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It’s fair to say that there was a more than a bit of hype and expectation amongst the Royals fans heading to Hull. With the arrivals during the transfer window all coming in late, in reality it was probably a bit too soon for them all to be thrown in. However, after a first 45 mins when in reality this could have been any Reading FC side of the past 10 years, the second 45 was a bit better, and a mix of loose finishing and the frame of the goal kept the Royals from getting the equaliser.
The Tigers still look at odds with their manager with the crowd around 8.5k, which for the Championship is very low, but their fans on the whole seem fairly pleased with the direction the team is taking on the playing front.
The strange happening of the weekend was the reports that came out of a fan being questioned by the EFL’s taskforce for cutting down on betting. Knowing the stadium, I am slightly shocked that he got a signal in the first place, but this will lead to weeks of banter from the home fans.
Social
Now, now now...
I’m going to spend the entire Blackburn game pretending to text someone... #hcafc
— Steve Atkinson (@ReturnOfTheAk75) August 11, 2019
Shocking!
Arrest this man ... he’s on his phone #hcafc pic.twitter.com/zdeM0dtpnh
— Teddy H-Mroziński (@TurboTeddy8) August 11, 2019
You just know this is going to happen up and down the country!
Why am I getting the feeling a chant of “we’ll text when we want” is about to be devised (or a chant to that affect) #hcafc #SpyGate2
— James Hoggarth (@jameshoggarth) August 11, 2019
Modern football?
Strange game yesterday. I can't imagine there'll be many teams who make over half as many fouls as passes in a game. #hcafc pic.twitter.com/k5PgBjdwy5
— Ryan Richardson (@CilantroElPerro) August 11, 2019
When the security ask to see you phone...
Me at City next week. #hcafc pic.twitter.com/g7rNAnZoSp
— TigerKj64 (@tigerkj64) August 10, 2019
Hear hear!
For those #HCAFC fans who bang on about those boycotting the club & saying things like 'why do they cut off their nose to spite their face' by not attending, this tweet captures my thoughts perfectly and explains everything you need to know. One day I & many others will be back. https://t.co/CXuWk17ooO
— Jon Kidd (@Keysersoze_69) August 10, 2019
Can’t argue with this
@HumbersideSport
— Rob Notman (@Robnotman) August 10, 2019
First Half World Beaters
Second Half Carpet Beaters #hcafc
VAR has a lot to answer for!
I can’t quite believe we made this gif... #hcafc https://t.co/UCgpmC0Yqc
— James Hogg (@TheHogg92) August 10, 2019
Ummm... maybe not
Expect to see 18,000 plus at the KCOM today seeing as concessions are back #nextjokeplease #hcafc
— Alex Fletcher (@Alex_Fletcher91) August 10, 2019
Oh what happened to Robertson and Maguire?
[Hull City owner assem Allam looks back at two former players now at big clubs]
— SimpsonsEFL (@EflSimpsons) August 2, 2019
"Assem Allam, tell the fans what you bought with the money we made from selling Maguire and Robertson?"
Allam: "Curse you, magic beans!"#maguire #robertson #HullFC #tigers #mufc #lfc pic.twitter.com/qkfZfnt6Dh
The trend continues with the site getting in on it!
When Harry met Andy
— Hull City (@HullCity) August 6, 2019
Wonder what happened to these two? ♂️#hcafc | #theTigers pic.twitter.com/yLPg88ToRg
Gone in January?
Jarrod Bowen is the only player left in the Championship who scored more than 20 goals last season.#HCAFC #TheTigers pic.twitter.com/Yhiu7F5FGJ
— Second Tier Podcast (@TheSecondTier) August 8, 2019
Media
I do believe that the advent of video blogging and modern trends has dynamically changed the way that football is reported! There are a lot of video versions out there reporting the game, and this has been to the detriment of a good old-fashioned write up. This could however just be me not looking hard enough for match reports!
Anyway, for what there is, The Reading Chronicle have an “as it happened” report in which they comment that the Royals were spirited but without the points. The Basingstoke Gazette gives even less and quite frankly unless you need to fill those 30 seconds I wouldn’t really bother.
Sky Sports have a decent 2 mins 2 secs of coverage - basically the goals and the attempts that Reading should have scored from; in reality a 3-2 win to Reading on this showing is more than justified. They also go on to say that Hull rode their luck against us and if truth be told we should have come away with something.
To be fair, the Hull FC website give us a fairly decent write-up, noting that we looked “dangerous”, but in the end they held on for victory. The BBC say the two early goals ensured victory and that we had chances, but then they also say that the game was played at Reading, so that shows how much whoever wrote this was paying attention.
GetReading are also similarly lacking in actual match reviews but have their five takeaways, where Joao Virginia comes under some pressure, but they also make a fair point that we haven’t had the rub of the green with the officials.
Closing thoughts
This team will need time to gel - we have a busy August and as we all know you don’t win the league in the first three months.
I do however question one point in Jose Gomes’ team selection: why has Liam Moore been moved from the left side to the right? I’m not being picky but the goals we have leaked have come on his side of the box and normally our Captain Reliable doesn’t like defending on this side. Please Jose, put him back on the left!
When we look at other teams such as Bolton Wanderers, Bury etc and see the dire straits they are in, maybe we should be a little reflective. Plus, given the crowd on Saturday at Hull, who were a Premiership team a few seasons back, it shows what can happen when the trust breaks down between the owners and the fans.
Mr Dai has done what he said he would do so far, the team however need to repay this trust by winning and the fans by turning up. Football is a funny old game, and one where tides turn on a whim. What is clear though is that without an owner who wants to invest, players that want to perform, and supporters that want the team to do well, this tide can turn into a tsunami really quickly.