Reading Need To Keep On Bowen With Mark

Alex explains why Reading’s head of football operations deserves credit for his work behind the scenes.

Here’s an opinion for Royals fans: the ship would most likely have sunk without Mark Bowen. Strong opening statement really, isn’t it? Also, it’s an interesting one because I am not entirely sure how many fans, if any, would agree with this sentiment. I don’t get the impression many would, but I could be wrong, so I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight just how and why he has been so instrumental to some of the best moments that we have seen in recent times at the club.

A quick recap for those whose memories are a little fuzzy, since so much has happened since Bowen first arrived at Reading. And I’m not even talking about in a coaching capacity – he was once of our parish back in 1999, when he briefly joined the club as a full-back before retiring. Easy to forget that really!

Bowen then went into coaching and covered various roles with various teams over the years, but two decades after leaving Reading, he came back as what was titled a “technical consultant” in March 2019. The idea of this role as to support then-manager José Gomes with tactical preparation. By the time October of 2019 rolled around, Gomes was gone and Bowen was appointed manager, which was a slightly unexpected appointment, to put it mildly.

However, he did better than most fans had expected and guided the ship to safety by taking a team languishing in 23rd place in the table to 14th. Despite this, he was then replaced as manager by Veljko Paunović, which was equally as unusual as the way he was appointed into the role in the first place. It is said that he was offered an opportunity to stay on at boardroom level, but it is also unclear how true that is.

Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

I can’t have been alone in thinking that this was this was the last we would see of Bowen, but, Reading FC being Reading FC, we never keep things simple and we always have a surprise around the corner. Seemingly out of nowhere, he returned in May 2022 to take the position of head of football operations.

Paul Ince was seemingly influential in bringing about Bowen’s return, citing the need for organisation at boardroom level. However, no-one knows how true this is. What we can say for sure is that Adam absolutely nailed it when saying what Bowen’s best role for the club would be. It really is just amazing that Bowen decided to return at all!

Why do I believe Adam was correct? Well, Bowen’s arrival brought about this crazy idea of something known as “a strategy”. And I cannot remember the last time the club had a proper strategy, since the days of Sir John’s reign. The strategy translated into essentially telling Ince to decide on a system of play to use for the 2022/23 season (3-5-2 seemingly the decision of choice, with an adaptable 3-4-3 variant). Bit of a shame really that Ince didn’t know how to set the team up any other way, but that’s not on Bowen.

From here, Bowen oversaw the hiring of an actual director of recruitment, Brian Carey, whose purpose was to identify our target market of players based on a system of play, availability and character to join Reading. A far cry from the days of being lumbered with Kia Joorabchian’s disinterested and/or unsuitable clients. It’s telling that, since Bowen has come into the picture, Joorabchian’s involvement has seemingly been minimal. Indeed, it appears he’s had none at all and that is only ever a good thing.

The season, unfortunately, resulted in relegation due to the suspended six-point deduction that was in place. The points deduction was agreed as six initially, with six suspended based on a devised business plan, instead of the full 12 all in one go, which would have relegated us. Bowen had a plan, and he delivered on his part. Unfortunately, he was encumbered with a manager who was not fit for purpose and unable to remove the manager until it was too late.

The relegation was disappointing, but the response wasn’t. Prior to the confirmation of the relegation, Bowen took the initiative to provide clear communication and this was something that we hadn’t seen since… probably at any point of time during Dai’s ownership. It helped grow confidence that, despite the issues, there was a plan and preparation in place. And it also helped grow confidence that there was someone in a position of power at the club who was actually listening to the fans, for a pleasant change.

Indeed, the communication also outlined that the recruitment teams had plans based on scenarios of staying in the Championship or being relegated to League One. And they really did – 2023’s recruitment was some of the best we’ve ever done in modern times.

Not just this, but we got the treasured academy back to category one status. And we brought in our current manager, who was the plan b behind Chris Wilder. A plan for all scenarios to ensure the right people are brought into the club. Similar was done to replace Kelly Chambers with Liam Gilbert for Reading Women. Isn’t that nice: someone who knows what they are doing being in charge and not leaving it to the football teams to pick up the pieces?

When times have been hard this year, the issues have never stemmed from decisions Bowen has made. Losing staff members was a decision of restructuring that should have been taken after relegation – from what I can gather, he doesn’t have the power to make these decisions and can only advise. An absent owner doesn’t help here. Losing coaching staff and boardroom staff – decisions that Bowen cannot have any control over, but even so, it feels like the team there tried to approach this in the most strategic way by spreading losses out, rather than impacting one area of the club.

When players and staff weren’t getting paid, it wasn’t just Rubén Selles standing up to be counted here – credit where it is due though, Selles really went over and above there to support the club and show leadership. Bowen also forfeited payment until everyone else was guaranteed to be a paid. Again, this is someone who clearly has strong leadership and cares about the betterment of the club.

Doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest thing, especially in the situation Reading were in, but wherever possible, Bowen seems to be striving to do that. His interview to ITV ahead of the Eastleigh FA Cup match was excellent, really drawing attention to the issues at the club and communicating about them in a professional, yet clear, way.

And there lies the point, explained in many instances. Bowen has provided structure, leadership, considered and justified decision-making where is allowed or able to, improvement at academy level and better communication, as well as recruitment and coaching teams that are delivering. All against the backdrop of chaos and disarray, he stands strong and doesn’t give up. He’s bought into the development of this Reading project and, without him steering us through this, as hard as it is to believe that we could be worse off, we really could and would be.

All good things have a root cause of the work done by Bowen in the background, and I hope we as fans are taking the time to appreciate everything he is doing and has done for us. I have absolute faith that, whatever happens in the summer, takeover or not, Bowen will find a way to deliver once again with his hands tied behind his back and do his best to give Selles the tools he needs to succeed. We are lucky to have him.