Welcome back Brian!

[Longhorn1970]

As I said clutching at straws ... You really don't know football if you think SC is a big name, a respected coach yes ... With no £££ available he did a good job, would he still be here if Al Habsi had collected a simple header ? Look around at non-football owners they have no patience and want instant success for little investment ! If BM pulls it off fair play but the league is much harder now than it was then ..

Someone with PL experience who'd coached at Chelsea? Yes, for a medium Championship club that's a big name. Certainly his name was the only thing he had.

Good job? No £££s?

He brought in at least 11 new players in the summer. Most of them good quality from good clubs, if loanees. Most of his spending was done before selling Hector too. As for good job? Sorry, I expect a manager to do better than a one 7 game good run in 11 months and a higher win rate than 36% Bar that run, we were very poor for almost his entire tenure. We have a talented squad and he got sod all out of them.

They seemed pretty fired up in the FAC semi final or have you forgotten that already in your state of sentimentalism ...

[Ian Royal]

As I said clutching at straws ... You really don't know football if you think SC is a big name, a respected coach yes ... With no £££ available he did a good job, would he still be here if Al Habsi had collected a simple header ? Look around at non-football owners they have no patience and want instant success for little investment ! If BM pulls it off fair play but the league is much harder now than it was then ..

Someone with PL experience who'd coached at Chelsea? Yes, for a medium Championship club that's a big name. Certainly his name was the only thing he had.

Good job? No £££s?

He brought in at least 11 new players in the summer. Most of them good quality from good clubs, if loanees. Most of his spending was done before selling Hector too. As for good job? Sorry, I expect a manager to do better than a one 7 game good run in 11 months and a higher win rate than 36% Bar that run, we were very poor for almost his entire tenure. We have a talented squad and he got sod all out of them.

They seemed pretty fired up in the FAC semi final or have you forgotten that already in your state of sentimentalism ...

One game. Big wow. If the players can't be up for an FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley there's something wrong with them. Easy run of games to get there. Even if you include it, it's one 7 game run plus a good game at Wembley. Good job my arse.

[genome]

faux pars

[CountryRoyal]

Yeah longhorn you'll have a hard time trying to argue Clarke did a good job here.

One swallow and all that.

If anything what Wembley last season showed us was how talented our squad was, and how Clarke failed to get the best out of and make the most of the squad he had.

[Hampshire Royal]

Yeah, that was Brian's fault. Imagine letting us go 4-0 up against one of the best footballing sides in Europe. The twit!!

Pffft. Funnily enough I was more concerned with the fact that we were 4-0 up and somehow managed to throw it away, and if that wasn't the fault of Brian's and the players, then who's fault was it? No matter what teams are involved or what level of football it is, you should never throw away a 4-0 lead. Just what on earth did he say the them at the break I wonder?

Although I actually called it was going to happen when they scored to make it 4-1 just before half time, could just sense it somehow.

Best sides in Europe? Arsenal didn't exactly have their best team out did they? Apart from Koscielny and Walcott they had a reserve team out. Fcuking Chamakh scored 2 against us for fcuk sake

It was the worst capitulation I've ever seen and it was awful. End of.

I do feel sorry for you!! If you can't see that this was ,one of the most entertaining game you're ever likely to see, why bother going to watch football at all?? And in particular, why go to watch Reading??
The fact that Walcott scored a fantastic goal just before half-time, lifted Arsenal. Our players were still in the 'we've got the wrapped up' frame of mind. Nothing to do with Brian, more to do with simple human nature (look it up).
The daftest thing you said in your post was that it was only Arsenal's reserve team!! Yeah right, that must mean that they are the equivalent of a Sunday League team. Giroud came on as a sub (which must mean that he was even lower standard than that). Chmakh is still playing in the PL. As far as Arsenal not being a good team, if I was forced to watch any PL team, it would be Arsenal who play the game as, I believe, it's meant to be played. I'd rather see the sort of football they play than the boring tippy-tippy style of Barcelona.
If the ref hadn't played 6 minutes in 4 minutes of injury time, we might even have won.
This wasn't a 'capitulation', more of a defeat by a very good team. End of.

[Victor Meldrew]

Was with you all the way there HR (agreed it was one of the most entertaining RFC games ever) until you said that you preferred watching Arsenal's style of play to that of Barcelona.
Arsenal are often described as the English side that plays the nearest to Barcelona in style.
Personally I would sooner watch Barcelona than Arsenal.

[CountryRoyal]

Personally I would sooner watch Barcelona than Arsenal.

+1, if nothing else because it means you'd be in Barcelona, which is nicer than London, and tickets are cheaper.

[RG7Fan]

Yeah, that was Brian's fault. Imagine letting us go 4-0 up against one of the best footballing sides in Europe. The twit!!

Pffft. Funnily enough I was more concerned with the fact that we were 4-0 up and somehow managed to throw it away, and if that wasn't the fault of Brian's and the players, then who's fault was it? No matter what teams are involved or what level of football it is, you should never throw away a 4-0 lead. Just what on earth did he say the them at the break I wonder?

