Weren't the talks after BHA had given permission for Reading to contact him? Hardly clandestine. I have no problem with a manager talking to another club when permission has been given but what irked more was the constant references to one day wanting to manage Leeds or any other club.
Poyet was a good manager initially but you can't deny he had the benefit of a new stadium actually being built where as previous managers took the job based on an ongoing planning applications. He had a new chairman that was funding the promotion push more than Dick Knight had ever been able to...