Reading Football Club News: October 2019

Bowen Starts Managerial Career With Victory

19 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading secured a much needed dramatic victory in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Matt Miazga fired home the rebound from Jordan Obita's superb strike from outside the box. Newly appointed Mark Bowen could not have wished for a better start to his tenure as Royals manager. Bowen's impact was immediate and obvious for all to see and his reward of three points was richly deserved. In a refreshing change of tactics, the tedious exchange of passes around their own penalty area were replaced by a desire to get the ball forward quicker and more directly. Defensively the marking was tighter and every Reading player was quick to close down opponents on the ball to such an extent North End were restricted a mere four goal attempts on target to Reading's twelve. The players looked more comfortable with the change in tactics and the fans went home happy for the first time since the win against Cardiff way back in August.
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Mark Bowen Set To Be Named Manager

14 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Mark Bowen is expected to be named as the new Reading first team manager, to replace Jose Gomes who was sacked last week. Bowen has been at Reading since March of this year, arriving as a consultant before becoming "sporting director" in August 2019. Bowen was expected to be in charge of finding a new manager for the club but instead will now become manager himself.

It is being widely reported that Bowen agreed terms with the club last night to become the new boss. It an appointment that seems underwhelming, particually as he follows on from a manager that fans thought capable of turning the fortunes of the club around, before having his contract cut dramatically short. Bowen has a tough act to follow and will do well to remain long-term manager given the recent managerial history at Reading FC.

Bowen will take control with his team already in the bottom three of the Championship. Although fans had high hopes at the start of the season, Bowen will now been seen as a success if he can simply prevent Reading from dropping into League One. Expectations have dramatically changed at the club since Gomes led the Royals into the top half of the table less than two months ago.

Bowen's signed a temporary playing contract with Reading in 1999 after a long playing career that included spells at Spurs, Norwich, West Ham United and Charlton before arriving at Reading. He made a single appearance for the Royals in the first round of the Auto Windscreens Shield, playing 90 minutes as the Royals beat Leyton Orient 1-0 in front of 1,561 fans at the Madejski Stadium. He never played for the Royals again and instead hung up his boots to become assistant manager of Wales under Mark Hughes. Most of Bowen's coaching career has involved following Hughes as assistant manager.

Apart from a brief spell as caretaker manager at QPR, Bowen has been assistant manager almost non-stop since taking the role with Wales. He was reserve manager at Crystal Palace before spells at Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, QPR, Stoke and Southampton before arriving at Reading earlier this year.

Bowen is expected to bring former Reading coach Eddie Niedzwiecki back to the club to become his assistant. Former Chelsea goalkeeeper Niedzwiecki was caretaker manager of Reading for nearly a month in April 1991 after the departure of Ian Porterfield.

Club Confirm Jose Gomes Departure

09 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

After it was widely reported throughout yesterday, Reading Football Club have officially released a statement to confirm the departure of manager Jose Gomes. The brief statement confirms that the club took the decision to sack Gomes after a return of just two wins from the opening 11 games of the new Championship season. There is no news just yet on who the club intend to bring in to replace Gomes, although former Wales, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Southampton manager Mark Hughes remains favourite:

Reading Football Club can announce that Jose Gomes has left his position as first team manager.

Gomes joined the club at the end of December 2018 and successfully steered the club away from the threat of relegation.

However, following just two wins in the first 11 league games in 2019-20, owner Mr Yongge Dai has made the difficult decision to part company with Gomes and make a change at first team level.

We would like to sincerely thank Jose for his hard work during his tenure as manager at Reading Football Club and we wish him the very best of luck in his future career.

The club will make no additional comment at this time but will provide further updates as soon as possible.

Jose Gomes - His Short Career At Reading

09 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

After yesterday's talks between Reading Football Club and Jose Gomes, it now only seems a matter of time before official confirmation that Gomes has been dismissed as first team manager following a short run of poor results. As we wait for the club to confirm what is hugely disappointing news, we take a look at all the games in his short tenure as Reading manager.

Jose Gomes was confirmed as Reading manager on 22 December 2018, just after a 0-1 home defeat against Middlesbrough. That game saw caretaker manager Scott Marshall finish with just one point from his three games in charge. The Royals dropped to 21st in the Championship table. So Gomes is set to leave the club with the Royals lower in the table than when he started after we dropped to 22nd at the weekend following a defeat at Bristol City.

