Reading FC CEO Joe Jacobson has given his full backing to manager Leam Richardson and believes he is the right man to take the club back to the Championship.
The Royals suffered a dismal end to the 2025/26 campaign as they watched their play-off hopes drift away after a severe drop in form in the final two months.
That has led to thousands fans turning against the manager with many demanding a change. However, Jacobson and the club’s hierarchy have given their full backing to Richardson.
Speaking on the Elm Royals Podcast, Jacobson said: “You could hear the frustration. With five or six games we were right where we wanted to be which was incredibly good from him and his team. Unfortunately at the end we dropped off and we’ve spoken honestly in house about this that the last four or five games weren’t good enough, not just results wise but performances. No one wants to hear excuses but we probably understood where we were as a squad, we weren’t quite there and we now know what we need to move up the league.
“You can’t always just change because there is a bad six weeks. We set out a plan for the manager and believe he’s the right man to succeed with us. Everyone is really behind the manager. There’s a theme in football where there is either booing or clapping and not much in between.
“It’s not just fans that want success, everyone in the football club wants that and wants to go up as quickly as possible and we believe the manager will get that for us. You mention that he will feel under pressure, we want everyone to feel under pressure if we are not in those top positions because we should be up there.
“We feel like we have a squad good enough to compete and the infrastructure in place to do that. I want to put pressure on people to succeed. The best people work best under pressure.”
He also outlined some transfer plans for the summer. He continued: “We’ve already got a good core squad of 14 or 15. We don’t need to go and sign 10, we probably need five or six that are going to improve our starting 11. You have to be patient sometimes but we’re having some really good conversations.
“I’m not going to address every rumour on social media, some are completely off it but some aren’t far off the mark. We have full trust in Brian and his team.
“Rob wants the manager to be in place and have full control of his football department but the recruitment team have a job to do to recruit the players that fit what we want. If you have the right manager in place then the rest should be in place as well and should align.
“It’s led by the manager but also the rest of the guys in the recruitment team to what a successful team in this division looks like.
“There’ s a lot of things that go into finding the right player for us and ultimately the manager will then decide the list of players so we’ve got a nice way of doing things where we are aligned.
“There’s a few specific positions that we really need that everyone knows about. We need young, hungry, dynamic players and also a bit more steel and knowhow in the team.I’ve spoken to the manager and players about how we need to have that know-how to win, it’s a skill and an attribute that we need. We want many players who can be matchwinners for us.”
To listen to the full interview, search Elm Park Royals on your podcast app of choice.
