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West Brom Fans Verdict: Royals Fall To Dismal Defeat

Here’s how the fans reacted to a dismal defeat in the last home game of the season.

PA Images via Getty Images

"Well, that was fun wasn’t it?" said none of the 15,000 Royals fans who attended Saturday’s game. To be honest, I think if you asked the West Brom fans if they enjoyed the game they’d probably say no - and they won it.

I said it in my match report, but it was just a horrendous game of football. The classic end-of-season game between two teams with nothing to play for. It had the kind of intensity I’ll expect to see in the 150th anniversary game between Brian McDermott and Steve Coppell’s teams later this month.

Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into it, but I couldn’t help but fear the worst for the future whilst driving home on Saturday. And I think there's a lot of fans in the same boat as me.

Here’s how the fans reacted to a very boring last game at the SCL...

The performance

It just wasn’t very good, was it? How Paul Ince can sit there in his post-match media duties and say we played well with a straight face is beyond me.

We had no shots on target. Zero. That is not a good performance. There was no creativity, no urgency, no desire, no quality - epitomised by the fact that the eventual winning goal stemmed from a poor individual error.

The fans were not happy with the performance, the second extremely poor one on the bounce...

Paul Ince

We all have our issues with the way Ince was appointed. Let’s be honest, there was never any ‘thorough search’ going in the background as the club suggested there was when Ince was appointed ‘interim’ manager.

But, credit to him, he has changed a few people’s opinions on whether he can do the job long-term since joining. However, I fear what we’ve seen in the last two games is more like what we’d see if he did get the job full-time.

I think the fans are starting to join that camp too, particularly after his post-match comments...

The future

Let’s say it as it is, the future for us looks really, really bleak as it stands.

The club is a mess at the top, we all know that. There’s no direction, no ideology, just people making rash decisions - rash decisions that have meant this summer literally defines the future of this football club.

After watching that on Saturday afternoon, combined with the obvious problems throughout the club, the fans are not looking forward to what’s to come...

Conclusion

I didn't see Ince’s comments until I got home, but they summed up for me why he shouldn't be in charge next season. He has a stubbornness that has been stirring in the background since he joined, but has widely gone unnoticed because he has, to be fair, picked up results.

His unwillingness to make subs, simply refusing to acknowledge the performance at Hull last time out and now saying we played well against West Brom... he doesn’t fill me with confidence.

But then again, nothing about this club does. Next season is going to be another torrid one, irrelevant of who is in charge. I’ve already succumbed myself to that reality.