Easter weekend increases play-off pressure
HOW was Easter? Three Reading games in the space of four days summed up my Easter break.
They say variety is the spice of life, so mixed results, lots of goals, even more chocolate and weather ranging from warm sunshine to light snow showers made it a decent long weekend.
Good Friday’s long drive up the M1 was rewarded with a point, and unusually the gift of a large Easter egg from Barnsley FC. There is a club that knows how to win over journalists and broadcasters.
It was a tight, intense, physical, game most memorable for a sequence of shambolic play more akin to Sunday morning pub football than the Championship, ending in a howler of a miss from Lucas Joao.
The next day it was back to the Madejski Stadium to watch the Reading women’s team take on bottom of the table West Ham.
Reading found themselves 5-0 down after 37 minutes. That was it for goals and entertainment.
Reading sit mid table with three games remaining in the WSL, but manager Kelly Chambers was not impressed with her team’s performance.
After a day busily trying to eat my own bodyweight in chocolate, it was back to the Madejski Stadium again for an Easter Monday encounter against
Derby County.
Manager Veljko Paunovic had a good day, dropping top goal scorer Joao to the bench.
His replacement, George Puscas, played well and scored. Joao came on with eight minutes remaining and sealed the game with a goal.
Three points, still sixth on 66 points, with six games remaining, makes it all very exciting.
A lot will happen in the next few weeks. Most entertainingly, will Reading finish in the top six, and thereby reach the end of season play-offs?
Most gut-wrenchingly, will Reading then win the play-offs at Wembley? Most importantly, what will the end of year accounts say about the financial state of the football club, and will the EFL dish out a punishment for over-spending? Most unpredictably, what will the owners do to ready themselves for next season, with the recruitment or retention of management and players?
We will have most of the answers to these questions by the end of next month. A lot of water is passing under the bridge.
The best case scenario is Reading finish in the top six, win the playoffs, the end-of-year accounts are not as bad as feared and the EFL overlooks spending transgressions, and Veljko Paunovic is given a decent war chest to recruit Premier League quality players.
The worst case scenario is Reading slip out the top six and miss out on the play-offs, get clobbered with a 15-point deduction and an eye-watering fine by the EFL for over-spending, sack Veljko Paunovic and do not have the means to recruit quality players for next season. There are 540 minutes of football remaining this season, and then potentially another 270 minutes of play-off football (assuming the games do not go into extra time).
That is not very long to secure the club’s future.