Get off Leveins back.

[Claymore]

When Craig Levein joined us only 15 months ago there were cheers of delight form this message board. The majority of you all said that he had a long term job to do and should encourage youth unlike Micky Adams.

Well just 15 months later the majority have forgotten their words and are out for blood. Why. He has reduced the wage bill many fold, spent a pittence and reduced the average age of the squad spectactually. We have the basis of a good squad and you play in the team based on ability not age. We all said that the job would take 3 years as the team needed to be completely rebuilt. Well he is completely rebuilding and you all want his head because we are not in the playoffs.

Take a look at our squad. Lee Morris is the longest serving member at 24 months followed by Joey, Williams, Dublin and Tiatto at 17 months. All the rest have been at the club less than a year. What, I ask, do you expect from the man. No the results have not been stellar, but that is hardly supprising considering the constraints Levein has been under. When you look at the probable automatic promotion contenders Reading & Sheff Utd remember their managers have had a decent time period to get them where they are today.

I believe that Craig Levein is taking this club in the right direction and there is nobody out there that could do a better job at present.

Let the slagging off begin.

[Cat Burger]

I expect his signings have come to about 3 million, hardly a pittance.

[Claymore]

I expect his signings have come to about 3 million, hardly a pittance.

So with the extra million we get from Wigan, a net Zero.!

[TornadoShaunUK]

When Craig Levein joined us only 15 months ago there were cheers of delight form this message board. The majority of you all said that he had a long term job to do and should encourage youth unlike Micky Adams.

Well just 15 months later the majority have forgotten their words and are out for blood. Why. He has reduced the wage bill many fold, spent a pittence and reduced the average age of the squad spectactually. We have the basis of a good squad and you play in the team based on ability not age. We all said that the job would take 3 years as the team needed to be completely rebuilt. Well he is completely rebuilding and you all want his head because we are not in the playoffs.

Take a look at our squad. Lee Morris is the longest serving member at 24 months followed by Joey, Williams, Dublin and Tiatto at 17 months. All the rest have been at the club less than a year. What, I ask, do you expect from the man. No the results have not been stellar, but that is hardly supprising considering the constraints Levein has been under. When you look at the probable automatic promotion contenders Reading & Sheff Utd remember their managers have had a decent time period to get them where they are today.

I believe that Craig Levein is taking this club in the right direction and there is nobody out there that could do a better job at present.

Let the slagging off begin.

We all accept he seems to have done a good job of stabilising the club behind the scenes but the results he has been picking up have been dire. Forget stellar, "acceptable" results would do me right now, Levein hasn't even been getting that... would you rather us keep him on and be relegated? It looks like thats whats going to happen at this rate.. Reading's boss has been there 2 years.. not that long really. Levein has been here a year and a half or so I think and for most of that time we have pretty much been battling relegation... the threat of it has always been looming over.

[breadandcheese]

I agree with you Claymore, in that I am sure Levein has laid some good foundations at the club, with a pool of 5-6 good players who will do well for us in the future.

Although I am concerned at our league position as everybody else is. For some reason, I still believe Levein has the potential, based solely on the fight the players have shown when we are down to 10 men and a goal down. I don't think we lack the fight. However, the fact remains that the results against Crewe and Millwall have cost us dearly. As we all know, it is the results against teams around you that determine where you finish. Our record is poor. Having only drawn to Crewe & Millwall, we now are on a difficult run of Reading, Norwich and Palace. If we do not pull a win out of the bag against Norwich, we will be firmly sucked into the relegation fight.

This is the time to see how much the players respect Levein. They are playing for his future.

[Scow]

Well just 15 months later the majority have forgotten their words and are out for blood. Why. He has reduced the wage bill many fold, spent a pittence and reduced the average age of the squad spectactually. We have the basis of a good squad and you play in the team based on ability not age.

First of all, Levein had to reduce the wage bill, so don't credit him for that entirely. A lot of the big earners were out of contract, so that made the process fairly easy in that respect. What wasn't easy was drafting in players, which would ensure we could kick on from last season. He has failed to do this, and the team has had over 25 games to gel, and there are no signs of this. We actually played better at the start of the season, but things since then have degenerated in to a relegation battle.

Under MA, our squad was full of players over 30, and that had to be addressed. Whilst I like the way Levein has dramatically reduced the average age of the squad, maybe he's gone too far the other way. The only experienced players we have in the squad at present are Douglas, Dublin, Tiatto.

Douglas is crap and inspires no confidence behind the back 4, whilst the latter two are liabilities. It's alright having a young squad, but if there are no leaders with an experienced head, then we'll struggle. I may be sounding like an hypocrite, but I'm certainly not advocating a return to the old brigade, but a mix of youth and experience (not in the style of Douglas, Dublin and Tiatto) is always the best combination.

Take a look at our squad. Lee Morris is the longest serving member at 24 months followed by Joey, Williams, Dublin and Tiatto at 17 months. All the rest have been at the club less than a year. What, I ask, do you expect from the man. No the results have not been stellar, but that is hardly supprising considering the constraints Levein has been under. When you look at the probable automatic promotion contenders Reading & Sheff Utd remember their managers have had a decent time period to get them where they are today

Look at Cardiff - a massive turnover of players in the summer and riding high in the table, with more constraints than us. Watford are the same to a lesser extent, with a new manager arriving late in to last season, saving them from relegation (Just like Levein) and then acting as play-off contenders this season.

