I've not been saying much recently as I'm as stunned and disappointed as everyone else at the way things are going over the past few weeks. The few green shoots of progress seem to be completely absent now.

But despite that I do think it's more than a little simplistic to lay the blame for everything that's happened solely at the feet of Brendan Rodgers. Yes he takes ultimate responsibility, but let's look at the situation he found himself in - in many ways he picked up a poison chalice.

The bulk of the team he had to start with had either just been released as being too old or were sold off if they were of PL-quality, so he came into a situation where he had to build a whole team from scratch. Other teams - the likes of Peterborough and Scunthorpe - have a core squad of players who'd been together for a few years. We didn't - it all went in the space of a few months.

People may argue with the decisions to release the likes of Murty, Duberry, Marcus etc, but I won't - maybe one or two might have been useful, but the basic decision was sound. As for selling the "PL stars" (Doyle, SHunt, etc) - that was an absolute inevitability. In fact, I'm amazed we managed to keep them for the previous year - they were on a one-year promise of a return to the PL, as part of a one-year (expensive!) gamble to go straight back up. That failed. To keep them a second year was never going to happen, even if we could afford them.

People may also be calling for Sir John to throw lots of money at the problem, but that's cloud-cuckoo-land. Why should he? It's his money to spend or not spend, and anyway it's all tied up in property and other schemes - he's not got massive amounts of cash sitting around in the bank just waiting to be thrown at a football club. Perhaps he's also realised that the only way to make money out of a football club is to buy it cheap and sell it when it's big - that strategy is currently in severe jeopardy, of course, but there's no way he's going to bankroll the club with "free money". Most of football is financed on debt, anyway, which is a house of cards bound to come crashing down sometime before too long, but that's another debate.

The bleak, harsh and unpleasant truth is that the financial difference between the PL and the Championship is absolutely immense, so costs have to come down to the levels they are - even more so, since we spent so much last year in that unsuccessful one-year gamble. Until you sit down and look at the figures it's hard to believe just how big the difference is, and how much a club is financially screwed when they stop being a "have" and are suddenly a "have-not" again.

Perhaps, also, there ought to be some revision of the blessed Steve Coppell. He spent more than he should have done last year in an attempt to go straight back up. He came close but failed, so we are where we are today. Also, perhaps, if he'd refreshed the players in his tenure instead of keeping them on well past their sell-by dates we'd not now be in a situation where we needed to have such a massive clear-out of players, leaving a manager (whoever it may be) to start from ground zero.

The big problem is that all of these things coming together at the same time leave us up a certain creek without a paddle. A "perfect storm" situation where the circumstances have all come together at the same time.

Don't think, though, for a minute that this is a defence of Rodgers - he's not yet proved that he can walk the walk as well as talking the talk, but the more I look at it the more convinced I am that he's in an impossible situation, and he's not been helped by the players who have singularly failed to step up to the plate - so many stupid mistakes, lack of judgement time and time again and apparent lack of desire. Yes, ultimately it's the manager's fault, but are these players capable of doing any better? And would a change of manager resolve the fact that the players just don't seem to be good enough? What would a new manager be able to do with no other resources and the same squad of player? Whichever way you look at it, things look bleak, but it ain't all one man's fault.

