Well, the owners dithering has lost us any chance of two perfectly plausible replacements in PDiC and NA. The Thai's past record suggests that once they do finally put NP out of his misery, they'll not have a scooby doo what to do next. I'm not optimistic that they know what they're doing with this manager lark. To think that their expert footballing advice comes from Sousa and Birchenall.
There are several managers out of work that could potentially do a fine job for us. But it depends on their hunger, motivation, attitude, etc. Understanding this depends on knowing who's who in the game and making appropriate enquiries and interviewing properly.
Our situation doesn't call for a 'anything but NP' response, despite NP being utterly out of his depth and worthy of the sack. As a club, we've only really made one sensible appointment since MON in 1995 (NP for the League One job appointed by Mandy more by luck than judgement due to Hoos knowledge). I think Martin George was the last chairman we had that knew what he was doing in this department.
My uninformed view would be that McDermott would be disasterous. There is no evidence that he's going to be able to do a decent job elsewhere. His attachment to Reading was unique.
I'd love MON but he looks like his passion is gone, and without that, he's nothing special. How would RDiM react to his next role given his experience at Chelsea? Is his passion as high as ever or is he unlikely to be interested in doing something so minor as taking us up? Coyle had personal problems but prior to that looked like a belting manager. Is he done for, like Jewell, or hungry as hell?
Hughes, McClaren, Lennon, McLeish, Keane? Who is to say whether they'll be good or bad in their next managerial venture? Someone needs to understand what makes them tick and who's got issues and who's ready to sweat blood for us.
It's a tough call.
