Knee-jerk Takeaways From Reading’s April/May

Here it is then, the end of the season. Lots of things have happened over the last few months: management changes, a playoff charge, injuries, player recruitment, more injuries and even more off the pitch.

In earlier editions of this monthly summary, I always said February/March would give us the real indicator of whether we were equipped to land a playoff place or if we’d stutter in that ambition. Well, the good news is that we didn’t stutter. The bad news? It’s because we absolutely self-destructed: literally not a single win in all the month of April. Or May.

Before we can go forward, we must first look back and reflect upon what happened in April, as well as the final game of the season in early May, and what conclusions – knee-jerk reactions, some might call them – we can draw, in order to learn and progress.

On we go!

(Note: most of this was written before May 2 and the final game was merged into this article. Also, more extensive thoughts on Leam Richardson will follow in another piece).

The playoff hopes

Unofficially, it was game over when we meekly surrendered to Stevenage towards the end of March, but there was a ray of light: a 3-0 win against Wigan Athletic. Mathematically, we were not out of the race.

The thing is, when you start having to talk about “mathematically”, you know it’s incredibly unlikely. Indeed, “mathematically” is essentially a code word for “in our wildest dreams”. And so, starting April with one of our other closest playoff challengers (Huddersfield Town), what did we do? We conceded another goal in the 96th minute to drop two points and pick up a 1-1 draw.

“Results over December and January… were the exception and not the rule”

The negativity carried into the Lincoln City game, a team who absolutely schooled us to win 2-1. The hurt was there for all to see, fans and players alike, having bled into the Imps game after the Huddersfield debacle, but the two things that hurt the most were that the only Reading goals from these games were set pieces (Lewis Wing with a penalty and a delightful free-kick), and these were pretty much our only shots on target.

The other hurtful thing from this performance was watching Lincoln – a team with much more limited resources than us – play us off the park. They had a system that worked well for the players (concede possession and counter) and, when they countered, they looked incredibly dangerous.

Most of all? They looked well coached. It was a stark reminder of what an organised team looks like – something we haven’t seen under Richardson’s leadership thus far.

To cap it all off? Lincoln were promoted on our turf and they absolutely deserved to be. (Note: a feat to be repeated later in April by Cardiff City, too).

These two performances essentially showed us what we all feared but suspected: results over December and January, when we were picking up points on a regular basis, were the exception and not the rule. The fear that eventually the performances being turned in would be found out and stop delivering the points happened, and worst of all, Richardson had no answers to it.

We were never in the playoff race, playing this way. We just got caught up in the side stream of other teams progressing rapidly around us. It’s incredible that it took until near the end of April to mathematically confirm this suspicion.

The summer window

There are some mitigating factors for the 2025 window – possibly. That’s up for debate. For example, there is discourse about the success of the transfer windows, most particularly the summer one. Interestingly, in the recent TTE podcast with Rob Couhig, he mentioned that the recruitment strategy was wholly led by Noel Hunt over the summer.

There are some positives to take from the January window too – there was a much clearer profile of player targeted, in clearly defined positions. We needed full-backs: we got them in Ryan Nyambe and Haydon Roberts. We needed more cover at centre-back: we got it with Benn Ward. We needed a winger: we got Kadan Young. We needed another striker: enter, Will Keane.

We can discuss the success of the recruitment: it’s been a mixed bag. Nyambe started well but, worryingly, he seems to have regressed over time with this manager and, given he’s a “Richardson player” (they have worked together previously), it’s a worry.

Roberts, Randell Williams and Andy Rinomhota are all injury-prone. Young hasn’t been given a chance. Keane has been given too many chances.

Ward, in my honest opinion, has been the biggest success. And do you know the irony of this? He wasn’t even Richardson’s first choice. Indeed, I suspect he was more like Joe Jacobson’s or Brian Carey’s recommendation. The first choice was 30-year-old injury-prone Ricardo Santos from Swansea City.

Why is all this relevant? Because we will need a big window again this summer. This is a side that needs pace, goals and flushing out with a bit more quality in key areas.

It’s obvious that the academy players won’t be given time to develop and make a case to fight for first-team contention, and this is an issue, but Richardson has to get this window right.

And do I have the faith he will? I’m not sure. Do I have the faith he can get the most of out the players he brings in, and indeed, improve them? Not at all.

The players

This is a problem because it’s likely we will see some key players leave too. It’s hard to know who, but you suspect Charlie Savage will be off and you can’t help but wonder what would happen if good offers come in for the likes of Lewis Wing, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan or Joel Pereira.

However, it’s also hard to know what will happen in the summer because the players don’t seem to be invested in Richardson. It’s been a few years since we’ve had so many disengaged players taking to the field for us, and it’s easy to see why.