Good start with Rodgers reverting to a basic 4-4-2, with plenty of experience throughout. Fullbacks O'Dea and Tabb didn't inspire confidence but no-one put much of a foot wrong in the first 30 minutes - I thought we might see out the game 0-0 because we weren't doing much up front.
Then it all starts to go a bit crazy. Watson takes a quick free kick for Rangers on the edge of the box, oops too quick the ref hedn't blown. Bizarrely the ref decides to book Watson for this (I cannot recall this offence ever resulting in a booking before). I think the ref realises too late he's already booked Watson - but too late he has to go. SO Rangers are down to 10 men, Ref then lets them retake the kick and Buzsacky sticks it, bollocks.
As we've seen many times before this season Reading's composure goes to pieces once we concede and we ship another one with Federici and Mills leaving it to each other at the back post.
Half time comes and, playing against 10 men Rodgers does the positive thing and switches to 3-5-2, bringing on Howard and Gylfi as attacking midfielders. Great stuff however directly from kick off Ingi commits a foul, the ref has been itching to even things up ever since the Watson red card and wastes no opportunity in despatching Ingi.
THis is a complete disaster for Reading as our formation is now shot to pieces with 2 subs used and only 2 defenders on the pitch. Gunnarson drops back to centre half but the wide open spaces and lack of fullbacks mean Rangers can sit back and play on the break, scoring 2 more and could have been more. A late Howard effort doesn't come close to papering over the cracks.
“Sacked in the morning” rang around all four sides of Loftus Road like a death knell for the beleaguered Brendan Rodgers. After a performance as wretched as the one Reading put in this evening, it came as no surprise and time is rapidly running out for the boss with only two league wins under his belt all season. Time is the last thing the fans want to give him though and rightly so as he has only managed to take his team further backwards this season.
QPR were an absolute class above Reading tonight and were still dominant even after the referee handed us a great advantage. He sent Ben Watson off for a second yellow after only half an hour, apparently for taking a free-kick before the whistle. It was very, very harsh, but QPR responded from the same free-kick; Buszaky brilliantly curling it into the bottom corner. Despite the numerical advantage, Reading were still under the cosh and deservedly went two down after a great move from the home side saw Simpson tuck the ball home from yards out.
Rodgers made two substitutions at half-time, choosing to go with three at the back and replacing Jay Tabb, who had played well at right-back, as well as Kalifa Cisse with Sigurdsson and Howard. The numerical advantage was lost seconds after the restart though, with Ingimarsson diving in late to earn a second yellow. With 10 against 10, QPR were rampant again. Vine scored from long range before Agyemang found himself one-on-one with Federici without a defender in sight and danced his way past the goalkeeper.
Howard grabbed a consolation goal late on, but it was only met with chants of “how shit must you be, we’ve just scored a goal” as the Reading fans looked to make the best of a very bad situation. The demands of “Rodgers out” had already been in full flow by this point and were repeated at the final whistle, along with a chorus of boos.
Credit where it’s due; Jimmy Kebe worked his absolute socks off, but couldn’t find that final ball. He was about the only one who looked like he still cared at 4-0 down. Howard played quite well after coming on, as did Sigurdsson who looked lively. Federici couldn’t really be blamed for the goals. However, O’Dea, Ingimarsson, Gunarsson and Cisse were utterly useless. MacAnuff started brightly, but faded quickly and was a passenger though the second half. Mills was committed but let down by terrible distribution, while Church and Long didn’t get a sniff up-front.
I’ve advocated giving Rodgers more time, but enough is enough. We are getting progressively worse this season and, given the chance, he will take us down. The Reading fans sang more out of hope than expectation tonight; I fully expect to see Brendan in the dugout come Monday night to embarrass on the telly, but his days are numbered. Will Madejski have the balls to sack him?

Reading manager Brendan Rodgers:
"It was a tough night. I can understand the reaction. I've never experienced that but I've always been taught to fight. I'm not worried. Better managers than me have had that.
"It's not nice but can you blame them? We were poor. But it just makes me more determined.
"We've had a horrendous start. But what people maybe don't understand is it's a massive task here.
"My ambition at the beginning of the season was to be up there, but the reality is it's a very difficult job - all the best players have left.
"I want to give people a chance but I can't watch too much of that."

Good bugger orf then Brenda and take JM and take your team and that dick Hammond with you ....

... I must admit I'm losing patience now - I was in full support of what he was trying to do when he got here and still firmly believe that was the way forward, but in the last month or so he seems to have gone back on everything. Jimmy Kebe is not the answer, he's absolutely rubbish and his pace is a threat once in 6 games - why not play Robson-Kanu or Davies as both looked very promising early on in the season?! I'm all in favour of getting rid of Rosenior, but Cummings is the worst full back I've ever seen - he looks like Snoop Dog and I know which one I'd rather have on the pitch.
Rodgers, drop Cummings, drop Kebe, play Tabb and Karacan in the same side as they're the only two decent box to box midfielders we've got, play Robson-Kanu instead of that useless Malian bastard and play with two up top (our strikers aren't good enough to only have one up), then we may start winning some games.

