Hunt out.

[tidus_mi2]

My opinion of Hunt definitely shifted downwards after last night's game, even though we managed to snatch a point, still think he should be given at leat ~10 games.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I really liked Hunt as a player and think he is a fantastic guy who obviously holds Reading close in his heart, but he is not the right manager for me.

I felt when he took over that it was a cheap short term solution and that he probably wouldn't have the managerial nous to take us forward and it seems like that is the case. He did well last season with a paper thin squad but that was partly because he could just keep the squad on the same path that Selles had been able to establish. Everyone knew their role already and he could just leverage the siege mentality to keep momentum up.

Sadly we are now seeing he can't quite develop his own style that works in L1. Despite the stick at the new owners I think he has been supported well in the transfer market. Yes, we don't have a proper striker, but regardless of that the rest of the squad are all players that should not be achieving 1 point after 4 games. He has been unlucky* with injuries however, losing the best rated CB from L1 last year and a championship winger before they can have any impact is harsh. But the results are due to a lack of a discernible or effective play style, or players not being able to achieve the play style that the manager expects. Either case is a flaw in management.

It probably is too soon to sack Hunt just off the basis of results, but I don't think he is the right manager for the club sadly, so if a knee jerk reaction does happen by the owners, well maybe that's for the best...

Yeah, we might be seeing Hunt struggle because he actually has options now. But the trouble is management can be kind of a lottery. You pick what you think are your best 11 - from bugger all experience with them fwiw - and it doesn't work. How much was it down to the players needing time and when do you give up on it? Shrug. No idea.

I suspect it more looks like we don't have a plan, when we probably do but just aren't executing it as successfully as we were due to the personnel. Which could be a time thing, or a quality thing, or a square-peg-round-hole thing. Hunt will probably fare better with the fans by looking like he is trying to change things to address the problems, even if the solutions don't work - it's more of a gamble sticking with the same players as if it keeps failing you look like a doughnut. BUT that's probably the more sensible approach tbh.

[leon]

I really liked Hunt as a player and think he is a fantastic guy who obviously holds Reading close in his heart, but he is not the right manager for me.

I felt when he took over that it was a cheap short term solution and that he probably wouldn't have the managerial nous to take us forward and it seems like that is the case. He did well last season with a paper thin squad but that was partly because he could just keep the squad on the same path that Selles had been able to establish. Everyone knew their role already and he could just leverage the siege mentality to keep momentum up.

Sadly we are now seeing he can't quite develop his own style that works in L1. Despite the stick at the new owners I think he has been supported well in the transfer market. Yes, we don't have a proper striker, but regardless of that the rest of the squad are all players that should not be achieving 1 point after 4 games. He has been unlucky* with injuries however, losing the best rated CB from L1 last year and a championship winger before they can have any impact is harsh. But the results are due to a lack of a discernible or effective play style, or players not being able to achieve the play style that the manager expects. Either case is a flaw in management.

It probably is too soon to sack Hunt just off the basis of results, but I don't think he is the right manager for the club sadly, so if a knee jerk reaction does happen by the owners, well maybe that's for the best...

Yeah, we might be seeing Hunt struggle because he actually has options now. But the trouble is management can be kind of a lottery. You pick what you think are your best 11 - from bugger all experience with them fwiw - and it doesn't work. How much was it down to the players needing time and when do you give up on it? Shrug. No idea.

I suspect it more looks like we don't have a plan, when we probably do but just aren't executing it as successfully as we were due to the personnel. Which could be a time thing, or a quality thing, or a square-peg-round-hole thing. Hunt will probably fare better with the fans by looking like he is trying to change things to address the problems, even if the solutions don't work - it's more of a gamble sticking with the same players as if it keeps failing you look like a doughnut. BUT that's probably the more sensible approach tbh.

Well yes we're missing a 10 foot striker with 15 foot legs to get to Wing's long balls.

[Extended-Phenotype]

It would obviously be a stretch to say Hunt is a top tier tactician. But I think it would be foolish to ignore the qualities he does bring to the table. He adores the club, and that breeds a valuable loyalty and sense of duty that would be difficult to replace. He is also incredibly personable and that’s not a skill you can really hone or learn. To dismiss last season’s 7th place finish as Hunt merely sticking to the plan Selles set in motion is ignorant of the shitshow Hunt had to navigate. After Ruben buggered off it would have been natural for the player’s heads to go down – ours certainly did. But Hunt kept their heads up, kept them fighting, even made improvements here and there, and steered us to a position nobody believed was possible once Selles jumped.

