Where next for the Royals?
WHILE the Championship season only came to a close less than two weeks ago with the play-off final at Wembley, for Reading, plans for 2018/19 have been ongoing for over a month.
The 0-0 draw at Cardiff City on May 6 already seems like a world away as the Royals finally clinched their safety on the last day of the regular campaign.
Although the wheels had already been tentatively set into motion before that, preparations could only begin in earnest following the trip to south Wales when a sixth successive season in the second tier was officially confirmed.
Reading have now announced their entire pre-season schedule with friendlies against Eastleigh, AFC Wimbledon, Fulham and Crystal Palace as well as a weeklong trip to Austria.
But the problems of last season run a lot deeper than just the logistics of where Paul Clement’s side will play this year’s warm-up fixtures.
There can be no hiding from the fact that this is a huge summer for the Royals from top to bottom with the Chinese owners Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li, chief executive Ron Gourlay and director of football Brian Tevreden all having a massive point to prove after the failings of the last 12 months.
Many fans are becoming increasingly disgruntled at the lack of contact with Mr and Ms Dai.
The brother and sister pair took over Reading on May 16 2017, the same night as the famous play-off semi-final victory over Fulham at Madejski Stadium, but they have never spoken publicly about their time in charge.
As Gourlay pointed out in a recent conversation with The
Wokingham Paper, not all leaders like to be in the limelight, citing Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich as a good example.
While that is fair comparison, when results were turning sour last season, that would have been the perfect time for some word from those running the club to try and reassure supporters.
The duo are expected to attend more games next season but Gourlay admits Dai Yongge’s approach as a “low key owner” is unlikely to change.
To their credit, the first few months of the Dai regime was fruitful.
The duo tied the then in demand Stam down to a new long-term contract and sanctioned seven summer transfers including big money deals for the likes of Sone Aluko, Vito Mannone and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.
They then eventually took the decision to replace Stam with Clement with eight games to go with Reading sliding towards the relegation zone following a run of just one win in 19 league games.
Developing the new training ground at Bearwood is still high on the agenda for the Chinese owners with works well underway, but having put Clement in charge of on the field matters, significant funds will again be needed this year to perform the surgery required on the first team squad.
Another man with a huge summer ahead of him is Gourlay.
The former Chelsea chief exec made the switch into the Football League for the first time when he took over at Reading in July.
With the owners often overseas, Gourlay is the man running the show on a day-to-day basis and he admits it has taken some time to come to terms with life outside the elite.
But the Scot insists everyone will “put things right” this season, with this his first full summer transfer window to finally show the pedigree with which he arrived at the Mad Stad.
His major contribution so far was arguably the appointment of Clement, a coach he had worked closely with previously at Chelsea. Now having got his man, Gourlay must do all he can to push the owners to give Clement what he needs to make Reading a force in this league again.
Failure to do so could certainly reflect badly on him whenever another appointment of such importance has to be made in the future.
Aside from that, Gourlay has a key role to play in recruitment, alongside another man with a point to prove over the next few months in Tevreden.
The Dutchman has been with Reading longer then both Gourlay and the owners, arriving in February 2016 before taking up his current post as director of football two months later following the departure of Nick Hammond.
Joining from Ajax, the 36-yearold played a leading role in bringing his compatriot Stam to the club before heading recruitment of players such as Liam Moore and John Swift on bargain deals.
His work led to links with a move to Derby County and Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem, but he remains with the Royals.
But last summer’s recruitment left a lot to be desired.
While on the face of it some good business was done, notably the signing of Mo Barrow from Swansea City, the likes of Aluko and Dave Edwards have failed to live up to their price tags and the January loan signing of Chris Martin was anything but a success.
As such, getting things right off the pitch this summer will go a long way to helping improve on the near disastrous season just gone with the relationship between Gourlay and Tevreden absolutely key.
And when all that work has been complete, it’s over to the players to produce far more than they managed last season.
Many said they might have overachieved to finish third under Jaap Stam in 2016/17, but there is no doubt that the vast majority underachieved in 2017/18, lumbering to end in 20th place.
The departures of key men in
Ali Al-Habsi and Danny Williams certainly did not help, as well as a spate of injuries, but almost all of those still on the books at Reading performed well below average on too many occasions last season.
The final man with a point to prove is Clement.
It would be unfair to tarnish him with much of the problems of the previous campaign due to the fact he only arrived at the club in March with the sole task of keeping Reading in the Championship.
However, despite achieving that goal, some of the performances (notably the 4-0 home capitulation against Ipswich Town) and his managerial history leave question marks which will need answering over the coming months.
Having also saved Swansea from relegation peril a year earlier, Clement’s reign there swiftly ended a few months later with the Welsh side again struggling.
His only other managerial role came at Derby and lasted just 33 games.
Clement spoke passionately upon arrival about trying to build a side and work a longer term project as a manager at a club following those two brief stints and the rest of his career as a number two at best.
Performances since he arrived were often underwhelming but he did keep the Royals in the second tier and deserves some time to show what he is capable of.
It is fair to say that the next two months in the build-up to the season kicking off in August as well as the first two months of the campaign itself are going to go a long way to deciding if any of the key men at Reading have put things right.