Brian: The right decision?

[Hoop Blah]

Worst decision purely due to timing, he should have done this back in January if he felt it necessary. Why get rid of a manager with championship experience who would have done a job next season?

On top of that with names like di canio (no championship experience), adkins being mentioned what good would that be. Only name I think would justify this change would be RDM but can't see someone with champions league winner on his cv coming to a club destined for championship!!

Warnock has an excellent record in the Championship but it doesn't mean he's going to take Leeds up this year does it?

McDermott would have to turn around the hangover from relegation, reinvigorate the squad and convinvce the players themselves that his methods were still valid despite a whimpering relegation.

The timing is fine and getting rid of a manager who's proven that he has struggled at the level you want to get at makes a lot of sense so that you can appoint someone to start the rebuilding necessary to do the long term job.

[winchester_royal]

Disgusted. Wrong decision.

My 7 year old came to his first few games last season, goes to football club in Tewkesbury wearing his Reading kit and recently sang "McDermott woah" song in the middle of Swindon retail outlet!........

His immediate words on hearing the news....

"(shouts). Noooooooo! (then whimpers). He didn't deserve that! It was amazing that he got us to the Premiership in the first place. We shouldn't really have managed it with our squad. And who will we get better for 9 games anyway?"

7 years old!!!

More sense than me and all the ridiculous people on this board who called for him to go.

When we're fighting off relegation in the Championship next season, I look forward to finding these threads and asking some idiots to eat an enormous big fat humble pie.

To finish, off ran my son singing...... "McDermott woah, McDermott woah, He used to manage Slough, He doesn't manage us now" before shouting.... "it better not be Di Canio"

Your 7 year old knows all about Di Canio? Impressive.

[Gordons Cumming]

No.

Too late.

We have to win 5 of the remaining matches to have a chance of staying up.

If you discount Man.Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man.City then we need to beat QPR & Southampton at home and Fulham, Westham and Norwich away.

Not going to happen is it?

Brian might well have just stayed. Whoever comes in can't create a miracle now.

Ridiculous Anton.

[joeroyal]

Disgusted. Wrong decision.

My 7 year old came to his first few games last season, goes to football club in Tewkesbury wearing his Reading kit and recently sang "McDermott woah" song in the middle of Swindon retail outlet!........

His immediate words on hearing the news....

"(shouts). Noooooooo! (then whimpers). He didn't deserve that! It was amazing that he got us to the Premiership in the first place. We shouldn't really have managed it with our squad. And who will we get better for 9 games anyway?"

7 years old!!!

More sense than me and all the ridiculous people on this board who called for him to go.

When we're fighting off relegation in the Championship next season, I look forward to finding these threads and asking some idiots to eat an enormous big fat humble pie.

To finish, off ran my son singing...... "McDermott woah, McDermott woah, He used to manage Slough, He doesn't manage us now" before shouting.... "it better not be Di Canio"

Your 7 year old knows all about Di Canio? Impressive.

Would it not be a good idea if he concentrated more on his school work

[Gordons Cumming]

One question that really is bugging me at the moment.

Why have there been no postings from Thou Voice or SDR?

Peculiar.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Am I the only one who doesn't think the timing is that bad or unsurprising?

My take on it:

- They respected Brian a lot so tried to give him as much opportunity as possible to succeed this season before sacking him
- They tried to back him in Jan with a bit more money to give him one further chance to get us up the table
- They also tried to give him a fair few of the 6 pointers to get something from

As turns it out the belief has all but gone and it's better to get someone in now than wait until the close season. Unfortunately with BM we were going down in 20th with zero confidence or belief - this coming from someone who is generally an RTG on here.

For people to suggest dropping down a division magically makes all that go away is naive at best. The rot has set in & it's right for a change now. I also feel the fans may have turned & it would have been very undignified for that to happen to Brian as he doesn't deserve it. (Don't agree with the fans turning on him but it was on the cards IMO).

Anton will have done this with next season in mind despite what the statement says. If by some act of god we stay up then it's a bonus.

[Ian Royal]

I think Brian out is the right decision. Whether it should have been December 2012, now, May 2013 or November 2013 is open to debate.

