How impressed are you with BMcD's return to the club?

[Maneki Neko]

yeah, that'll happen when your manager tries to go to another club & gets sacked after buying a whole new squad of players in the summer etc

[tidus_mi2]

Clarke sacked = 1 point off the play-offs
McDermott in charge = 13 points off the play-offs

I swear you must be trolling now the way you keep pushing this.

Had Clarke had been sacked after the other games had been played that weekend, we would have been 4pts off the play-offs, this wasn't a position he got us to through positive results, no, this was the position we were in after a massive slide down the table from 2nd, a slide he looked incapable of stopping.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Clarke sacked = 1 point off the play-offs
McDermott in charge = 13 points off the play-offs

I swear you must be trolling now the way you keep pushing this.

Had Clarke had been sacked after the other games had been played that weekend, we would have been 4pts off the play-offs, this wasn't a position he got us to through positive results, no, this was the position we were in after a massive slide down the table from 2nd, a slide he looked incapable of stopping.

[Brosef Stalin]

Clarke sacked = 1 point off the play-offs
McDermott in charge = 13 points off the play-offs

I swear you must be trolling now the way you keep pushing this.

Had Clarke had been sacked after the other games had been played that weekend, we would have been 4pts off the play-offs, this wasn't a position he got us to through positive results, no, this was the position we were in after a massive slide down the table from 2nd, a slide he looked incapable of stopping.

I used the phrase "Kaiser Snowsa" to describe the faltering snow patterns we had at the weekend

[Pepe the Horseman]

Nice.

[stealthpapes]

It took Coppell about 18 months and a dash of luck to get there.

McD has a 'previous' in that he's sorted teams out quite rapidly, but I think it'd be unfair to judge him on that this season. The aim is only going to be to get the building blocks in place, the less useful blocks out of the club, be clear of the bottom few places and enjoy the FA cup.

How are we building for next season? We are still stuffed with loanees who will be gone, are running down contracts on a number of other good players, are signing 'old' boys with only a year or so left in them, and other new signings are also on relatively short term contracts. Got to be an awful lot of effective transfer activity in the summer with some decent investment. The Reading way? Pigs cleared for take off.

How many of those loanees are from before McD? How many has he brought in? And who has he brought in, other than Kermorgant? A 21 year old and a 23 year old. Hardly 'old boys'. You're basically kicking off at, in order, Clarke, the way the club has run for the last few seasons, Kermorgant, and nothing.

Do you mind awfully if I ignore you?

[stealthpapes]

Clarke sacked = 1 point off the play-offs
McDermott in charge = 13 points off the play-offs

I swear you must be trolling now the way you keep pushing this.

Had Clarke had been sacked after the other games had been played that weekend, we would have been 4pts off the play-offs, this wasn't a position he got us to through positive results, no, this was the position we were in after a massive slide down the table from 2nd, a slide he looked incapable of stopping.

chuckles.

[tidus_mi2]

Oh...is he known for trolling?

[stealthpapes]

This is going to be like telling you the Easter bunny's not real.

[tidus_mi2]

This is going to be like telling you the Easter bunny's not real.

I have to grow up someday.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I don't believe in Kes, but I'm afraid of him.

[Maneki Neko]

i don't believe in him, but I still refuse to utter his name 3 times at midnight in front of a mirror.
just in case

[Coppelled_Streets]

Win % from McDermott's last 40 Reading games:

20%

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Anyone got the shots stats for the season, McD and pre McD, fine to just be league games as the fa cup will skew it a little

[Maneki Neko]

Win % from McDermott's last 40 Reading games:

20%

Most of them in the prem

[Longhorn1970]

Clarke sacked = 1 point off the play-offs
McDermott in charge = 13 points off the play-offs

Not very good

[Longhorn1970]

Clarke sacked = 1 point off the play-offs
McDermott in charge = 13 points off the play-offs

I swear you must be trolling now the way you keep pushing this.

Had Clarke had been sacked after the other games had been played that weekend, we would have been 4pts off the play-offs, this wasn't a position he got us to through positive results, no, this was the position we were in after a massive slide down the table from 2nd, a slide he looked incapable of stopping.

We shall never know, but we have not progressed since ..

[BR2]

I said some pages back that the season is over (as far as the league is concerned) and , despite protestations that we could still make the play-offs and "how can you write us off with so many games still to play?" it is now clear that we have no chance of play-offs/promotion.

In many of the threads people have said that we should be doing so much better with the squad that we have but should we?
IMHO we have just 2 players who might be good enough for the Premier League in Tish and Norwood or 3 if you include a fit McCleary from our squad of 25.

So what do people expect Brian to do?
I think he should be spending the rest of the season testing those younger players that have done well when playing against fellow youngsters but as yet either haven't had the chance or only played rarely so nobody knows if they will be any good.
I know that we have to pay the other pros (in some cases far too much) so the argument is that if we are paying them so much we must play them.
I don't buy into that argument-they are struggling to achieve in this division so (unless you are a major optimist) I can't see that Brian will improve them much if at all, signs so far are not that great.

The other point is that I feel sure the fans would back the idea of playing "our" youth-there is very little enjoyment watching this motley collection who seem only to be able to raise their game when a bit of glory is around such as with the FA Cup (same as last season).
Unfortunately Brian seems to be over- loyal to players and would find it hard to drop them for the unknown but unless he does something he might find himself out of a job at the end of the season and never have the chance to bring in his players.

Saturday would be a good time to start the process-we are safe from relegation (unless there is a catastrophic collapse) and he can field his strongest side in the next round of the FA Cup.

[Maneki Neko]

Brian seems to be over- loyal to players and would find it hard to drop them

or has assessed the squad, and made an initial judgement on the players he believes are good enough/have the correct mental attitude, picking his starting 11s accordingly

[No Fixed Abode]

Anyone got the shots stats for the season, McD and pre McD, fine to just be league games as the fa cup will skew it a little

Don't post up stats. You'll get accused of trolling.