Bowen's Tenure

[Zip]

Given what was spent last summer an improvement in our League position should have been expected. Whilst I think Bowen should be given time I am not optimistic about next season.

[Snowflake Royal]

Given what was spent last summer an improvement in our League position should have been expected. Whilst I think Bowen should be given time I am not optimistic about next season.

Money is no guarantee of success. And we got an improvement. Success.

If anything, big spending g for us is a guarantee of failure normally.

[Zip]

Given what was spent last summer an improvement in our League position should have been expected. Whilst I think Bowen should be given time I am not optimistic about next season.

Money is no guarantee of success. And we got an improvement. Success.

If anything, big spending g for us is a guarantee of failure normally.

We got a limited improvement. Our away form can certainly be viewed as successful. Our home form has been appalling. You can call it successful Ian. I see it as acceptable. We simply have not kicked on since New Years Day. We remain very inconsistent.

[Snowflake Royal]

Given what was spent last summer an improvement in our League position should have been expected. Whilst I think Bowen should be given time I am not optimistic about next season.

Money is no guarantee of success. And we got an improvement. Success.

If anything, big spending g for us is a guarantee of failure normally.

We got a limited improvement. Our away form can certainly be viewed as successful. Our home form has been appalling. You can call it successful Ian. I see it as acceptable. We simply have not kicked on since New Years Day. We remain very inconsistent.

Inconsistent. The definition of mid-table.

An improvement on consistently shit.

Successful.

Come on zip you big cuddly lovely. Join the the world of positivity and be happy. If you can't enjoy finishing midtable and avoiding yet another relegation battle what's the point? Woo! Everything's coming up gravy! Yeah baby!!!!

[Snowflake Royal]

You know what else's great?

I've seen seven games in a row from the comfort of my sofa, in good quality, for free.

Whooooo mama!

[Zip]

[quote="Snowflake Royal"][quote="Zip"][quote="Snowflake Royal"]
Money is no guarantee of success. And we got an improvement. Success.

If anything, big spending g for us is a guarantee of failure normally.[/quote]

We got a limited improvement. Our away form can certainly be viewed as successful. Our home form has been appalling. You can call it successful Ian. I see it as acceptable. We simply have not kicked on since New Years Day. We remain very inconsistent.[/quote]
Inconsistent. The definition of mid-table.

An improvement on consistently shit.

Successful.

Come on zip you big cuddly lovely. Join the the world of positivity and be happy. If you can't enjoy finishing midtable and avoiding yet another relegation battle what's the point? Woo! Everything's coming up gravy! Yeah baby!!!![/quote]


You’ve been reading that oxf*rd manifesto again.

[Snowflake Royal]

Zooming into a hustings tonight actually. That should dampen the mood!!!!

Actually just had my first pub roast in about 4 months, with a nice pint. Will pass into a food coma shortly

[morganb]

If you have a football team what variables do you have that you can change?

The manager and staff
The players
The playing style

We know that over the summer the players at the club will change as contracts and loans expire or players are bought and sold.

We could change the manager but after being at the club for about a year Bowen should know how everything works behind the scenes and what players he wants to buy/sell to enhance the squad. Are the coaches any good, could they change rather than the manager?

During the closed season you would hope a style could be settled upon and players bought and sold to match it. Perhaps allowing for a plan A and a plan B and/or a home v away set-up.

Surely you shouldn't alter all of the above as it would severely affected the overall stability of the team. There will be enough churn of players that you would try to keep the other elements as unchanged as possible for the moment.

[Zip]

If you have a football team what variables do you have that you can change?

The manager and staff
The players
The playing style

We know that over the summer the players at the club will change as contracts and loans expire or players are bought and sold.

We could change the manager but after being at the club for about a year Bowen should know how everything works behind the scenes and what players he wants to buy/sell to enhance the squad. Are the coaches any good, could they change rather than the manager?

During the closed season you would hope a style could be settled upon and players bought and sold to match it. Perhaps allowing for a plan A and a plan B and/or a home v away set-up.

Surely you shouldn't alter all of the above as it would severely affected the overall stability of the team. There will be enough churn of players that you would try to keep the other elements as unchanged as possible for the moment.

Yes agreed but every season we seem to have a massive turnover of players. That doesn’t help.

[Snowflake Royal]

If you have a football team what variables do you have that you can change?

The manager and staff
The players
The playing style

We know that over the summer the players at the club will change as contracts and loans expire or players are bought and sold.

We could change the manager but after being at the club for about a year Bowen should know how everything works behind the scenes and what players he wants to buy/sell to enhance the squad. Are the coaches any good, could they change rather than the manager?

During the closed season you would hope a style could be settled upon and players bought and sold to match it. Perhaps allowing for a plan A and a plan B and/or a home v away set-up.

Surely you shouldn't alter all of the above as it would severely affected the overall stability of the team. There will be enough churn of players that you would try to keep the other elements as unchanged as possible for the moment.

Yes agreed but every season we seem to have a massive turnover of players. That doesn’t help.