Although I actually called it was going to happen when they scored to make it 4-1 just before half time, could just sense it somehow.

Best sides in Europe? Arsenal didn't exactly have their best team out did they? Apart from Koscielny and Walcott they had a reserve team out. Fcuking Chamakh scored 2 against us for fcuk sake

It was the worst capitulation I've ever seen and it was awful. End of.

I do feel sorry for you!! If you can't see that this was ,one of the most entertaining game you're ever likely to see, why bother going to watch football at all?? And in particular, why go to watch Reading??
The fact that Walcott scored a fantastic goal just before half-time, lifted Arsenal. Our players were still in the 'we've got the wrapped up' frame of mind. Nothing to do with Brian, more to do with simple human nature (look it up).
The daftest thing you said in your post was that it was only Arsenal's reserve team!! Yeah right, that must mean that they are the equivalent of a Sunday League team. Giroud came on as a sub (which must mean that he was even lower standard than that). Chmakh is still playing in the PL. As far as Arsenal not being a good team, if I was forced to watch any PL team, it would be Arsenal who play the game as, I believe, it's meant to be played. I'd rather see the sort of football they play than the boring tippy-tippy style of Barcelona.
If the ref hadn't played 6 minutes in 4 minutes of injury time, we might even have won.
This wasn't a 'capitulation', more of a defeat by a very good team. End of.

A mixed emotions night. And remember, we went 3-2 up against Man U soon after (before losing 4-3). That was a few months of great football (although we lost a lot) - would you swap that for the Adkins era???

[RG7Fan]

Yeah, that was Brian's fault. Imagine letting us go 4-0 up against one of the best footballing sides in Europe. The twit!!

Pffft. Funnily enough I was more concerned with the fact that we were 4-0 up and somehow managed to throw it away, and if that wasn't the fault of Brian's and the players, then who's fault was it? No matter what teams are involved or what level of football it is, you should never throw away a 4-0 lead. Just what on earth did he say the them at the break I wonder?

Although I actually called it was going to happen when they scored to make it 4-1 just before half time, could just sense it somehow.

Best sides in Europe? Arsenal didn't exactly have their best team out did they? Apart from Koscielny and Walcott they had a reserve team out. Fcuking Chamakh scored 2 against us for fcuk sake

It was the worst capitulation I've ever seen and it was awful. End of.

I do feel sorry for you!! If you can't see that this was ,one of the most entertaining game you're ever likely to see, why bother going to watch football at all?? And in particular, why go to watch Reading??
The fact that Walcott scored a fantastic goal just before half-time, lifted Arsenal. Our players were still in the 'we've got the wrapped up' frame of mind. Nothing to do with Brian, more to do with simple human nature (look it up).
The daftest thing you said in your post was that it was only Arsenal's reserve team!! Yeah right, that must mean that they are the equivalent of a Sunday League team. Giroud came on as a sub (which must mean that he was even lower standard than that). Chmakh is still playing in the PL. As far as Arsenal not being a good team, if I was forced to watch any PL team, it would be Arsenal who play the game as, I believe, it's meant to be played. I'd rather see the sort of football they play than the boring tippy-tippy style of Barcelona.
If the ref hadn't played 6 minutes in 4 minutes of injury time, we might even have won.
This wasn't a 'capitulation', more of a defeat by a very good team. End of.

And we gave them a good run for their money in April ... if it wasn't for a lino who didn't know the rules we'd have been clear through 2-3 times, and perhaps a different result.

[Longhorn1970]

Yeah longhorn you'll have a hard time trying to argue Clarke did a good job here.

One swallow and all that.

If anything what Wembley last season showed us was how talented our squad was, and how Clarke failed to get the best out of and make the most of the squad he had.

Depends what you deem to be success and failure. Was BM successful at Leeds, he completed 11 mths of a 3yr deal and lost more than he won ?
Last years squad was not sustainable, some were on stupid money and the owners wanted the wage bill reduced, SC had to pick up the pieces left by others. He brought in ok players on less money (reportedly) and got them where we want to be. Fulham obviously thought he was doing a decent job too lol, but well never know exactly happened there unless you believe sky sources which were clap trap ...

[Longhorn1970]

And we gave them a good run for their money in April ... if it wasn't for a lino who didn't know the rules we'd have been clear through 2-3 times, and perhaps a different result.[/quote]

Ah yes not forgetting the lino who robbed us ! ...

[CountryRoyal]

Yeah longhorn you'll have a hard time trying to argue Clarke did a good job here.

One swallow and all that.

If anything what Wembley last season showed us was how talented our squad was, and how Clarke failed to get the best out of and make the most of the squad he had.

Depends what you deem to be success and failure. Was BM successful at Leeds, he completed 11 mths of a 3yr deal and lost more than he won ?
Last years squad was not sustainable, some were on stupid money and the owners wanted the wage bill reduced, SC had to pick up the pieces left by others. He brought in ok players on less money (reportedly) and got them where we want to be. Fulham obviously thought he was doing a decent job too lol, but well never know exactly happened there unless you believe sky sources which were clap trap ...

