The Tilehurst End - Nigel Adkins named Reading ManagerReading FC blog run by fans, for fans.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52568/tte_fav.png2013-03-26T10:45:10+00:00http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/rss/stream/39121672013-03-26T10:45:10+00:002013-03-26T10:45:10+00:00View From The Town End - on Nigel Adkins
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<figcaption>Julian Finney</figcaption>
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<p>Won't it be ironic that Nigel Adkins' formal homecoming for Reading will be against his former club Southampton? Nevertheless, we caught up with Chris Rann from <a href="http://georgeweahscousin.com/" target="new">George Weah's Cousin</a>, as well as Scunthorpe fan Adam Fothergill, to find out more about the Royals' new man in charge.</p> <p><strong>Chris Rann, <a target="new" href="http://georgeweahscousin.com/">George Weah's Cousin</a>, a Southampton fansite</strong></p>
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<p>Well what can I say. When a manager departs it is more often than not on the back of poor results and a loss of crowd support, but that certainly wasn't the case with Adkins at Saints.</p>
<p>To say Adkins was popular amongst the supporters would be an understatement. When Alan Pardew was sacked many were vocally disappointed, but when his replacement was ousted the reaction was incredible.</p>
<p>You see Nigel wasn't just a good manager (his record at St. Mary's speaks for itself), but he was also a thoroughly likeable chap. He was one of us and his dismissal cut deep.</p>
<p>What can you expect at Reading? Nice football, lots of goals, a dazzling smile and a man you would follow anywhere. Does he have any faults? Of course he does, his substitutions will baffle you at times, and his inability to say anything negative, no matter how poor a performance can be frustrating.</p>
<p>As much as I am converted to the MoPo era at Southampton will it hurt me to see Nigel in the opposition dugout in a couple of weeks? You bet it will, but I wish him every success (If that could be at Redknapp's expense and not ours, all the better). Look after him, even if you go down you've arguably got the best man around to bounce straight back.</p>
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<p><strong>Adam Fothergill, Scunthorpe United fan</strong></p>
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<p>29th July 2012. Today is the testimonial game of Scunthorpe United legend Cliff Bryne, the game itself is between a team made up of recent Scunthorpe legends such as Chris Hope, Alex Calvo-Garcia and Cleveland Taylor, managed by Brian Laws. The other team is the 2009 team which won promotion to the championship after beating Millwall 3-2 at Wembley. The manager of that team? Nigel Adkins, Reading's new manager, replacing the man that won them the Championship last season, Brian McDermott. (Personally, I quite like Brian and thought his sacking was unjust, but I suppose that questionable managerial sackings is just a part of the game nowadays.)</p>
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<p>Nigel Adkins is regarded by nearly all Scunthorpe fans as a legend, and when you consider his achievements it's easy to understand why. He took over in December of 2006, and lead the team to the League One title the following May. Despite the team being relegated after our first season in the 2nd tier for over 40 years, Adkins guided them into the play offs, and then after a season that included wins over teams such as Newcastle United, kept The Iron up. When you consider the small resources he was working with, that's quite an achievement. However, as it always is when a manager works wonders with a small club, Southampton came calling and in October 2010 Adkins left the club he had given some of the best years in its history.</p>
<p>My personal opinion of Nigel Adkins is that not only is he a fantastic manager, but a top bloke. I've met him twice, and both times he was the calm, approachable and genuine guy he often seems to be when you see him being interviewed. He has a very good understanding of the game, and the playing style he tries to employ is a brilliant mix of attacking flair and confident defending, the style which won our Scunthorpe side many admirers during his time at the club. He is also regarded very highly by his former players, which just goes on to prove that he has a great character as well as a great style of management.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Adkins is the perfect man for a club like Reading. It may be too late for him to keep you up this year, but if given the time, I'm certain that he'll get Reading back into the Premiership, and do it while playing good football and keeping the fans happy.</p>
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<p>Rave reviews from our Southampton and Scunthorpe bloggers - let's hope he lives up to the hype! Our thanks again to Adam and Chris for their input.</p>
https://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/2013/3/26/4148128/view-from-the-town-end-on-nigel-adkinsjonnafon2013-03-25T18:32:53+00:002013-03-25T18:32:53+00:00Nigel Adkins named Reading manager
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<figcaption>Ian Walton</figcaption>
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<p>Former Southampton boss Nigel Adkins has become the new Reading manager, replacing Brian McDermott who was sacked just under two weeks ago. He'll be officially revealed to the public at a press conference this morning.</p> <p>After a title winning spell as a player-manager at Bangor in Wales, Adkins first major job in England was manager at Scunthorpe, where he'd also worked as a physio. The former goalkeeper twice lead Scunthorpe out of League One into the Championship, with a title win in 2007 followed by a Wembley play-off win in 2009.</p>
<div>He then succeded <span>Alan Pardew</span> at Southampton in 2010 and led the Saints to back-to-back promotions, finishing runners up to Gus Poyet's Brighton in 2011 and then to Brian McDermott's <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/epl/teams/reading" class="sbn-auto-link">Reading</a> in 2012.</div>
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<div>However, like McDermott found at Reading, promotion wasn't enough to keep him in a job and with Southampton hovering around the dropzone, Adkins was replaced with Mauricio Pochettino in mid-January.</div>
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<div>Since then he's been linked with several other jobs including most recently at Leeds but his decision to take legal action against the Saints held up his return to management.</div>
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<div class="pullquote">'Keep smiling. Have faith & belief that you are doing the right thing. Keep looking to improve <span>-Adkins final message to <a href="https://stmarysmusings.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Southampton's</a> players.</span>
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<div>So that's the history bit done with but what can we expect going forward from our new boss?</div>