Yeah, because we start each season with a new manager trying to get rid of the last one's failures.

[Getthebeerens]

i think Bowen has done a pretty decent job and certainly deserves another crack at it next season. Progress for me this year was staying away from a relegation fight and he certainly achieved this and it was a job made a lot harder after the terrible start under Gomes. Hopefully next year we can push into the top half.

With the loan players going back and a lot of contracts expiring he will be the first manager in quite sometime to not have to work with an oversized squad too.

I think some fans think our players are better than they actually are and this is why there is negativity towards Bowen.

[Millsy]

I'm happy with Bowen having a chance next season.

Technically he has been a 'success' in that he has kept us up, comfortably. And as far as the owners see it, if that was their definition of success then yes. I have no idea if it was or not - maybe they were hoping for playoffs or top half with the amount they spent.

But as for being a success like Coppell/FSB/McDermott/Parj (move us onto better things) or being a success like Mad Dog(assistant)/Gomes (there only to do a job then cheerio) I'm not so sure. Remember Gomes' 'success' was keeping us up and he did that. But he wasn't a success beyond that.

Time will of course tell, but to *me*, with the amount spent and the players we had (money might not guarantee good players but as Coppell says it makes the job easier - and it's down to Bowen to direct where the money goes to some degree surely), I would have been very shocked at not finishing top half. So much so I put a rare bet on it after the Cardiff game, when it was clear we had a bunch of very good players - at least good enough to finish top half ffs. Failing to do that is to me a real disappointment and doesn't bode well for success next season but time will tell.

I don't know how covid chanegs things, but I'd have thought if we're not near the top 6 come the new year he'll be gone.

[Lower West]

If you have a football team what variables do you have that you can change?

The manager and staff
The players
The playing style

We know that over the summer the players at the club will change as contracts and loans expire or players are bought and sold.

We could change the manager but after being at the club for about a year Bowen should know how everything works behind the scenes and what players he wants to buy/sell to enhance the squad. Are the coaches any good, could they change rather than the manager?

During the closed season you would hope a style could be settled upon and players bought and sold to match it. Perhaps allowing for a plan A and a plan B and/or a home v away set-up.

Surely you shouldn't alter all of the above as it would severely affected the overall stability of the team. There will be enough churn of players that you would try to keep the other elements as unchanged as possible for the moment.

Yes agreed but every season we seem to have a massive turnover of players. That doesn’t help.

Yeah, because we start each season with a new manager trying to get rid of the last one's failures.

Consistancy comes from stability. Hopefully the money will be spent on improving the team incrementally. Not another roll of the dice with more speculative purchases in a bid to buy promotion.

[Westwood52]

Nigel Pearson s available.That would shake the boys up.Me. I am done with Mark Bowen.

[Crowbar6753]

I'm on the underwhelmed fence, mostly down to the uninspiring and boring football being played, and especially not having the ability to turn around our home form.
But i do believe we have had so much turnover in managers in the last however many years that its time for a bit of stability, so i would give him a full pre-season to see how things work out and then until Christmas as far as the results go.
So far i am liking the mass exodus of deadwood within the squad, and hopefully a move towards the old "Reading Way" with young hungry players from both the youth set-up and the lower leagues bodes well for stability in the future.

[royalp-we]

I'm happy with Bowen having a chance next season.

Technically he has been a 'success' in that he has kept us up, comfortably. And as far as the owners see it, if that was their definition of success then yes. I have no idea if it was or not - maybe they were hoping for playoffs or top half with the amount they spent.

But as for being a success like Coppell/FSB/McDermott/Parj (move us onto better things) or being a success like Mad Dog(assistant)/Gomes (there only to do a job then cheerio) I'm not so sure. Remember Gomes' 'success' was keeping us up and he did that. But he wasn't a success beyond that.

Time will of course tell, but to *me*, with the amount spent and the players we had (money might not guarantee good players but as Coppell says it makes the job easier - and it's down to Bowen to direct where the money goes to some degree surely), I would have been very shocked at not finishing top half. So much so I put a rare bet on it after the Cardiff game, when it was clear we had a bunch of very good players - at least good enough to finish top half ffs. Failing to do that is to me a real disappointment and doesn't bode well for success next season but time will tell.

I don't know how covid chanegs things, but I'd have thought if we're not near the top 6 come the new year he'll be gone.

I’d like to think the owners wouldn’t sack another manager if we are not in the top 6 by new year. Yes we’ve spent a fair wedge, but this has mainly been on handing out stupid contracts. At the end of the day this is a bloody tough division; with some very good clubs, who have simply been wiser with recruitment and many have made their own marquee signings. We currently have no divine right to be in the top 6.

Like others, I think some of our fans think we have better players than we actually do.

On the post regarding changing players and playing style. I don’t watch the U23’s but do they still tend to play the same system as the first’s? This to me, sounds like a complete rebuild (which tbf is needed) but this takes time and patience. I for one wouldn’t be too bothered with a mid table finish next year if it means we press on the year after; just hopeful we don’t regress to what we have seen the past couple of seasons.

