A bit smug but he's ours - do we love him yet?

[RoyalBlue]

BM could have made these signings given the money

Could have but would he? And who said he wasn't given the money? Seemed to me he was, at least in January, but only wanted to spend it on one, maybe two,specific players and, having put all of his eggs in one basket then ended up dropping said receptacle.

[Avon Royal]

BM could have made these signings given the money

maybe brendy, he had 2 transfer windows with AZ backing him fully and for one he decided not to spend big on players and it bit him in the ass. in the january window he tried to attract 2 big name players and neither came off.

NA on the other hand has in less than a month brought in two big names, one who has played for real madrid and one who has played for chelsea and who was voted in the team of the season for the championship last year.

i love brian a lot and i have massive respect for the guy but in a lot of ways NA is the better manager for where we want to be in the future, AZ made the tough but correct decision.

we don't know whose decision that was.and I've never heard of a manager who didn't want to spendmore money

You haven't heard of Steve Coppell?

[Ian Royal]

BM could have made these signings given the money

maybe brendy, he had 2 transfer windows with AZ backing him fully and for one he decided not to spend big on players and it bit him in the ass. in the january window he tried to attract 2 big name players and neither came off.

NA on the other hand has in less than a month brought in two big names, one who has played for real madrid and one who has played for chelsea and who was voted in the team of the season for the championship last year.

i love brian a lot and i have massive respect for the guy but in a lot of ways NA is the better manager for where we want to be in the future, AZ made the tough but correct decision.

we don't know whose decision that was.and I've never heard of a manager who didn't want to spendmore money

STEVE COPPELL!!

Brian also had plenty of money to spend in January and none of them came off. That's a failure of his targetting. And if the money was available in January then it sure as hell could have been available in the summer if he'd demanded it. Anton is like a little schoolboy having the time of his life. I can't seem him refusing a manager he likes and respects if he says he needs to spend more to stay up.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda Brendy. Brian didn't do it for whatever reasons, Adkins is doing it.

[Royalee]

BM could have made these signings given the money

No he couldn't - in fact he chose not to.

[Royalee]

BM could have made these signings given the money

maybe brendy, he had 2 transfer windows with AZ backing him fully and for one he decided not to spend big on players and it bit him in the ass. in the january window he tried to attract 2 big name players and neither came off.

NA on the other hand has in less than a month brought in two big names, one who has played for real madrid and one who has played for chelsea and who was voted in the team of the season for the championship last year.

i love brian a lot and i have massive respect for the guy but in a lot of ways NA is the better manager for where we want to be in the future, AZ made the tough but correct decision.

we don't know whose decision that was.and I've never heard of a manager who didn't want to spendmore money

Coppell, Wenger.

[paultheroyal]

Brian = old pal brigade, no doubt backed up wen he signs at least 3 ex Reading players over the summer.

[creative_username_1]

BM could have made these signings given the money

maybe brendy, he had 2 transfer windows with AZ backing him fully and for one he decided not to spend big on players and it bit him in the ass. in the january window he tried to attract 2 big name players and neither came off.

NA on the other hand has in less than a month brought in two big names, one who has played for real madrid and one who has played for chelsea and who was voted in the team of the season for the championship last year.

i love brian a lot and i have massive respect for the guy but in a lot of ways NA is the better manager for where we want to be in the future, AZ made the tough but correct decision.

If these players are so good wtf are they doing in the chump with Reading. On paper they both seem good. Bridge seems the more likely
to be a solid performer i just have my doubts about Drenthe being consistent

[floyd__streete]

Brian also had plenty of money to spend in January and none of them came off. That's a failure of his targetting. And if the money was available in January then it sure as hell could have been available in the summer if he'd demanded it. Anton is like a little schoolboy having the time of his life. I can't seem him refusing a manager he likes and respects if he says he needs to spend more to stay up.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda Brendy. Brian didn't do it for whatever reasons, Adkins is doing it.

That is revisionist nonsense Ian

Particularly 'a failure of his targetting'. Is Nick(y) Hammond's job not player recruitment

[sandman]

Brian = old pal brigade, no doubt backed up wen he signs at least 3 ex Reading players over the summer.

Considering Reading's rumoured interest in Gary Hooper it seems Brian isn't the only one with a penchant for signing his ex players.

All manager's do it don't see why it should be used as yet another stick to beat a man who only ever wanted Reading to succeed with.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Brian also had plenty of money to spend in January and none of them came off. That's a failure of his targetting. And if the money was available in January then it sure as hell could have been available in the summer if he'd demanded it. Anton is like a little schoolboy having the time of his life. I can't seem him refusing a manager he likes and respects if he says he needs to spend more to stay up.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda Brendy. Brian didn't do it for whatever reasons, Adkins is doing it.

That is revisionist nonsense Ian

Particularly 'a failure of his targetting'. Is Nick(y) Hammond's job not player recruitment

I understood Hammonds role was to negotiate the transfer fees with clubs, and if agreed, the contract details with players/agents...I don't believe he has any say on who the manager brings in......although he is in the position to f@@k deals up of course, given he's the negotiator

[winchester_royal]

Ah good, Sandy's back

There's been far too much optimism infecting this forum as of late, get stuck in lad

[floyd__streete]

I understood Hammonds role was to negotiate the transfer fees with clubs, and if agreed, the contract details with players/agents...I don't believe he has any say on who the manager brings in......although he is in the position to f@@k deals up of course, given he's the negotiator

I would suggest that the DoF and manager both agree targets. To pin the poor transfer window of January 2013 (and to a lesser extent the summer 2013 window, where we signed rubbish like Gunter) entirely on Brian McDermott is revisionist nonsense.