There’s a knock-on effect to having likability. Noel has made a point signing players he thinks will fit in socially. In my career history I have worked for and with people I don’t like, and to be honest it didn’t inspire much effort from me. But I have also worked for and with people I do like, and I’ve pushed myself and wanted our company to succeed without any encouragement needed. Clearly togetherness isn’t all you need, and it would be wide of the mark to say it guarantees a low turnover of staff – sometimes it’s out of the players hands, other times the money and opportunity might be too good to pass up. But it almost certainly makes the decision to leave a harder one.

If Hunt’s strengths aren’t really learnable qualities, the opposite is kinda true of his weaknesses. Obviously ability is in some way limited, but it has a far greater dynamic range driven by experience and desire. While Hunt might never be a Premier League manager, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe he has potential for improvement. When you present an old team to a new manager, fans would afford him the grace of settling in. Well, it’s not really any different when you present a new team to an old manager. Ok, so last season’s plan isn’t working. I don’t blame him for trying. And I don’t believe him trying means he is incapable of other ideas.

Personally speaking, I’d stick with Hunt as long as we can until relegation is a real threat. I’m not looking for Reading to win the league, or reach the play-offs. I’m looking for a steady ship, a more sustainable financial strategy, a youth/academy focused team structure, and a solid foundation to grow from. A club that can give us goals and results to cheer about here and there is what I want. And I don't want a club that kneejerks to the impatience and short-term memories of an unrealistic fanbase. I want us to give both players and managers time. Because in the end, we have tried the revolving door approach that everyone seems to be encouraging, and we’ve sat through a decade of terrible football. People who are quick to call for the heads of managers really need to wake up and notice that the revolving door is loaded with managers they won’t like either.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I find this suggestion that he doesn't know what he's doing tactically laughable. He's got a UEFA Pro license.

Whilst it's no guarantee of success, it does mean that his tactical awareness will be better than 99% of us on here. Of course, we're fans, and we're entitled to our opinions and interpretations, that's part of the enjoyment of the sport, but the "he's out of his depth" is ridiculous.

Saint Steve was always willing to acknowledge it if he'd made a mistake - so no one is going to get everything right.

The good sign for me is that Hunt is willing to change things around. The manager heading for the door marked Do One is the one who keeps repeating the same mistakes. The good ones are flexible until they get it right. That was Pardew's great strength. And let's not forget Selles sticking to his guns when it was obviously not working until he was forced to adapt - and it's not unreasonable to think Sam Hutchinson played a big part in forcing the change, much to his own cost.

If by the end of October no real pattern or identity is emerging then it's time to think about a change. Until then it's just ridiculous.

[traff]

I find this suggestion that he doesn't know what he's doing tactically laughable. He's got a UEFA Pro license.

Whilst it's no guarantee of success, it does mean that his tactical awareness will be better than 99% of us on here. Of course, we're fans, and we're entitled to our opinions and interpretations, that's part of the enjoyment of the sport, but the "he's out of his depth" is ridiculous.

Saint Steve was always willing to acknowledge it if he'd made a mistake - so no one is going to get everything right.

The good sign for me is that Hunt is willing to change things around. The manager heading for the door marked Do One is the one who keeps repeating the same mistakes. The good ones are flexible until they get it right. That was Pardew's great strength. And let's not forget Selles sticking to his guns when it was obviously not working until he was forced to adapt - and it's not unreasonable to think Sam Hutchinson played a big part in forcing the change, much to his own cost.

If by the end of October no real pattern or identity is emerging then it's time to think about a change. Until then it's just ridiculous.

I know lots of people with drivers licences but there are an awful lot of shit drivers on the road.

I don't want him to be ousted, yet, but I haven't seen any change in his approach, bar a couple of personnel changes.
The tactic continues to be a press that isn't working, same formation 4123 and give the ball to Wing and hope.

[morganb]

So, Hunt in for the better performance and initial team selection or Hunt out for the substitutions and end to the game?

Also, are his back room staff any good/experienced enough?

[Mid Sussex Royal]

So, Hunt in for the better performance and initial team selection or Hunt out for the substitutions and end to the game?

Also, are his back room staff any good/experienced enough?

No real probs with the subs....made sense at the time; defensive midfielder and Ahmed was starting to struggle. Subs were always going to happen whatever the game situation, the team got back to Reading at 5am on Thursday.

Back room staff - yep good point....Gibbs defs missed and not sure promoting Legs of wood from the U18's was a great move.

[Snowflake Royal]

Sometimes it doesn't work.

I don't think Hunt got anything wrong today. The subs were right, even Ahmed over Abrefa, which seemed questionable at KO, worked fine.

