Adkins popularity?

[Zammo]

Only Bullivant has served up worse football than Adkins.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Equally you can't define them as "one of the clubs best squads" though.

All a matter of opinion. Mine is that last seasons squad was 2nd only to the 05-07 one. We've made the play-offs 4 times & won the league with far less. Try counting the international caps between them. Its a lot.

As I show above, I don't reckon that's really true. The names which make the team sound impressive, your Bridges, your Drenthes, your Williams were among the large list of casualties meaning we hardly got a regular starting 11 and were mostly looking at your Blackman's, your Akpans, your HRK's and your Kelly's stepping in most of the season.

05-07 was a cracking squad of players, would have any of them back in their form then over anybody we have now. Likewise our promotion team. Not saying this in blind defence of Adkins, just don't think this is a particularly fair stick to hit him with.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Coppell
McDermott
Quinn/Gooding
Pardew
Rodgers
Adkins
McGhee
Branfoot
Porterfield
Burns
Bullivant

This, but swapping Adkins and Rodgers over. Adkins hasn't produced but we were nowhere near getting relegated.

[floyd__streete]

Coppell
McDermott
Quinn/Gooding
Pardew
Rodgers
Adkins
McGhee
Branfoot
Porterfield
Burns
Bullivant

This, but swapping Adkins and Rodgers over. Adkins hasn't produced but we were nowhere near getting relegated.

Hold on.....Adkins over McGhee? Seriously?

[Silver Fox]

At least Brendy's got the drugs excuse

[floyd__streete]

Driving himself out of the same job twice was a neat trick.

How come Adkins gets the 'ownership shambles' excuse card which is apparently denied to McD?

[Extended-Phenotype]

Hold on.....Adkins over McGhee? Seriously?

I thought it was a list of personal preference rather than success? Lived in Reading from 95 onwards so can't really comment pre-Gooding/Quin.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Driving himself out of the same job twice was a neat trick.

How come Adkins gets the 'ownership shambles' excuse card which is apparently denied to McD?

Same question to you but visa versa!

Not really denying him it. Just demonstrating that I don't think McD could've done any better, as proved by him sucking complete ass at Leeds. If backroom shambles is good enough for McD, probably a reasonable caveat for Adkins too and why I'm not confident in my assessment of Adkins just yet.

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

Coppell
McDermott
Quinn/Gooding
Pardew
Rodgers
Adkins
McGhee
Branfoot
Porterfield
Burns
Bullivant

This, but swapping Adkins and Rodgers over. Adkins hasn't produced but we were nowhere near getting relegated.

Quinn & Gooding no matter how good they were as players weren't up to the Management job. They just tweaked what the FSB left them. No matter my feelings of the man, he would be a lot higher on that list if it were based on the Football we've played over the years I've been watching.

[RoyalBlue]

Driving himself out of the same job twice was a neat trick.

How come Adkins gets the 'ownership shambles' excuse card which is apparently denied to McD?

Perhaps because the 'shambles' hadn't kicked in during his time at the club. Indeed quite the opposite - funding was made available and McDermott was able to sign players that he, rather than the owner, chose.

At one point weren't there even claims that McDermott had chosen not to spend all of the money that had been made available to him?

Only Bullivant has served up worse football than Adkins.

You didn't see many games during the Branfoot, Porterfield and Burns eras then?

Simod Cup Final performance was a notable Branfoot exception that understandably remains etched in memories but there were strong rumours around at the time that the very marked change in style was down to a players mutiny led by former Watford boys Les Taylor and Neil Smillie. Seem to remember they were dropped after Wembley?

[melonhead]

Coppell
McDermott
Quinn/Gooding
Pardew
Rodgers
Adkins
McGhee
Branfoot
Porterfield
Burns
Bullivant

This, but swapping Adkins and Rodgers over. Adkins hasn't produced but we were nowhere near getting relegated.

its on purely personal subjective reasons, and theres hardly anything in it
i liked rodgers and wanted him to do well and stay , but he was a bit of a nob, especially in interviews, failed badly
i liked adkins and wanted him to do well and stay , but he was a bit of a nob, especially in interviews, failed moderately

but rodgers was more ours than adkins, so he gets the tie breaker

[melonhead]

Coppell
McDermott
Quinn/Gooding
Pardew
Rodgers
Adkins
McGhee
Branfoot
Porterfield
Burns
Bullivant

This, but swapping Adkins and Rodgers over. Adkins hasn't produced but we were nowhere near getting relegated.

Hold on.....Adkins over McGhee? Seriously?

its how i feel about him now that puts him there, not the football he played etc.
both failed badly, but one of adkins and rodgers left with my blessing, and the other did not


mcghee can oxf*rd off

[melonhead]

At least Brendy's got the drugs excuse

johnny come lately to the adkins out brigade gets all high horsey as though he's said it from the start, and not just after his friends bullied him into it

[melonhead]

Hold on.....Adkins over McGhee? Seriously?

I thought it was a list of personal preference rather than success? Lived in Reading from 95 onwards so can't really comment pre-Gooding/Quin.

this for me.

even if i tried not to let personal h8red come into it, it would anyway

[melonhead]

Coppell
McDermott
Quinn/Gooding
Pardew
Rodgers
Adkins
McGhee
Branfoot
Porterfield
Burns
Bullivant

This, but swapping Adkins and Rodgers over. Adkins hasn't produced but we were nowhere near getting relegated.

Quinn & Gooding no matter how good they were as players weren't up to the Management job. They just tweaked what the FSB left them. No matter my feelings of the man, he would be a lot higher on that list if it were based on the Football we've played over the years I've been watching.

absolutely
find it impossible to totally divorce the quality of football, from the success, or from personal feelings toward them

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Only Bullivant has served up worse football than Adkins.

You didn't see many games during the Branfoot, Porterfield and Burns eras then?

Simod Cup Final performance was a notable Branfoot exception that understandably remains etched in memories but there were strong rumours around at the time that the very marked change in style was down to a players mutiny led by former Watford boys Les Taylor and Neil Smillie. Seem to remember they were dropped after Wembley?

He did see him give us a promotion, a league title, a cup win, our highest ever league placing and a league record that still stands today. Branfoot's downfall was to hang around for a year too long. Still puts him up there as one of our best managers regardless of how it ended. The 'over capacity' games v Wolves & Coventry showed how popular his team were at their best. Prob the equivalent of us getting 50,000 for a game now, if that were possible.

[Silver Fox]

At least Brendy's got the drugs excuse

johnny come lately to the adkins out brigade gets all high horsey as though he's said it from the start, and not just after his friends bullied him into it

[melonhead]

i have no idea...

[Zammo]

Only Bullivant has served up worse football than Adkins.

You didn't see many games during the Branfoot, Porterfield and Burns eras then?

[Ian Royal]

In all honesty, McDermott was miles ahead. He was popular, likeable, and didn't reel out a list of cliches in his press conference. Plus, he didn't drive fans away from the turnstiles.