[Millsy]

I think it's probably got to the point where McDermott and his one-dimensional tactics might have reached the end of the road both in reality and in the trust and preception of the players.

Please explain to me what is one dimensional about:

Having the balls to go from Feds to McCarthy, changing the lynchpin of the team overnight
Going from championship winning 442 to 451. Then changing style of play again to 442. Then switching dimension again back to to 451.
Putting Jobi in central midfield
Using Morrison, dropping championship winnig gorkss
Etc etc etc

If anything it can be accused that he kept switching dimensions of play from 442 attacking to 451 and back, switching how he used certain players etc etc and he was at some points likened to Brenda.

The poor guy struggled with a woefully woefully inadequate squad and as a result had to change paradigms several times.

How he can be called one dimensional is beyond me, except in the final stages when all he was resigned to doing was trying to win by holding on for 70mins then letting Alfie on. Bt it took him several dimension shifts to get to that point.

Why do I feel like watching star trek now?

[Ian Royal]

The one dimensional bit is in only trying to play kick and rush, low risk / low reward percentage hoof ball toss. That's the same whether we played 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 4-2-4 or 6-2-2

[percyisfreeman]

Right decision, wrong timing, imo, should have gone xmas time, even before our little winning run.
AZ spot on, Brian didn't and couldn't change, we have been technically, tactically poor all season.
It doesn't matter who comes in, we are not expected to survive, if we do a bloody miracle would have happened.
I think we are a Club who will be a better club in time, but it is going to take some tlc.
Whatever anyone feels this at worst is the 3rd best season we have ever had, we obviously haven't overspent. Time to move on.
Is Dick Ad, still on the radar, there would have been managers lined up alreay I am sure, where we cocked up, we should have grabbed Harry when he was available, not the Reading management way, but would have shaken things up a bit. Reading are a sleeping giant, I am sure of it.
Sad for Brain, good luck, thank you for the good times, relieved that the management have grown some balls, but far too late to have any effect on this season, all that money available from next year Prem/TV .

[sandman]

Disgusted. Wrong decision.

My 7 year old came to his first few games last season, goes to football club in Tewkesbury wearing his Reading kit and recently sang "McDermott woah" song in the middle of Swindon retail outlet!........

His immediate words on hearing the news....

"(shouts). Noooooooo! (then whimpers). He didn't deserve that! It was amazing that he got us to the Premiership in the first place. We shouldn't really have managed it with our squad. And who will we get better for 9 games anyway?"

7 years old!!!

More sense than me and all the ridiculous people on this board who called for him to go.

When we're fighting off relegation in the Championship next season, I look forward to finding these threads and asking some idiots to eat an enormous big fat humble pie.

To finish, off ran my son singing...... "McDermott woah, McDermott woah, He used to manage Slough, He doesn't manage us now" before shouting.... "it better not be Di Canio"

Your 7 year old knows all about Di Canio? Impressive.

Would it not be a good idea if he concentrated more on his school work

Don't worry about his school work worry about your own. If you don't go to bed you'll never be able to concentrate in class.

[Big Ern]

I think Brian out is the right decision. Whether it should have been December 2012, now, May 2013 or November 2013 is open to debate.

If he wasn't the man for the job, then there is no debate. The sooner the better.

[Western Royal]

100% the wrong decision. Who do we think we are? We are Reading FC, not Chelsea or even QPR. We are a well run club who take pride in doing things right, or should that be were? Brian McDermott got more out of this squad of players than the sum of their parts; exactly what did the owner expect him to achieve? How long ago was it that he got manager of the month? I find this decision depressing; Anton, I would rather you kept whatever money you actually have than you change the ethos of our football club. Next he will be paying over the odds for expensive strikers from his homeland that he has chosen himself..... Ah well, as long as we still have a league club to support at the end of Anton's flirtation with us.

And to all you boo boys out there - you have no memory whatsoever and no sense of realism. We over-achieved last season; we haven't spent as much as anyone else in this league and our squad is the weakest, so we have overachieved this season as well. You got what you wanted, personally I was just enjoying the premier league ride while it lasted.

