New Manager

[Zip]

Castro is due to make a statement on his future tomorrow, But I`m puzzled why he would leave a top flight 4th place team with full stadia to join a team struggling in the 2nd tier with a half empty stadium. we must be offering a large package.

Money talks.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Castro is due to make a statement on his future tomorrow, But I`m puzzled why he would leave a top flight 4th place team with full stadia to join a team struggling in the 2nd tier with a half empty stadium. we must be offering a large package.

Either:
A) He isn't
B) It's always been a dream of his to manage Reading
C) He thinks he can turn us around and will use us to raise his profile to get a job in the Prem
D) He's been offered a fcuk load of money
E) Combination of C and D
F) Combination of A and B

[CountryRoyal]

Castro is due to make a statement on his future tomorrow, But I`m puzzled why he would leave a top flight 4th place team with full stadia to join a team struggling in the 2nd tier with a half empty stadium. we must be offering a large package.

Either:
A) He isn't
B) It's always been a dream of his to manage Reading
C) He thinks he can turn us around and will use us to raise his profile to get a job in the Prem
D) He's been offered a fcuk load of money
E) Combination of C and D
F) Combination of A and B

I mean a combination of A and D is pretty plausible too I’d say.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Castro is due to make a statement on his future tomorrow, But I`m puzzled why he would leave a top flight 4th place team with full stadia to join a team struggling in the 2nd tier with a half empty stadium. we must be offering a large package.

Either:
A) He isn't
B) It's always been a dream of his to manage Reading
C) He thinks he can turn us around and will use us to raise his profile to get a job in the Prem
D) He's been offered a fcuk load of money
E) Combination of C and D
F) Combination of A and B

I mean a combination of A and D is pretty plausible too I’d say.

Yeh, good point. That's probs the most likely tbf.

[Hound]

Suppose it’s also true that he feels he has achieved as much as he can in portugal. Going to struggle to break the Sporting/Benfica/Porto dominance

Certainly be a big challenge at Reading and no doubts will be handsomely rewarded if he does well. Obvs no dream to manage or be in Reading, but the fact it’s generally quite nice and also close to London/Heathrow helps

Sky reported that it’s him and Jokanovic on the shortlist.

[maffff]

Castro is due to make a statement on his future tomorrow, But I`m puzzled why he would leave a top flight 4th place team with full stadia to join a team struggling in the 2nd tier with a half empty stadium. we must be offering a large package.

are you suggesting Bibbo will form part of his team?

[genome]

Twitter doesn’t count as it’s full of lonely 15 year olds

I see they've all put Portuguese flags in their usernames

[muirinho]

Twitter doesn’t count as it’s full of lonely 15 year olds

I see they've all put Portuguese flags in their usernames

[leon]

I'm very optimistic about Castro, I really doubt someone like Steve Bruce or Warburton or whoever could organize the dross we currently have at our disposal... we need creativity. Part of the reason we had success in Jaap's first season is that he took the league by surprise.

Jesus fcuking Christ.

Yes what we really need is “surprise”

[Simon's Church]

Castros Last 3 jobs have been for less than a year, excited to be able to have this fun manager speculation again in the summer

[KC Royal]

The unknown Portuguese bloke is now 4/7 with Sky Bet I think those who are excited about this appointment if it happens are a tiny number and desperate . Of course he may be the messiah but I for one have no good feeling about this what so ever, not that my opinion is worth a flying toss. Our club imho is a laughing stock tumbling out of of control into the depths of obscurity.

This is kinda how I feel, may be wrong but if he comes and we go down can see him leaving at the end of the season so more instability

His track record doesn't appear to be anything special, he's got no experience of the English game, and he speaks little English (and i'm assuming that is also true of the coaching staff he will want to bring with him). I may be being a bit extreme here, but I remember a story I was told not long after Oscar Garcia took over at Brighton, his coaches didn't speak English at all, in fact they had difficulty even understanding the language. Nathan Jones had just joined at that time and given the success he's had at Luton I've wondered whether he had a greater influence there than I first thought...

I assumed he was a young up and coming manager but the Football League Paper said he's 57

I'm hoping that Nigel Gibbs will stay on under a new manager.

[Sutekh]

Castro to be confirmed Tuesday or Wednesday.

Slaviša Jokanović was approached, briefly spoken to, and we moved on.

Yet BBC Berks are reporting that Nigel is handing a 10 name short list to the owners this morning.

[windermereROYAL]

Couple of updates from sunny Portugal

Castro says.....

"At this moment I, the Board and the fans are anxious. Tomorrow I'll talk about it. It wouldn't make any sense to make a statement without sitting down with the Board and my family to talk."
#VitóriaSC coach Luís Castro on the mooted move to @ReadingFC. #ReadingFC

Courtney cox says...