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.... and am compiling a list for the hell of it.

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at 22 mins long 3 vids for this one :)
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how much power can 3 people generate ?
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memories of my holiday in florida
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I adore Kate Bush, and greatly admire David? Gilmore. I know David discovered her and helped start her musical career, but am I the only one who ever wished we had got together :P
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to be continued if you will induldge me :)

funeral of Dawn today taken well before she was due leaving behind 3 children (Freddy, Matt and Ellie) and not forgetting her rock of a husband Steve.

quote from the clinic in Germany:

I am so sad to hear that Dawn passed away, she fought so bravely and was such a wonderful person, I truly admired her for her optimism. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to meet her, she will always remain in my heart.
Our sincere thoughts to you both and to her husband and children.
"Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away".
May her soul rest in peace,
I will never forget her, she was wonderful.
Our very best wishes,
Christine
on behalf of the Leonardis Klinik staff.

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Well that was probably the best I've seen us play this season. We have clearly got the players to not only survive but finish quite easily safe. But do we have the manager?

Federici - 6 fantastic save to keep them out just before they scored, but half came for the goal and left himself in no man's land giving an easy header to their player.
Cummings - 7 the boy is coming good. Solid defensive display on the whole and some pretty good crosses and moves giong forward
Bertrand - 6 one of is weaker games. Some moments of quality, but also though he could have done more and better
O'Dea - 7 every time I see him he impresses me.
Ivar - 6.5 struggled whenever he had to come out to their winger as he's slow, but a solid performance coming back. We still look weak at set pieces though.
Karacan - 7 good display, an excellent little player
Howard - 4 did nothing right and made loads of mistakes. I am not a fan.
Siggurdsson - 7.5 another excellent game
McAnuff - 8 total revelation and gives us that little something we've been missing.
Kebe - 5 wasted many a good position, he does not have a footballing brain despite all his elastic legged tricky skill. Poor on the right this season
Rasiak - 5 he may have scored a goal, and put in a decent first 20 minutes, easily his best in a Reading shirt, but he was poor again

Gunnarsson - 6 didn't do a lot wrong
HRK - 5 didn't really have much impact
Hunt - 6 didn't have a great deal of impact

Ref - 2 awful display, obviously never heard of advantage and really really picky. Got several decisions totally wrong

Rodgers - starting eleven and formation 6.5
- in game tactics 4

Not as bad a managerial display as against P'boro, but awful substitutions and once again allowed us to let the game drift away from us in the second half. Why oh why did he take off Siggurdsson for Gunnarsson, one of the two best players on the pitch and one of the only two providing any attacking threat or creatvity. That was enough to send us to panic stations on it's own. It also took away any chance of coherant display and any intelligent attack.

As for taking off McAnuff... ludicrous! How on earth Kebe, Rasiak and Howard stayed on the pitch despite being awful I'll never know. It's almost like Rodgers has come in expressly to do a sabotage job on us :)

