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Harvey Knibbs Departs Reading: We Were Lucky To Have Him

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Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

As Knibbs moves onto pastures new, Harry bids farewell to the talismanic midfielder.

Football is a cruel mistress. Despite missing out on the playoffs on the final day last season, spirits among the fans were at an eight-year high, with Rob Couhig’s takeover confirmed. Fast forward to five days before the start of the new campaign, and it’s a bit of a gloomier picture. First, a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Portsmouth in our last pre-season friendly, and now the loss of Harvey Knibbs to Charlton Athletic.

Let’s call a spade a spade: this is a sucker punch. Knibbs joined as a bit of an unknown quantity, to Reading fans at least, but grew into a talismanic figure and will leave a gaping hole in our team.

From the moment he joined you could tell Knibbs was going to be an important player for us. In the early Ruben Selles days he played on the left in a 4-2-2-2, but it wasn’t until the switch to 4-3-3 where Knibbs really came into his own.

He has the perfect profile for a number eight in the high-press system Selles deployed; his energy, stamina, tenacity, aggression and eye for a goal quickly made him one of our most influential players. He’s been a truly vital part of our progression over the last 18 months or so.

Not only does he leave a big hole in the side in terms of quality, but arguably most importantly, we’re losing a huge personality. As ever, criticism for a lack of loyalty and accusations of jumping ship have already been thrown at Knibbs.

In my opinion no player who has played for us in the last 18 months can be accused of a lack of loyalty, none less so than this guy. The bloke has been a force of nature, and has given his absolute everything for the club.

Last season in particular he matured from a good League One player into an imperious figure. He had an aura. If there needed to be a match-winning moment, it was going to come from him.

Photo by Lee Parker - CameraSport via Getty Images

Calm-as-you-like penalties to win home games against Bolton Wanderers and Wycombe Wanderers, plus another crucial spot-kick against Wrexham, were the standout moments among his 14 goals and six assists in 43 league appearances. He was always dependable, but last year he turned into The Man. And he didn’t lose an ounce of his tenacity, work rate or commitment in the process.

He stuck around in our darkest times, helped pull us through those times, and - with the club in an objectively better position than when he joined - has decided now is the time for him to progress his career. As much as it pains me to say: c’est la vie. That's life. And that’s football.

Don’t get me wrong, is there a part of me that’s thinking: “Charlton? Really? You’re leaving us to go to Charlton?” I’d be lying if I said no. Again, similar to Amadou Mbengue leaving for QPR, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that, in 12 months time, we’ll be at the same level as them one way or another.

But also, football is a short game. Players at this level - although by no means would you turn your nose up at being on the salary they're on - are on nowhere near the kind of bucks their counterparts in the leagues above are. They need to make hay while the sun shines, and you can’t really begrudge any player doing that, especially when they’ve given as much of themselves to your club as Knibbs has since he’s been here.

Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images

It is still genuinely really gutting to see him depart, particularly this close to the start of the season.

If this had happened three weeks ago, it may not have been any less bitter a pill to swallow, but we’d have had more time to sort out a replacement. However, with frustrations mounting amongst fans already about the pace - or lack of - of incoming signings, this really couldn’t have come at a worse time.

If the fee reported is to be believed - around £1.8 million - then we’ve got ourselves a handy bit of cash to work with. As important as Knibbs was to us, in 12 months time he’d have been out of contract - so to get a health seven-figure sum for him is good work. Now, it needs to be reinvested.

There was a lot of work for the club to do before this, now there’s even more so, but hopefully we’ve just been given an extra cash injection that allows us to get cracking. The club needs to be run sensibly, of course, but we also need reinforcements, and we needed them yesterday.

If I’d asked you at the start of the calendar year for the five most crucial players to this Reading side, I’m pretty sure the same names would’ve been said. The most important in Lewis Wing crucially signed a new deal, but the other four - Sam Smith, Tyler Bindon, Mbengue and now Knibbs - have all moved on. There’s still a lot for us to be optimistic about, but that is a more than valid enough reason to have a few worries going into the new season.

Knibbs was a huge player for us, but more importantly a gargantuan personality within the club. He was a real fans’ favourite, and ran himself into the ground every time he stepped foot on the pitch. It’s a real kick in the guts to see him move on, but move on we must.

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