Another month has been and passed us by, and now we already find ourselves in April: the month of Easter eggs, incremental improvements in the weather, hot cross buns and even a change in the clocks to give us more sunlight.
A lot of stuff and things happened in the past month, and here is where we will discuss these. I’ll provide my thoughts and opinions on those things: knee-jerk reactions, if you will.
For the previous months I’ve been writing this feature, it’d always felt like we had a lot of
the season left to play and a lot could change; whether it be a playoff push or a total drop of form. Definitely injuries. They always seem to happen to us.
However, now we’re in April, we’re officially at the business end of the season already. How quickly did that come around?
With only six games left to play, Reading are pushing for that sixth-place finish to seal the final playoff spot. However, with most of the games coming up against good and/or competitive teams, including the current top two, and competing against in-form sides such as Stevenage and Plymouth Argyle, there’s still a lot of work to be done to make this possible.
But that’s April. Here, we’ll talk about March. Let’s go then!
Form and performances
It always feels like we have a “mixed bag” of performances when it comes to us. We typically seem to always lose one game against a team in the lower regions of the table each month, but also seem to find the time to put in one good attacking performance that turns the frowns upside down and makes us more hopeful again.
March really was the epitome of this, with three wins, two losses and one draw.
The month kicked off with a visit to Luton Town and, for all those at the stadium (myself – unusually – included) it was an incredible away support backing the boys that day.
Going 1-0 up, then 2-1 down and then winning 3-2 was just sensationally edge-of-your-seat madness, capped off by Long Kelvin’s hat-trick. This was particularly important, given Jack Marriott had just been ruled out for the rest of the season in the last game in February.
This was followed by the customary loss against the lower-reaches-of-the-league side, this time Mansfield Town, where we were absolutely awful. However, this side showed they have the capability to bounce back and played out an entertaining draw – a game we perhaps could/should have won – against an in-form Plymouth side at the SCL.
We got the job done – somehow – against Burton Albion, before facing Stevenage. This game was the biggest of our season at this point: Stevenage, with a game in hand on us, were our closest rivals to that sixth-placed finish.
You wouldn’t have known it though, given we played so badly. We then followed that up with our best performance of the season, aided by a blunt and poor Wigan Athletic display, to win 3-0 and round off the month still hopeful of that sixth-place finish – but not quite in as strong a position before, having conceded ground to Stevenage.
On the one hand, to be in the playoff race at all given the start of the season is positive, and it’s credit to Leam Richardson and his coaching team for that turnaround. However, it’s also incredibly frustrating because you look at what this group can do and you can’t help but woe the bad days at the office which could (and probably will) cost us that playoff finish.
I think we all know what Leam-ball is all about now, and while it’s not enduringly popular, we’ve made our peace with it. The challenge for the side now is to take the kind of performances we saw against Luton, Plymouth and Wigan and make them the norm, not the exception to the long-ball hit-and-hope mess we’ve seen for the most part this year.
The playoff race
Some might say the Mansfield loss was what really messed things up for us, others may say it was the Stevenage non-performance. Truthfully, I think it was a bit of both, but certainly the Stevenage defeat was the six-pointer we needed to go in our favour.
We have an out-of-form Huddersfield Town coming up as the first game in April, followed by Easter Monday’s visit of top-of-the-league-and-subsequently-quite-good-at-football Lincoln City.
Second-placed Cardiff City visit in mid-April, sandwiched between away games against playing-for-nothing Doncaster Rovers and a Rotherham United side fighting against relegation, capped off with the last game against Blackpool, also fighting against relegation.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to any team before – definitely not us – but it’s almost like we are more reliant on those teams we are playing having off-days than us turning in a good performance.
I think this says a lot about the fan feelings for the performances this year. However, Huddersfield are busy dropping like a stone. Could that be a chance for us?
Lincoln may already be promoted by the time we play them, as could Cardiff when that fixture arrives. Will they both take it easy?
Will Doncaster similarly take it easy with nothing to play for? Rotherham could already been relegated by the time we play them, so will they even turn up for that? Blackpool may also find they have nothing left to play for in the last game.
It’s a weird situation to find ourselves in. Weird and frustrating – while we don’t like the performances (most of the time), if we had Richardson leading the side at the start of the season, it’s incredibly likely we would be comfortably preparing for Wembley, rather than anxiously hoping fortune shines on us.
And that’s always a dangerous thing, as a Reading fan: to hope fortune shines on us. After all, look at the injuries.
Injuries
March was a tough month for injury news. Already without (likely) player of the season Marriott, we also lost Randell Williams and Benn Ward for the rest of the campaign. This is coupled with the who-knows-what-happened-to-them list of Ben Elliott, Andy Rinomhota and Mark O’Mahony.
Richardson was very vocal when he joined about the lack of fitness within the squad, and he wasn’t wrong about that. However, he hasn’t improved the injury issues within the six months or so he’s been with us. That’s very much on him, and you have to question what’s happening on the training ground to cause this.
It hasn’t all been bad news. The final game of March saw surprise returns for both Daniel Kyerewaa and Haydon Roberts, who had both been out for some time. As well as this, despite picking up a niggle against Stevenage, Jeriel Dorsett has been able to return to the side. It’s too early to say he’s past his injury-proneness, but it’s encouraging to see.
However, there’s no denying that a lot of these players currently on the sidelines would improve most sides in this division: they’d definitely make a difference for our side. It’s hugely frustrating not having them available during such a crucial run-in, but it does present opportunities for others to step up.
Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan
Did you like that segway? Long Kelvin has always been frustratingly inconsistent since breaking through into the first team back in the 2023/24 season. The talent has always been there, but the in-game intelligence and willingness haven’t necessarily.
It felt like, without Marriott, our playoff hopes had died. We were wrong. Kelvin has stepped up spectacularly: a hat-trick against Luton, two goals against Wigan, more headers won, better-timed runs and improvement as a focal point to the side – they’re all signs that the player we all knew was there is starting to break through.
The obvious parallels are being drawn between Kelvin’s improvement in performances and the presence of coaching from James Beattie, and this is likely the case.
However, it also shows the benefit of the coaching team that Richardson has picked and the owners supporting Richardson by doubling the coaching staff. We literally haven’t had this many first-team coaches since the Pauno days.
I’ve spoken a lot about how this is a now-or-never moment for Reading’s playoff hopes, but similarly, this really feels like Long Kelvin’s audition to show he can be the future – and the now – for this club.
Previously the feeling was the ownership probably would have been happy to bid him farewell this summer. March has entirely changed that narrative: it wouldn’t be crazy to expect a new, longer-term deal signed in the coming months. That’s quite the turnaround from Kelvin.
Joel Pereira
It’s gone a little bit more quiet towards the end of the month, but it’s worth noting that, at the start of March, there were a lot of murmurs about Pereira’s performances. He’s not performing as well as last season; this we already knew but could also be excused somewhat given the constant rotation of the defence in front of him.
However, having come to Reading with a reputation as a sweeper-keeper, his work with the ball at his feet has come under scrutiny. Except for *that* moment against Wigan.
It’s notable that his distribution with the ball has been an issue all season. Indeed, perhaps it’s getting worse, though this could also be reflective of the massive gaps in midfield and the difficulty to find players in space when playing the ball out.
Maybe he needs more competition? After all, he was at his best when having to usurp David Button. Maybe he needs better coaching? Or maybe he needs to throw the ball more often. It’s a frustratingly underused part of his arsenal, given how far and accurately he can launch the ball.
Kamari Doyle
Doyle has been an ever-present for us this season but hasn’t really shown us what he is capable of. I think this is not helped by the fact that the double pivot drop so deep that he has to cover so much ground to link the attack and the midfield together, effectively doing the job of two people.
However, March was his best month for us and he had been starting to come into a rich vein of form at a crucial moment of the season. March saw him provide a goal and an assist among other things, but where he has thrived is his dovetailing with Charlie Savage in supporting the striker.
But of course, it can’t all be that easy. Doyle was subbed off after 45 minutes against Wigan and is out of the two Easter games at least. Let’s hope he’s not out for longer: he’d be key for us in April.
Randell Williams and Benn Ward
On the topic of the frustrations with injury, here are two examples. I’m not sure whether we have just managed to sign a lot of injury-prone players under Richardson’s watch, or whether we’ve just been unlucky.
Randell Williams has probably been our best winger this season. After a slow start, he’s gotten better and better and has been a real asset for us as both an attacker and a wing-back. Not just this, but his long throw is irreplaceable for us.
Ward took a few games to get into the side but really looked at home when he came in, either at centre-back or left-back. He’s been a clear upgrade on Dorsett and not having him available is a real shame for such a promising talent.
However, injuries aside, it’s reassuring to see how much better the recruitment has been under Richardson’s watch. How much is owing to his input is unclear, but it’s clear he knows the type of player he wants and all but two that he has brought in have added strength in depth and made immediate, positive impacts.
Will Keane
One of those two being Will Keane. It just hasn’t worked, has it? He’s played as a lone striker, as a 10 and as a second striker and he’s just not been able to contribute much at all.
Maybe he’s struggling with his fitness as well – another January-signing theme. Admittedly though, it’s hard to say where we would have found any better as a loan signing in January, so it was worth the punt, but it just hasn’t worked out.
I’m sure he is a fantastic professional and presence at Bearwood and in the changing room. However, we should be sending him back to Preston North End in May with a thank you and a good luck for the future.
Tivonge Rushesha
A player who needs good luck for the future. I’m told he released a video describing how difficult it has been for him to not get any game time in the first team and how hard it’s been knowing that nothing he does will help him get minutes in the first team.
I sympathise. It’s probably right that we won’t keep him past the summer, but when you look at our bench these days, very often we have a real lack of available central midfielders.
Rushesha has mostly played right-back for us in the first team – out of position – but he offers us energy in the centre of the park and he’s not a bad player. He’s also a great communicator and really popular among team mates.
It’s a mystery why he’s not getting any minutes right now.
Finances
The annual financial figures were released at the end of March for the 2024/25 season, and it’s an interesting read. While there are some negatives such as reduced average attendance, there are a lot of positives to take away.
We have massively reduced the wage bill, literally spending half of what we did in the final season in the Championship. That’s a huge amount of work undertaken in two years. Matchday revenue has crept up a bit, as have the season tickets sold. All this helps to massively reduce the wages-to-turnover ratio to the lowest it’s been in a number of years (127%).
There’s still work to be done, and it will be fascinating to see the figures next year reviewing this year, with the new ownership having spent in the transfer market and having a much bigger playing squad.
However, it’s good to see the improvements and know the team behind the scenes are working hard to keep this club afloat and stable.
