:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70452167/Fans_Verdict_TTE.0.jpg)
I’m running out of words to vent my anger. I really, really am. What we are having to witness on a weekly basis at the moment is nothing short of humiliating and embarrassing. The utter capitulation in that first half was as disgusting as it was predictable.
I watched the Derby County game on Sunday afternoon. We all are familiar with their situation: off the pitch and in the boardroom it’s even worse than ours. However, on the pitch, they are showing 100 times the fight, aggression and desire that we are.
They are a club who look like they want to stay in the league. Rooney has just turned down the offer of being interviewed for the manager’s job at his boyhood club! That’s how together Derby are.
We couldn't be further from that. The disconnect surrounding the whole club is rank, and Saturday’s performance summed that up once again. Here’s how the fans reacted to the key talking points which, as is the case all the time at the moment, were the performance and Paunovic...
The performance
Again, I'm running out of words. I wasn’t at the game (fortunately), but as I saw the score coming through on my phone, first 1-0, then 2-0 then 3-0, it didn’t even register with as any kind of shock. It’s so predictable. Once we concede, the ref may as well end the game there and then.
The longer this goes on the more likely we’re ending up in League One. We’ve flirted with relegation a few times in recent seasons, but I’ve always been confident there are three worse teams than us in the league, which has turned out to be the case. This season is different, we are abysmal at the moment, and the fans agree with me on that...
Well done #dcfc with this fight they deserve to stay up, #readingfc going down with no sign of this level of passion or effort, so sad ☹️
— Rob (@RobP_1871) January 30, 2022
Yet another appalling performance..at least I think it was, the bar is set so low these days it's hard to tell
— Al (@dadros70) January 29, 2022
Again, no plan, no strategy & thus no belief, no desire and no fight
If VP is not sacked then we're League 1 - no question.
Dressing room completely lost#readingfc
Loosing you can stomach - to simply give up without fight is criminal #readingfc
— Dave McCormack (@davemc_exile) January 29, 2022
Trying my hardest to care less about the continuing poor performances and results but I can't. I'm far too emotionally invested and the horrific state of #readingfc is still breaking my heart every week.
— Becki White (@MissBeckaEllen) January 29, 2022
Spin this one Pauno/owners/players. Just awful. Feel for all the fans who’ve made the trip to fill out the away end. It’s embarrassing. #readingfc
— Richard Langley (@simply_langers) January 29, 2022
Derby and Cardiff showing #readingfc the meaning of a relegation fight.. sadly we’re the equivalent of the French army in this battle.. white flags all round
— Tin-pot (@Tinpot_Royal) January 30, 2022
That is horrendous defending... poor in mid and Holmes not close enough to his man #readingfc
— Max Howard (@MaxHoward_15) January 29, 2022
Game over. We are awful. Sleepwalking into League 1 #readingfc
— Ben (@BenParsons89) January 29, 2022
How can a team with top professional players be so clueless. Incredibly awful since they scored. Jesus #readingfc
— Luke (@Luke1871_) January 29, 2022
Awful. Cannot remember a period like this in 25 years watching #ReadingFC - club a shambles top to bottom. https://t.co/j0ziPuypYO
— mikerobb (@mikerobb) January 29, 2022
Paunovic
I don’t usually like calling for managers to lose their job, but he has to go. He simply has to go. I have only just mustered up the courage to watch his post-match interview with the club and, honestly, it’s one of the worst I’ve seen from a Reading manager.
To stand there and effectively say “Apart from the four goals we were actually alright” is wrong on so many levels. At the moment, with him in charge, there is one way we are going. This is the lowest I’ve ever felt as a Reading fan and he says things like that in an interview?
Beyond the utterly inept performances on the pitch, it’s the complete lack of accountability which grinds my gears. I get he's been dealt a bad hand with injuries, but he must know something we don’t if he thinks Tom McIntyre and Yakou Meite are going to be the answers to all these problems.
He has completely lost the fans now, and there is just shock and bemusement for how he’s still the manager...
“We want pauno out” #readingfc pic.twitter.com/XMSDHmrZ83
— charlie ness (@charlieness_) January 29, 2022
Just a reminder we haven’t won in England since 6th November 2021.
— micah (@m1871e) January 29, 2022
Shambolic. PAUNO OUT. #readingfc
Just look at the body language. These players don’t want to be there. They don’t want to play for Pauno. He’s completely lost the dressing room. Sack him now! #readingfc https://t.co/k2SvC9VnaQ
— Jamie (@jamiewillby) January 29, 2022
If you sack Pauno, which probably is needed, who do we get in? How to we pay for it? Can someone new lift the players that don’t want to be here or who are leaving at end of season? #readingfc
— Russell Beaven (@RussellBeaven) January 29, 2022
I think Pauno has to go, let’s start by stating the obvious, but I think we’re kidding ourselves if we think he’s the only problem.
— Robin Hinton (@Ro6inHinton) January 29, 2022
The club is in tatters, top to bottom.
The very least we can hope for is an experienced head to come in and bring some organisation.#ReadingFC
I get that #readingfc probably can't afford to sack Pauno, but surely now he can see that he should do the right thing and walk away. I was once a Pauno backer but now can't see any other way out of this.
— Matty Lovegrove (@LovegroveMatty) January 30, 2022
If Dai Yongge really does watch all #ReadingFC games from China, then what on earth is he thinking watching this? What on earth has he been thinking this whole month? It baffles me that he would watch this utter embarrassment (again) and think it's worth sticking with Paunovic.
— Olly Allen (@OllyAllen_) January 29, 2022
#Readingfc should have taken the other 6 point deduction and sacked Paunovic weeks ago. Would of had a new manager with better tactics and probably on same points now. #paunout
— steven lewendon (@lewie74) January 29, 2022
If Paunovic isn't sacked after this game, then it's fairly obvious we can't sack him without punishment from the EFL. No manager survives this unless there's a reason. Please please please please sack him immediately. #readingfc
— Somerset Royal (@simundo1110) January 29, 2022
When you've got 93% of players out of contract and a totally useless manager this was always going to happen. No point talking about Paunovic going as we all know he won't. If he was decent he'd walk away #readingfc
— Dean Bennett (@DeanBennett1993) January 29, 2022
Conclusion
Just disgusted, to be honest with you. We are an easy three points at the moment, we concede goals like it’s going out of fashion, we couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo, we have no fight, no commitment, no desire, our heads drop whenever we concede, our manager comes out after a 4-0 loss and does an interview like that and all the while our owner stays nice and silent wherever he may be. Need I go on?
Change is needed more than ever right now because we are on a road to disaster. Utter, utter disaster.
Loading comments...