The Wild Lower West: Reading’s Final Game
Ahead of the Royals’ season finale, Dixey looks back on how we got here.
This is it then, one final game to determine whether we extend our season by two games or we again compete in League One next year.
At the start of the season my hope for Reading FC was simply survival and stability, so to be anywhere near the playoffs at this stage is something of a miracle. I have said numerous times that I believe ours to be the success story of the season, which may be a very biased view, but it creates a far more interesting story than Birmingham spending £30 million and walking the league.
We have continued to defy the odds all season and, looking back at several football writer predictions last August, I note that 75% of them had Reading finishing in the bottom four, with 0% predicting Reading would be playoff contenders on May 3, 2025. Adversity FC has well and truly been created this season, and whatever the outcome at 5pm on Saturday, I will be showing my appreciation for every single player that has been involved.
While I believe every player deserves huge credit this season, I am full of admiration for the job that Noel Hunt has done, and the way that he has gone about it.
While many questioned his appointment when Ruben Selles left (how has that worked out by the way?), Hunt has quietly but effectively bonded the squad and created a group that work their socks off for each other and seem to enjoy playing together. I have written all season about Amadou Mbengue epitomising the spirit that exists within the squad, but that spirit and bond needs to be created daily, and Hunt deserves huge credit for how he has managed to do just that.
I would also argue that Hunt has proved to be a far more effective manager than Selles, not least because of his ability to better understand how players can have more of an impact playing in a system that plays to their strengths, rather than a Selles system that was often all or nothing. That’s not sour grapes because Selles left, as I still believe Selles was the catalyst for our improvement as a team, but in Hunt we have someone who understands how to get the most out of the players that he has available to him.
Take Charlie Savage for example: not involved much under Selles, and when he was, he was often seen leading the press from midfield as part of a Noah’s Ark two-by-two formation. That’s great when it works, but when it doesn’t, you leave big gaps for the opposition to play in, and there’s inevitably criticism for the player who left the space in the first place.
Since Hunt has taken charge, he has played Savage in his natural midfield position and given him the freedom to influence the play in the areas that he is more accustomed to. That’s not to say Savage doesn’t run his socks off anymore, far from it, but his runs now are more considered and he is intelligent in his positioning and awareness of what’s going on around him. It’s also no coincidence that Savage’s assists have gone through the roof since Hunt took charge.
Hunt has also limited the madness of Lewis Wing constantly receiving the ball on the edge of his own box and trying to dictate the play 80 yards from the opposition’s goal. Again, it’s no coincidence that Wing has scored and influenced far more goals since Selles left and seems to once again be relishing playing in a position that allows him to play further up the pitch.
If the improvement in Savage and Wing is not enough to convince you of Hunt’s influence on this squad, then maybe the emergence of Jayden Wareham is enough to cement my argument. It’s true that Wareham has had more of an opportunity since Sam Smith left, but has anyone else noticed that Wareham unsettles the oppositions defenders by not giving them time to play - like Hunt used to?
He makes clever runs that pull defenders away from goal, like Hunt used to; is calm in front of goal and finds space in the box where there isn’t any, like Hunt used to; and celebrates each goal with a backflip... and I wonder who used to do that!
Following last weekend’s excellent 2-0 victory at Bristol Rovers, I saw some strange comments from Gas supporters who argued that a team which shouldn’t still be allowed in the league - because we had broken the rules - had effectively relegated them.
Quite a strange argument given that any rule-breaking has been severely punished with points deductions and fines, and I would suggest that 43 points from 45 games with a -29 goal difference tells you that they were heading for relegation well before the mighty ‘Ding turned up in Brizzle.
And so, we have reached the final day of the season (excluding the playoffs), and my hopes are still for survival as a club, stability that sees us under new ownership, and the end of Disastrous Dai.
The announcement of new ownership before, during or after Saturday’s game seems somehow fitting, and I pray that the silence this week is a build-up to a big reveal on Saturday.
My hopes after Saturday are simply stability as a club, direction for all involved, and my mate Ginger finally learning the correct pronunciation of our players’ names. Paella is and always will be a Spanish dish, and not the name of our goalkeeper.
Given the problems we’ve faced over the last few years we deserve some luck, and I honestly believe things will go our way on Saturday. Leyton Orient will draw 2-2 at Huddersfield Town after having a man sent off, and we will comfortably beat Barnsley 3-0, and quite frankly I don’t care who scores the three goals.
Enjoy what could turn out to be one of the greatest days in this club’s history!
Until next week.
Much love and c’mon URZZZ.
Dixey