Very sensible like for like subs. Maybe the first set a touch late. Wycombe had already got back into the game at that point, but they couldn’t have been a lot earlier.

MOM could have had a hattrick, though you'd only really see one, maybe two of those go in. Wing could have had a hattrick, but similar. Fraser had a quality header saved in well in the last minute.

For all the bemoaning of we can’t create chances and have no goalscorers, we could have had a hatful and created loads.

Unfortunately, errors and tiredness at the back cost us again. I think O'Connor should come in for Burns when fit. Jacob did well.

Ahmed and Abrefa could make us a lot of money some day, same for Elliott and Savage.

[Royal_jimmy]

It would obviously be a stretch to say Hunt is a top tier tactician. But I think it would be foolish to ignore the qualities he does bring to the table. He adores the club, and that breeds a valuable loyalty and sense of duty that would be difficult to replace. He is also incredibly personable and that’s not a skill you can really hone or learn. To dismiss last season’s 7th place finish as Hunt merely sticking to the plan Selles set in motion is ignorant of the shitshow Hunt had to navigate. After Ruben buggered off it would have been natural for the player’s heads to go down – ours certainly did. But Hunt kept their heads up, kept them fighting, even made improvements here and there, and steered us to a position nobody believed was possible once Selles jumped.

There’s a knock-on effect to having likability. Noel has made a point signing players he thinks will fit in socially. In my career history I have worked for and with people I don’t like, and to be honest it didn’t inspire much effort from me. But I have also worked for and with people I do like, and I’ve pushed myself and wanted our company to succeed without any encouragement needed. Clearly togetherness isn’t all you need, and it would be wide of the mark to say it guarantees a low turnover of staff – sometimes it’s out of the players hands, other times the money and opportunity might be too good to pass up. But it almost certainly makes the decision to leave a harder one.

If Hunt’s strengths aren’t really learnable qualities, the opposite is kinda true of his weaknesses. Obviously ability is in some way limited, but it has a far greater dynamic range driven by experience and desire. While Hunt might never be a Premier League manager, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe he has potential for improvement. When you present an old team to a new manager, fans would afford him the grace of settling in. Well, it’s not really any different when you present a new team to an old manager. Ok, so last season’s plan isn’t working. I don’t blame him for trying. And I don’t believe him trying means he is incapable of other ideas.

Personally speaking, I’d stick with Hunt as long as we can until relegation is a real threat. I’m not looking for Reading to win the league, or reach the play-offs. I’m looking for a steady ship, a more sustainable financial strategy, a youth/academy focused team structure, and a solid foundation to grow from. A club that can give us goals and results to cheer about here and there is what I want. And I don't want a club that kneejerks to the impatience and short-term memories of an unrealistic fanbase. I want us to give both players and managers time. Because in the end, we have tried the revolving door approach that everyone seems to be encouraging, and we’ve sat through a decade of terrible football. People who are quick to call for the heads of managers really need to wake up and notice that the revolving door is loaded with managers they won’t like either.

I share a lot of your thinking here. However being a realist if we're not in the top half by around the middle of the season I think Hunt will be let go unfortunately. The owners will have some degree of expectations with the calibre of the players we have compared to other clubs in the league despite losing Knibbs, Mbengue and Bindon. The thing is I would rather keep Hunt than have someone like Ainsworth come in.

Also for a club with our infrastructure in this league is hard to sustain, we don't really have the luxury of spending lots of time in this league without needing to make tough choices in the future with the academy or having to sell all our best players every season to keep the club funded.

[Royal_jimmy]

Unfortunately being a league one club we're a loaning ground for clubs in the premier league and championship to loan us their youngsters so they're going to make a lot of mistakes. Take Burns and MoM for instance we just have to be patient with those players.

[Hound]

May just be an impression but it feels like the teams change a lot more season by season in L1

It’s why I don’t really take the ‘new team needs time to bed in’ as much of an excuse. That seems to be every team in this league to me. And whilst I like the idea of building for next year - Elliott will be ooc, Savage 1 year left and prob wanting a move, the loanees will have gone again, and Wing will be another year older

We’ll probably look to sell the better performers from the academy to balance the books - so maybe no more Garcia (also ooc) and Ahmed

So likely back if not to square 1, might not be too far off again in 26/27

[South Coast Royal]

May just be an impression but it feels like the teams change a lot more season by season in L1

It’s why I don’t really take the ‘new team needs time to bed in’ as much of an excuse. That seems to be every team in this league to me. And whilst I like the idea of building for next year - Elliott will be ooc, Savage 1 year left and prob wanting a move, the loanees will have gone again, and Wing will be another year older

We’ll probably look to sell the better performers from the academy to balance the books - so maybe no more Garcia (also ooc) and Ahmed

So likely back if not to square 1, might not be too far off again in 26/27

Spot on about teams in this 3rd division change enormously every season so I suppose it is only if you are successful that a team can be built.
If we hadn't capitulated v Barnsley at the end of season and results had gone our way then and in the pay-offs we would have been able to keep our better players such as Bindon and Knibbs.

