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Paul Clement Sacked: Fans Verdict Special

The news broke on Thursday morning that Paul Clement‘s frustrating time in charge of the Royals had been ended by the Berkshire club.

Reading v Ipswich Town - Sky Bet Championship Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Wow. What a couple of days at the Mad Stad. First, Nigel Howe returned to the club as CEO, replacing the unpopular Ron Gourlay, and then just a matter of hours later, Paul Clement was sacked as gaffer. In all honesty, it’s probably been coming for a while now, but the timing has shocked quite a few as performances have ever so slightly started picking up in recent weeks. However, it turned out to be too little too late for the former Derby County man.

Results and performances this season just haven’t been good enough, it’s as simple as that. Whether you put that down to Gourlay, Clement, the players or a mixture of all three is a matter of opinion, but the manager is always the one who gets the ultimate punishment.

Obviously, the big news caused quite a stir on Twitter the second it was announced. On the whole, fans were pretty joyous about it all, but some did understandably question the timing, and whether it should’ve been done a few weeks earlier. Here’s the round-up of the reaction of the fanbase on Twitter...

General reaction

Overall, it was pretty happy. The majority of fans have been calling for this move for a while as results just haven’t good enough. I’m not saying we have the best squad in the league by any means, but the players we have should not be sitting in 21st - only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

Of course, the players’ individual performances have been pretty awful, but the manager is always the one who faces the sword - rightly or wrongly. Here’s the general reaction of the fans summed up...

Surprising timing?

If this had come a few weeks ago - after the Swansea City game for example - then I don’t think any fan would’ve questioned the timing. However, this comes after a slight, but noticeable, upturn in performances.

With Nigel Howe coming in as Chief Executive, he probably wants a clean slate. And a clean slate is probably what Reading have needed for quite a while now, as the last 18 months have been like something from out of a horror show.

As previously stated, there were some fans that questioned the timing of this move, and expected Clement to be given a bit more time...

Who next?

The question on everyone’s lips. Who will be next in the Mad Stad hot seat? Throughout Clement’s spell as manager, it was rumoured Reading already had replacements lined up for the former Swansea boss including Steve Bruce, Francesco Guidolin and Carlos Carvahal.

Almost instantly, the fans were on to Twitter debating who should and could be the next manager. One of the key lines in the club statement from Thursday morning was that Nigel Howe was looking for somebody to fit ‘the Reading mould’.

Now, could that mean the return of a Reading legend such as Parky or Murty? Could it mean getting somebody in who knows how to get out of the Championship such as Steve Bruce? Only time will tell. There is no real general consensus amongst the fans as activity on social media showed opinion to be varied throughout the fanbase...

Conclusion

We said this after Brian McDermott v2, we said this after Jaap Stam, but this is the biggest managerial appointment Reading have made in a very, very long time. The club is on a slippery slope at the moment and needs someone to come in and give the club an identity again, reigniting the relationship between the players and the fans which has been distant for too long.

If it were me making the decision, I’d break the bank for Slavisa Jokanovic. However, that is rather optimistic, so secondly I’d love to see Carlos Carvahal get a crack. Whoever it is though, let’s all get behind them and kick-start what has been a horrible season up to now.

URZ