I'm struggling to believe you're not actually on a bit of a wind up here.

Whilst McDermott's tenure at Leeds was definitvely less successful than his first stint here, a lot of Leeds fans felt he was fired unduly and he was a victim of a clueless owner's ignorant reign. From reports they were playing well and at one stage, got them to their highest league position in a while.

I could go along with saying SC had to pick up from what others left, and that he inherited a shambles of a squad, which is all well and good up and everybody accepted our continued mediocrity under the illusion that he needed a transfer window to build his own side and see from there.

He did that and more, including uprooting most of our (well liked and successful) backroom staff, he signed a bucket load of players, more than any other Reading manager in recent memory. The players proved how good they were earlier in the season when we reached second in the league, but unfortunately our success was more inspite of, as opposed to because of Steve Clarke, as our recent form has showed.

In my opinion we currently have one of the most talented squads in the league and in our history and I'm sure McDermott will at least allow them to play their own game - which I'm sure we will reap the benefits from.

[Hampshire Royal]

Was with you all the way there HR (agreed it was one of the most entertaining RFC games ever) until you said that you preferred watching Arsenal's style of play to that of Barcelona.
Arsenal are often described as the English side that plays the nearest to Barcelona in style.
Personally I would sooner watch Barcelona than Arsenal.

Fair enough, I suppose. I just think I'd get bored watching football that didn't have the physicality of English football. It's great to watch the little snippets of people like Messi, but to see players deliberately break down play by feigning injury (I know that has crept into our game) during a whole game would be tedious in the extreme.

Give me the 100% blood and thunder that is so much a part of our game. When this is mixed with the sort of skill Arsenal have shown since Wenger has managed them (the Invincibles team was just so good).

[AthleticoSpizz]

Good, bad, indifferent

If only we could extrovertly support our manager as well as Chelsea fans still do there's etc etc

(In before Kes)

[CountryRoyal]

Yes, and if you look at the my first post in the thread when Clarke was rumoured to be going to Fullham you'll see what I said. I said thank you for the transfer window and for Wembley and not much else.

Clarke's best influence on this club was his signings, it's just a shame he couldn't get them to play together in a successful way, rightly or wrongly this team needs confidence and mollycoddling, they are good enough to get results by themselves imho. Clarke was holding us back.

Edit: why did you delete your post longhorn?

[Longhorn1970]

Yes, and if you look at the my first post in the thread when Clarke was rumoured to be going to Fullham you'll see what I said. I said thank you for the transfer window and for Wembley and not much else.

Clarke's best influence on this club was his signings, it's just a shame he couldn't get them to play together in a successful way, rightly or wrongly this team needs confidence and mollycoddling, they are good enough to get results by themselves imho. Clarke was holding us back.

Edit: why did you delete your post longhorn?

Couldn't disagree more, love the optimism though, I still worry about the prospect of someone coming in and under performing, 2 or 3 defeats will panic set in again ?

[CountryRoyal]

Yes, and if you look at the my first post in the thread when Clarke was rumoured to be going to Fullham you'll see what I said. I said thank you for the transfer window and for Wembley and not much else.

Clarke's best influence on this club was his signings, it's just a shame he couldn't get them to play together in a successful way, rightly or wrongly this team needs confidence and mollycoddling, they are good enough to get results by themselves imho. Clarke was holding us back.

Edit: why did you delete your post longhorn?

Couldn't disagree more, love the optimism though, I still worry about the prospect of someone coming in and under performing, 2 or 3 defeats will panic set in again ?

I can't do much about your disagreement, as much as it bemuses me, but may I suggest you stop worrying until perhaps said doomsday pessimism unfolds?

[Hampshire Royal]

If we get a point in those 2 or 3 games, it will be an improvement.

[Woodcote Royal]

Was with you all the way there HR (agreed it was one of the most entertaining RFC games ever) until you said that you preferred watching Arsenal's style of play to that of Barcelona.
Arsenal are often described as the English side that plays the nearest to Barcelona in style.
Personally I would sooner watch Barcelona than Arsenal.

A season's worth of tika taka or Dignatas? One way ticket to Switzerland for me

[Ian Royal]

Yes, and if you look at the my first post in the thread when Clarke was rumoured to be going to Fullham you'll see what I said. I said thank you for the transfer window and for Wembley and not much else.

Clarke's best influence on this club was his signings, it's just a shame he couldn't get them to play together in a successful way, rightly or wrongly this team needs confidence and mollycoddling, they are good enough to get results by themselves imho. Clarke was holding us back.

Edit: why did you delete your post longhorn?

Couldn't disagree more, love the optimism though, I still worry about the prospect of someone coming in and under performing, 2 or 3 defeats will panic set in again ?

I wouldn't expect things to miraculously turn around immediately. Confidence and relaxation can make the difference between about 16th and 6th in this league. A lot of damage has been done in the last two months and preceding 3 years, so it's not necessarily going to be easy fixing the player's heads, which is half the battle.