The club (Carey) did brilliantly to bring in Bindon, Knibbs, Wing and Smith at no cost but can he/we do that every year?
Early signs are not that good but with a few days still to go in this window maybe a couple of rabbits will be pulled out of the hat once more.

As for Hunt I guess we will just have to wait and see but it feels as though he is a good man manager (one part of the job) but may be lacking in football nous and intelligence.
There aren't that many Coppells about who combined both aspects of management successfully at Palace, Brentford, Brighton and for us and we certainly have tried a few over recent seasons.

[blythspartan]

I feel that Hunt has a very inexperienced team around him. A bit of help from someone like Colin, Bowen or Warburton might be beneficial. I really want him to succeed, but I don’t think he’ll get the time.

[Snowflake Royal]

May just be an impression but it feels like the teams change a lot more season by season in L1

It’s why I don’t really take the ‘new team needs time to bed in’ as much of an excuse. That seems to be every team in this league to me. And whilst I like the idea of building for next year - Elliott will be ooc, Savage 1 year left and prob wanting a move, the loanees will have gone again, and Wing will be another year older

We’ll probably look to sell the better performers from the academy to balance the books - so maybe no more Garcia (also ooc) and Ahmed

So likely back if not to square 1, might not be too far off again in 26/27

The difference is this winter we have the option to try to extend contracts. And even with players looking for a move, they'll not all run down their contracts, some may take a new deal with a release clause...

If you look at the end of last season we had almost no one contracted. Abrefa, Savage, Elliott, Knibbs, Wing... Osho.

This time we'll have:
Pereira, Stevens, Ahmed, Williams, O'Connor, Savage, Wing, Fraser, Ehibhatiomhan, Kyerewaa, and Lane. And an option on at least Stickland. Even selling one of them, that's a far far better starting point than this year.

[Hound]

May just be an impression but it feels like the teams change a lot more season by season in L1

It’s why I don’t really take the ‘new team needs time to bed in’ as much of an excuse. That seems to be every team in this league to me. And whilst I like the idea of building for next year - Elliott will be ooc, Savage 1 year left and prob wanting a move, the loanees will have gone again, and Wing will be another year older

We’ll probably look to sell the better performers from the academy to balance the books - so maybe no more Garcia (also ooc) and Ahmed

So likely back if not to square 1, might not be too far off again in 26/27

The difference is this winter we have the option to try to extend contracts. And even with players looking for a move, they'll not all run down their contracts, some may take a new deal with a release clause...

If you look at the end of last season we had almost no one contracted. Abrefa, Savage, Elliott, Knibbs, Wing... Osho.

This time we'll have:
Pereira, Stevens, Ahmed, Williams, O'Connor, Savage, Wing, Fraser, Ehibhatiomhan, Kyerewaa, and Lane. And an option on at least Stickland. Even selling one of them, that's a far far better starting point than this year.

I’m not too sure it is tbh. Sell say Savage and Ahmed and it’s maybe a little bit better; but losing two quality players in Elliott and Savage. And my assumption is we do need to sell players to make the business model work

And there’s not really anyone who got a 1 year contract that I’m either especially excited to keep or were huge pluses when then did sign - who was it - Camara, Stickland, Dorsett, Sackey, Tuma….all a bit meh

Elliott will be very interesting. Reckon it’s 50/50 he’ll sign a new contact atm

[Snowflake Royal]

May just be an impression but it feels like the teams change a lot more season by season in L1

It’s why I don’t really take the ‘new team needs time to bed in’ as much of an excuse. That seems to be every team in this league to me. And whilst I like the idea of building for next year - Elliott will be ooc, Savage 1 year left and prob wanting a move, the loanees will have gone again, and Wing will be another year older

We’ll probably look to sell the better performers from the academy to balance the books - so maybe no more Garcia (also ooc) and Ahmed

So likely back if not to square 1, might not be too far off again in 26/27

The difference is this winter we have the option to try to extend contracts. And even with players looking for a move, they'll not all run down their contracts, some may take a new deal with a release clause...

