Article submitted by Adam Jones who says: “It’s time for the club to get their identity back – but not right now!”
At the time of writing, Paul Clement has not yet been sacked by the club despite Steve Bruce being linked to the manager’s vacancy via The Sun. With the Royals deep in to relegation trouble, it is imperative that we improve our results before we’re sucked in to a huge relegation battle.
Relegation to League One could be catastrophic for our finances, so staying in this league is so important for the club for their revenue. I doubt the club can afford to have attendances decrease even further. The lack of identity and togetherness around the club at the moment is perhaps one of the main causes for people not wanting to come back to the Madejski Stadium.
I recall the 2016/17 season where Jaap Stam stated the passing philosophy he wanted to implement at the club, giving us a sense of identity, a thing that we could be known for. I am certainly not saying that we should re-hire Stam. However, what can we be known for now? Poor results and terrible performances are just two of the negative things we are known for right now. The women’s team is one of the only positives that we can talk about regarding the club. They are performing in the best female league in England, the Women’s Super League.
That record breaking 2005/06 season for the men’s team is a classic example of where we really did have an identity. All the players played for the shirt, we had a clear style of play. I can safely say because of that as well as our consistently excellent performances, we drew in big crowds to the Madejski Stadium, something we are not currently doing.
Whilst I feel that it is incredibly important to start to rebuild an identity once we in a stable position in this division, or at the end of the season, we need a short-term fix for us to stay in this division. The only problem is that it is highly doubtful an experienced manager will want to sign a short-term contract that lasts only to the end of the season.
Once we do get that short-term fix so that we can climb our way back up the table, then we can start making more positive changes so the club can be rebuilt.
With thanks to Adam Jones for his views.
Paul Clement’s tactics leave a lot to be desired. It was obvious after 5 minutes that Swansea were going to use their wingbacks out wide . Reading , however, chose to have theirs sitting 1s’nt 5-20 yards away from them which meant that they had free rein and a gap to be exploited all day long. Fans all around me were screaming for Clement to get our players out marking them closer when Swansea had the ball. But Clement didn’t seem to be watching the same game as we were. Poor, poor decision as both their goals came from the wings one way or another. We need a manager who can change his tactics quickly to match what the opponents are trying to do. Unfortunately Swansea are not the only team this season to exploit this weakness.