2-0 and we f**ked it up :(

A two-goal lead is indeed a dangerous one. Reading and Brendan Rodgers will most certainly concur with that statement. Brendan Rodgers was almost dancing a jig of joy as the first half closed with Reading two goals to the good. At the match's conclusion, Rodgers and Reading's away support were left staring at the abyss as Peterborough completed a remarkable turnaround.
The first half looked like one that Reading fans would be happy to treasure for a long time. Gylfi Sigurdsson placed a free kick past Peterborough goalkeeper Joe Lewis in the 29th minute, to give Reading a deserved lead. When four minutes before half time, Simon Church headed home from close range after Peterborough failed to clear another dangerous Sigurdsson free kick, Reading appeared to be coasting towards victory. However, the biggest danger in football can often be time. Too much or not enough time can be an absolute killer blow. With 45 minutes still to go, Peterborough's boss, Darren Ferguson, would have known full well, that time was indeed on the side of the home team.
Ferguson's team talk must have been inspirational. For Brendan Rodgers the half time discussion may have been surprisingly fraught. What do you say to a side that has done everything correct? The simplistic message of not getting complacent would have been there, but the second half would have seen the home side come out more reinvigorated than Reading. After all they would have felt almost humiliated by the situation they found themselves in at the end of the first period. The danger for Reading was 'The Posh' had an immediate opportunity to rectify matters and how they took that opportunity.
Peterborough pulled level inside ten minutes of the second half. Craig Mackail-Smith headed dangerously toward the Reading goal in the 47th minute, but Adam Federici produced a superb reaction save and pushed the ball behind. From the subsequent corner Mackail-Smith stooped to conquer by heading home Peterborough's first goal. With their tails up Peterborough went for the Reading jugular. They found it in the 54th minute. Aaron Mclean blasted a shot that seemed to go through Federici and into the net. Suddenly Reading was in deep trouble.
For long spells in the second half it did look as though Reading would be good for a point. Neither side looked as though they could create any concrete efforts to win the game. Mclean had a goal-bound shot blocked by Sigurdsson, Grzegorz Rasiak headed over for Reading and Craig Morgan hit a shot straight at Adam Federici. However, the final minute saw the final disappointment for Reading. Russell Martin crossed in for George Boyd who slotted the ball home to complete a miserable day for Reading.
As the final whistle sounded the collective despair among the away supporters was tangible. The sheepish nature of the result was hard to take, however there is one thing on Reading's side; time. Just as Peterborough had 45 minutes to turn themselves round, Brendan Rodgers has time to get Reading out of the lower reaches of the table. No side has ever been relegated or promoted in September. There is plenty of games left to rectify matters.

I find it very hard to disagree with the changes the club made to be honest. It did need freshening up and as SSC himself said that needed to be done after we came 8th.
As it turned out we gambled on the same core of players in 07/08 and 08/09 so sadly when it came to freshen things up it was a majority of players/staff that needed to go and not a minority as happened when Pards and SSC came into the club.
I don't think Harper would contribute much right now, though the decision to let Rosie go does confuse a bit. Going back before that, Marcus isn't an upgrade on Fedders, Murty is crocked again, Lita didn't want to be here and Doobs has looked rocky in a lower division.
With Tabb and others not in the team, aka Davies/HRK/Mills etc then it's just a case of the manager picking what he feels is his best team based on form/training ground performance so I don't want to make too many judgements there.
The one positive in my eyes is that unlike Southampton/Norwich et all last year we do actually have a deep squad with some quality players and we have a financial position that means we can strengthen in Jan if it really is going tits up. Moreover the squad is only going to be stronger now Ivar and hopefully McAnuff are coming back to fitness and can add some experience to the side. It is going to take a while for the players to get used to playing with each other and playing with this system, it's just a fact. But we shouldn't sacrifice the long term development of a squad based on 8 games of the season. If we are threatened with the drop then maybe but not now.
I still feel Rodgers needs a good 10 games with THIS SQUAD (aka post Barnsley) before we can really judge him or the players. I think we've seen that there is certainly promise from the majority of the team but it will take a few games before we get a real idea of who has the long term quality to help take us forward. Whilst I HATE HATE using this excuse, there really are 3 worse teams in this league then us and I honestly think we'll finish 12th or so anyway.
BR realises this isn't good enough and no matter what people think of NH and SJM they realise this too. SJM hasn't been afraid to make a call with regards to managers before but remember after games like losing 0-3 to Wimbledon or after Swindon beat us 3-1 there were calls to see SSC and AP go and they turned it around.
This is a highly frustrating and annoying time to be a fan yes, and even the most diehard RTG will admit that. The bottom line is that we have to get behind a team and a manager that are doing the best they can.