I appreciate that a number of players haven't been here long enough, but by the same token, a number of them are not good enough. It doesn't help when the manager chops and changes his side for almost every game. If Levein doesn't decide on his best XI, then we'll never get out this rut. We are more than capable of attaining a mistable position this season, but I'm not confident under the current regime. Levein needs to sort it out quick.

[ithuriel]

this is a results based industry.

if craig wants poeple to get off his case then get results ,not excuses.

[Ajax Treesdown]

Two words.......Levein Out!

[Claymore]

I take on board all your comments and concede many of them, but do you really think we will be relagated if Levein stays. I don't and I feel we turn the corner quite soon.

[Scow]

I take on board all your comments and concede many of them, but do you really think we will be relagated if Levein stays. I don't and I feel we turn the corner quite soon.

I'm unsure. We've got ourselves in to a rut, with just one win in 10. We've not won two consecutive games this season. We've only won once away in 2005. We can't beat the likes of Brighton, Crewe, Millwall, and Burnley at home. At the moment, we're relying on the bottom 3 being so poor, and we can't keep doing that. We need to improve, otherwise we're in a dogfight until the end.

[Chimp]

Right at this moment in time I don't feel we're going to 'turn the corner', this is it for the rest of the season. I think we're going to be hovering around the lower parts of the division, with the threat of being dragged into the relgation zone hanging over our heads the whole time.

This saddens me as we have a squad of fairly capable players and have shown we can play some decent football. I truly feel our league position doesn't reflect our recent performances and if football was all about playing well then we'd be in the top half of the table.

I said at the start of the season I'd be happy with a top ten finish and accept a top half finish without too much of a grumble. Seems that's not going to be the case unless the team (including the new players to be brought in in January) really get their shit together for the remaining games.

I've also said that this time next year is the point at which we should really start judging CL as this is when he would have had a decent enough amount of time to put a squad together and get them playing how he wants them to. I still stand by that. I hope we get the chance to judge him in a years time and that we've not gone into full crisis before that point.

It's all very well saying 'get CL out' and things will improve, but this simply isn't guaranteed. I'm not sure that changing managers at this particular point will bring the improvement in results that the club so desperately need. It may well have a negative effect and demoralise the team and staff even further. It's a big risk to take and right at this moment in time I'm not fully convinced that things have got bad enough to take such a risk.

For me, thing are in balance for CL right now. The positive things he's done for the club are balanced out by the negative decisions he's made and the poor results. If the signings in January don't work out and we don't start climing away from the relegation zone then the scales are going to start tipping unfavourably.

I'm not sure that mass criticism or protests at the ground are going to do anybody any good. I feel that right now a bit of collective support from the fans would be a better motivation for CL and the team. We should at least give it a try, so, hopefully on Saturday I'm gonna hear a lot of noise from the kop and L1.

[Cat Burger]

So with the extra million we get from Wigan, a net Zero.!

About the same as PT then?

[Scow]

Good post, Chimp.

I agree with what you're saying, but it's all about where we draw the line.

We can't just sack Levein without a replacement. The board will need to start considering their options over the next month or so should we find ourselves in a similar situation. The next few fixtures will give us a greater understanding of where we're likely to finish, because we'll be comfortably past the half way mark, and the table certainly doesn't lie. I'm sure there are other teams who think they're better than they are, but it's all about results, and Levein doesn't seem capable of grinding them out. 5 wins in 25 is appalling, and that cannot be excused in any shape or form. One win in the last 10 is also very concerning as well.

I'm willing to give him more time, but my patience is running out. And so are his excuses.

[Graz]

The undisputable fact is results have been crap this season, and we are in a worse position now (table wise) than we were when MA left. Having a long term plan is good, but we don't want to be doing worse in the short term either.

15th place last season I could handle with CL building for the future with a team that should only be getting better. However, we are now just 4 points off the drop zone and that isn't acceptable. No use in having a 3 year plan if we get relegated after 1 and have to sell of those potentially good players anyway.

CL set himself the modest task at the start of the season of simply improving on last year. Don't think anyone can deny that that isn't happening. He's been in charge for 14 months and in that time we have been sliding lower and lower down the league.

I'm glad that he's bought young players and we have a much better looking team now than we did when MA left, but that doesn't change the fact that we need results NOW. No use in giving him the 3 years he says it will take when it's obvious after 1 year that we're not moving forward at all.

[Thracian]

Nothing about people involved in running Leicester City impressed me at Reading last night. Not the manager, not the coaching, not the administration. Nothing. Big things, little things. It was a night to forget. We couldn't even take throw ins properly and I mean that.

[tracian]

if only sheehan was playing, then we would have seen an exhibition of football.

sheehan for manager?

[davieG]

if only sheehan was playing, then we would have seen an exhibition of football.

sheehan for manager?

