Denver RoyalHoop Blah Where should this club be? I'd suggest we should be comfortably in the top 10 of an typical strength Championship.
You disregard the element of entertainment, but that is a massive part of what we as fans want from our team.
Hoop Blah, you have some good thoughts there, as usual. It's been a while.
If we are going to be a 'Comfortably Top 10 team' in the Champ these days, and that is the expectation of the entire fanbase every season, then we are going to need to get back on track. Because, prior to 3rd last year under Stam, we finished 19th and 17th the two seasons prior to that. We likely won't be top 10 this season, either. And right now I'm not even convinced we'll even be top 10 next year, either. Obviously we'll wait and see what happens over the Summer personnel wise. I'm also unsure to what extent the new owners are going to back us, relative to other teams. So, we will see how it plays out in the coming seasons and whether we re-establish ourselves as such a team.
I agree the element of entertainment is massive, at least for this fanbase anyway. And its tough to argue against that, logically. However, I get the feeling the entertainment aspect is less of an issue at some other clubs.
I was wondering about our plan for PL. Our managers are criticized pursuant to that. I made a post the other day about Burnley, and whether our model would or should look at all like their's, if we got promoted to PL. We maybe approximate their size a bit, and they have done well in PL since their promotion. But I also pointed to their style of play, questioned how 'entertaining and exciting' it all is, how so very few goals they score, esp at home, that their games are almost always 1-0s, etc, their managers demeanor and personality, etc, and I wondered how well their type of success and their model would be embraced and sit with us as fans here.
Where does it leave us right now in that regard? Well, with the next manager we hire, its presumably going to place a premium on the style of footy he intends to play, and in fact subsequently then does play in reality. Again, I'm not sure if this is as big a consideration or burden for some other clubs when they make their searches and hires. Would we want Dyche here if he left Burnley?
(Edit: I saw in the Rumours forum you recommended Monk as the next manager here, and I responded to it).
Who’s your favourite Reading manager, whose team you’ve seen and why?