How Long Will BM Last at this rate?????

[frimmers3]

i reckon martin o'neill will be at the madstad soon(in a managerial position)....

[Avon Royal]

Now that Brian has questioned our lack of investment in the Summer, I fully expect Brendy, Monstermunch and chums to tell him to fuck off and manage Chelsea.......

Afternoon Avon

Bonjour L'Munchie!

You must be chuffed we avoided changing like managers like QPR did.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Don't see who we'd have brought in though - which is a massive part of the do we don't we debate. We are far too above board for 'Arry to come here for example.

[bcubed]

At Brighton, West Ham, and Southampton we could've and IMO should've, shipped a load of goals and lost heavily
but those sides froze and missed too often. That is, it was less we won those games deservedly
than the opposition blew it. A definite difference IMO.

Truly pathetic statement.

A pretty true statement though. Don't listen to the RFC propaganda machine. We fluked results last year

If by fluked you mean though we had less possession, we were organised well, defended well, closed down the opposition and took our chances, even though few, then I agree

[Avon Royal]

Don't see who we'd have brought in though - which is a massive part of the do we don't we debate. We are far too above board for 'Arry to come here for example.

But you have to admit it does rather piss all over the "new manager won't get more out of existing players" argument.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Don't see who we'd have brought in though - which is a massive part of the do we don't we debate. We are far too above board for 'Arry to come here for example.

But you have to admit it does rather piss all over the "new manager won't get more out of existing players" argument.

Where did I make that argument though?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Anyway Avon - You will see from my posts since last weekend, I suspect Brian has lost the dressing room and with a heavy heart voted for him to go.

[Avon Royal]

I didn't say you did - just said it pissed all over that often made argument and invited you to agree.

QPR unbeaten since bringing in a new man, we've lost ALL our games over the same period. Decisive action in better than no action shocker.

[Avon Royal]

Anyway Avon - You will see from my posts since last weekend, I suspect Brian has lost the dressing room and with a heavy heart voted for him to go.

He won't be sacked though. If he wasn't sacked after the losing run to most of our relegation rivals then he's never going to be.

The club have obviously decided that they have no real desire to fight and are quite happy for the humiliation to continue unabated. It's the Reading Way.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I didn't say you did - just said it pissed all over that often made argument and invited you to agree.

QPR unbeaten since bringing in a new man, we've lost ALL our games over the same period. Decisive action in better than no action shocker.

Both still going down IMO. Honestly - I think given what BM achieved with us, he deserved a decent spell in charge this season & I was 100% behind him on the basis they were putting a decent shift in & were still up for it.

However, that has changed after the Wigan game IMO. That Wigan winner in injury time was really damaging - I think we will look back at that game as a season definer....we've gone rapidly downhill since then.

Mind you, this is a good time to play Arsenal. They like us are on their knees, fans are unhappy etc. If there is a small shred of any support left for Brian from the players, we will find out on Monday. They'll want to make amends for going 4-0 up & losing last time you would hope.

[Avon Royal]

It was obvious for a long time before Wigan though, that is what is so frustrating.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

It was obvious for a long time before Wigan though, that is what is so frustrating.

Don't agree with that. I think the players have only recently lost belief.

Besides, Brian played out a 0-0 with Norwich & the fans berated him for the game being too dull! Poor sod can't win either way. In hindsight, he should have stuck with that approach as we might not be as cut adrift as we are right now.

[Victor Meldrew]

I didn't say you did - just said it pissed all over that often made argument and invited you to agree.

QPR unbeaten since bringing in a new man, we've lost ALL our games over the same period. Decisive action in better than no action shocker.

It's not just QPR though is it that have had an upturn since a new manager came in and managed the same set of players.
Take a good look at Coventry and Bournemouth to see what an effect a change can have.
When Anton looks at tomorrow's papers (presumably he does follow our fortunes from afar and doesn't just rely on his chairman keeping him advised and telling him what a bargain he had)he will see us sitting rock bottom and the message becomes loud and clear "no £40 million + next year".

[RoyalBlue]

I didn't say you did - just said it pissed all over that often made argument and invited you to agree.

QPR unbeaten since bringing in a new man, we've lost ALL our games over the same period. Decisive action in better than no action shocker.

It's not just QPR though is it that have had an upturn since a new manager came in and managed the same set of players.
Take a good look at Coventry and Bournemouth to see what an effect a change can have.
When Anton looks at tomorrow's papers (presumably he does follow our fortunes from afar and doesn't just rely on his chairman keeping him advised and telling him what a bargain he had)he will see us sitting rock bottom and the message becomes loud and clear "no £40 million + next year".

Do you think we would poach Eddie Howe?

He'd feel quite at home at RFC:

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe says he has not yet been promised any money to spend in the January transfer window.

[Victor Meldrew]

I didn't say you did - just said it pissed all over that often made argument and invited you to agree.

