Apologies here please:-

[Denver Royal]

I think Coppell is certainly staying now, a week ago I thought he was definitely off but today with a released list out, surely Coppell must have had the final say?! Would be bizarre to release players then someone else take over, not beyond the realms of possibility but unusual.

Maybe he has no say?

But yeah, I'd have thought a club would want its manager to be announced/confirmed before any cuts/changes were made to that team. But hey, this is Reading we're talking about.

[Southbank Old Boy]

So you really believe that because it appeared that he might be wrong to you (and others) at the time, that there was absolutely no justification for anyone to have faith in those decisions, despite the fact that he had brought unparalleled success to the club in the previous 2 seasons?

Pretty much yeah.

I knew I was right all along thanks. If others wanted to think otherwise that's their perogative. I can't see any reason why they should've had that faith because there was no valid reason for it, apart from stupidity/naivity that is.

So, unlike papereyes, you're too thick to acknowledge that having brought incredible success to the club in the previous 2 season there was actually some justification for people having faith in Mr Coppell's decisions?

Fair enough.

Nope, I dont think there was any reason not to see that the errors were being made.

The previous years successes were history, they were not a reason for not being able to see the mistakes being made. If people can't make an informed decision on the valid evidence in front of them then thats fair enough. I just don't think the history of the previous seasons was any justification for having faith, especially when the man himself admitted at the time what needed to be done, he just didn't do it!

[Royal Rother]

You were right, Coppell was wrong - you knew it for certain all along, and the fact that he had taken us to a record points haul followed by 8th place in the PL, didn't for a moment justify a drop of faith that anyone else might have in his decisions a few months on... in fact they were stupid and naive to have done so.

You amuse me.

[The 17 Bus]

I feel certain that those that think Coppell should go also believed that we would lose to Fulham and Bolton at home, if Coppell believed that we would have gone down he would have made more signings in the Jan window, this is what he is saying, he did not think we would go down, we did have the players but sadly they did not perform to previous standards, due to various reasons.

[papereyes]

“All summer I was aware that maybe we were standing still, while other people were improving and after that game it really hit home to me.”

Is that a new quote? That's pretty damning.

Come on, hardly damning is it?

It is interesting that he was thinking about it, and concerned that we MIGHT be standing still I suppose but I cannot believe that there is another manager out there who doesn't stop and wonder whether what he's doing is enough to improve his squad suuficently to meet the challenges ahead.

However I doubt there is another manager out there who would be honest enough to admit it after his decisions ultimately brought failure.

It is this honesty, humbleness and complete lack of ego that has always been the hallmark of his stewardship.

I think it is. Problem identified yet not rectified because he was too loyal to a bunch of players that ultimately let him down.

That's what annoys - he was loyal to a squad that, when push came to shove, did not pay back that loyalty. I'd really like to have more insider knowledge about some of the allusions players like Hahnemann have made and what actually happened between, say, Kitson and Shorey.

[Royal Rother]

You might think I'm placing too much importance on a single word here, but he didn't say "All summer I was aware that we were standing still" he said "All summer I was aware that maybe we were standing still".

Big difference. To me it indicates he was thinking about it - but he would have been wrong not to, it's what every manager does - worrying about the pros and cons, the possible great outcomes, the possible failures.

The difference with Coppell is that one of the only ones honest enough to admit the fact that he considered possible failure, after the event occurred. To some he may be coming across as slightly insecure with these admissions - to me it just strengthens his unbreakable aura of honestly and integrity.

He made the wrong decision ultimately in not acting but I really don't think the admission is damning in any way - worrying and wondering and considering the options - it's what managers should be doing.

[earleyroyal]

However, I'm holding off my massive "I told you so" gloating thread for a few games yet though: don't want to create too much of a "them and us" situation here.

Oh go on, enlighten us

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

it just goes to show that all the miserable lot who moan on here don't represent the majority of Reading fans despite all the noise they make.

[Southbank Old Boy]

You were right, Coppell was wrong - you knew it for certain all along, and the fact that he had taken us to a record points haul followed by 8th place in the PL, didn't for a moment justify a drop of faith that anyone else might have in his decisions a few months on... in fact they were stupid and naive to have done so.

You amuse me.

When it's such an obvious glaring error I don't think there is any justification.

If it was something a little less significant or less obvious, like picking player A over player B then yes, I can understand the blind faith in a successful manager. In this case no though.

I'm glad I amuses you, it gives me such a sense of pride and achievement!

[brendywendy]

You were right, Coppell was wrong - you knew it for certain all along, and the fact that he had taken us to a record points haul followed by 8th place in the PL, didn't for a moment justify a drop of faith that anyone else might have in his decisions a few months on... in fact they were stupid and naive to have done so.

