Where the playing budget went under Dai

[Hound]

Ah see Virginia now. He wasn’t Bowen though was he? Gomes I thought

I do think where Bowen had some involvement the signings were better. Tbf under Ince we were massively restricted so whilst people like Hendrick were poor, we really were shopping on bargain basement territory

[Snowflake Royal]

Ah see Virginia now. He wasn’t Bowen though was he? Gomes I thought

I do think where Bowen had some involvement the signings were better. Tbf under Ince we were massively restricted so whilst people like Hendrick were poor, we really were shopping on bargain basement territory

Ince made the mistake of relying on bargain basement shite, rather than bringing through our youth.

Stam bought expensive shite and mediocrity and let go one of our golden youth generations.

Thank oxf*rd for the FL's transfer restrictions or we'd probably have never seen Olise, Azeez, Ehibhatiomhan, Craig, Abbey, Dorsett, Garcia, Southwood, Abrefa, Bindon, Vickers and co.

[Hound]

Ah see Virginia now. He wasn’t Bowen though was he? Gomes I thought

I do think where Bowen had some involvement the signings were better. Tbf under Ince we were massively restricted so whilst people like Hendrick were poor, we really were shopping on bargain basement territory

Ince made the mistake of relying on bargain basement shite, rather than bringing through our youth.

Stam bought expensive shite and mediocrity and let go one of our golden youth generations.

Thank oxf*rd for the FL's transfer restrictions or we'd probably have never seen Olise, Azeez, Ehibhatiomhan, Craig, Abbey, Dorsett, Garcia, Southwood, Abrefa, Bindon, Vickers and co.

Yes true. Though possibly slightly different conversation esp re: Stam

Weird thing is I remember us being really short of depth under Stam season 1 and yet the clown had let some quality players leave. Very odd really

[Snowflake Royal]

Ah see Virginia now. He wasn’t Bowen though was he? Gomes I thought

I do think where Bowen had some involvement the signings were better. Tbf under Ince we were massively restricted so whilst people like Hendrick were poor, we really were shopping on bargain basement territory

Ince made the mistake of relying on bargain basement shite, rather than bringing through our youth.

Stam bought expensive shite and mediocrity and let go one of our golden youth generations.

Thank oxf*rd for the FL's transfer restrictions or we'd probably have never seen Olise, Azeez, Ehibhatiomhan, Craig, Abbey, Dorsett, Garcia, Southwood, Abrefa, Bindon, Vickers and co.

Yes true. Though possibly slightly different conversation esp re: Stam

Weird thing is I remember us being really short of depth under Stam season 1 and yet the clown had let some quality players leave. Very odd really

It's pretty telling that basically not a single one of our managers has gone on to better things since Rodgers, with the possible future exception of Selles - too early to tell right now.

[rabidbee]

Steve Clark set a club points record and qualified for Europe with Kilmarnock, then took Scotland to their first international tournament in 23 years (and again last year).

[stealthpapes]

Dunno, Mark Bowen getting banned from football ... ?

[Hound]

Think Stam might well be looked at the most damaging manager in our history tbh

[Snowflake Royal]

Steve Clark set a club points record and qualified for Europe with Kilmarnock, then took Scotland to their first international tournament in 23 years (and again last year).

Don't really consider the Scots Prem with Kilmarnock a step up from mid Championship.

[Greatwesternline]

Think Stam might well be looked at the most damaging manager in our history tbh

And yet, we were 3-1 up in a penalty shoot out.

Genuinely think if we got scored 2 more pens, armed with a very famous manager and an owner with money to burn, we would have become quite a decent outfit that next season.

[Hendo]

Think Stam might well be looked at the most damaging manager in our history tbh

And yet, we were 3-1 up in a penalty shoot out.

Genuinely think if we got scored 2 more pens, armed with a very famous manager and an owner with money to burn, we would have become quite a decent outfit that next season.

I do tend to lean this way, think Stam's football was much more suited to Premier League football.

There would've been no middle-ground though. It would've been awesome or a shit show.

[Snowflake Royal]

Think Stam might well be looked at the most damaging manager in our history tbh

And yet, we were 3-1 up in a penalty shoot out.

Genuinely think if we got scored 2 more pens, armed with a very famous manager and an owner with money to burn, we would have become quite a decent outfit that next season.

We'd have been utterly dreadful. We did well because we bored teams into mistakes and controlled possession, which wouldn't have even remotely worked in the PL.

We'd have needed virtually an entirely new squad and just spent tens of millions on shit.

[Greatwesternline]

Think Stam might well be looked at the most damaging manager in our history tbh

And yet, we were 3-1 up in a penalty shoot out.

Genuinely think if we got scored 2 more pens, armed with a very famous manager and an owner with money to burn, we would have become quite a decent outfit that next season.