QPR unbeaten since bringing in a new man, we've lost ALL our games over the same period. Decisive action in better than no action shocker.

It's not just QPR though is it that have had an upturn since a new manager came in and managed the same set of players.
Take a good look at Coventry and Bournemouth to see what an effect a change can have.
When Anton looks at tomorrow's papers (presumably he does follow our fortunes from afar and doesn't just rely on his chairman keeping him advised and telling him what a bargain he had)he will see us sitting rock bottom and the message becomes loud and clear "no £40 million + next year".

Do you think we would poach Eddie Howe?

He'd feel quite at home at RFC:

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe says he has not yet been promised any money to spend in the January transfer window.

[Get Carter]

Now McD is telling us again & again & again that we are punching above our weight and RFC have never spent big money on transfer fees and we must do things the Reading way.
I thought the manager's job was to win football matches and leave the budget & finances of the club to the Board of Directors and the owner.
We have lost five on the bounce & next up is Arsenal & Man City & City away could be hugely embarrassing if we play like we did at Sunderland.
IMHO the Pog, Guthrie & Taylor should start against Arsenal and Gorkss to come in for Mariappa.

[SPARTA]

Now McD is telling us again & again & again that we are punching above our weight and RFC have never spent big money on transfer fees and we must do things the Reading way.
I thought the manager's job was to win football matches and leave the budget & finances of the club to the Board of Directors and the owner.
We have lost five on the bounce & next up is Arsenal & Man City & City away could be hugely embarrassing if we play like we did at Sunderland.
IMHO the Pog, Guthrie & Taylor should start against Arsenal and Gorkss to come in for Mariappa.

Gorkss for Mariappa?

[Vision]

LOL. There's always more to it than a simple statement but given that Guthrie has come out himself and said he refused to travel because his "head wasn't right" then I'd say that it's safe to assume he refused to travel. The reasons for his head not being right are open to debate of course but the fact he refused to travel isn't unless you're an outsider who doesn't know the facts or a serial conspiracy theorist.

Or it could be that as an excellent and model professional footballer in his time, a former RFC employee of longstanding (probably still with contacts at the club) and now a manager himself (IIRC), he knows far more about what goes on behind the scenes than either of us and has a pretty damn strong feeling that blame is certainly not a one way street in this particular saga.

As I said the "reasons" or "blame" as you seem to like apportioning that sort of thing are open to to debate. However the tweet stated that he's not having that Guthrie refused to travel. Given that Guthrie himself has said he refused to travel what makes you think the manager of Dover Athletic or wherever Forster is now knows better than the player himself?

But yeah the player admitted it at personal cost to himself but Nicky Forster says he didn't so obviously he knows better.

[RoyalBlue]

LOL. There's always more to it than a simple statement but given that Guthrie has come out himself and said he refused to travel because his "head wasn't right" then I'd say that it's safe to assume he refused to travel. The reasons for his head not being right are open to debate of course but the fact he refused to travel isn't unless you're an outsider who doesn't know the facts or a serial conspiracy theorist.

Or it could be that as an excellent and model professional footballer in his time, a former RFC employee of longstanding (probably still with contacts at the club) and now a manager himself (IIRC), he knows far more about what goes on behind the scenes than either of us and has a pretty damn strong feeling that blame is certainly not a one way street in this particular saga.

As I said the "reasons" or "blame" as you seem to like apportioning that sort of thing are open to to debate. However the tweet stated that he's not having that Guthrie refused to travel. Given that Guthrie himself has said he refused to travel what makes you think the manager of Dover Athletic or wherever Forster is now knows better than the player himself?

But yeah the player admitted it at personal cost to himself but Nicky Forster says he didn't so obviously he knows better.

The major problem with Twitter is that people are limited to 140 characters and those reading tweets then misunderstand/take things too literally. Nicky Forster is a very intelligent guy who I suspect was well aware that Guthrie had 'refused' to travel. I therefore suggest that his tweet wasn't trying to deny that Guthrie hadn't travelled but rather saying there was more to the incident than Guthrie literally just 'refusing to travel'. Also I'm not sure that Guthrie point blank refused but rather notified McDermott in advance that he didn't feel up to travelling (mind in wrong place). A subtle but possibly significant difference.

And you are right, I don't think McDermott is entirely without 'blame' (and that isn't an incorrect word to use in this scenario) in the Guthrie saga. That is particularly so if the rumours are true and Guthrie had been told that he would be on the bench again v Sunderland, despite the team's appalling display v Saints.

And you are right, Guthrie was big enough to admit that he did wrong. Shame the manager can't see and acknowledge his own shortcomings this season, including majoring on Guthrie and airing his dirty laundry in public post the Sunderland game, thus deflecting what would have been some well-deserved criticism away from himself.

[Vision]

So, in a nutshell. Guthrie refused to travel.

Well done, we got there in the end.