On reflection, the following article ended up more negative than I’d originally intended, so I had thought about spiking it (I typically prefer positive vibes, especially on the eve of a match!).
That said, it’s an honest reflection of where I’m at right now, it helped me collect my somewhat disparate thoughts, I don’t think any of it’s unfair or over the top, and the ending hopefully (as intended) comes across as constructive. I’ll let you make up your own mind on all of that though.
It goes without
saying that everything can change very quickly in football. Very quickly indeed, sometimes. Short of such a drastic swing in fortunes however, an immensely disappointing Easter weekend has probably put one of the final nails in the coffin of Reading’s playoff bid.
The Royals were moments from a huge win at Huddersfield Town, but were undone by one lapse in concentration. A few days later, Lewis Wing had seemingly rescued an unlikely point against league leaders Lincoln City… only for Reading to spontaneously combust, throwing away a goal, a point, much of their top-six chances and a huge amount of goodwill from the home fans in attendance in the process.
All of that’s left me feeling… well, I’m not completely sure to be honest. None of the emotions going around my head this week have been that positive (naturally), but neither are they particularly negative. I’m not angry, sad or despondent.
Rather, I’m unenthused, bored and largely emotionally checked-out, like I’m at the end of a long, tedious train journey that I just want to be done with at this point.
Given Reading are coming to the climax of a theoretically tight playoff push (we’re still only two points off sixth!), I really should be getting the ‘butterflies in the stomach’ feeling that only the end of a football season provides.
I should do, but I don’t. How disappointing that is. What a let-down.
I can only speak for myself on my own emotions of course, and I really hope most fans don’t resonate with how I’m feeling, but it seems a safe bet in saying I’m far from alone. After all, the mood on Twitter in the aftermath of Monday’s game (admittedly an unscientific metric but typically still a useful bellwether) was about as sour as it’s been all season.
Naturally, the mood could change a fair amount somewhat quickly, and I hope it does, I really do. This article (which I’ve written to collect my thoughts, as much as anything else) has ended up much more glum than I’d anticipated and, all things being well, I’ll look back on this piece in a few weeks’ time – before a playoff final perhaps – and laugh at it.
That being said, right now there’s a remarkable level of cynicism in the fanbase towards a team that, remember, still on paper has it all to play for. I don’t see that negativity dissipating even with a perfect set of results on Saturday. Even if Reading take the playoff bid to the final day, I don’t foresee the same level of optimism going into that fixture as there was for the equivalent game last season, when we hosted Barnsley.
Is this the best we’re capable of?
Personally, I really won’t lose any sleep if Reading don’t go up this season. It’s so difficult even at the best of times for any team to get promoted, so I’m at peace with that outcome being an aspiration rather than an obligation.
Plus, the bigger picture is that this side needs long-term, thorough, consistent building (as is also true of the club overall). Leam Richardson’s spoken about this broader context before and he’s made important, valuable points.
And while I’m on this point, the prospect of watching that long-term development really taking off, starting in the summer, is probably the most exciting thing about this club for me at the moment. I can’t wait to see a proper transfer window (undisrupted by embargoes or a recent takeover) and for the stadium to get a much-needed facelift.
Back to the here and now though. What I do object to is the playoff bid stalling in large part because this group hasn’t stepped up to the challenge, because it’s underperformed in its own right.
Reading weren’t too bad in the first half of the trip to Stevenage – arguably our biggest game of the season – but were dreadful going forwards after the break. No shots whatsoever, one of the easiest 45 minutes the hosts’ ‘keeper will have all season.
After a much-improved performance at home to Wigan Athletic, the Royals were poor in the first half at Huddersfield Town. Though there was pretty good game-management in the second half when 1-0 up, that was undone by late sloppiness – which couldn’t be complained about that much, given Reading had mustered precisely one shot after the break.
To be fair, most sides in the division would struggle to break down a Lincoln City side on the verge of promotion and boosted by an early opener. But Reading were particularly vapid on Easter Monday: no quality, urgency or threat going forwards, only managing one shot on target all afternoon: a late (albeit sublime) free-kick from Wing.
Some of you will I’m sure counter that I’ve been too generous with the above assessment of Reading’s last four games. Humour me for a minute and put the most positive reasonable spin on those performances – even then, were they collectively the best we could do? Was that good enough? Was that what we should expect of a side competing to be in the Championship next season?
Though not every player has been at fault, I don’t see this side collectively stepping up to the challenge and collectively taking responsibility. Equally, while injuries have certainly dealt him a weaker hand, Richardson hasn’t played the cards available to him well enough.
Where do we go from here?
Finishing in the top six from here is out of our hands, but how our own final four games go very much is. So my challenge for this side is to leave everything out there against Doncaster Rovers, Cardiff City, Rotherham United and Blackpool, to take this playoff race as far as possible.
Give me reasons to be optimistic, prove my cynicism wrong, make me miss this season, and show why I should look forward to the next one.