To start with piss off newbie
So little Reading are over achieving?..so what?, does that stop us wanting to be better and compteting with the top sides in the coutry?
its this mentality that we are small so lets stay small that puzzles me amongst RFC fans, we have come a long way in the last 10 years, we can keep growing, and if that means disposing of weak links then so be it. Nice guys don`t always make the best managers.

Ouch windermere Royal, that's a little harsh. I've been watching Reading since Hicks/Senior/Branfoot/etc, but this is the first time I have felt the need to post my feelings somewhere. Of course we all want to be top 10, my point is that you get there by steady building, having realistic targets and not wielding the knife too soon. There are countless examples of teams setting unrealistic expectations, sacking managers and blowing budgets before falling into oblivion. What we really need is a manager who gets us to achieve more than we should with the budget we have - oh, we did!

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

It very much has a "last throw of the dice" look to it.

After all, I think it's daft to blame McDermott for (probably) taking a team down that few thought were ever good enough to stay up anyway. Arguments about formations and tactics are all a sideshow if the basic fact is that the team isn't good enough. You can hardly call someone a failure for not overachieving.

It looks like it was decided he'd go at the end of the season unless we stayed up, and with us looking something of a beaten team, they just thought "why not put the new bloke in now, with nothing to lose really?"


Away to Man Utd and Arsenal would hardly be the dream start any manager would be looking for though.

[Big Ern]

What a laughing stock we have made ourselves look . Will be a laughable stock if Adolf di Canio gets the job.
Sad (and unnecessarily so) day for RFC and its true supporters.

Why? What other top flight would put up with the same set of results? There has been plenty of frustration we have not matched the ambition of other Prem teams and when we match the sometimes necessary ruthless methods needed, we all complain.

I actually think we were extremely patient with him and gave him every chance. Apart from that little purple patch we have looked pretty clueless all season. Change was needed, however cruel it was on a man who did a lot for the club. Thats business I'm afraid, and there can be no sentiment in buiness.

[jonnye5]

I can not believe the amount of people who think this is the right decision, absolutely shocking. Even if it might have been inevitable, now was not the time to do it! loss hope of staying up now. It also goes against the morals and foundation of our club. I take it most of the people saying yes are the plastics that sit quietly during every single game. bluergghhhhh so frustrating

[Agent Balti]

Too late, way, way too late. But still, if we bring someone in soon then either way, there's plenty of time to plan for the next season whichever division we end up in.

As long as we start playing possession football, less Neanderthal football, start believing in ourselves a bit more, less of the 'plucky little ol' Reading' bullshit, then we may kick on.

If we do go down, and it's pretty much nailed on we will, let's not blame the sacking as the catalyst...the damage was done last summer and in January, coupled with a manager who never could 'coach' his team. He could motivate them, but had no tactical nous.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I can not believe the amount of people who think this is the right decision, absolutely shocking. Even if it might have been inevitable, now was not the time to do it! loss hope of staying up now. It also goes against the morals and foundation of our club. I take it most of the people saying yes are the plastics that sit quietly during every single game. bluergghhhhh so frustrating

Disagree there. We are down regardless. Why not 'roll the dice' and see if a new manager can give a bit of impoetus for the last 9 games? If not, then well, we're no worse off than we were.

Too much sh1t has happened now. BM's position was untenable.

[Agent Balti]

I can not believe the amount of people who think this is the right decision, absolutely shocking. Even if it might have been inevitable, now was not the time to do it! loss hope of staying up now. It also goes against the morals and foundation of our club. I take it most of the people saying yes are the plastics that sit quietly during every single game. bluergghhhhh so frustrating

Disagree there. We are down regardless. Why not 'roll the dice' and see if a new manager can give a bit of impoetus for the last 9 games? If not, then well, we're no worse off than we were.

Too much sh1t has happened now. BM's position was untenable.

Totally agreed.

[peeping bernal]

No.

Too late.

We have to win 5 of the remaining matches to have a chance of staying up.

If you discount Man.Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man.City then we need to beat QPR & Southampton at home and Fulham, Westham and Norwich away.

Not going to happen is it?

Brian might well have just stayed. Whoever comes in can't create a miracle now.

Ridiculous Anton.

Putting survival like that, Di Canio could be the answer, would not be a long term fix but short term would put a fire in the bellies of the squad. Under Brians leadership I could not see this happen but someone else it just may.