You can always guarantee one smart arse will pop out of the woodwork

[Fox in a Box]

You can always guarantee one smart arse will pop out of the woodwork

sheenan for coach?

[Thracian]

if only sheehan was playing, then we would have seen an exhibition of football.

sheehan for manager?

Wouldn't have wished it on him, pal.

Kisnorbo's your man. Don't think he gave any goals away. Don't think he was daft enough to venture over the halfway line. Don't think any crosses from the right resulted in goals. Nothing there to be critical of at all.

Great fullback. Just what we need. Forget the result, it wasn't Kisnorbo's fault. Supporting the attack and having shots is certainly not his job. Thats for forwards and they were on the bench.

[lush]

When Craig Levein joined us only 15 months ago there were cheers of delight form this message board. The majority of you all said that he had a long term job to do and should encourage youth unlike Micky Adams.

Well just 15 months later the majority have forgotten their words and are out for blood. Why. He has reduced the wage bill many fold, spent a pittence and reduced the average age of the squad spectactually. We have the basis of a good squad and you play in the team based on ability not age. We all said that the job would take 3 years as the team needed to be completely rebuilt. Well he is completely rebuilding and you all want his head because we are not in the playoffs.

Take a look at our squad. Lee Morris is the longest serving member at 24 months followed by Joey, Williams, Dublin and Tiatto at 17 months. All the rest have been at the club less than a year. What, I ask, do you expect from the man. No the results have not been stellar, but that is hardly supprising considering the constraints Levein has been under. When you look at the probable automatic promotion contenders Reading & Sheff Utd remember their managers have had a decent time period to get them where they are today.

I believe that Craig Levein is taking this club in the right direction and there is nobody out there that could do a better job at present.

WELL SAID!!! Theres 21 games to go, surely we can pick up a point a game +, come on, even you negatives can admit to that?

[Sir JJ Wilcox]

Theres real quality managers out there at the mo imagine having these people guiding us to promotion

Mike walker

George graham

Howard kendall

Graham Taylor

Gazza or even

Racist Ron atkinson he'd get momo flying down the wing

[City_4_Life]

When Craig Levein joined us only 15 months ago there were cheers of delight form this message board. The majority of you all said that he had a long term job to do and should encourage youth unlike Micky Adams.

Well just 15 months later the majority have forgotten their words and are out for blood. Why. He has reduced the wage bill many fold, spent a pittence and reduced the average age of the squad spectactually. We have the basis of a good squad and you play in the team based on ability not age. We all said that the job would take 3 years as the team needed to be completely rebuilt. Well he is completely rebuilding and you all want his head because we are not in the playoffs.

Take a look at our squad. Lee Morris is the longest serving member at 24 months followed by Joey, Williams, Dublin and Tiatto at 17 months. All the rest have been at the club less than a year. What, I ask, do you expect from the man. No the results have not been stellar, but that is hardly supprising considering the constraints Levein has been under. When you look at the probable automatic promotion contenders Reading & Sheff Utd remember their managers have had a decent time period to get them where they are today.

I believe that Craig Levein is taking this club in the right direction and there is nobody out there that could do a better job at present.

Let the slagging off begin.

Yes i know Levein is rebuliding the squad but this is no reason for us to be in a relegation battle, I honestly think that we will stay up but this squad is much better then this and should be in a safe mid-table position at least!

You cant just forget about results and what league we are in just because we are rebuilding the squad

[Chimp]

Good post, Chimp.

I agree with what you're saying, but it's all about where we draw the line.

We can't just sack Levein without a replacement. The board will need to start considering their options over the next month or so should we find ourselves in a similar situation. The next few fixtures will give us a greater understanding of where we're likely to finish, because we'll be comfortably past the half way mark, and the table certainly doesn't lie. I'm sure there are other teams who think they're better than they are, but it's all about results, and Levein doesn't seem capable of grinding them out. 5 wins in 25 is appalling, and that cannot be excused in any shape or form. One win in the last 10 is also very concerning as well.

I'm willing to give him more time, but my patience is running out. And so are his excuses.

Yeah, it's a bit of dilemma. Do we stick with him in the hope that he can turn things around or do we get shot and hope a new manager can improve things?

Like you say, it's all about where we draw the line.

I don't feel we've reached that point just yet. I can't help thinking that we've still got half a season to go and some new blood coming into the team in January. I can't stop believing that if we continue to put in good performances that things will start to improve.

Maybe I'm kidding myself? Maybe for all the good performances we're going to have just as many that are marred by poor decisions from CL (Reading) and lack of effort or creativity from the team (Millwall)?

[Head Honcho]

Theres real quality managers out there at the mo imagine having these people guiding us to promotion

Mike walker

George graham

Howard kendall

Graham Taylor

Gazza or even

Racist Ron atkinson he'd get momo flying down the wing

I wouldn't have any of the above within 20 miles of the Walkers, GG at a push.

In fact RA was at Coventry that's just about as near as I'd find comfortable.

In fact GG is a good shout but I'd only give him a till the end of the season contract to get us out of the sh*t, didn't he do it at Leeds a few years back?

[Sir JJ Wilcox]

I hope you know that was written in a sarcastic tone like most my posts