The Wild Lower West: Poor Journalism, Reading’s Joy On The Road

Coverage of Reading’s situation in the national media and a delightful Easter Monday win are on the agenda for Dixey this week.

I think it’s fair to say that, unless you are a diehard Reading supporter, you have little idea of what is happening with our club, and in many cases little sympathy. Like many others I use social media as a means of keeping up with football-related stories, and a search history of my TV channel choices at home would reveal that Sky Sports occupies 90% of my viewing time.

While it’s easy to ignore many of the comments on social media (most written by children with their first phone), I find it hard to ignore lazy journalism from so-called respected national newspaper reporters, who clearly write with no evidence to support their argument and a clear objective of inciting meaningless legal arguments.

I refer of course to the article in The Times this week, in which it was suggested that teams below Reading in the table - who will miss out on the play-offs - should feel aggrieved that the deadline to sell the club has been extended until the completion of the regular season, thereby robbing them of their chance to enter the playoffs if Reading were sanctioned earlier and our points wiped from existence.

It was a strange article, not least because it was hugely contradictory and seemed to be based on pure speculation rather than facts that surround the sanctions imposed by the EFL, such as the clear instruction that the deadline would be extended if the EFL were satisfied a sale was progressing.

What I find hard to understand though is that the article made little reference to how we got here in the first place, and how we have had to suffer with points deductions which ultimately resulted in relegation from the Championship (although Paul Ince helped with that), an inability to sign players for a number of seasons, the sale of key players to finance the club, supporters groups funding overnight stays, and the loss of club personnel which made the day-to-day running of the business almost impossible. I could of course go on and on.

While social media comments can easily be brushed off (especially the strange ones from Fulham and Carlisle United supporters who want us liquidated!), I see no balanced argument in articles like the one in The Times.

I do not read this particular newspaper, but I’m pretty sure I would have been made aware of previous articles by the same publication that highlighted the unbelievable achievements of our squad and those associated with it: in getting the team to a position where we still have a realistic chance of finishing in the top six, with a squad that cost £0 and is made up of academy players.

I haven’t been made aware of any such articles because they don’t exist. For me it is the success story of the season across the football pyramid, yet the same newspaper has chosen to regularly cover League One as if only Birmingham City and Wrexham play in it!

Photo by Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images

Now my rant is over, there have been two games played since my last article, and I make no apologies for focusing much of my analysis on just one of them.

The home game against Lincoln City was possibly one of the worst home performances of the season. We were bullied by a strong, physical side who knew exactly how to stop us playing, and you must give Lincoln credit for a game plan that was spot on. In fact, the highlight of my day was a pre-match pub conversation about whether any of us would climb a ladder to clean the guttering of the building opposite The Nags Head.

While the Lincoln game was easily forgettable, the Mansfield Town game was anything but. The strange thing about the game though is the fact that, despite the scoreline, it wasn’t our best performance of the season, and in the first 20 minutes we looked as if we were in for a tough afternoon.

Jayden Wareham had one of his best games in a Reading shirt in my opinion, and once again showed his ability to unnerve defenders and find clever pockets of space that made him stand out as a real threat.

Lewis Wing added a 35-yard screamer to his own personal goal of the season collection, of which there should surely now be enough for a short montage to be played on the stadium screen before kick-off, which I suggest should be called “Wing’s Pings”.

Tyler Bindon was as commanding as ever at the back, and alongside Amadou Mbengue had a comfortable afternoon, bar the first 20 minutes. Andre Garcia continues to look more and more effective going forward than he does defending, which only adds to the need to get the takeover completed quickly so that we can hope to sign an experienced left-back next season and push Garcia further forward.

While there were several decent performances all over the pitch, I have to say I thought Charlie Savage’s performance was full of maturity and midfield know-how. The improvement in his game has been well highlighted this season, yet against Mansfield I thought he controlled the midfield and allowed Wing to impact play a lot more as a result.

As well as his non-stop running, Savage is learning how to position himself out of possession to make it hard for the opposition to play, and his passing game when in possession has improved beyond all recognition this season, as his assist stats will testify.

Finally, from the Mansfield game, it was good to see Billy Bodin score his first goal for the club, although credit must go to Harvey Knibbs for the unselfish assist.

What struck me most about Bodin’s goal was the way that it was celebrated by the rest of the players, and highlighted Bodin’s obvious popularity among the group. It also served as a reminder that this squad has a togetherness which has not been seen for many years, and will be needed more than ever for the final two games, which I hope will be extended to five.

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This Saturday we travel to Bristol Rovers, where realistically we would have to be disappointed with anything other than three points.

I know Bristol Rovers need to win to have even an outside chance of staying up, yet many of their supporters feel the team gave up several weeks ago and have already accepted life in League Two next season. For what it’s worth, I think we will win this one and Leyton Orient will draw at home to Wycombe Wanderers.

Bristol Rovers 1-3 Reading

(Sinclair, he always scores against us; Wareham, Savage, Bindon)

6,866

Finally, this week you may recall that at the start of the season I gave my predictions for end-of-season glory and failure, and promised to donate £10 to charity for every one that was correct. So, with just two games left, the current state of play is as follows:

2024/25 season

Championship winners: Burnley – still possible

Promoted: Middlesbrough – still possible

Surprise top-six finish: Bristol City – looks likely

Relegated: Oxford United – praying that this happens, and they have an inferior goal difference to those around them

League One winners: Rotherham United – worst prediction ever

Promoted: Who else would it be? – Reading – everything crossed

Surprise top-six finish: Leyton Orient – given the circumstances, I really wish I hadn’t picked them!

Relegated: Crawley Town – very likely

League Two winners: Port Vale – still possible

Promoted: Doncaster Rovers – very likely

Surprise top-six finish: Tranmere Rovers – almost as bad as my Rotherham prediction

Relegated: Cheltenham Town – Comfortably mid-table on 57 points

So, if you don’t see me in The Nags Head on May 3, know that I am saving my beer money for a charity donation instead and changing my name to “Hi Dixey, can I buy you a pint while I am at the bar?”

Until next week.

Much love and c’mon URZZZ.

Dixey