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<div>Certainly this is a manager who's team favour attacking football wherever possible. Southampton wracked up 85 goals last season on their way to promotion (16 more than Reading) while the season before they had 86 en route to promotion from the third tier. Even this season Southampton still knew how to find the net with Southampton scoring 30 goals in 22 games, 12th most in the division at that point.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; line-height: 15px;">We had a man who has already achieved a great many things in Nigel Adkins, a manager who preached attacking football, a manager touted for great things by many in the English game. A man who's last game for us will always be a 2-2 away draw to the European champions.</span> <span>-Saintsweb</span>
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<div>He built teams with a good amount of attacking flair but wasn't afraid to adapt his team to match the situation. 4-4-2 was certainly a staple of his Championship sides but he had been known to go 4-5-1 when the situation merited it. The likes of Adam Lallana, Jason Puncheon, Rickie Lambert qne Billy Sharp flourished under him, not to mention the development of players such as Jack Cork and Morgan Schneiderlin.</div>
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<div>Defensively it wasn't quite as clear cut. Southampton struggled to keep clean sheets and they've had a bit of a rotating cast at the back, much like here at the Madejski. Proven Championship performers like Kelvin Davis struggled to make the step up and they took a while to adjust.</div>
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<div>Just as McDermott's removal from the Reading job prompted a generally negative response, Adkins sacking was one which prompted a fair amount of disappointment amongst the Southampton fanbase and the press in general.</div>
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<div>Saintsweb, a Southampton web forum <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/entry.php?101-Fury">had this reaction </a>in the immediate aftermath.</div>
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<div>Nigel Adkins has been sacked, the man who helped us to back to back promotions, the man who gave me some of my best memories as a Saints fan has gone. Only 2 defeats in 12 games, laying 15th in the league. He has been sacked.</div>
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<p>Apparently the new manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has been brought in to help us achieve our future ambitions. He preaches attacking football, he has been rated by some of the biggest names in Europe. Despite having achieved very little at Espanyol.</p>
<p>We had a man who has already achieved a great many things in Nigel Adkins, a manager who preached attacking football, a manager touted for great things by many in the English game. A man who's last game for us will always be a 2-2 away draw to the European champions.</p>
<p>This is beyond cruel, beyond sense, beyond any kind of honour. What price for ambition? What price for our integrity?</p>
<p>We have overachieved beyond all wildest dreams in recent years. A five year plan for promotion to the premier league? Nigel Adkins achieved it's brief in only 2 seasons.</p>
<p>Nicola Cortese, what have you done? He was universally loved by the fanbase. Be prepared to fall on your sword if this fails.</p>
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<p>It all sounds so familiar in light of what many fans were saying after McDermott was sacked. Southampton fans opinion of Cortese will have obviously mellowed somewhat given the decent start made by Pochettino and Adkins did still have his critics, especially after a dire start to the season.</p>
<p>On that note it's important to remember just how much Adkins has been given to spend, with the former goalkeeper spending around £50 million during just over two years at St Mary's. <span>Gaston Ramirez</span> on his own was around £12 million which is roughly what McDermott had to spend in his three and a half years combined. Add in the likes of Jay Rodriguez for £7m and it's possible to see why some Southampton fans would have been slightly underwhelmed with a manager who earned just 22 points from his 22 Premier League games.</p>
<p>But that points tally tells a slightly misleading story of the season.</p>
<p>After a return of just 4 points in 10 games, Southampton were on something of a charge, with Adkins suffering defeat in just 2 of his last 12 league games, with the Saints trucking along at a points per game ratio of around 1.5, a record that would easily have seen them safe on 46 points.</p>
<p>Sadly Southampton's owners felt that survival wasn't good enough and I suppose if you've thrown a manager £50m you might well feel he should be doing a bit better. If that's their view then fair enough but personally I felt the sacking was very harsh and here's hoping that Reading will benefit from the Saints' over ambition.</p>
<p>Can he save us?</p>
<p>If he continued that 1.5ppg form from Southampton, then we'd end up on 35 points, which would give us a shout at least. With games against <a href="https://theshortfuse.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Arsenal</a>, Manchester City and <a href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Liverpool</a> to come, that's certainly a tough ask but with our other games against Southampton, QPR, Norwich, West Ham and <a href="https://cottagersconfidential.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Fulham</a> it's not out of the question to see us winning or picking up points in all of those games.</p>
<p>Personally I don't think we've got enough to do it but could I see it happening? Sure, it wouldn't shock me.</p>
<p>Regardless, he's a manager that knows how to win promotion. 4 promotions in 6 seasons is a fabulous record even when Southampton's spending habits are taken into consideration.</p>
<p>He's a manager that's very much in the Reading mould, taking it one step at a time and not losing his cool very often. He speaks well and keeps it simple and if you wanted a measure of the man, here's what he left at the Southampton training ground after he was sacked.</p>
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<p>Keep Smiling</p>
<p>Have faith & belief that you are doing the right thing.</p>
<p>Keep looking to improve</p>
<p>:)</p>
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<p>Whether sacking Brian was the right decision will be a question that will be debated for years but if Adkins is the new manager then it's time to put those discussions behind us and give Nigel our backing.</p>
<p>We've got eight massive games to go and we might as well give this great escape lark one more try.</p>
<p>We'll have more analysis and news as it breaks but for now please let us know your thoughts below.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, welcome to the club Nigel and c'mon URZ!</p>
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