The Wild Lower West: Reading’s January Slump

This week, Dixey explores what’s gone wrong for the Royals in recent weeks.

I don’t know about you, but I personally cannot wait for January to be over. Not only is it the most depressing month of the year, but it also coincides with football’s answer to the January sales, where in Reading’s case, everything is reduced and could have up to 75% off.

In the space of 10 January days since I last wrote, we have lost three matches on the bounce. Those games have come against sides starting to put a run together and look up the table rather than down, but pointless stats aside, I will never accept that this team should be losing three games in a row, and worse still the way in which we have lost them.

I see several players now who look a shadow of what they were just a few weeks ago, and that for me is the biggest worry.

I have seen comments that suggest the changes to the way we play are largely to blame, although I would argue that the changes have not severely impacted the shape of the team. Other comments suggest that injuries and changes to personnel are impacting the side, but my counter argument to that is the fact that we have had that all season with a wafer-thin squad and still managed to win games.

The argument that our reliance on Lewis Wing as a provider being recognised and exploited by opposing teams (Stockport County in particular) is one that I can get on board with.

I have often made the point that utilising the same man for ball feed can soon become your undoing, and when a team man-marks the feeder, you need others to step up and become the playmaker or at least influence the game in a way that doesn’t rely on the same player to get you playing forward. If others do not become that feeder then you naturally end up under pressure, and defending far more than you should do, especially at home.

I’m certainly not a tactical analyst, and there are alternative articles on TTE that cover the tactical side of our games far better than I ever could, so I will leave the finer details to them. I would however like to offer an alternative view to our current slump in form, and that for me is the January transfer window.

As much as we all like to berate players that underperform, throw accusations that players do not care about wearing the shirt, and generally blame anything and everything for a defeat, the fact is that players are human and are impacted by speculation, even if they tell you differently.

Any transfer window becomes an unsettling time for players, managers, coaching staff and us as supporters, but the January window can become far more unsettling than the summer window, purely because you have less time to react to players leaving, or in our case no time at all because we can’t replace them.

As I have now triggered that thought in your head, I didn’t want this to be an alternative point of view based purely on my opinion, so the following extract is real feedback from an ex-professional who then moved into management when he retired. I am not “in the know” and I don’t claim to know lots of current or ex-players, but the following may help to support my opinion.

“I remember the January transfer window being the period of the season that most settled players used to dread. You have just come off the back of a busy Christmas schedule, and now you are subject to speculation about your future and the future of those that you work with and rely on every day.

“In one January transfer window I was linked with three different clubs, although none of them submitted a formal bid for me, spoke to my agent or made it known publicly that they were interested in me. It was pure speculation, although even that can be unsettling.

“Two of the three clubs supposedly interested triggered a reaction from my wife that I didn’t expect. We lived in the south and two of the clubs supposedly interested were both based in the north, and while my wife knew that a footballer’s life was never settled, she was equally adamant that she didn’t fancy moving so far away, changing the kids’ school or making a six-hour round trip to see her family.

“While I tried to reassure her that it was pure speculation, I couldn’t help feeling that if one of the clubs did submit a serious bid then I would need to consider much more than just what was written in the contract. I always knew this, and I had been subject to transfers before, but all of them were to clubs that were commutable from our current home, so I have never had to worry about uprooting everyone.

“Previous transfers had also been during the summer, when you have time to plan everything and make necessary arrangements before the season starts again, without having to live in a hotel for months on end.

“In the end I suppose I started to overthink it, and spent a lot of time asking myself questions about a possible move, although it was probably never going to happen anyway.

“One of the three clubs that I was linked with were in a higher division than my current club, and that started to pose more questions in my head. I would probably be able to negotiate a longer contract with more money, I could get bonuses that I don’t currently have, and I could play in front of much larger crowds every week.

“That was my head dealing with the positive side of a transfer, but it was the negative side that started to impact me. I would ask myself whether I was good enough for a step up, whether the club wanted me as a starter or just back-up, and whether I would fit in with the players already at the club.

“Then there were the supporters, who I had formed a close bond with, and they had supported me through injuries and loss of form. I was also the club spokesperson for grassroots football and regularly attended games and talked to the kids and parents afterwards. I wouldn’t be able to do that anymore.

“As much as I tried to not let it, the speculation had an impact on my game. Maybe it shouldn’t have, but I’m human and I have “what if” thoughts like everyone else. Every time I played a bad pass my head would tell me that I wasn’t good enough for a step up, and every time I had a bad game, I would hear people saying that my head was somewhere else.

“The fact is they were right, my head was somewhere else, but not because I particularly wanted a move, but because I had to suddenly think about so much more than just the next 90 minutes.

“I wasn’t the only one, we were a relatively successful side at the time, although our form had dipped since Christmas, and it was somewhat inevitable that clubs would be looking at some of our players.

“Of course, we used to use it as the basis for banter and would often ask players linked with a move whether they even knew where xxx football club was. That wasn’t with any disrespect to our current club, it was just our way of dealing with it. But there was always a serious side, you could see that players were thinking about the speculation, and like me wondering whether anything would come of it.

“When that January window shut, rather than being disappointed, I was quite relieved. I now had the opportunity to concentrate purely on my football and not have to worry about where I may or may not be playing, or even living, next week. After the January window our results started to pick up, and we went on a bit of a run that saw us finish fifth in the league, so I honestly believe that the period in January when the transfer window was open had an impact on our performances.

“When I retired from playing, I become an assistant manager in League Two, and the January transfer window was a real nightmare for managers and coaches.

“Like all managers’ offices we had a couple of tactics boards that we used to use to look at shape, transitions and how we could stop the opposition from playing. In January we used to use six tactics boards, four of which were our contingency boards.

“Essentially, we were looking at how the team would look if xxx player was sold, and whether we could (or had to) change the system accordingly. We would then look at who may replace xxx if he left, so the next board would be used to show a different squad, system and potential way of playing.

“Training sessions in January were also geared around trying to reset quickly if we sold a player, so the intensity of each session was slightly off, as we were asking players to perform two or three different roles as they may need to fill in for us. It’s certainly not ideal, but we didn’t want to leave everything to the last minute, so we were trying to be proactive, while crossing our fingers and hoping that no one was sold.

“So, while many may have the opinion that we are highly paid professionals who should be able to cope with anything, I can tell you that the one thing that money cannot buy is a remote control for your thoughts.

“Our brains are wired to follow a strict routine and to be always disciplined and professional, while giving everything in every training session and every game that we play. But as I said at the start, we are human, and sometimes what goes on around us can get into our heads and impact our performance.”

I hope the above comes across in the way that it is intended. I’m not excusing our recent performances, and I’m certainly not giving the players a free ride to perform below the levels expected because of the January transfer window. I’m just trying to offer an alternative view as to why we have suddenly gone from a team full of ideas to a team without any.

We can also blame the management and say they’re not up to the job, but the fact is that, without proper ownership, we have no choice but to promote from within and get behind those that have stepped up when we need them!

This Saturday we are back at the SCL for the visit of Bolton Wanderers, who have just recorded back-to-back wins against Huddersfield Town and Northampton Town. I see this being a very tough game, although not unwinnable if we can rediscover some of our earlier form. I hate sitting on the fence, but I can only see us getting point out of this one.

Reading 1-1 Bolton

(Savage, Collins)

11,455

Until next week.

Much love and c’mon URZZZ.

Dixey