To me, things are currently looking like they headed in the right direction.

[SCIAG]

Been a long time (way back to the days when it was still the Reserves managed by Brian McDermott) since the U23s reliably played the same system as the firsts. Do the first team even have a system at all other than “put Meite and Swift on the same pitch and hope it works”?

Agree with Ian that iFollow coverage is great. Honestly? I might prefer it to actually going. Certainly makes travel easier, the seats are more comfortable and I don’t get cold.

[leon]

Been a long time (way back to the days when it was still the Reserves managed by Brian McDermott) since the U23s reliably played the same system as the firsts. Do the first team even have a system at all other than “put Meite and Swift on the same pitch and hope it works”?

Agree with Ian that iFollow coverage is great. Honestly? I might prefer it to actually going. Certainly makes travel easier, the seats are more comfortable and I don’t get cold.

Nah I miss going to actual games. See friends, can actually watch what's going on rather than replays and close ups of someone not scoring whilst the game has restarted.

[NewCorkSeth]

Its funny how often we debate changing managers yet all seem to agree we change managers too often. Its like half of us have fooled ourselves into thinking "yeah, the next one will do better. That'll be the one to improve us".

Also if we were going for a new manager it should be the Cowley brothers.

[Millsy]

I'm happy with Bowen having a chance next season.

Technically he has been a 'success' in that he has kept us up, comfortably. And as far as the owners see it, if that was their definition of success then yes. I have no idea if it was or not - maybe they were hoping for playoffs or top half with the amount they spent.

But as for being a success like Coppell/FSB/McDermott/Parj (move us onto better things) or being a success like Mad Dog(assistant)/Gomes (there only to do a job then cheerio) I'm not so sure. Remember Gomes' 'success' was keeping us up and he did that. But he wasn't a success beyond that.

Time will of course tell, but to *me*, with the amount spent and the players we had (money might not guarantee good players but as Coppell says it makes the job easier - and it's down to Bowen to direct where the money goes to some degree surely), I would have been very shocked at not finishing top half. So much so I put a rare bet on it after the Cardiff game, when it was clear we had a bunch of very good players - at least good enough to finish top half ffs. Failing to do that is to me a real disappointment and doesn't bode well for success next season but time will tell.

I don't know how covid chanegs things, but I'd have thought if we're not near the top 6 come the new year he'll be gone.

I’d like to think the owners wouldn’t sack another manager if we are not in the top 6 by new year. Yes we’ve spent a fair wedge, but this has mainly been on handing out stupid contracts. At the end of the day this is a bloody tough division; with some very good clubs, who have simply been wiser with recruitment and many have made their own marquee signings. We currently have no divine right to be in the top 6.

Like others, I think some of our fans think we have better players than we actually do.

On the post regarding changing players and playing style. I don’t watch the U23’s but do they still tend to play the same system as the first’s? This to me, sounds like a complete rebuild (which tbf is needed) but this takes time and patience. I for one wouldn’t be too bothered with a mid table finish next year if it means we press on the year after; just hopeful we don’t regress to what we have seen the past couple of seasons.

To me, things are currently looking like they headed in the right direction.

Fair points I hear you. Just exploring for discussion

I think you're right we (and many) have different opinions of how good the team is. To me it doesn't matter if the money is spent on transfers or contracts it's money on the team and we have put a lot in. PL teams are eyeing up our players, we have a fantastic academy with very decent players now starting we'd be very sad to lose even to the PL, we spent millions on strikers that were sought after by others (Warnock/Puscas). We might not have chosen the right sort of players for a system but I think it would be very hard to argue this bunch of players aren't a top 8 bunch (i.e. playoffs or just missing out) especially after some of our performances where we have outplayed/beaten decent opposition. I cannot agree this bunch of players is nothing more than a bang average mid table side.

And indeed the form of the team has also proven that they're not. Since Bowen took over haven't we at times been the form team, and hasn't our form with Bowen been somethign like top 8 for most of the time? We certainly can't have been midtable as we have shot up the league.

So it might be a moot point as Bowen will continue with this top 8 form next season, and that's what I'm hoping and expecting. I just can't agree at all that mid table nothingness is where our group of players deserve to be or what our owners have in mind for us. This season, perhaps, given the poor start. But if it's looking like we are the same next season I just can't see that being "headed in the right direction" at all. If anythign it'd be a drop in form. This is why I say if it's not top 8 for Bowen by Xmas serious questions will be asked.

HOWEVER of course covid has put a big dent in all this speculation as it may well be the case now that the owners are taking a business decision to hold off any plans for a push, get rid of some assets, reduce the wage bill, steady the ship, ride the storm and see this all out and then have a rethink in a few years when the dust settles, perhaps selling some of our better academy players to keep finances up. In which case exactly what we want is a manager to just keep us in midtable safety for a few years. I actually have no problem with that at all to be honest, if that's now the gameplan. It's just that it certainly wasn't the gameplan pre-covid or any time after McGhee tbh. I guess it would be nice to get some clarity from the owners what is expected.