You amuse me.

When it's such an obvious glaring error I don't think there is any justification.

If it was something a little less significant or less obvious, like picking player A over player B then yes, I can understand the blind faith in a successful manager. In this case no though.

I'm glad I amuses you, it gives me such a sense of pride and achievement!

i just dont get people who question the fact that 106 points, then 8th place meant we had a decent squad, with players who should have been able to push on for one last season to keep us up
its clear that coppell thought they were good enough and i agreed with him
he and i were proved wrong,and fair enough
but i dont understand anyone who cant see no ereason at all why copps might just have thought we would be ok in the summer and to a lesser extent in jan.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

“There were a number of games that I look back on, and the West Ham game at home was a significant one because it was a day after the transfer window had closed.

“Losing 3-0 flattered us and I thought then ‘I wish that had happened last week because then I would have attempted to do some last-minute business’.

“The performance indicated that we were nowhere near the team we were the season before, while West Ham had changed significantly.

“All summer I was aware that maybe we were standing still, while other people were improving and after that game it really hit home to me.”

Not quite hard enough, apparently.

Hob Nob Anyone's critical mass of opinion would have disagreed and called him cLOLueless.

Is that a new quote? That's pretty damning.

EP today:

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2028316_i_feared_the_worst_in_september

More:

“We had a good run just before New Year. I thought we would be all right and we would get out of it.”

“We had eight games from which we never picked up a point. The timing was all against us.

“But we did sign Marek. I thought he’d give us more invention and he did, but I never expected the January and February we had and that was alarming.”

Seriously what was the guy playing at?

We got a couple of results, so I thought we'd be alright.

I've never known of a manger making up excuses not to sign players, like Coppell did all last season.

[papereyes]

Given that we did go backwards compared to everyone else (cLOLueless talk ... ), then he either failed to see it (which the 'maybe' quote suggests was not the case) or he failed to act on it.

I can see why he acted like he did, but that he was utterly let down by a squad of players he was utterly loyal to.

[Hoop Blah]

i just dont get people who question the fact that 106 points, then 8th place meant we had a decent squad, with players who should have been able to push on for one last season to keep us up
its clear that coppell thought they were good enough and i agreed with him
he and i were proved wrong,and fair enough
but i dont understand anyone who cant see no ereason at all why copps might just have thought we would be ok in the summer and to a lesser extent in jan.

I could understand that IF we had the same squad and IF other teams had the same squad and that there was no potential for, or history of, teams/individuals performances dropping off over time or especially during their second season in the big time (especially true of forwards who struggle during their second seasons whichever club their at).

[brendywendy]

i just dont get people who question the fact that 106 points, then 8th place meant we had a decent squad, with players who should have been able to push on for one last season to keep us up
its clear that coppell thought they were good enough and i agreed with him
he and i were proved wrong,and fair enough
but i dont understand anyone who cant see no ereason at all why copps might just have thought we would be ok in the summer and to a lesser extent in jan.

I could understand that IF we had the same squad and IF other teams had the same squad and that there was no potential for, or history of, teams/individuals performances dropping off over time or especially during their second season in the big time (especially true of forwards who struggle during their second seasons whichever club their at).

ok, 'greed with that, thats a reasonable argument

he obviously thought we had not fallen as far back as we were eventually proved to have done.

its the people who spout that there was no reason at all to have shown any faith to the players who had achieved so much so recently that flabberghast me

[papereyes]

Players get older. In the one of the places we lost strength last summer, the main replacement who would improve the team was the 30+ cover for that position. Add on another year, take away a bit more pace, a bit of stamina, a bit of resistance to injury.

Its not a case of having faith in his ability, its realising that it was never, EVER going to be good enough.

And it wasn't.

With the strikers, is it a coincidence that our main two strikers from last season were, to some extent, found out this while Kitson who spent most of last season injured was not?

[brendywendy]

Players get older. In the one of the places we lost strength last summer, the main replacement who would improve the team was the 30+ cover for that position. Add on another year, take away a bit more pace, a bit of stamina, a bit of resistance to injury.

Its not a case of having faith in his ability, its realising that it was never, EVER going to be good enough.

And it wasn't.

With the strikers, is it a coincidence that our main two strikers from last season were, to some extent, found out this while Kitson who spent most of last season injured was not?

i can still see why he thought the same squad would be good enough for 17th place at least though.
i wasnt expecting them to fold so dramatically anyway, i know alot of you were though

i suppose it was effectively kitsons 1st season.

if we had stayed up he would probably have a stinker next year anyway!

reckon we may have had just enough if bikey had been given a starting place much earlier and allowed to settle
and maybe fae too, if he had got more than one game in a row, could have grown into the team.

who knows though