I genuinely don't think relegation represents a real threat this year, even most of those voting out would probably concede we are winning enough of the games against the bottom third sides to sail clear of that obstacle.

The signings Adkins has made in the half a transfer window he has had with some cash and no interference have all been decent to good (again, I think even most of the out voters would concede Norwood, Murray, Mackie and Cox are worthwhile acquisitions) . On this basis giving him the January transfer window doesn't represent a 'risk' so to speak. He will likely buy well.

I happen to think some progress is being made. The Reading side of a few years back simply could not have maintained 60% possession whether the over team sat back or otherwise. Clearly results are not yet catching up, but once you have the base then you could be a couple of players from 'boring sideways passing' to 'incisive attacking passing'. I think Norwood already looks bought to fit this model.

You also really shouldn't discount the injury problems. Not only in terms of points lost (How many points is a third of the season without your best winger and one of your first choice central midfielders?) but also in terms of disruption.

For me, Barring being deep in the mire come Late Feb/early march he deserves at least the season and in all likelihood will work out his contract. We simply won't get a manager with a better track record for the money to my mind, certainly not if we have to stump up compensation to him too.

Yeah, but we could at least create chances, score goals AND defend!