Adkins - Pros and Cons

[AthleticoSpizz]

Well, I'm a bit with Old'un on this one....his choice of words in your "carefully selected" paragraph may not be the best, but you'll have to go back virtually thirty years ago to appreciate the rest of his post and his thoughts on it.

That alone would pre-curse the very footballing attendance of many on here, and even more so, those that currently attend the Madstad.

As bad as this season my end up, it will probably be well within the top ten "best-ever" finishing positions.....as previosly posted stats show (by Ian i think) seven games without a victory is not a first for Reading, not even during our recent lofty heights and with a few of our most successful managers.

Anyway Old'un...stop being smug and supremest...you have been told off by "Pissed Off"

[P!ssed Off]

Well, I'm a bit with Old'un on this one....his choice of words in your "carefully selected" paragraph may not be the best, but you'll have to go back virtually thirty years ago to appreciate the rest of his post and his thoughts on it.

That alone would pre-curse the very footballing attendance of many on here, and even more so, those that currently attend the Madstad.

As bad as this season my end up, it will still be well within the top ten "best-ever" finishing positions.....as previosly posted stats show (by Ian i think) seven games without a victory is not a first for Reading, not even during our recent lofty heights and with a few of our most successful managers.

Anyway Old'un...stop being smug and supremest...you have been told off by "Pissed Off"

For the last 12 seasons our lowest position has been 9th in the 2nd tier. We are currently 17th in the 2nd tier.
+ 1994/1995, + 86/87 + 26/27.

Meaning we're currently on course for our 16th "best ever finish". And under the premise of "As bad as this season my end up", i.e. 24th position, we have finished higher than 44th in the country on 22 occasions.

[AthleticoSpizz]

That's me and my gaff told as well (I'm getting old)


..............so what of the rest of my post, how did it do

[P!ssed Off]

I can't see what relevance where the club was 30 years ago has in judging Adkins' performance today.
If you were to say "look where we were 30 years ago, cut him slack" in regards to someone like SJM, then that would make sense.

But Adkins played no part whatsoever in Reading's rise up the leagues, so why should we put up with him taking us back down them.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Maybe and purely because his current "results" predicament is nothing too different to what we have endured under our previous and eventually successful management.

The thirty year ago thing, is merely, as Old'un alluded to, how far we have come and how much more is expected from our descerning folk that know no different these days.....admittedly, his choice of words could've been better.

You say "get used to it", some might suggest that you try telling that to the Sheffield United, Portsmouth, Luton fans etc etc that thought the same thing about the top two divisions being their divine right.

[P!ssed Off]

Like I said.
'We used to be a small club' is as tedious as 'we used to be a big club'.

[OldBiscuit]

No, OldBiscuit, you were being massively patronising, and Sandman rightly called you out on it:

As a result, this generation behave like spoilt brats, with toys flying from the pram at an alarming rate. One loss and off goes the dummy, 3 in a row and we have a nursery rampage. Its not really your fault young-uns, you don't know any different.

Also, your "Reading used to be a small club, don't you know" schtick is as tedious as Leeds/Forest/Wednesday fans telling everyone they're still a big club.

If you want to stand on a terrace and support a team that teeters between 3rd and 4th division then you'll have to go and support someone else. That is not Reading FC anymore, deal with it.

Do me a favour, pissed off. You must be on hallucinogenic drugs. Where did i say 'Reading used to be a small club'? Where did i say if prefer to stand on a terrace? Where did i say i would rather support a team that teeters between 3rd & 4th division? Grow up you silly boy.

[mambo3]

Foreign owners - next foreign manager.

English Managers no longer flavour of the month. Can't see Thais giving NA substantial funds for transfers with his record as it stands.

[P!ssed Off]

No, OldBiscuit, you were being massively patronising, and Sandman rightly called you out on it:

As a result, this generation behave like spoilt brats, with toys flying from the pram at an alarming rate. One loss and off goes the dummy, 3 in a row and we have a nursery rampage. Its not really your fault young-uns, you don't know any different.

Also, your "Reading used to be a small club, don't you know" schtick is as tedious as Leeds/Forest/Wednesday fans telling everyone they're still a big club.

If you want to stand on a terrace and support a team that teeters between 3rd and 4th division then you'll have to go and support someone else. That is not Reading FC anymore, deal with it.

