Gourlay away: chief exec leaves Royals family

RON GOURLAY has stepped down as Reading’s chief executive with immediate effect.

The former Chelsea and Manchester United man joined the Royals in July 2017, shortly after the club lost the Championship play-off final.

Since then it has been 16 months of struggles on the pitch with Reading only avoiding relegation on the final day of last season and again this campaign they sit 20th, level on points with the bottom three and with only four wins so far.

And the news will go down well with large sections of the Reading fanbase, who in recent weeks have aimed their frustrations towards Gourlay’s running of the club as the Royals continue to battle at the wrong end of the Championship table.

“I think now is the right time for change,” said Gourlay.

“I would like to thank the club’s owners, Mr Dai and Ms Dai, and my senior management team for their tremendous support during a challenging period for the club.

“I wish the manager, his coaching staff and the players every success for the remainder of this season and beyond.”

Gourlay has become an increasingly divisive figure at Madejski Stadium over recent months with many long-serving members such as head of the academy Lee Herron and head of marketing Dara Thomas leaving the club.

Brian Tevreden also departed earlier this year from his role as technical director to join Ms Dai’s Belgian club KSV Roeselare.

During recent interviews with the media, some of Gourlay’s comments frustrated supporters. When he first arrived the Scot outlined plans to bring European football to Madejski Stadium and this summer hinted that the club could afford to spend big in the transfer window.

In reality, the Royals have gone from being a side a couple of kicks away from the Premier League to one battling to avoid relegation into the third tier and they were also one of the lower spenders over the summer.

When The Wokingham Paper last spoke with Gourlay in September, he explained that his first year at Reading had been tougher than he anticipated.

The club’s owners Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li thanked Gourlay for “his hard work and professionalism” and “wish him well in his next venture and future endeavours”.

There is no news of any imminent replacement with the process now underway to find a new chief exec.

See The Sports Paper inside for our Reading fan columnist Simeon Pickup’s take on Gourlay’s departure.