Worst Team / Worst Manager ever

[Victor Meldrew]

The Worst Team Ever?
As most of us go to home games and far less to away I have been looking at figures in relation to home games only especially as this season we have been so bad at home.
Going back to 1919/20, which was the first season after the 1st World War with a full league programme and not just having just local regional matches, it appears that in just under 100 years this team is in danger of having the worst win record at home EVER.

The worst for a Championship level season was 1987/8 when we won 5 and were relegated.
One consolation in that season was the marvellous day out at Wembley for the 4-1 Simod Cup win.

The worst at all levels was 2012/13 when we won just 4 in the Premier League and we were relegated but those 4 wins came from just 19 games compared to 1987/8 when there were 23.

Our average over the whole period is just greater than 14 home wins in the league but until 1950/51 there were only 21 home league games per season so proportionately it becomes nearer 15 than 14.

So, Reading fans have become used to seeing us win at home but so far this season it is 3 from 19.
We need to win 3 of the remaining 4 to not only see off relegation but also 3 to not equal the worst in the past 99 years.
Even if we win all 4 it would be the second worst record outside the Premier League in 99 years.

And yet our manager remains the manager.

One final mention, in 1919/20 we featured in a 3-2 game v Norwich and then a couple of weeks later played QPR at home and lost 1-0.
Surely not?

[Snowflake Royal]

Ignoring frees, Burns spent

Fleck £50k
McIntyre £440k
Howie £30k
Gray £100k
Brayson £100k
Crawford £50k
McLaren £100k
Evers £500k
Sarr £158k
Forster £650k
Murty £700k
Kromheer £150k
Brebner £300k
Casper £300k
Gurney £100k
Barras £20k
Scott £250k
Smith £100k

That's £4.2m in 18 months, £3.5m of which was spent in League 1.

Bullivant bought Asaba for £800k and Hodges and Primus for £500k, Bowen (£200k), Legg (£65k) and Davies (£175k)

I think Burns wins shittest manager

He came in at a time when we were in complete freefall. Not much he could do from late March onwards. Yes he signed some crap but Murty, Fozzy and Brebner were quality signings and Mcintyre improved and was half decent. Howie was ok too.

We weren't in freefall, we had a particularly poor second half of one season having struggled in the Championship because we couldn't really support ourselves at that level at that point. And for all Burns few decent signings, he had us heading for League 2 as one of the bigger spenders in League 1, having just built Championship infrastructure.

[Sutekh]

Burns spent 700k on Graeme Murty.

Record fee for Reading at the time

.....

Not sure who bought Carl Asaba but he cost 800k.

[leon]

Burns spent 700k on Graeme Murty.

Record fee for Reading at the time

.....

Not sure who bought Carl Asaba but he cost 800k.

Yeah that confused me whilst I was writing it.

[Sutekh]

Ignoring frees, Burns spent

Fleck £50k
McIntyre £440k
Howie £30k
Gray £100k
Brayson £100k
Crawford £50k
McLaren £100k
Evers £500k
Sarr £158k
Forster £650k
Murty £700k
Kromheer £150k
Brebner £300k
Casper £300k
Gurney £100k
Barras £20k
Scott £250k
Smith £100k

That's £4.2m in 18 months, £3.5m of which was spent in League 1.

Bullivant bought Asaba for £800k and Hodges and Primus for £500k, Bowen (£200k), Legg (£65k) and Davies (£175k)

Brebner, Casper, Forster, Barras, Howie, Smith, Murty and McIntyre all justified or exceeded their transfer value

Gray was ok as well, just a bit limited but gave 100%

Didn’t realise we spent money on Kromheer and Crawford

[Zip]

I think Burns wins shittest manager

He came in at a time when we were in complete freefall. Not much he could do from late March onwards. Yes he signed some crap but Murty, Fozzy and Brebner were quality signings and Mcintyre improved and was half decent. Howie was ok too.

We weren't in freefall, we had a particularly poor second half of one season having struggled in the Championship because we couldn't really support ourselves at that level at that point. And for all Burns few decent signings, he had us heading for League 2 as one of the bigger spenders in League 1, having just built Championship infrastructure.

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

[From Despair To Where?]

Ignoring frees, Burns spent

Fleck £50k
McIntyre £440k
Howie £30k
Gray £100k
Brayson £100k
Crawford £50k
McLaren £100k
Evers £500k
Sarr £158k
Forster £650k
Murty £700k
Kromheer £150k
Brebner £300k
Casper £300k
Gurney £100k
Barras £20k
Scott £250k
Smith £100k

That's £4.2m in 18 months, £3.5m of which was spent in League 1.