On top of this, with one player apparently going to the Reading Chronicle to speak out against the manager – that just never happens, does it? That is surely not a positive indicator of the morale among the players.

Right now, if you’re a player who Reading have been linked with, would Richardson strike you as a manager you want to play for? Is he someone who is going to make you a better player?

Quite frankly, the only player who seems to have developed on his watch is Jeriel Dorsett. Everyone else has gone notably backwards, even those who he has coached before. It’s not a good sign at all.

The ownership

They are doing some good things, in my opinion. I think they’re the right owners and they obviously have a plan and a vision for the club, and are determined to get us back to the promised land of the Championship.

The issue is that most club owners and boards are ultimately judged by the results on the pitch, and these are driven by the managers that get appointed. It’s easy to forget, but Liverpool fans a little over 10 years ago were ‘FSG Out’ until Jurgen Klopp was brought it to change things. Similarly, more recently with Mikel Arteta coming in to improve things and steady the ‘Kroenke Out’ calls.

I get why Couhig came out with his open letter to back the manager, and he was right to do that. It doesn’t mean I agree with what he says, but in the public eye, he has to show support for the manager.

“They’re the right owners and they obviously have a plan and a vision for the club”

The problem is this: when has a manager ever survived the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’? Honestly, I can’t recall a single occasion. I do remember near the start of this season when Couhig hosted the first Q&A at the stadium and was questioned on Hunt’s performance and backed him. It was only a few weeks later that Hunt was removed from his post.

One of the things I personally like about Couhig and the board is that they do listen. While many aren’t happy with Richardson, Couhig will be aware of this, and I would bet my kidney that conversations have been had about the need to start well next season, or the manager’s job is on the line.

There is a chorus of fans right now talking about possibly not renewing their season tickets because of the football, and I get this. On the one hand, it’s a tough climate to live in right now due to the ever-growing cost of living.

This is likely a consideration for many. However, I think it’s more driven by the fact that we know how the owner thinks: he wants bums on seats. And by saying “we don’t want to come to games”, I think that’s how the fanbase thinks it can draw attention to the problems we are seeing on the pitch. We are entitled to our money’s worth, after all.

The academy

One of my all-time favourite movies is Snatch. One of the (many) great moments in it is when Tommy goes to buy a caravan from the travellers and brings the bare-knuckle boxer Gorgeous George along with him for help. They hook up the caravan and, when they drive off, it immediately falls apart.

When Tommy challenges Brad Pitt’s character on this, he says (I’m paraphrasing): “You don’t bring a fella the size of him with you unless you’re trying to say something without saying it.”

What does this have to do with us? The Rotherham United away game was the first time all season we’ve seen academy players make up the majority of the bench. Firstly: they were only there because of the number of injuries, and the fact loan players are due to leave (although, Finley Burns and Nyambe still started).

Secondly, not a single player was brought on until the 81st minute, despite struggling to make any attacking inroads against an alread- relegated Rotherham, who had nothing to play for but pride.

We all know Richardson doesn’t like the academy and this is as good as you’ll ever get to seeing him saying it without saying anything.

It’s a real problem, and a big demotivator for some promising players on the fringes, looking to break through. Sean Patton is absolutely one of those, and he deserved better than to be brought back from loan for this.

The stadium investment

This is a very long article, even by my usual standards, so I’ll keep this short: announcing that you plan to invest £5 million into stadium redevelopment is a bold move by Couhig and Todd Trossclair.

There’s no arguing that the stadium needs the improvements. Though perhaps scarred by the Dai days, I do worry about where that money comes from. But it’s a great move of intention from the ownership and they are due credit for wanting to make the stadium a better, nicer place to be. I can’t wait to see what results it will bring come the new season.

Unfortunately though, if it’s the same standard of football being played by the manager when the upgrades have been integrated and launched, it will come against the backdrop of a very toxic and a distracted-from-those-improvements crowd, possibly lower on numbers than the previous year in a stadium with poorer facilities.

The best way to get people to come and watch is the entertainment value of the football. The rest will take care of itself.

Reading Women

Let’s end on some positives for April, shall we? The Women’s team have been phenomenal this season. A third win on the bounce, against Oxford City, put them third – and in with a real chance of promotion.

This has been a real breakout season for that group of players and the coaching team. There are other Reading managers who could and should learn a lot from him.

However, let’s not focus on that. Let’s celebrate a great Women’s team and be proud of how they are representing our town. The future looks very bright for them.

May 2

There may not be enough to write about to warrant a knee-jerk article for the events in May, and as a result, the final game of the season against Blackpool will be captured here.