His first nine games in charge returned just a single win, before form improved and the Royals ended the season with 5 wins from 15 games. It was still hardly amazing form, but it was a reasonable turn around in a short space of time and Reading finished the season in 20th place and safe from relegation. Club and fans agreed that Gomes had succeeded in his first objective as Reading manager and he was allowed to make dramatic changes to the playing squad over the summer.

Despite that Reading started the season in familiar fashion with two straight defeats. A victory at Wycombe, although only on penalties, in the League Cup appeared to kick-start the season and was followed by that impressive win over Cardiff where Reading played the best football they had played in years. An impressive 1-1 draw at West Brom was followed by a 2-0 win at Huddersfield and Reading found themselves officially in the top half of the table. Another League Cup win - 4-2 at Plymouth and there was genuine excitement that Reading were set for a strong season.

But how quickly things can change. Reading then went on to collect just a single point from the next 6 league games, scoring just three league games as all the early season hope fell away leaving Reading back in the relegation positions and Gomes looking for a new job.

Jose Gomes Full Record As Reading Manager

DATE OPPOSITION COMPETITION SCORE REPORT ATT POS
26 December 2018 Millwall (Away) Championship L: 0-1 Report... 12202 23
29 December 2018 QPR (Away) Championship D: 0-0 Report... 15721 23
01 January 2019 Swansea (HOME) Championship L: 1-4 Report... 15644 23
05 January 2019 Man Utd (Away) FA Cup L: 0-2 Report... 73918 -
12 January 2019 Nottm Forest (HOME) Championship W: 2-0 Report... 15034 22
19 January 2019 Derby (Away) Championship L: 1-2 Report... 26404 22
29 January 2019 Bolton (Away) Championship D: 1-1 Report... 12195 22
02 February 2019 Aston Villa (HOME) Championship D: 0-0 Report... 17458 22
09 February 2019 Sheff Wed (Away) Championship D: 0-0 Report... 23412 22
13 February 2019 Blackburn (HOME) Championship W: 2-1 Report... 11271 21
16 February 2019 Sheff Utd (Away) Championship L: 0-4 Report... 26513 21
23 February 2019 Rotherham (HOME) Championship D: 1-1 Report... 15958 21
02 March 2019 Ipswich (Away) Championship W: 2-1 Report... 23009 21
09 March 2019 Wigan (HOME) Championship W: 3-2 Report... 15401 19
12 March 2019 Leeds (HOME) Championship L: 0-3 Report... 17101 19
16 March 2019 Stoke (Away) Championship D: 0-0 Report... 24368 21
30 March 2019 Preston (HOME) Championship W: 2-1 Report... 16771 19
06 April 2019 Hull (Away) Championship L: 1-3 Report... 11268 21
10 April 2019 Norwich (Away) Championship D: 2-2 Report... 26662 20
13 April 2019 Brentford (HOME) Championship W: 2-1 Report... 16892 19
19 April 2019 Bristol C (Away) Championship D: 1-1 Report... 23309 19
22 April 2019 West Brom (HOME) Championship D: 0-0 Report... 17255 20
27 April 2019 Middlesbro (Away) Championship L: 1-2 Report... 22003 20
05 May 2019 Birmingham (HOME) Championship D: 0-0 Report... 17247 20
03 August 2019 Sheff Wed (HOME) Championship L: 1-3 Report... 16319 24
10 August 2019 Hull (Away) Championship L: 1-2 Report... 10673 22
13 August 2019 Wycombe (Away) League Cup W: 1-1 (pens) Report... 4802 -
18 August 2019 Cardiff (HOME) Championship W: 3-0 Report... 14252 17
21 August 2019 West Brom (Away) Championship D: 1-1 Report... 21803 15
24 August 2019 Huddersfield (Away) Championship W: 2-0 Report... 21847 11
27 August 2019 Plymouth (Away) League Cup W: 4-2 Report... 8365 -
31 August 2019 Charlton (HOME) Championship L: 0-2 Report... 16906 16
14 September 2019 Middlesbro (Away) Championship L: 0-1 Report... 19414 17
21 September 2019 Blackburn (HOME) Championship L: 1-2 Report... 16906 20
25 September 2019 Wolves (Away) League Cup L: 1-1 (pens) Report... 20702 -
28 September 2019 Swansea (Away) Championship D: 1-1 Report... 16036 20
01 October 2019 Fulham (HOME) Championship L: 1-4 Report... 13809 21
05 October 2019 Bristol C (Away) Championship L: 0-1 Report... 21419 22

Gomes To Get The Boot

08 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading are set to dispose of the services of manager Jose Gomes, after yet another short term appointment at the club. The constant sacking of managers is getting Reading nowhere, and Gomes dismissal is a ridiculous decision after he has spent less than 10 months at the club. Just over a month ago, after three wins from four games, everyone was saying Jose Gomes was one of the best things to happen to the club and he was set to lead Reading on a promotion push. Fast forward just seven games and Reading find themselves in the bottom three and the club seem to think the solution is to sack the manager rather than give him time.