Bullivant bought Asaba for £800k and Hodges and Primus for £500k, Bowen (£200k), Legg (£65k) and Davies (£175k)

Brebner, Casper, Forster, Barras, Howie, Smith, Murty and McIntyre all justified or exceeded their transfer value

Gray was ok as well, just a bit limited but gave 100%

Didn’t realise we spent money on Kromheer and Crawford

Brebner was a decent player but he left on a free after a year, Casper we'll never know how good he could have been, we bought Whitehead in 1999 to replace Howie. McIntyre, Forster, Murty and Smith all proved decent value for his successors but, in fact, not a single one of Burns' signings left for a fee.

[Snowflake Royal]

He came in at a time when we were in complete freefall. Not much he could do from late March onwards. Yes he signed some crap but Murty, Fozzy and Brebner were quality signings and Mcintyre improved and was half decent. Howie was ok too.

We weren't in freefall, we had a particularly poor second half of one season having struggled in the Championship because we couldn't really support ourselves at that level at that point. And for all Burns few decent signings, he had us heading for League 2 as one of the bigger spenders in League 1, having just built Championship infrastructure.

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

[double d]

We weren't in freefall, we had a particularly poor second half of one season having struggled in the Championship because we couldn't really support ourselves at that level at that point. And for all Burns few decent signings, he had us heading for League 2 as one of the bigger spenders in League 1, having just built Championship infrastructure.

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

What is your definition? Give us an example

[Ascotexgunner]

Daily Mirror reporting an old rumour up. Though there maybe something in this. It appears Vitesse Arnham are offering Stam an escape route from Reading. Wonder if Gourley is delusional and asking for compo for him.

[strap]

Burns spent 700k on Graeme Murty.

Record fee for Reading at the time

.....

Not sure who bought Carl Asaba but he cost 800k.

Terry the Taxi on 07/08/97. He was sold for £600,00 by Tommy Burns 02/09/98.

Highest scorer in the Taxi's season, with 8 (of our total of 39) in the League, and 4 more in the cups (3 in LC, 1 in FAC).

[Snowflake Royal]

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

What is your definition? Give us an example

Reading under Clarke from when he talked to Fulham and we were top 4 to finishing 17th under McDermott
Reading currently, going from 3rd last year to relegation fight, sadly
Sunderland going from relegation from the Premier League to relegation from the Championship
That Millwall side (?) that were top and ended up getting relegated.
Pompey's descent to League 2

Preferably chuck in financial instability and the need to flog off your best players

Not being in the bottom 8 most of the season and then collapsing to bottom in the last two or three months really. Especially when it's to excuse Burns' godawful big spending and mid-table tedium followed by descent towards League 2 over a season later.

Burns is the absolute nadir for us in my time as a fan.

[double d]

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

What is your definition? Give us an example

Reading under Clarke from when he talked to Fulham and we were top 4 to finishing 17th under McDermott
Reading currently, going from 3rd last year to relegation fight, sadly
Sunderland going from relegation from the Premier League to relegation from the Championship
That Millwall side (?) that were top and ended up getting relegated.
Pompey's descent to League 2

Preferably chuck in financial instability and the need to flog off your best players

Not being in the bottom 8 most of the season and then collapsing to bottom in the last two or three months really. Especially when it's to excuse Burns' godawful big spending and mid-table tedium followed by descent towards League 2 over a season later.

Burns is the absolute nadir for us in my time as a fan.

Agreed

[Snowflake Royal]

Burns spent 700k on Graeme Murty.

Record fee for Reading at the time

.....

Not sure who bought Carl Asaba but he cost 800k.

Terry the Taxi on 07/08/97. He was sold for £600,00 by Tommy Burns 02/09/98.

Highest scorer in the Taxi's season, with 8 (of our total of 39) in the League, and 4 more in the cups (3 in LC, 1 in FAC).

Never understood why Burns sold him. Could have done alright in League One for us. Instead we got Keith Scott, Robert Fleck and Paul Shitting Brayson FFS

[Zip]

We weren't in freefall, we had a particularly poor second half of one season having struggled in the Championship because we couldn't really support ourselves at that level at that point. And for all Burns few decent signings, he had us heading for League 2 as one of the bigger spenders in League 1, having just built Championship infrastructure.

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

Indeed we do. Sweetheart xx

[leon]

We weren't in freefall, we had a particularly poor second half of one season having struggled in the Championship because we couldn't really support ourselves at that level at that point. And for all Burns few decent signings, he had us heading for League 2 as one of the bigger spenders in League 1, having just built Championship infrastructure.

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

I think he’s quite succinctly summed you up Ian.

[Zip]

Of course we were in freefall. We were plummeting down the table in dreadful form under Bullivant. We were being hammered and Bullivant was totally out of his depth.
Is there anyone on here you don’t constantly argue with?

Clearly we have different definitions of freefall, no need to get precious sweetheart.

I think he’s quite succinctly summed you up Ian.