[Royal Rother]

Hardly revisionist when most people seemed to be blaming BM at the time.

[P!ssed Off]

I understood Hammonds role was to negotiate the transfer fees with clubs, and if agreed, the contract details with players/agents...I don't believe he has any say on who the manager brings in......although he is in the position to f@@k deals up of course, given he's the negotiator

I would suggest that the DoF and manager both agree targets. To pin the poor transfer window of January 2013 (and to a lesser extent the summer 2012 window, where we signed rubbish like Gunter) entirely on Brian McDermott is revisionist nonsense.

Gunter was a actually a good signing imo. A promoted club signing the better players from the league below for a reasonable price is textbook stuff in terms of good transfer sense. Gunter didn't deliver but the signing was still a good one at the time.

The mistake of our premiership Summer transfer window was, perhaps ironically, that we did not sign enough Championship players.
3 players were signed from below: Mariappa, McCleary and Gunter. I think we really should have signed 5 or 6 if we wanted to mount a good Prem survival bid.

In the January '13 transfer window the club completely failed to recognise the error of the previous window. That time they signed absolutely nobody from the league below, instead signing players from two divisions below!

[floyd__streete]

Hardly revisionist when most people seemed to be blaming BM at the time.

To re-write history and pin the entire blame for poor transfer dealings on BMc seems complete revisionism to me.

Gunter was a actually a good signing imo. A promoted club signing the better players from the league below for a reasonable price is textbook stuff in terms of good transfer sense. Gunter didn't deliver but the signing was still a good one at the time.

I don't quite understand this attitude. Good signing at the time? Surely the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It is like Drenthe really; seems like an exciting signing, but we haven't seen him in action yet. He might prove to be a roaring success, but to say he is 'a good signing' now seems a little pre-emptive to me. I guess we're arguing semantics a little here.

[P!ssed Off]

Gunter was a actually a good signing imo. A promoted club signing the better players from the league below for a reasonable price is textbook stuff in terms of good transfer sense. Gunter didn't deliver but the signing was still a good one at the time.

I don't quite understand this attitude. Good signing at the time? Surely the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It is like Drenthe really; seems like an exciting signing, but we haven't seen him in action yet. He might prove to be a roaring success, but to say he is 'a good signing' now seems a little pre-emptive to me. I guess we're arguing semantics a little here.

In the case of when we signed Gunter:

Best case scenario: He lives up to his previously touted potential, proving a good Prem player, value rising higher than the ~£2.5 million we paid.
Worst case scenario: He's doesn't perform well in the Prem and we get relegated.

Even if the worst case scenario occurs, which it pretty much did, then: his value won't have fallen much as he's quite young and already previously proven that he's solid at Championship level at least; there's still time for him to reach his 'potential'. So after we get relegated we can either sell him and not make much of a loss, if any, or we would have a good championship right back on our hands.

Basically: worst case scenario = not much lost, best case scenario = a lot gained.
Therefore: My Diagnosis = good signing

[Ian Royal]

I understood Hammonds role was to negotiate the transfer fees with clubs, and if agreed, the contract details with players/agents...I don't believe he has any say on who the manager brings in......although he is in the position to f@@k deals up of course, given he's the negotiator

I would suggest that the DoF and manager both agree targets. To pin the poor transfer window of January 2013 (and to a lesser extent the summer 2013 window, where we signed rubbish like Gunter) entirely on Brian McDermott is revisionist nonsense.

I've never said it was entirely his fault. I've said a number of times there was a collective oxf*rd up at the club. But more of the blame lies with McDermott than anyone else. I'm just pointing out that saying he would have done the same thing is itself revisionist nonsense.

[Royal Rother]

Hardly revisionist when most people seemed to be blaming BM at the time.

To re-write history and pin the entire blame for poor transfer dealings on BMc seems complete revisionism to me.

Popular theory at the time was that BM was to blame, therefore not revisionism in my book, even if that thoery was bs in the 1st place.

Oh well, who cares.

[RoyalBlue]

I understood Hammonds role was to negotiate the transfer fees with clubs, and if agreed, the contract details with players/agents...I don't believe he has any say on who the manager brings in......although he is in the position to f@@k deals up of course, given he's the negotiator

I would suggest that the DoF and manager both agree targets. To pin the poor transfer window of January 2013 (and to a lesser extent the summer 2013 window, where we signed rubbish like Gunter) entirely on Brian McDermott is revisionist nonsense.

Disagree. I believe the club and Hammond have said on many occasions that his role is merely to undertake the negotiations (the only other thing I guess he might do is turn down the manager's request if a player is too expensive). And I'm even more sure that Hammond won't be having a say on the choice of player now that Adkins is here.

[Royal91]

Gus Poyet getting sacked on air. hahaha.

Can't wait to read the brighton fans views