Reading Fans Should Respect Rubén Sellés’ Non-Disruption Plea
Alex delves into the strain the Royals’ boss must be under right now, and argues that Sellés’ call for fans to not disrupt games should be honoured.
It’s been a really unpleasant week or so for those of us of a Reading persuasion, capped off by the match against Bolton Wanderers. Once again, we find ourselves saying that it’s another tough time to be a Reading fan.
In hindsight, those of us who thought we could get a result based on Bolton’s recent poor form were perhaps being optimistic, or even naïve. I count myself among those. After all, we have seen this group of players survive so much with the current ownership and overcome so many low moments - more than any football club should ever have to. They have just kind of made it their thing to overcome adversity on almost a weekly basis.
To use the common parlance of the younger folk, this latest bad news “hit differently”. It was very clear from the off on Saturday that this group was still recovering from the setback and just weren’t ready for Saturday. They can’t be blamed - it’s totally understandable. It has been easy to forget that they are humans because their ability to overcome all the nonsense has been so regular, I just got used to it. Perhaps the majority of us did.
It has often been the case that we compare our bad days at work to a bad day at work for a footballer. When things are tough, it’s not a nice place to be. I think, however, the one luxury we as a fanbase have is that we are able to remove ourselves from it. We can go to work, school, out with friends, travel, whatever, to disconnect from the mess that happens at the club we love. These players, and the staff, cannot. They are trapped in the mess and it must be a stifling environment.
Something happened on Saturday that I have never seen before, and it really made me realise just how serious things are. Our normally so stoic, thoughtful and considered Rubén Sellés seemed to have cracked. If you haven’t already read the comments he has made in the post-match press conference, I recommend reading Sophie’s ever-excellent regular feature.
The quote that stood out for me was:
“We came here trying to forget. You can never forget where you are. It was a game of football, and we had moments we should take. We know the situation and we are not going to use it as an excuse.
“We have been there before, and the circle is repeating. The support to this team in terms of players and staff is non-existent from the club and that is the reality. There will be a moment where we cannot cope but it was not a point why we didn’t win today.”
I’ve never heard Sellés speak like this before. I’ve never heard him sound broken before and he really seems to be on the edge now. The feedback I’ve heard from the Thursday pre-match press conference, a day after the takeover collapse news arrived, has been that Sellés was unusually negative and the strain was beginning to show.
And in fairness to him, he’s absolutely right. He is absolutely not responsible for any of this; he is completely entitled to be sick of it and have had enough. He is completely correct to call out the lack of leadership and support at the club and he should not have to be the one who is put in front of the world to answer the questions and discuss what happens next.
Despite all this, never once does he blame the players: he continues to support, care for and protect them. This is not what he signed up for but his leadership has been, and continues to be, exemplary. He is a Reading legend for what he has done, is doing and hopefully continues to do. I say hopefully because… I am really worried.
Seeing our head coach so dejected and sick of this is hard for us as a fanbase, I am sure. He is surely questioning why on earth he is even bothering. I cannot blame him. We know his family is settled in the area, as he mentioned on TTE’s recent podcast interview with him. But there must come a point when things are just so bad that literally any club is a better option for him. He must be tempted.
I’ve said this before, but football owners across the country must be desperate for a manager of Sellés’ quality. I believe he could comfortably walk into any job at League One level. I think the same would be true for the majority of the Championship sides, and that’s before we consider the appeal of sides in Continental Europe. We could really be in trouble here of losing of our anchor, our leader and the one man who seems able to fight against this torrent of awfulness that seems to keep persisting.
Not only this, but if he leaves then how the hell do we replace him? Are we in a position to hire a manager? Would anyone even bother with us? Or would one of the backroom team need to step up? And would they be able to handle the strain?
It’s an incredibly difficult ask. Not to mention the fact that Sellés’ footballing philosophy would be tricky to replicate without a suitable replacement. Bringing in someone else with a totally different style could really upset the foundation upon which everything has been built.
It’s a ridiculous question to even ask, and we as fans should never have to ask it. But here it is: what can we do to help support Rubén, his coaching staff, the players and the many people working behind the scenes at Reading FC? How can we keep them feeling loved, appreciated, supported and recognised by us? How can we help them to make the best of a terrible situation? We have to find a way to do it, or this ship is going to start sinking. We need to dig deep.
It’s likely that the people at Sell Before We Dai will reinvigorate the campaign again, to do what is necessary to draw attention to the situation and to find a way to get help from an external source. Last season, we saw tennis balls thrown on the pitch and match abandonment against Port Vale as an example of this.
However, that was last season. Sellés has already come out and said he understands the frustration of the supporters and the desire to do something. He gets it, but we need to understand him when he pleads with us not to disrupt the players.
We cannot advocate the previous tactics again because if Sellés is saying to us it will make the situation worse for a group who are really struggling, then we need to take heed of that advice from the person who knows best.
We have an opportunity against Huddersfield Town on Saturday. Firstly, it’s a home game. We have the ability to rally the fans and use our voices and our presence to visually and audibly back the players, the coaching staff and everyone who works for the club.
This might sound obvious but it’s such an opportunity to lift their spirits, make them really remember that they are not alone in this and we are all in this together. We are here for them.
As I said earlier, imagine a scenario where you turn up to work and thousands of people are singing about how great you are. It’s not a scalable thing to happen, but wouldn’t that be so uplifting for you? It would surely be the same for them.
Secondly, we don’t need to do anything dramatic to get attention on us on Saturday: the cameras will be there already as it is will be a televised game. Let’s use that as an opportunity to do something outside of disrupting the players.
Protests before and after the game outside the stadium perhaps? Banners? Signs? Vociferous singing? Working with the Huddersfield Town support to get them to join in our protests against football ownership? We have so many opportunities both to raise the profile of the issue and get it spoken about more openly in the public domain, while shielding the playing and coaching staff.
I don’t know what the right answer here is. It’s hard to know, as it’s been said by many before, because it feels like the power has been taken out of our hands. However, what I do know is that every second we exist is a second that we should continue fighting against this, continue making ourselves heard, standing tall and proud and refusing to give in. Most of all, supporting each other through this. Helping each other.
If Rubén asks for something, let’s help him and give him that. Let’s give him every reason to stay and to keep believing things can get better. It would be so much worse without him there, and now is the time we need to show him some love, as well as looking after each other.