And the nominees are…
Having only just taken over as permanent manager at the Madejski, Brian McDermott now finds himself nominated for Manager of the Month for February.
Last month we beat Doncaster, Plymouth, Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday in the league – only losing to Blackpool away. Meanwhile, in the Cup, we held West Brom to a draw at home and then beat them after extra time at the Hawthorns to reach the quarter finals for the first time since 1927. We failed to score only at Blackpool – scoring 17 goals in the other 6 fixtures. We currently lead the form table and have pulled ourselves out of the relegation zone as well.
To be honest the award can sometimes be a curse, but there is no doubt that Brian would be a deserving winner – although he’s up against some strong competition.
The nominees are:
Chris Coleman – Coventry
Nigel Pearson – Leicester
Paulo Sousa – Swansea
Brian McDermott – Reading
Meanwhile, having questioned (or rather worried about) Simon Church’s goal scoring capabilities just a short while back, the striker netted four goals last month – the best coming against Sheffield Wednesday. The striker has had quite a month after a period when some (including myself) began to question his ability – he also represented Wales once again in their international friendly this evening.
The nominess for the player of the month are:
Andy Carroll – Newcastle
Dorus De Vries – Swansea
Paul Gallagher – Leicester
Simon Church – Reading
These two nominations just go to show what a turn around it’s been in Berkshire since the departure of Brendan Rodgers. Whether McDermott gets the award or not there is no doubt that he has done a remarkable job in a very short time. Under his stewardship we have seen players like Church, Kebe, Long and Mills really showing what they are all about. Elsewhere McDermott deserves a great deal of credit for bringing in Andy Griffin – he’s given us real steel and character at the back. Reading now play with a lot more heart and desire than we did prior to Christmas – it just goes to show what a difference that can make to performances and to results.
Meanwhile, the completely unofficial Bad-Boy of the Month award has already been decided – by me – and it goes to Jobi McAnuff.
Having had a little spat with a fan up at Blackpool over being offside, he then went on to get himself sent off up at the Hawthorns after the final whistle. Not a month to remember for the talented midfielder – we can only hope that we won’t suffer too much from his absence in the coming games. 5-0 against Sheffield Wednesday might seem to suggest that we will do alright without him – though it’s a particular shame that we won’t have him available for the clash with Villa on Sunday.
Having said all that, I’ve just noticed that Jobi has forced his way into the Actim Stats Top 100 so that’s something. You may recall last month I said that we had nobody in the top 100? Well now there are two – Adam Federici now sits in 80th position.
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