And rightly so, because some stuff and things most certainly happened during that day. The weather was actually a very apt metaphor: beautiful sun before kick-off and then, as the game went on, it gradually got cloudier and threatened drizzle by the end of the first half.

This continued into the second half and, not long after Blackpool’s goal, it turned into a downright downpour of rain. That cleared a little after the academy players were introduced to the game.

I took my girlfriend along to watch Reading at the stadium for the first time and I can’t imagine it will have been what she expected to see unfold after coming all the way over from Spain with me. She asked me why the players looked like statues on the pitch, and I honestly had no answer for it.

If you look at the heatmaps for the starting defences for both sides – Reading in a 3-4-2-1 and Blackpool in a 5-3-2 – can you really see any difference between the two teams?

The heatmap on the left is Reading. The only difference is Kelvin Abrefa, the big colour of green on the bottom right of Reading’s heat map. He seemed to at least try to get past the halfway line. Remember: this is a player that had been largely ostracised by Richardson, despite having the attributes this side really, really needs.

So, this tells it’s not really a back three that Reading deploy, it’s a back five, most of the time. And the eye test often confirms that. Now, factor in that Wing likes to sit deep, behind the halfway line, to ping long balls to players. That leaves us with four outfield players in the Blackpool half.

No wonder they aren’t trying to move: they can’t. They are completely outnumbered by more than two to one. Now, look at what Richardson said before the game: “We want to finish with the fans full of optimism and players knowing the demands. As far as Saturday is concerned, everything is geared towards having a positive result.”

This is staggering. I’m not sure if Richardson is naïve or, quite frankly, stupid. How do you expect to do this with six players behind the ball? Riddle me that, Leam.

Indeed, the Reading fans – famous for not singing his name – broke that habit in this game to sing “Leam Richardson, your football is s**t.” There were some chants like “you’re getting sacked in the morning” and others about getting him out of the club as well.

He has lost the fan base and he has only himself to blame. Which, ironically, he never does because he famously doesn’t take responsibility. Indeed, after full-time he called it a close match, despite Reading once again not having a shot on target and Pereira, once again, having to pull of a number of saves to keep it from becoming a heavier defeat. What game was he watching?

Hopefully the ownership were watching the same game as us: the feeling among the fans is clear, and indeed the players too. And if they were ever in doubt, the cheers for the players and boos for Richardson post-game further solidified that. This is not working and now is the time to cut Richardson loose and build for a summer ahead with the right manager in place: we don’t want to be in a position where we are calling for a fire fighter in November again, after a poor start.

The feeling is further compounded because Emmanuel Osho got a few more minutes off the bench and once again looked bright, even managing to get a shot off.

Similarly, Luke Howard came on to make his professional debut and it’s a great success story to see him there. After watching him play for around 10 minutes, you had to wonder: why hadn’t he been brought on sooner? He was energetic, got up and down the pitch, got himself involved defensively and offensively and looked like someone with a point to prove.

But then again, how many times have we seen players start strong and fade under Richardson? Is this just the natural effect he has on the squad, that players who haven’t had to suffer under him look bright, because the negativity finally crushes them?

Does this performance suggest Richardson deserves a pre-season to build the squad in his image? Do any of the performances over the last two months suggest this? Perhaps the game at the end of March against Wigan was the outlier?

He has an academy at his fingertips and his interest is only in recruitment. In the same post-match interview, he talked about needing a big summer of around 13-14 arrivals. Interestingly, When Couhig came onto the TTE podcast before this game, his view was that the club only needed five or six main arrivals. There’s a very clear disconnect there that needs addressing.

The word to describe all this is untenable. Ben provided a brilliant post-game video which, if you haven’t seen it, you should, because what he describes is absolutely spot on: it’s easy to forget that people in football are humans too, and surely keeping Richardson in this toxic, negative environment is not the right thing for him as a human being either?

Some have suggested Couhig’s pride will be dented by finishing below Wycombe Wanderers (they were 11th and Reading 12th). Personally, what I think will dent his pride more is that the football product he is so desperate to sell is going to be hard to pitch to new players for the squad.

Even getting five or six to improve this team is going to be a challenge. Who the hell will want to join this club, with this manager and this toxicity?

Reading finished the season 18th in the form table over the last 10 games. The only sides below us not relegated were Peterborough United and Barnsley. Of all the clubs below us, we only played one in the last 10 games: Rotherham. And we all remember how that went.

Over the last six games, we are 22nd. Something needs to change, and we all know what.

What’s worse? The ownership having to admit they made a mistake now and relieving Richardson of his duties? Or ignoring the data, keeping him, backing him with transfers and then having to relieve him of his duties later in the year?

Cutting ties now will be a clean break. Waiting any longer will be messy and further disengage a group of players who are desperately checked out.