Today is going to be a brutal one in League One, as two managers are set to leave their roles before the end of play.
Firstly, Jon Brady has resigned. We’ve played Northampton recently, winning 2-1 after a horrible start, and things haven’t got better for him since then. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Kettering Town and have lost to Wigan and Stevenage. There were positive signs – a 1-1 draw with Birmingham City underlining what they’re capable of, but he’s been badly affected by injuries.
In fact, just minutes before he was fired, I finished an article for another site where he told supporters they were effectively limping towards the transfer window, having seen Tom Eaves sent off and two players, Lee Burge and Nesta Guinness-Walker, pick up injuries. That is in addition to TJ Eyoma limping off as they lost 2-1 to Wigan, enhancing the pressure on his squad.
This week, they were beaten 2-0 by Stevenage to slide into the bottom four, and it seems Brady can see no way out. He’s fallen on his sword, resigning just days before they face another club in crisis, Peterborough United. Their manager, Darren Ferguson, is not one schedule to leave, but he blasted home fans after their 1-0 defeat against Burton Albion, claiming some of their chants were ‘foolish’. Ouch.
The other manager going is Ruben Selles of Reading. He’s been on a great run with the Royals; they’ve lost just three of their last 15 matches, winning 3-0 against Cambridge United on Tuesday to lift them to sixth, three points ahead of us. They’re our opponents in the final game before Christmas, and it seems they’ll have a new manager in place by then. There’s nothing official here, but news reports suggest Selles has said goodbye to players this morning before he joins Hull City, replacing Tim Walter, who was sacked a couple of weeks ago.
This is a massive blow to Reading – Selles has performed miracles there, keeping them up last season and now giving them a shot at a play-off place. The external factors affecting the club remain – Dai Yongge still hasn’t sold, and they’ve been hit with yet another transfer embargo recently. Selles has remained loyal to them, sticking at the club despite the off-field problems, but a chance to work with a club where the only crisis is on the field is too much of a lure.
Some of our fans think we’ve got problems, but even this weekend’s opponents, Charlton, have issues. Just yesterday, striker Matty Godden said that fans were entitled to boo after their most recent defeat, 2-1 at home against Crawley Town. Nathan Jones is under pressure there, and Paul Hart, a reported stabilising influence in his tenure, left in the summer. There’s anger at the input from former Sunderland man Charlie Methven, Lincoln lad Jim Rodwell and Andy Scott, all of whom operate at a higher level of management but none of which are speaking directly to fans at present.
Makes our little run feel a bit less of a problem, doesn’t it?
Thanks for linking.