Do me a favour, pissed off. You must be on hallucinogenic drugs. Where did i say 'Reading used to be a small club'? Where did i say if prefer to stand on a terrace? Where did i say i would rather support a team that teeters between 3rd & 4th division? Grow up you silly boy.

Let's look at your three posts tonight:

Post 1 highlights
- this generation behave like spoilt brats
- toys flying from the pram at an alarming rate
- off goes the dummy
- a nursery rampage
- its not really your fault young-uns, you don't know any different.
- never show a job unfinished to Fools or Children.

Post 2 Highlights
- you still came over as patronising and condescending, neither of which you are qualified to do.
- No one is 'smug' or 'superior'
- The fact is the majority of 'Head of Adkins' demands are from the category that i have described, as are most of the 'Hob Nobbers'.
- nothing more nauseating than a whinger in the stands.

Post 3 Highlights
- You must be on hallucinogenic drugs
- Grow up you silly boy

And yet you wonder why I've got you down as an 'everything was better in my day', condescending old man?

Looking at your posting history I can see you didn't post anything for 2 months. Then came back with 4 posts: 3 to slag off all the younger fans and one more in the bournemouth match thread to show your superiority :

You really do have the intellect of a mole.
Not just a mole. But a mole that's a Cuuuuunt

Sadly, he's not the only one Bobby.

If anyone stills wonders whether OldBiscuit is a prize oxf*rd look at his most active topic: 'Bad news for attention seeking fans, sorry, no sobfest' viewtopic.php?t=112408#p3251687
A thread that he started incidentally.

What an oxf*rd is all I can say. On to the foes list.

[madstadblues]

All this is very interesting !

I think it is accurate to say we have been more successful in our recent history (12 years or so) than the previous xxx years. My opinion is that the managers that have enjoyed success have done so by combining elements of skill (tactics, playing the right style for the available players) and luck ( having players available that exceeded expectations hislop, sigurdsson, Doyle, long, sidwell, shorey, little, cureton). Neither of these factors are the basis for sustainable success, unless we have a consistent process in place to produce high quality Academy players that can play to a system that can sustain success we leave ourselves open to Lady Luck having a big influence as to how we will perform season by season. IMHO Adkins recognises this and despite being let down defensively by the team has the experience and track record to take us forward.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

I thought the post on The Tilehurst end was brilliant.

With just two days between games there was little time to prepare a new defensive unit, especially when your reinforcement options include an Academy graduate with 1 Championship start and a full-back who hasn't played a senior game of football in 2014/15.

Sure you could have plugged Cooper and Kelly in last night but would they really have stopped that result?

In three transfer windows and three subsequent loan windows he's been allowed to bring in minimal reinforcements at a time when he's lost a massive amount of experience and quality from the football club. Players like Jimmy Kebe, Adrian Mariappa, Noel Hunt, Ian Harte, Nicky Shorey, Jobi McAnuff, Mikele Leigertwood, Adam Le Fondre, Sean Morrison, Alex McCarthy have all been allowed to leave the club during his tenure and replaced with what? Royston Drenthe? Loan spells for Glenn Murray, Jamie Mackie and Billy Sharp? Hell, Adkins couldn't even get the funds to give Chris Baird more than a six-month deal.

I refuse to believe that Adkins has been offered decent Championship players and turned them down, it would just make no sense whatsoever.

Still, a manager has to work with what he's got and some have pointed to the job done by Brian McDermott after he succeeded Brendan Rodgers after Reading's previously mentioned poor start five years ago. I'd certainly not rule out another manager getting a bit more out of that starting eleven last night but to expect a McDermott style revolution with the players Nigel had available last night is being optimistic in the extreme.

This isn't a squad with a badly used Kebe, Long, Mills and Sigurdsson. This is a team where someone has to get the best out of Hope Akpan, Nick Blackman, Michael Hector and a host of players with fewer than a season of Championship experience. More importantly how did Brian help turn things around? By signing Andy Griffin and Zurab Zhisanishvili in on loan.

What do you honestly expect from this group of players? If you expect top six performances than quite frankly you're blinded, because that starting eleven and even those named on the bench just aren't capable of that at this point in time.

