Remarkably, Reading have ended up giving a firefighting managerial job to a man who didn’t want to be a firefighting manager and the head of football operations role to a man who didn’t want to be a head of football operations.
For the avoidance of doubt, that’s Paul Ince in the former role and Mark Bowen in the latter. Both men’s positions were confirmed within five minutes of each other on Monday evening as the club finally got their act together in the communications department.
Let’s take them one by one. Starting with Ince, who said last year he wanted to manage a club where there was a long-term project. He didn’t want to take a short-term role with no cash to spend.
But that’s exactly what he did when he replaced Veljko Paunovic at the helm in February and it’s not too far off from the situation he finds himself in now his interim position has been made permanent. While there’s no longer the short-term goal of surviving relegation in 11 weeks, that will undoubtedly be the goal across the whole of next season.
Reading have had no semblance of a plan that a manager can embody for some time now and we are still not allowed to spend money in the transfer market. That’s not a project, that’s a rescue mission.
Then there’s Bowen who turned down a head of football operations role at Reading less than two years ago – or sporting director as it was called back (they’ve rebadged it, you fool!).
The Welshman later admitted he felt he wouldn’t have enjoyed doing the job and wanted to be a manager instead.
So what’s different now?
For both men, they have probably reassessed their own ambitions and credentials. Ince – who had not managed in over eight years before February – has probably realised he is unlikely to get a role at this level of the pyramid anywhere else.
Meanwhile, Bowen spent 19 months out of work after leaving Reading before joining Wimbledon in March – who he promptly suffered relegation to League Two with. He was hardly going to be flooded with phone calls from owners either.
More optimistically, perhaps they both believe that things are changing at Reading. Ince has previously said he would only stay at the club if he and the owner agreed on the structure and culture that should be in place – and by agree I mean that Dai Yongge is prepared to take guidance from Ince, who despite his faults at least knows what a competent structure should look like.
The arrival of Bowen behind the scenes is certainly a sign that some kind of framework is being put in place.
Ince and Bowen aren’t exactly the dream team, but neither of them are going into the new season blind. They should both be well aware of the problems and challenges that exist at the football club. I just hope that they have the solutions.
By Olly Allen
