CONFIMRED - Mark Bowen

[Royal Ginger]

“I was stunned to be offered the job as I had started the recruitment myself”

Bulls**t. We all work with people like this. He’s the marketing bloke who has inexplicably risen through the ranks who everyone hates. Still, if the roll of the dice makes him successful i’ll happily suckle at his scheming teat.

[Stevie G]

Haha, the amount of naivety on here is amazing. I suppose Anton is still coming back to buy that 51% hey? The Thais weren't just after the land? Gourlay was a competent senieor exec?

I've based the above upon the operations of Reading over the years, that is seems to have been (and continues to be) poorly run by people with conflicted interests.

All I will add, if Bowen was such a snake why have 4 coaches that Gomes brought with him chosen to stay on? Usually when a manger goes the majority of their coaching staff go too - would 4 really stay to work for the man who got Gomes fired?

maybe they all stabbed Jose in the back as well?

Maybe he doesn't quite have the contacts that he's noted to have, perhaps they haven't been asked yet to join him, or perhaps they see the mess and declined. Maybe the current coaching staff have not been seen as part of the issue, or need to leave, or maybe they'll stay to make life uncomfortable. One thing's for sure, we're likely not in a better place right now UNLESS there's an absolute ground swell of change on Saturday and a win. We do allegedly have players and he has allgedly been given the job to unlock their potential.

[Snowflake Royal]

No mention there on length of contract.

The snake confirmed in its Berkshire Live interview:

Contract

It's till the end of the season. I didn't think about the length of the contract.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/foot ... k-17086617

So when it takes us down into League 1 at least there won't be a massive pay-off required to sack him. Maybe Mr Dai isn't as stupid as he looked when making this appointment on the snake's recommendation.

Grow up for once strap.

[Royal_jimmy]

I can't see us winning a game this month and more than 1 game next month now

[leon]

This is a fcuking bonkers appointment. It could be genius or very much more likely an absolute bollock drop.

[Royals-For-Life]

Why do fans slag of mark bowen all ready . , ..., blood hey given him a chance he got 20 years experience as number 2, he no the players very well. at reading fc ...
i think he be ok . we win saturday .
i hope the fans dont like him .. mark bowen should stay at home .

[Only one Trevor Morley]

When strap has a strong view I find myself hurtling in the diametrically opposite direction....

My reflections would be as follows

I suspect they want a bigger ‘name‘ from abroad at some point but were persuaded by Howe to let bowen steady the ship and prove himself.

Bowen comes across as pragmatic. I think he’ll get us to mid table fairly easily with a favourable run if fixtures coming up.

He gave a good interview. Length of contract and keeping the Portuguese guys backs the steadying the ship line far more than the social media driven ooooh it was mr Bowen in the billiard room with the p45 mantra.

He likes the gee gees. So do I. Tick.

One bit of caution. He seemed in shock. He was also obviously hurt about the impact on his reputation. Is he tough enough to be a manager? At 55 is quite an age to suddenly step out from the shadows. If reading struggle he’ll struggle. He’ll need some early confidence as much as the team.

I hope he is more of McDermott than a clement. Time will tell.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Some superb narrative has been concocted with this appointment, and in true Reading fans fashion there has been an absolute meltdown.

Jose was quite rightly sacked because he oversaw a transfer window where we spent big, and all the signals were pointing towards us not getting out of the losing run we found ourselves in.

Paying off Jose and finding a replacement would be costly, and given we stretched ourselves from a FFP point of view over the summer we decided to go with the ‘cheap’ option with Bowen. All of which would have been determined by the owners (and possibly the agent), not Mark.

Get behind him ffs and stop throwing your toys out the pram about a completely fabricated story. If he turns out to be rubbish then by all means apply some pressure, but don’t have a go at the man for something that simply isn’t true before a ball has been kicked.

[Old Man Andrews]

No mention there on length of contract.

The snake confirmed in its Berkshire Live interview:

Contract

It's till the end of the season. I didn't think about the length of the contract.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/foot ... k-17086617

So when it takes us down into League 1 at least there won't be a massive pay-off required to sack him. Maybe Mr Dai isn't as stupid as he looked when making this appointment on the snake's recommendation.

