Reading Football Club has not been short of sagas in recent years, but last week was certainly up there with the most dramatic. Reflecting on it now, it seems scarcely fathomable.
The first surprise came when it was announced that Nigel Howe would be stepping away from his position as Chief Executive and returning to his previous position of Vice-Chairman. The unknown Dayong Pang was his replacement.
Commenting on Howe’s tenure as CEO since his return in December 2018 is hard, given we’ll never know how much true control he had in that time, but it was far from perfect – particularly considering the club’s perilous financial position. Yet surely as someone who has been associated with Reading in some capacity for the last 25 years, Howe is better placed to take the lead behind the scenes than Pang, who simply appears to be a close associate of Dai Yongge with little or no football experience.
It is perhaps no surprise that once he had moved one of the club’s key antagonists to the side, Mr Dai went about replacing another – manager Mark Bowen. When I first saw this news, I was angry. Now having thought about it a lot over the past week, I’ve come to the resolution that it is not necessarily the decision that I disagree with, but the timing.
Boiling it down, replacing Bowen after the end of the season would not have been entirely nonsensical. He won just one a home game in 2020, the post-lockdown form was underwhelming and many supporters became frustrated by his defensive approach and lack of a clear style. I personally would have kept him regardless – I warmed to Bowen as a person, he turned Reading’s immediate form around when he took over and a 14th place finish is certainly progress – but his job was by no means safe going into the summer.
But to make the change a week before the first game of the season against Colchester United in the EFL Cup, and a week after Bowen was busy trying out a new system in a friendly against Gillingham, is simply baffling. It is the worst possible preparation for the new campaign and puts the whole club on the backfoot. The fact that his replacement, Veljko Paunovic, has been available all throughout the summer is equally bewildering. Why now and not six weeks ago?
I do not blame Bowen one bit for turning down a return to the Director of Football position. He was reportedly left “fuming” at being asked to leave the managerial post, and to sit by and watch someone else take control of the team that he had moulded would always have been difficult.
So what of that new man in the dugout, Paunovic? I would be lying if I said I had heard of him before last Wednesday, while speaking to those who followed him closely during a largely disappointing spell at MLS side Chicago Fire has not done much for my enthusiasm. But I am prepared to back him, because quite frankly I have nothing left other than blind optimism for the new campaign. If the last few days are anything to go by, it certainly won’t be dull.
By Olly Allen
