OPINION: Why having a Head Coach instead of a manager might not be that bad.

To me, it’s becoming clear that Reading is moving towards the increasingly popular model of having a Director of Football in control of the business aspects of the game with a Head Coach taking over the role of a traditional manager (albeit with much less control of transfers). Let me preface this by saying that I wholeheartedly disagree with sacking Brian. However, I feel like the combination of having a much more powerful Director of Football in control of transfers and a Head Coach solely in charge of training and games could be beneficial to the club in the long run.

The reason I disagreed with the firing of McDermott is that it sends the message that the owners aren’t seeking stability and instead are just looking for quick fixes and papering over the cracks. Many have interpreted Nicky Hammond’s departure to West Brom as him ‘escaping the sinking ship’ and that’s more than likely the truth but Brian Tevreden could prove a capable replacement. In Tevreden, we have a young staff member (34 years old) which means that, in theory, he can only get better with experience. Of course, I don’t think we’ll ever get anyone as good at getting inflated fees for players as Nicky Hammond – receiving over £3 million for Nick Blackman is no mean feat when you consider he had six months left on his contract and his form had dried up somewhat. Anyway, providing that Tevreden doesn’t leave, we can build and get a structure in place at the higher tier of the club that could, in theory, last for over a decade. When a club has this model, Head Coaches are more interchangeable (see Watford’s promotion campaign) so this would suit the Thais’ itchy trigger finger more and satisfy the endless amount of people that cry "It’s a results business!" because Head Coaches are almost entirely in charge of the team’s performance and, if they underperform, their job can be filled by someone else. Each manager has a different style (see Adkins, Clarke and McDermott) and does things a different way but if the owners insist on doing their best Leeds impression then this is perhaps the way to go.

It helps more when each staff member can focus on their specific job – I’m sure everyone knows how dire our set-pieces and overall play has been for months and getting a Head Coach who doesn’t have to worry about signing players, negotiating contracts or dealing with the fiscal side of football means that they can bring their full attention to bear on the areas of Reading’s game that are in desperate need of fixing. That said, however, communication is key – you can’t have the Director of Football signing whoever he feels like and telling the Head Coach to deal with it; we have to decide how we want to play and sign the players for it. This means that Reading doesn’t have to spend every summer ‘in transition’ or declare every second half of a season a write off because the manager gets sacked half way through. This is because a new Head Coach can seamlessly move into an environment that doesn’t need massive alteration since the framework should be already in place for the team to succeed on the pitch. We do need to be careful that we don’t stray towards the direction Newcastle were going in before Benitez arrived (that is a major risk) but, in the absence of Mike ‘Sports Direct’ Ashley, anything is possible. What they’re doing now is commendable but it requires a good, solid manager who isn’t going to leave any time soon.

It’s almost unanimously accepted that the ‘Reading way’ is gone – you’re not going to see any more Dave Kitson-esque buys now that lower league clubs can hold out for increasingly higher prices due to the money from the Premier League. That’s fine because, if Reading move towards the format I think they will, then it will lead to less Owner vs. Manager situations because responsibility is shared – everyone can pull in the same direction. All we need to do is decide what club we want to be and we need to do that now.