Grow up.

[Snowflake Royal]

Some superb narrative has been concocted with this appointment, and in true Reading fans fashion there has been an absolute meltdown.

Jose was quite rightly sacked because he oversaw a transfer window where we spent big, and all the signals were pointing towards us not getting out of the losing run we found ourselves in.

Paying off Jose and finding a replacement would be costly, and given we stretched ourselves from a FFP point of view over the summer we decided to go with the ‘cheap’ option with Bowen. All of which would have been determined by the owners (and possibly the agent), not Mark.

Get behind him ffs and stop throwing your toys out the pram about a completely fabricated story. If he turns out to be rubbish then by all means apply some pressure, but don’t have a go at the man for something that simply isn’t true before a ball has been kicked.

If we had enough money to buy Joao and Puscas, a settlement with Gomes and new manager is easily affordable.

Why does everyone seem to think that a no mark manager with no pedigree who was brought in as third choice would be on a big wedge?

Maybe, there just weren't many desireable options available who would consider us and Bowen has actually impressed people here.

Could we not just dismiss every new manager as a cheap yes man for a change?

[Stranded]

Some superb narrative has been concocted with this appointment, and in true Reading fans fashion there has been an absolute meltdown.

Jose was quite rightly sacked because he oversaw a transfer window where we spent big, and all the signals were pointing towards us not getting out of the losing run we found ourselves in.

Paying off Jose and finding a replacement would be costly, and given we stretched ourselves from a FFP point of view over the summer we decided to go with the ‘cheap’ option with Bowen. All of which would have been determined by the owners (and possibly the agent), not Mark.

Get behind him ffs and stop throwing your toys out the pram about a completely fabricated story. If he turns out to be rubbish then by all means apply some pressure, but don’t have a go at the man for something that simply isn’t true before a ball has been kicked.

If we had enough money to buy Joao and Puscas, a settlement with Gomes and new manager is easily affordable.

Why does everyone seem to think that a no mark manager with no pedigree who was brought in as third choice would be on a big wedge?

Maybe, there just weren't many desireable options available who would consider us and Bowen has actually impressed people here.

Could we not just dismiss every new manager as a cheap yes man for a change?

Bowen has clearly impressed people at the club given this is the 3rd job the owners have either offered him or sanctioned for him since March.

The thing that is pissing me off the most at the mo is the reaction - I can understand not being a fan of the appointment but the belief that the guy just told lies in his press conference and is some evil genius who has Howe and the owners wrapped around his grubby little finger needs to stop - do you really think if he was he would have waited until 55 and 20 years into a career to do this. It simply makes no sense and that theory has more holes in it than a lump of Swiss Cheese.

[Forbury Lion]

All I will add, if Bowen was such a snake why have 4 coaches that Gomes brought with him chosen to stay on? Usually when a manger goes the majority of their coaching staff go too - would 4 really stay to work for the man who got Gomes fired?

Some possible reasons

1. They haven't had their contracts terminated so no pay-off for leaving
2. They have no new job to go to - maybe they will when Gomes gets a new one elsewhere?
3. They don't believe Bowen was responsible for getting Gomes fired
4. They love living in and around Reading, especially the weather and the fact the town has two Nandos
5. This is the biggest/best club they've ever worked at with fantastic facilities
6. They rate Bowen and think he can take them places and they can learn from him
7. They listened to the Brian McDermot interview on BBC Berks and how Pardew hired him, then left and then Steve Coppell came in and they got on really well with McDermot describing it as the most enjoyable spell of his career and they're hoping for some of that under Bowen before perhaps emulating McDermot and rising through the ranks
8. Ian Royal

[Millsy]

Some superb narrative has been concocted with this appointment, and in true Reading fans fashion there has been an absolute meltdown.

Jose was quite rightly sacked because he oversaw a transfer window where we spent big, and all the signals were pointing towards us not getting out of the losing run we found ourselves in.

Paying off Jose and finding a replacement would be costly, and given we stretched ourselves from a FFP point of view over the summer we decided to go with the ‘cheap’ option with Bowen. All of which would have been determined by the owners (and possibly the agent), not Mark.

