Ince has worked miracles with scratch squad
IF we are lucky a couple of times a season us fans get to see truly exciting, high-quality matches.
There was no wondering about the state of the economy, how work will be tomorrow or what to have for tea – every fan’s mind was fully on Reading’s 1-1 draw with Norwich at the SCL Stadium on Tuesday night.
Paul Ince’s team are really playing now.
They matched high-flying Norwich, who five months ago were playing in the Premier League.
Inevitably, they will be at the top end of the Championship table next May, being the ultimate yo-yo club nowadays.
It is not a bad way to be.
Reading being at the top end of the Championship in May is rather less inevitable.
If they play as well as they have in this last week, which they began by very comfortably bagging three points against a poor Huddersfield
side, then there is a decent chance.
Tuesday night’s game was a significant marker.
They are now a quarter of the way through the season, and few of us would have anticipated the story that is unfolding.
We were all braced for a gruelling relegation battle.
Instead we joyously go from match to match, being royally entertained.
Players we were not too sure about a few months ago are now churning out top performances.
When Tom Ince first joined Reading nobody was sure if he was good enough to make much of an impact.
If he was, why were Stoke happy to loan him out?
Jeff Hendrick, being the wrong side of 30, looked as though his legs may have gone (I’m never sure exactly where a player’s legs go when he reaches 30, but that’s the expression).
Goalkeeper Joe Lumley can’t be much good if lowly Middlesbrough are happy for him to spend a year at rivals Reading.
And so the list of waifs and strays who have been recruited out of contract or on loan goes on.
If Reading continue to do well it shows head of football operations Mark Bowen and manager Paul Ince are in fact football geniuses.
It also shows the ridiculousness of the system and the way the game works.
All these highly-paid, highly-qualified coaches, managers, scouts and recruitment officers at clubs up and down the country are really just guessing, like the rest of us.
None of the sports science or footballing common sense tells you Reading’s current mix of players would be any good.
It turns out they’re really good.
They work hard, are serious, committed and ambitious and seem to be thoroughly likeable.
They positively relish the underdog tag, which is why Paul Ince is trying to spin the line about avoiding relegation for as long as possible.
Having reached 22 points in 12 games, relegation now would need the most dire capitulation.
The line, and Ince’s clever management of expectations, is the only thing that will have to change at Reading in the next few weeks.