by Clyde1998 »
11 Jan 2026 18:55
Hound Clyde1998 stealthpapes
A few weeks ago, suggesting that it was still early days got pelters.
We were never that bad. Always good odds on a strong second half to season.
IIRC, Noel Hunt said (was it in an interview after he got sacked?) he expected us to pick up around December and have a strong second half of the season. We were matching most sides we played under Hunt, even if the standard of football wasn't amazing.
Still think we have a weaker strongest XI than last season though, but we have a run of very winnable games coming up. Depending on transfers, there's a very real prospect of us reaching the play-offs now.
Think we have a weaker first 11 but a much stronger squad
We’ll never know if Hunt would have also taken us such a strong recent run. My feeling is absolutely not but anyway
Certainly agree with the first point - it was what I described as 'building tall vs building wide' in my Tilehurst End article from just before Hunt got sacked (taken from
Civilization V's strategy). We have less top end ability, but more squad depth, than last season. Certainly means we'll have less potential to drop off from simply injuries this season when compared to last season.
Of course, we'll never know about point two. I don't think we would've gone on such as strong recent run in terms of results, but at the same time we've brought in Randell Williams (plus Rinomhota, who's barely played); had certain players return from injury (Marriott; Yiadom; Fraser); and an expansion to the coaching staff numbers since Richardson's come in which are all going to be factors in our uptick. We'll obviously need to see if it's sustained going forward.
My point about Hunt's comments was more to do with us likely to improve as a team as the season went on and agreeing with the point that we were never that bad under him as a lot of people were making out.