Get behind him ffs and stop throwing your toys out the pram about a completely fabricated story. If he turns out to be rubbish then by all means apply some pressure, but don’t have a go at the man for something that simply isn’t true before a ball has been kicked.

If we had enough money to buy Joao and Puscas, a settlement with Gomes and new manager is easily affordable.

Why does everyone seem to think that a no mark manager with no pedigree who was brought in as third choice would be on a big wedge?

Maybe, there just weren't many desireable options available who would consider us and Bowen has actually impressed people here.

Could we not just dismiss every new manager as a cheap yes man for a change?

I think the point is whatever Bowen costs, with his several months contract and no transfer demands it's likely to be less than a highly wanted man like Hughton, who'd demand more than a few months of a contract and a transfer pot too. Or worse than that someone already in a post we'd have to pay severance compensation for on top of that.

Of course this isn't to say we just got ourselves a cheap yes man and yes he clearly did impress people here, but it also does make more financial sense at the same time.

It's just another way of looking at it, to counteract the meltdown we're having.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

Some superb narrative has been concocted with this appointment, and in true Reading fans fashion there has been an absolute meltdown.

Jose was quite rightly sacked because he oversaw a transfer window where we spent big, and all the signals were pointing towards us not getting out of the losing run we found ourselves in.

Paying off Jose and finding a replacement would be costly, and given we stretched ourselves from a FFP point of view over the summer we decided to go with the ‘cheap’ option with Bowen. All of which would have been determined by the owners (and possibly the agent), not Mark.

Get behind him ffs and stop throwing your toys out the pram about a completely fabricated story. If he turns out to be rubbish then by all means apply some pressure, but don’t have a go at the man for something that simply isn’t true before a ball has been kicked.

If we had enough money to buy Joao and Puscas, a settlement with Gomes and new manager is easily affordable.

Why does everyone seem to think that a no mark manager with no pedigree who was brought in as third choice would be on a big wedge?

Maybe, there just weren't many desireable options available who would consider us and Bowen has actually impressed people here.

Could we not just dismiss every new manager as a cheap yes man for a change?

I think the fact we spent big in the summer is the exact reason we aren’t able to spend a significant sum on a manager, as I’m sure the summer spending would have put us on the cusp of breaching FFP - most certainly now if we had had to pay off Gomes.

You’ve spun my post in a completely different way to what was intended. I’m all for giving Bowen a chance, and I am most certainly not writing him off. The reality is though, we’ve appointed a manager of that has had no impact on our FFP status, as presumably his wages would have been tied up in our existing FFP framework (unless he has had an increase).

It’s very savvy from the owners and directors, and if it pays off it will be a master stroke. I will be singing Mark Bowen’s Barmy Army on Saturday.

[Stranded]

JLow on the Elm Park Royals podcast stating that we did approach one manager who turned us down so may well be that we had a #1 target and when we couldn't get him the board decided the best approach was to give it to someone already at the club to avoid a lengthy delay in appointing someone - certainly may explain why Bowen just has an initial scope of til the end of the season - if he does very well, he may get a new deal else they may well go back in for whoever the #1 target was.

Indeed, the target may have made it clear he has an interest but not interested until the summer.

[Snowflake Royal]

JLow on the Elm Park Royals podcast stating that we did approach one manager who turned us down so may well be that we had a #1 target and when we couldn't get him the board decided the best approach was to give it to someone already at the club to avoid a lengthy delay in appointing someone - certainly may explain why Bowen just has an initial scope of til the end of the season - if he does very well, he may get a new deal else they may well go back in for whoever the #1 target was.

Indeed, the target may have made it clear he has an interest but not interested until the summer.

I was thinking, if Bowen can get us mid-table then someone like Hughes or Hughton is more likely to be interested.

Of course, if Bowen gets us mid-table then he deserves the gig permanently

[Hound]

JLow on the Elm Park Royals podcast stating that we did approach one manager who turned us down so may well be that we had a #1 target and when we couldn't get him the board decided the best approach was to give it to someone already at the club to avoid a lengthy delay in appointing someone - certainly may explain why Bowen just has an initial scope of til the end of the season - if he does very well, he may get a new deal else they may well go back in for whoever the #1 target was.

