Brendan Rodgers

When Brendan Rodgers was appointed as manager of Reading last summer, I was hugely disappointed. I thought giving him the job was a cheap option and it lacked ambition. There were obvious emotional links to the club, with Rodgers having played for us briefly and worked with the youth team more recently. But that kind of emotional decision is always dangerous. It also showed Reading as having no aspirations, with other high profile names out there that might have given the club more respect and coverage. Instead we've slipped from being a progressive forward thinking club on the edge of the Premier League to having the threat of being in League One.

However, the move to sack him just before Christmas astounds me even more than his original appointment. In fact it angered me. Why put all the effort into getting him from Watford, which cost a little bit too, to only give him six months to put his mark on the club. Following Steve Coppell was always going to be a hard job for anyone, in fact almost impossible. Steve C took Reading to heights never achieved before and produced two seasons of football and results (the Championship followed by the debut year in the Premiership) that I don't think will ever be matched by the club again.

So what was behind the Rodgers sacking?

To me it doesn't make any sense.

Sure we're in trouble at the bottom of the table but no one watching us over the last two months would say that there was a major problem. The home defeat against Leicester saw us play some excellent football, but just not score. A story repeated a few times after that. The Crystal Palace game was a bit freaky. Nothing in it until 2 minutes before half time, then two screamers (and some help from the goalie).

If you watched Reading under Steve C in the first six months (remember that 3 nil defeat to Palace?) the football was worse and the signs of improvement less obvious. Tommy Burns was given longer, managing the most inept team to ever wear our wonderful shirt. Under Alan Pardew we stumbled to promotion when we should have walked it.

I think Rodgers' mistake was to try and stamp his authority too quickly and with too many changes early on. The side that lost at Newcastle was like a boys XI playing adults, yet after a few weeks, we were playing attractive footy that I could see taking us up the table.

The stat that everyone sights is the home record - but that was as much a problem under Coppell as under Rodgers. In fact Steve C's inability to get us a victory at home in 2009 after the Wolves match cost us promotion, and the style of play was not as impressive as I'd seen against Watford, Scunthorpe or Leicester.

So if you're going to put you faith in a young manager - why not stick with it.

Reading have the set up to be a challenger consistently in the Championship but the momentum has been lost with what must surely be perceived as a wasted six months. We have no manager going into the transfer window, with the new man having no time to assess his squad before the opportunity for changes has passed. John Madejski can do little wrong in my mind - but this latest decision is the worst he's made since we've been at the new stadium.

Glenn Hoddle is a strong rumour for the job - and I would be quite excited at that prospect - but there's no money to spend so that seems unlikely.

Suddenly we face the real prospect of being in the lower 2 leagues again - we've been spent most of our history, but where I didn't think we'd head for sometime.