Pressure is growing on Reading FC manager Noel Hunt with fans demanding improved performances and results after a lacklustre start to the League One season.
It was supposed to be a new era of hope and optimism for the Royals having been freed of the shackles of Dai Yongge’s horrendous ownership and a tortuous takeover process.
Redwood Holdings, Rob Couhig and Todd Trosclair, took to the helm in Berkshire and promised a new ‘financially stable’ future for the club.
Albeit, Couhig also claimed that the club had the potential to have a spectacular transfer window in what was a busy period for the Royals which saw several incomings and outgoing across the summer.
Despite eventually putting together a competitive enough squad towards the end of the window, results have been more than disappointing thus far
A draw at Exeter meant that the Royals dropped into the relegation places at the weekend, an unthinkable outcome given how close they were to achieving a play-off spot last season.
Not only have fans been angered by results, which has included six draws, supporters have also raised concerns about the lack of a coherent tactical plan and variation needed throughout games.
Reading have often relied on individual moments of brilliance this campaign when they have picked up points, whether that be a trademark stunner from Lewis Wing or Jack Marriott’s hot streak of six goals in six starts.
Meanwhile, with the team now languishing in the drop zone, many fans believe now is the right time for a change in management.
That question was posed to chairman Couhig last week at a Q&A, but he was vehement in his backing of Hunt.
He stated that he’s not a big believer of changing managers in order to try and quickly improve results and also highlighted how impressed he and CEO Joe Jacobson have been with Hunt’s work around the club.
Hunt has plenty of admirers around the club, thanks in part to his excellent contributions as a player which saw him help the Royals win promotion to the Premier League in 2011/12.
There’s no doubting that Hunt cares deeply for the club, but many are starting to lose patience with his tactical decisions, and quickly. He’s a fantastic person and I do wish that things will work out well, unfortunately at this time that is not the case.
He did an admirable job in the second-half of last season as he helped maintain a push for play-offs, which ultimately fell just short. But having now had enough time to try and gel this new squad of players together it’s apparent that the team is currently failing well below expectations.
With the risk of sounding patronising, I personally think Hunt was perfectly suited to being involved in the Academy set up and has done a superb job in helping maintain the high standards of bringing players through the youth teams and moulding them into first-team assets.
In fairness some key members of last seasons squad left the club in the summer, including Amadou Mbengue, Harvey Knibbs, and Tyler Bindon notably.
However, I do believe that Reading still have a squad which should be at least competing in the top half of the table.
Joel Pereira is an exceptional goalkeeper at this level and was arguably the best keeper in the division last season.
You could make a strong case for Lewis Wing being the best midfielder in the league. He’s a talismanic figure and no player in Europe has scored more goals from outside the box than him over the past two seasons.
Jack Marriott has shown his true quality in his short period and the ability and experience of a player like Matt Ritchie at this level is absolutely invaluable.
The blame cannot solely be on Hunt. Questions could, and should, be asked whether the hierarchy did enough in to summer to build him a competitive squad quickly enough.
Ideally every manager wants a strong squad to work with through pre-season and Hunt wasn’t afforded that luxury. Although the squad is in decent enough shape now, we shouldn’t forget that Hunt was left to work with just one striker, and a lack of attacking options in total, throughout pre-season and the first few games of the season.
Some could argue that for some of the reasons listed above that Hunt should be afforded more time to try and turn things around.
Although Couhig has shown loyalty and trust in his managers throughout his time at Wycombe, the pressure is now on for the management team to rectify results or Couhig’s first season in charge could turn out to be a disappointment.
Ultimately the decision for change is one that simply has to be on the mind of the hierarchy and although it’s tough to part ways with someone that deserves the utmost respect from everyone at the club, it might just be necessary.
