I am devastated Reading FC boss reflects on ‘hardest’…
Reading boss Ruben Selles labelled a rotten run in October ‘the hardest moment’ of the season when reflecting on the campaign.
The Royals, who had a chaotic preseason marred by constant controversy off the field, struggled to get off the ground after being demoted to the third division, finishing last in the standings and seeming lost in the middle of the dark winter.
The team appeared destined for relegation after being winless from September 16 to November 25, a stretch of seven losses and two draws. They also suffered crushing losses to Charlton Athletic and Blackpool in addition to late losses to Shrewsbury and Leyton Orient.
According to the proverb, “it is darkest before dawn,” and Reading persevered during the November international break to resurrect their team and gradually overcome a 10-point disadvantage, finishing nine points clear of the relegation zone on the last day.
Before last week’s 3-2 victory over Blackpool, which concluded Selles’ first season as manager, the Spaniard looked back on the season and called it the “hardest” moment of the year.
“In the period where we lost six out of seven matches, it was not that we were massively exposed it was just some key moments that we needed to do a little bit differently and keep our identity the same,” he said.
We had to make the adjustments at that precise moment, and I believe it was successful. The time leading up to Wycombe’s departure was the hardest for us, and it was about October or November.”
The staff and spectators celebrated wildly after the team’s 2-1 victory at Adam’s Park in November, which was their first victory away from home in 378 days and their first in more than two months.
Reading battled back from the brink, losing only once in December and once more in January.