When and if McCleary, Williams, Karacan, Guthrie, Murray, Ferdinand get fit then yeah you've got half a shot of some top ten calibre runs but this is a team full of inexperience, fragile confidence and no track record of competing with the very best in this division.

What we're seeing now is the result of YEARS of under investment in the playing staff by those that run the club and there's little indication that we can expect a quick fix.

I have edited that because a lot of you are in the slow readers group so will TLDR it.

http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... utton-just

[The Quiet Man]

All I draw from that article is that McDermott decided to sort out the defence and signed experienced players to do it realising that the football would have to be a bit basic until the team got confidence from not getting beat by conceding stupid goals whereas Adkins appears to have decided that attack was the problem and went and signed Cox, Mackie, Murray and Norwood presumably on the basis that if they scored goals then then we would get more confident and the defence would be sorted out later. This of course presupposes that the Ferdinand signing and his passing of a medical at the time (?) meant that he thought he had some cover in the event of a tits up scenario with the defence. I would also accept that Morrison was sold by the board as the offer was too good but he ain't exactly addressed the defence since this time instead he has thrown Hector (who I feel is more of a midfield player than centre back) in at the deep end with very little cover if things go wrong.

[andrew1957]

I got on his back last season but to me the RFC squad this season is a very inexperienced one because we have released and sold so many of our established stars. We have also had 12 months of awful injury problems. We are very much in rebuild now and a lot of the young players will be better by next season.

Overall I think we should give Adkins at least until Christmas and provided we look like surviving relegation that will be good enough for me this season. Any higher aspirations than survival are frankly bonkers with what he has to work with.

[Maguire]

I got on his back last season but to me the RFC squad this season is a very inexperienced one because we have released and sold so many of our established stars.

Very inexperienced?

Federici has won the title
Pearce has won the title
Cummings has won the title
Mackie has won the title
Guthrie has won the title
Karacan has won the title
Robson-Kanu has won the title
Murray has been promoted and been top goalscorer in the league
Cox has been promoted and has >200 career appearances
Pogrebnyak has >200 career appearances
Gunter has >200 career appearances
Kelly has >200 career appearances
Ferdinand has >200 career appearances
McCleary has >200 career appearances
Norwood is an international
Williams is an international
Akpan is an international

[Extended-Phenotype]

I got on his back last season but to me the RFC squad this season is a very inexperienced one because we have released and sold so many of our established stars.

Very inexperienced?

Federici has won the title
Pearce has won the title
Cummings has won the title
Mackie has won the title
Guthrie has won the title
Karacan has won the title
Robson-Kanu has won the title
Murray has been promoted and been top goalscorer in the league
Cox has been promoted and has >200 career appearances
Pogrebnyak has >200 career appearances
Gunter has >200 career appearances
Kelly has >200 career appearances
Ferdinand has >200 career appearances
McCleary has >200 career appearances
Norwood is an international
Williams is an international
Akpan is an international

Don't mean to piss on your parade and I get your point but Pearce is shit and Cummings, Karacan, Ferdinand, McCleary and Williams haven't kicked a ball this season. Akpan has played once for Nigeria so I'm not altogether sure what that means in terms of experience.

No point having loads of experience laying around at home wrapped in bandages and watching Loose Women.

[Maguire]

I was merely addressing the assertion that we have a very inexperienced squad. We don't.

The addition of Akpan as an international was a little light humour on my part.

[Big Foot]

What do you honestly expect from this group of players? If you expect top six performances than quite frankly you're blinded, because that starting eleven and even those named on the bench just aren't capable of that at this point in time.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... al-7798548

Expectation. Management.

[Sanguine]

But Adkins played no part whatsoever in Reading's rise up the leagues, so why should we put up with him taking us back down them.

He's not, we've just lost a few games.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I was merely addressing the assertion that we have a very inexperienced squad. We don't.

The addition of Akpan as an international was a little light humour on my part.

1) Not sure the point being made was that we lack experience on the injury list but if you think its worth pointing out, go for it
2) Hee hee

[Maguire]

I was merely addressing the assertion that we have a very inexperienced squad. We don't.

The addition of Akpan as an international was a little light humour on my part.

1) Not sure the point being made was that we lack experience on the injury list but if you think its worth pointing out, go for it
2) Hee hee

Thank you for what was, as ever, a spellbinding contribution on your part.