Gomes came into the club at the end of last year and did enough to keep Reading in the Championship. He was allowed to spend big over the summer and brought in a number of exciting signings. For a while it looked like we had turned the corner after a couple of poor seasons. A 3-0 home demolition of Swansea sent fans away the happiest they had been for some time, and that was followed by a win and a draw on the road as Reading climbed to 11th in the table and a couple of points outside the top six.

The fans, the press, and everyone connected with the club were hailing Gomes as a genius appointment. It feels bizarre that it can all change in such a short space of time and that Reading will be on the hunt, yet again, for another first team manager. Once again whoever gets the job will know that unless there is some kind of miracle they too will be looking for a new job inside a year.

What Are the Best Bets on Reading This Season?

07 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Whether it's live roulette or online slots, we all love a flutter every now and then. Sports betting is no exception. But with so many teams and an array of markets, it can tricky finding a successful route.

While many punters opt for the safe bets like Manchester City and Liverpool, these often come with narrow – and fortune favours the bold! If you want to win big, you're much better looking for more specific markets in games where the result is a bit less predictable.

So, what about Reading? Despite a poor start to the 2019-20 season, there are still a range of decent bets on the Royals for supporters or just neutrals...

Don't back Reading - yet

After 8 points from their opening 11 league matches, it's fair to say you shouldn’t back Reading just yet this season. The Royals opened the season with back to back defeats, before gaining seven of their eight points in a string of three league fixtures to close August.

Since then, they've lost five and drawn one away to Swansea. Unfortunately, that's left Reading 22nd in the Championship table just short of safety, with Huddersfield above on goals scored.

Broken down into home and away form, there's a bit more success on the road. Reading have picked up five points away from home, compared to three at the Madejski, with both their draws coming in away matches. By and large, however, it's nothing worth betting on, and there are some more interesting trends to look at...

Both teams to score

Results aside, one thing that is promising is that Reading have a tendency to score goals, even when they don't manage to win the game. The Royals have only failed to score in three of their eleven matches this season. Considering that their leaky defence has kept just two clean sheets in the league, both teams to score could be a good bet.

That's especially the case on 22nd October, when Reading travel to QPR for a midweek clash. Sitting 9th in the table with 19 points from 11 matches, the Rs have had a relatively good start to the season. However, they've still conceded 19 goals - the fourth highest number in the league.

Quite impressively, they've managed to stay within touching distance of the playoffs without keeping a single clean sheet. Needless to say, it&'s pretty likely both teams will score in that one.

Over 2.5

Football is a low-scoring game, with 0-0, 1-0 and 0-1 the most common scores every season. However, with Reading freely scoring and conceding goals, they're quite a good team to back for matches to exceed the 2.5 mark. Out of Reading's opening 11 matches, almost half (five) have had three goals or more.

More specifically, four of their five league matches at the Madejski have exceeded 2.5 goals. The only exception being a 0-2 loss to Charlton, where a strong save prevented John Swift's late free kick from taking the match total to three goals.

Of course, this still requires some judgement. After facing Preston, Millwall and Luton at home, Reading will come up against Leeds at the end of November. With league's strongest defence, it's fair to say the Leeds fixture could be an exception to the rule when it comes to backing over 2.5 goals. They've kept a league-high five clean sheets and conceded just seven goals in 11 games.

Reading Well Beaten After 30 Minutes

01 October 2019
By Hob Nob Anyone?

It took Fulham a mere thirty minutes to demolish a Reading side reduced to ten men following a couple of rash challenges by John Swift twenty minutes into a game dominated by the away side. Already behind from an early strike from Cairney, Reading conceded two goals in the space of three minutes following Swift's dismissal. There is no doubt being reduced to ten men was a contributing factor to this heavy defeat, but make no mistake about it, Fulham looked capable of cutting Reading open at will from the start. More worrying from a Reading perspective is the way, for the third home game in succession, the opposition have simply pressed high and effectively early in the game, preventing Reading from playing out from the back, and then exploited their alarming defensive deficiencies to go on and win the game comfortably.
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