If you look at the end of last season we had almost no one contracted. Abrefa, Savage, Elliott, Knibbs, Wing... Osho.

This time we'll have:
Pereira, Stevens, Ahmed, Williams, O'Connor, Savage, Wing, Fraser, Ehibhatiomhan, Kyerewaa, and Lane. And an option on at least Stickland. Even selling one of them, that's a far far better starting point than this year.

I’m not too sure it is tbh. Sell say Savage and Ahmed and it’s maybe a little bit better; but losing two quality players in Elliott and Savage. And my assumption is we do need to sell players to make the business model work

And there’s not really anyone who got a 1 year contract that I’m either especially excited to keep or were huge pluses when then did sign - who was it - Camara, Stickland, Dorsett, Sackey, Tuma….all a bit meh

Elliott will be very interesting. Reckon it’s 50/50 he’ll sign a new contact atm

Ahmed's started 3 games, it's rather premature to expect him to be sold for big money. Unless you want to do an SCR flounce.

We'd still have most of a decent spine with Pereira, O'Connor, Williams, Fraser, Wing

Were you excited by Abrefa or Ahmed signing new deals a few months ago? And your touting one for a big sale and the other is an early top performer

[Hound]

The difference is this winter we have the option to try to extend contracts. And even with players looking for a move, they'll not all run down their contracts, some may take a new deal with a release clause...

If you look at the end of last season we had almost no one contracted. Abrefa, Savage, Elliott, Knibbs, Wing... Osho.

This time we'll have:
Pereira, Stevens, Ahmed, Williams, O'Connor, Savage, Wing, Fraser, Ehibhatiomhan, Kyerewaa, and Lane. And an option on at least Stickland. Even selling one of them, that's a far far better starting point than this year.

I’m not too sure it is tbh. Sell say Savage and Ahmed and it’s maybe a little bit better; but losing two quality players in Elliott and Savage. And my assumption is we do need to sell players to make the business model work

And there’s not really anyone who got a 1 year contract that I’m either especially excited to keep or were huge pluses when then did sign - who was it - Camara, Stickland, Dorsett, Sackey, Tuma….all a bit meh

Elliott will be very interesting. Reckon it’s 50/50 he’ll sign a new contact atm

Ahmed's started 3 games, it's rather premature to expect him to be sold for big money. Unless you want to do an SCR flounce.

We'd still have most of a decent spine with Pereira, O'Connor, Williams, Fraser, Wing

Were you excited by Abrefa or Ahmed signing new deals a few months ago? And your touting one for a big sale and the other is an early top performer

I’m not necessarily expecting Ahmed to be sold for big money, that was an example

Point is from that list of players we probably need to sell a couple to make ends meet

This season we had Wing, Knibbs, Savage, Abrefa, Elliott under contact coming into the season

Next year the spine might be JP, Wing, O Connor, Fraser, Williams, Kelvin E plus a few solid players who we re-sign during the season

The first group is probably stronger than the second

Point is that I wouldn’t next expect is to be better next year. Players like Savage and Elliott won’t be easily replaceable with the budget we have

And we need to do well this year. A season of struggle this year could make it really difficult to attract quality next

[Clyde1998]

I’m not too sure it is tbh. Sell say Savage and Ahmed and it’s maybe a little bit better; but losing two quality players in Elliott and Savage. And my assumption is we do need to sell players to make the business model work

And there’s not really anyone who got a 1 year contract that I’m either especially excited to keep or were huge pluses when then did sign - who was it - Camara, Stickland, Dorsett, Sackey, Tuma….all a bit meh

Elliott will be very interesting. Reckon it’s 50/50 he’ll sign a new contact atm

Ahmed's started 3 games, it's rather premature to expect him to be sold for big money. Unless you want to do an SCR flounce.

We'd still have most of a decent spine with Pereira, O'Connor, Williams, Fraser, Wing

Were you excited by Abrefa or Ahmed signing new deals a few months ago? And your touting one for a big sale and the other is an early top performer

I’m not necessarily expecting Ahmed to be sold for big money, that was an example

Point is from that list of players we probably need to sell a couple to make ends meet

This season we had Wing, Knibbs, Savage, Abrefa, Elliott under contact coming into the season

Next year the spine might be JP, Wing, O Connor, Fraser, Williams, Kelvin E plus a few solid players who we re-sign during the season

The first group is probably stronger than the second

Point is that I wouldn’t next expect is to be better next year. Players like Savage and Elliott won’t be easily replaceable with the budget we have

And we need to do well this year. A season of struggle this year could make it really difficult to attract quality next

Savage’s contract expires at the end of next season, so he can be added to that list.