Understand Luís Castro has told his bosses he wants to speak to #readingfc regarding the vacant managerial position. Expect things to move quickly as Royals want to have a new manager before they face Rotherham. Owner has promised cash but expects players to be sold first.

Players to be sold before buying. now that`s a challenge.

[Old Man Andrews]

Castro to be confirmed Tuesday or Wednesday.

Slaviša Jokanović was approached, briefly spoken to, and we moved on.

Yet BBC Berks are reporting that Nigel is handing a 10 name short list to the owners this morning.

The local press and media are so far behind everything their views or reports should be immediately discounted. The Reading Chronicle being the worst out there currently. It's really embarrassing and this is no doubt the lowest point in that publications history.

[Hoop Blah]

First thing our new manager should do is have a massive clearout and that includes Moore, Swift, Barrow and Ilori, they could generate 20-25 million between them (somehow) which will give us funds to buy decent players.

£25m? I'm not convinced you'd get that if you managed to sell the whole squad!

I do agree we need a clear out and to get back to a smaller, and well balanced, squad. With all the changes at manager, DoF, CEO and Owner levels over the last few years we've ended up with a bloated squad full of, at best, very average players. The club needs structure and stability followed by some clear strategy and continuity. It isn't a quick fix.

I thought Clement was looking like a good man to lead us through a period of stabilisation and so I was disappointed to see him sacked. What we really need now is a decent manager who, backed by the board and owners, can manage that clear out and rebuild and be here for the long term (which means getting short term results too, I'm looking at you Mr Rodgers!).

Nothing about this chap Castro makes me think that he's the man for the job, or that the club see that as the job in hand, but only time will tell.

[Hound]

Imagine if Castro comes in, Ilori won't be going anywhere for a while

Agree would happily sell the likes of Moore, Kelly, Swift, Barrow - pretty much anyone who could generate some cash. Though would like to keep hold of Meite, Loader, Rino.

Obvs would happily bin off Aluko, Edwards, McShane, Popa, Clement etc etc for whatever was on offer. Wouldn't expect them to generate more than 1m tops from that lot

[Norfolk Royal]

If Castro comes in it could herald a revolution at the club. Has anyone done that one yet?

[genome]

Castro to be confirmed Tuesday or Wednesday.

Slaviša Jokanović was approached, briefly spoken to, and we moved on.

Yet BBC Berks are reporting that Nigel is handing a 10 name short list to the owners this morning.

The local press and media are so far behind everything their views or reports should be immediately discounted. The Reading Chronicle being the worst out there currently. It's really embarrassing and this is no doubt the lowest point in that publications history.

Are they all awful human beings, OMA?

[ayjaydee]

Castro to be confirmed Tuesday or Wednesday.

Slaviša Jokanović was approached, briefly spoken to, and we moved on.

Yet BBC Berks are reporting that Nigel is handing a 10 name short list to the owners this morning.

Rumours within the hospitality area on Sat that Sir Brynn of Gunnarsson is on the shortlist.

[Westwood52]

Castro looks like a done deal.
IMHO it looks like an Agent doing a stich up job.
I doubt whether we would move much beyond £300k basic salary for the Manager. So the Agent makes somewhere North of £30k on the deal. Not bad for a couple of days work. Although small change if acting for Pogba or Hazard.
However would Castro be on much less than £300k for the 4th best club in Portugal (even though they are punching above their weight) ?
That said in Portugal, Castro is unlikely to have much on the table by way of performance bonuses.
However with us-he could probably expect £1 mill (?)-to keep us up. This could be a big incentive for him to come ;even if he knows he is walking into a s**t storm at Reading.
Howe will also lay it on in the deal that January funds will be limited, unless someone comes in with a big offer for Moore. Say £10 to £8 mill , and we could get then get the quality (by Championship standards) CB and LB we desperately need.
Realistically every other player; bar possibly Barrow would not appeal to any potential buyers, and even Barrow has built up something of a tainted reputation as far as attitude is concerned.

From our point of view; Castro would be a huge gamble. He has no experience of English football-let alone Championship football, and speaks little or no English.
He will therefore be unable to rev the team up; if he is communicating through a translater.

Personally I favour Moyes. But the £300k basic ; would then probably be geared up to at least £600k.
However with Moyes the incentive would be, that he would appreciate that he is probably in the last chance saloon. His last three jobs have gone pear shaped, and in the Manager merry go round, it is usually three strikes and your out.

Look at Venables, George Graham , Glen Hoddle and Curbishley.

I also suspect that it would be highly unlikely that Clement would ever get a number one job again.

Bruce, Hughes, Pardew and Allardyce may now already be in the Managers graveyard.