Indeed, the target may have made it clear he has an interest but not interested until the summer.

Saw that. Been nice for JLow to have named names just for our interests sake

Wonder if it was Hughes - thought JLow hinted at him originally

[Stranded]

JLow on the Elm Park Royals podcast stating that we did approach one manager who turned us down so may well be that we had a #1 target and when we couldn't get him the board decided the best approach was to give it to someone already at the club to avoid a lengthy delay in appointing someone - certainly may explain why Bowen just has an initial scope of til the end of the season - if he does very well, he may get a new deal else they may well go back in for whoever the #1 target was.

Indeed, the target may have made it clear he has an interest but not interested until the summer.

Saw that. Been nice for JLow to have named names just for our interests sake

Wonder if it was Hughes - thought JLow hinted at him originally

Would make even more sense of the Bowen appointment if it was Hughes - if you can't get your #1 target and his long term assistant happens to be working at the club...

[Old Man Andrews]

JLow on the Elm Park Royals podcast stating that we did approach one manager who turned us down so may well be that we had a #1 target and when we couldn't get him the board decided the best approach was to give it to someone already at the club to avoid a lengthy delay in appointing someone - certainly may explain why Bowen just has an initial scope of til the end of the season - if he does very well, he may get a new deal else they may well go back in for whoever the #1 target was.

Indeed, the target may have made it clear he has an interest but not interested until the summer.

Saw that. Been nice for JLow to have named names just for our interests sake

Wonder if it was Hughes - thought JLow hinted at him originally

There is of course the chance JLow is completely makign up this information.

I would lean towards Hughes if it is true though. Bowen probably would have put him forward and either the club wouldn't pay him enough or give him a big enough transfer budget.

[Victor Meldrew]

Some superb narrative has been concocted with this appointment, and in true Reading fans fashion there has been an absolute meltdown.

Jose was quite rightly sacked because he oversaw a transfer window where we spent big, and all the signals were pointing towards us not getting out of the losing run we found ourselves in.

Paying off Jose and finding a replacement would be costly, and given we stretched ourselves from a FFP point of view over the summer we decided to go with the ‘cheap’ option with Bowen. All of which would have been determined by the owners (and possibly the agent), not Mark.

Get behind him ffs and stop throwing your toys out the pram about a completely fabricated story. If he turns out to be rubbish then by all means apply some pressure, but don’t have a go at the man for something that simply isn’t true before a ball has been kicked.

If we had enough money to buy Joao and Puscas, a settlement with Gomes and new manager is easily affordable.

Why does everyone seem to think that a no mark manager with no pedigree who was brought in as third choice would be on a big wedge?

Maybe, there just weren't many desireable options available who would consider us and Bowen has actually impressed people here.

Could we not just dismiss every new manager as a cheap yes man for a change?

Bowen has clearly impressed people at the club given this is the 3rd job the owners have either offered him or sanctioned for him since March.

The thing that is pissing me off the most at the mo is the reaction - I can understand not being a fan of the appointment but the belief that the guy just told lies in his press conference and is some evil genius who has Howe and the owners wrapped around his grubby little finger needs to stop - do you really think if he was he would have waited until 55 and 20 years into a career to do this. It simply makes no sense and that theory has more holes in it than a lump of Swiss Cheese.

Is some of the reaction due to constantly being lied to (Trump, Johnson etc.) meaning that trust is now an obsolete word?
Things happen in business-Bowen may well have done some back-stabbing and/or he has pushed his own credentials.
We can do f*** all about it, not even a referendum or a fans' vote so , as ever, we wait to see what is presented to us in terms of entertainment and success.

IMHO a 55 year-old with no experience of being the main man is quite a gamble-football people will tell you that managing is so much different from any other job in football.
Bowen seems to have already won over quite a few on here already by saying the right things in a single Press Conference so let's see how much further damage he can do to our club or what success he can bring.
A win on Saturday would be a good start but we can't judge him until a dozen or so games have been played and a further transfer window used.