Ruben Selles Out, Noel Hunt In: Where Reading Stand Now
After a pretty horrible week, things are now looking rosier than Harry thought they could’ve been.
I don’t know how many times I’ve either said or written this over the last five or so years, but supporting this club just keeps finding new ways of ripping out any sense of optimism us fans may have built up, throwing it on the ground and walking all over it.
This was the case yet again last week as Ruben Selles was snapped up by Hull City. They say that no one person, manager or player is bigger than the club, and ultimately that was true of Selles, but it felt like a really seismic moment. It cut deep for all of us. But what’s done is done and we have to move on.
Move on the club did, and very quickly. The announcement of Selles’ departure was followed up almost immediately by Noel Hunt being confirmed as the new man in charge, on a deal until June 2027.
When the rumours starting circling and looming larger and larger that Sles was on his way out, there was anger reverberating through the spine of the fanbase. The main question I was trying to answer in my mind was where we went next: not just in terms of replacing him, but in a wider, grander sense too. It really looked like Selles leaving could’ve been - and it could well still be - the club making a turn down another road it really can’t go down.
However, as mentioned, a big part of that question was answered with Hunt’s appointment. I myself would’ve preferred James Oliver-Pearce, but Hunt was the obvious choice, truth be told. He knows the club, he knows the players, and in appointing him we can at least ride the wave that Selles created in terms of his tactical identity - and maybe even build upon it later down the line.
We couldn’t afford - either literally or figuratively - to go out and find a new manager externally. Because of our, shall we say, unique situation, the appointment had to come from within: someone who understands where the club is and is willing to tackle it head on with this group of players - like Selles was.
Selles’ biggest achievement, and what he will be remembered for primarily (by myself at least) is the harmony, togetherness and mentality he instilled within everyone at the club - bringing the fans along for the ride too. We couldn’t risk jeopardising that by trying to bring in a new manager from the outside.
Let’s be honest, even if we could do that, even if we had the resource to do that, this owner and CEO don’t care enough to do so.
It’s fair to say the initial signs are promising too. The draw at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday was a great start for Hunt. To go to the league leaders and grab a point is no mean feat.
Look, I don’t think I’d be putting words in too many mouths here to say that we’d all much still prefer to have Selles at the helm. But if there was one person that the fans would rally around, and choose to look forward with rather than turn their backs on, it was Hunt.
It’s a cliched idea but it’s important, particularly so at a club like ours, to have people within the setup who understand the fabric of the organisation and know what it means to represent Reading. That doesn’t mean we can’t progress, adapt or evolve as a club, but we should make sure that we keep what made the teams of 2005/06 and 2011/12 engrained in the core of what we do. Togetherness, never giving up, and putting in absolutely everything.
Hunt will bring that. He already has. I’m not saying he’ll bring it back, because these players already have it. For them to be knocked back by Selles’ departure and then to bounce back with a performance and result like Saturday’s shows their mentality and attitude aren’t going to waiver.
What happens in the coming weeks and months remains to be seen. There are still huge questions hanging over Selles leaving, and there is still more than a ripple of anger and emotion running through us all, but it has quelled slightly from the tsunami it was a few days ago.
Recently we got news that Rob Couhig is taking us to court and former hero Roger Smee’s bid for the club has been rejected, as well as the gut punch of Selles leaving. I didn’t see a way out of the mire we were all wallowed in. It felt like another doomsday moment, and to some degree the final nail in the coffin when you think of what it could’ve opened the floodgates to.
Those things may still come into fruition. We could lose players in January (although there is a reported clause in Selles’ contract that he can’t take any players with him to the KCOM), and despite the reveal of Blue Horizon being the firm behind the latest purchase attempt, it doesn’t like the takeover saga is going to sort itself out anytime soon. But we as a club - and as a fanbase - are in a much better place after the Wycombe game than I thought we would be.
There is sourness from some fans towards Selles, and for others it’s just sadness that he is gone and fear for what’s to come. But however we’re feeling about it, we need to try and focus on the future rather than look back on what’s already happened. Nothing can be changed: Selles left, Hunt is the man in charge - we first need to recognise that and move forward with it.
As weird as it may sound, we could get even stronger, even closer as a fanbase, in spite of all of this. It sounds harsh, and I feel a bit wrong saying it because I would much rather Selles was still our manager and I wish he stayed, but ultimately you want people at your club who want to be here. And when it boils down to it, the players and people who want to be here will be here.
This is where we are and this is how it will be. It feels like a big change, but in a lot of ways nothing has changed. It’s us against them, and little old Reading will keep fighting.