We'd have been utterly dreadful. We did well because we bored teams into mistakes and controlled possession, which wouldn't have even remotely worked in the PL.

We'd have needed virtually an entirely new squad and just spent tens of millions on shit.

I have this nagging suspicion that in the Premier League his name would have opened up a really exciting range of exciting prospects keen to play under one of the best defenders of all time.

We will never know.

[Hound]

We won’t but considering the quality of his signings the next season, I’m pretty sure they’d have been crap in the Prem as well. We’d have needed an entire new team - who’d have been able to step up? Swift, Moore, Illori and Williams at an absolute push. Possibly nobody.

And that style of football got utterly found out in season 2, as it would in the Prem

And Stams subsequent management career suggests it’s been an absolute horror show as well.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Steve Clark set a club points record and qualified for Europe with Kilmarnock, then took Scotland to their first international tournament in 23 years (and again last year).

Don't really consider the Scots Prem with Kilmarnock a step up from mid Championship.

What he has done with Scotland is though. This isn't the Scotland of the 80's and 90's full of the likes of Hansen & Dalgleish and co. 2 qualifications with an overall very modest pool of players ability wise is very decent. He's still largely relying on Lindon Dykes up front who is a L1 squad player.

[Snowflake Royal]

Steve Clark set a club points record and qualified for Europe with Kilmarnock, then took Scotland to their first international tournament in 23 years (and again last year).

Don't really consider the Scots Prem with Kilmarnock a step up from mid Championship.

What he has done with Scotland is though. This isn't the Scotland of the 80's and 90's full of the likes of Hansen & Dalgleish and co. 2 qualifications with an overall very modest pool of players ability wise is very decent. He's still largely relying on Lindon Dykes up front who is a L1 squad player.

International Intersmaschional.

[Sutekh]

Think Stam might well be looked at the most damaging manager in our history tbh

And yet, we were 3-1 up in a penalty shoot out.

Genuinely think if we got scored 2 more pens, armed with a very famous manager and an owner with money to burn, we would have become quite a decent outfit that next season.

We'd have been utterly dreadful. We did well because we bored teams into mistakes and controlled possession, which wouldn't have even remotely worked in the PL.

We'd have needed virtually an entirely new squad and just spent tens of millions on shit.

Did the PL get to approving Dai as Reading owner though? If we'd had have gone up would he have been told to sell - or the club refused promotion?

[Greatwesternline]

And yet, we were 3-1 up in a penalty shoot out.

Genuinely think if we got scored 2 more pens, armed with a very famous manager and an owner with money to burn, we would have become quite a decent outfit that next season.

We'd have been utterly dreadful. We did well because we bored teams into mistakes and controlled possession, which wouldn't have even remotely worked in the PL.

We'd have needed virtually an entirely new squad and just spent tens of millions on shit.

Did the PL get to approving Dai as Reading owner though? If we'd had have gone up would he have been told to sell - or the club refused promotion?

Media says it was Dai's business partner for Everton buy out who got vetoed, not Dai, which is why Dai sans said partner got approved for RFC.

[Snowflake Royal]

I imagine it's also a bit hard for them to turn down someone who already owns the club.

[Orion1871]

We'd have been utterly dreadful. We did well because we bored teams into mistakes and controlled possession, which wouldn't have even remotely worked in the PL.

We'd have needed virtually an entirely new squad and just spent tens of millions on shit.

Did the PL get to approving Dai as Reading owner though? If we'd had have gone up would he have been told to sell - or the club refused promotion?

Media says it was Dai's business partner for Everton buy out who got vetoed, not Dai, which is why Dai sans said partner got approved for RFC.

It was Hull, not Everton and as per usual with the parasite, he was lying.

An attempt by Dai Yongge and Hawken Xiu Li, his sister, to buy Hull involved the use of a third party, who insisted that he controlled the relevant funds necessary to undertake the deal.

It subsequently transpired that the finances were actually under the control of Mr Dai, with the Financial Times reporting last month that a Premier League investigation into him had raised several "red flags" over his commercial background.

He tried to pass the blame on to a "consortium member" when it was actually him.

[WestYorksRoyal]

We won’t but considering the quality of his signings the next season, I’m pretty sure they’d have been crap in the Prem as well. We’d have needed an entire new team - who’d have been able to step up? Swift, Moore, Illori and Williams at an absolute push. Possibly nobody.

And that style of football got utterly found out in season 2, as it would in the Prem

And Stams subsequent management career suggests it’s been an absolute horror show as well.

This. I see nothing to suggest he would have succeeded at that level; we defied gravity that season and would have been found out in the PL. Plus Dai's recruitment would have been shit, pretty sure you'd have still seen Tevreden out and Gourlay in.

Stam is simply not humble enough to learn and become a good manager. When he interviews reflecting on his time at Reading, he blames the club for lacking ambition when they spent so much it started the death spiral. The lack of self awareness is stunning.