Brian McDermott

[PATRIQT]

I was surprised and sad to see at lunchtime, watching SSN, an interview with BM discussing his problems with depression and alcoholism.

I didn't see it all, but he explained even when we were crowned Champions, he felt we didn't play well enough and he just struggled with life in general.

Even looking back at the way he carried himself, you'd never spot he was struggling with mental health and alcohol.

Pulled on the heartstrings a bit, and I'm glad to see he's doing well, living in Marlow and more at peace with life.

Love ya, BM!

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yeah I saw that earlier in the week - felt for him, particularly given he was struggling with this during one of the clubs' best periods in our history.

Hope he pulls through, true legend of the club for what he did.

[Franchise FC]

Now this is an ocassion where, minutes applause at 12 minutes would be appropriate

[Orion1871]

Had heard from people I know, who have alcohol issues, that they'd seen Brian at AA Meetings. Glad he's doing better now.

The way he was treated by some fans during his second spell as manager and towards the end of the first spell was pretty dire, especially considering all he did for RFC. Can't have helped him.

[Nameless]

Really brave of him to speak up, very sad that what should have been the best years of his career were such tough times.
It’sgoodthat he seems to be in a much better place now - he’s a huge part of this club.
Respect Brian....

[Zip]

Really brave of him to speak up, very sad that what should have been the best years of his career were such tough times.
It’sgoodthat he seems to be in a much better place now - he’s a huge part of this club.
Respect Brian....

Amen to that. He was almost too successful with us for his own good. He worked wonders.

[Royal_jimmy]

I'm not surprised simply as Brian is similar to me personality wise in many ways and being a football manager is a lot of stress when it's for the club that you love.

Very sad though as I've had a similar problem and it's often the good blokes who suffer

[Snowflake Royal]

I got a PM from a nobber back in the day saying they'd heard the reason he lost the job the second time was because of alcohol problems.

This certainly adds weight to that.

Hope he's doing better now. It's a real shame he was going through that, because I still believe he'd have done a good job of steadying the ship if he'd been ok and stayed with us instead of bringing in Stam.

[Half Time Pizza]

Just caught up with the Murts and Jobi chat earlier in the week that they did for the 150 game. Interesting to hear the relationship Jobi had with the Brian . Brian would sometimes ask Jobi for advice on a players character before he signed them. In the chat Jobi admitted it was a quite an unusual relationship and rarely seen in the game.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Sad to hear he couldn't fully enjoy that Championship winning season and glad to know he sort help. I really hope he can look back now with immense pride at what he and his players achieved. The last few months of that season were brilliant.

[Elm Park Kid]

I got a PM from a nobber back in the day saying they'd heard the reason he lost the job the second time was because of alcohol problems.

This certainly adds weight to that.

Hope he's doing better now. It's a real shame he was going through that, because I still believe he'd have done a good job of steadying the ship if he'd been ok and stayed with us instead of bringing in Stam.

He said in the interview that he's been sober since Feb 2015 so if that's true wouldn't have been alcohol issues during his second spell.

[Snowflake Royal]

I got a PM from a nobber back in the day saying they'd heard the reason he lost the job the second time was because of alcohol problems.

This certainly adds weight to that.

Hope he's doing better now. It's a real shame he was going through that, because I still believe he'd have done a good job of steadying the ship if he'd been ok and stayed with us instead of bringing in Stam.

He said in the interview that he's been sober since Feb 2015 so if that's true wouldn't have been alcohol issues during his second spell.

Thanks. That's good for him.

[Royal_jimmy]

Was great to hear McDermott's name chanted tonight

[Millsy]

Poor fella. Hope he's doing well.

[Silver Fox]

Had heard from people I know, who have alcohol issues, that they'd seen Brian at AA Meetings

Rather missing the point of the second A there

[Green]

Had heard from people I know, who have alcohol issues, that they'd seen Brian at AA Meetings

Rather missing the point of the second A there

LOL

1st rule of AA, no?

[SouthDownsRoyal]

How sad, I had no idea.

A thoroughly good man, pleased he is through the tough times.

[katweslowski]

Saw this on LinkedIn today:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brian-mc ... 89344-JA-4

It's basically Brian posting about the dangers of "doom scrolling" and online negativity, not being present, social media toxicity. He shares a video from another account where he's talking at Chelsea Football Club.

Just a short clipped video of a highlight, where he mentions something like:

"When I was at Reading, I used to read 100 great comments about me. Then one bad one and it used to really badly affect me"

He says about the importance of talking, and truly asking someone how they're doing.

Really good stuff

[stealthpapes]

Yeah, first sad to hear about the issues in that promotion campaign.

About a week ago I watched The Magnificent Seven we neeed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkUe36Kgtkg

and I have such fond memories of that. Watched two games on telly (Leeds, Southampton), listened to one on radio (Brighton) and went to the West Ham game (missed the promotion game as I was having a curry). We were 7th at one point in the run in and just overtook everyone. Lovely.

And that LinkedIn clip is great. I want to give the man a hug.

One of the greats.

[katweslowski]

About a week ago I watched The Magnificent Seven we neeed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkUe36Kgtkg

Wow... that brings back not just memories, but the actual feeling of that time. A bit like the 106 season. I remember that Birmingham away game, I could only get a ticket in the home end, but after 5 minutes a steward removed me and took me to the away end.