Noel Hunt - Welcome to the hot seat

[Sutekh]

Hardly be a surprise if Meite wasn’t fit would it? Basically been injured for half the last 3 years

And largely played out of position by both the confused and the clueless for a lot of the rest.

[Vision]

He wasn't mysteriously absent, he limped off injured against Birmingham.

Mbengue was limping in that game too. He was still on the bench.
Holmes was injured against Preston, played on.

Nothing mentioned about Meite ahead of the game from what I saw.

All irrelevant. Are you trying to suggest that if Mbengue was limping and managed to make the bench then Meite should have been fit aswell? And the club don't have to say if someone was injured or not.

Meite came off the pitch in front of the East Stand directly in front of me. He was clearly limping. End of. Trying to claim his absence was mysterious from your sofa is just ridiculous.

He went down injured on the stroke of half time. I was actually surprised to see him come out for the second half. Although I probably shouldn't have been since that would've required Ince to possibly play Azeez for more than 20 minutes!!!

[Orion1871]

Hardly be a surprise if Meite wasn’t fit would it? Basically been injured for half the last 3 years

Any mention of Meite and Hound appears.

[Hound]

Hardly be a surprise if Meite wasn’t fit would it? Basically been injured for half the last 3 years

Any mention of Meite and Hound appears.

Tbf I didn’t mention the 3 goals in 2 years stat. Well I have now obvs

[retro royal]

What's the state of Ejaria ?

[Franchise FC]

What's the state of Ejaria ?

51st

[South Coast Royal]

What's the state of Ejaria ?

Confused?

[Snowflake Royal]

Off balance most likely.

[Snowflake Royal]

Good article based on an interview.with Hunt on the OS.

Saying all the right things. Bigging the players up, praising commitment, professionalism and dedication. Take note Mr Ince.

There will be downs, hopefully ups. Players need to go out and play. Express themselves, enjoy their football and smile. 100% believe this is often a problem with a poor performing manager. They make everything dour and hard work, when players play best when they go out with a freedom to enjoy themselves and play their natural game.

Breath of fresh air and gives us a chance.

[Lower West]

I'm hoping to see more of the Academy lads who at least have a real energy and buzz about them when they play. We've been far too passive, we need to give it a go.

Sure way of being totally undone at Championship Level. Being tactically inept with 5 games to go will achieve nothing.

[blythspartan]

I always loved both Hunts as players and I hope we can play on the front foot with a bit more confidence. Just maybe we’ll see Joao back to his best as I always felt that PInce and TInce got on his back at times. He’s deserved it in some games but I think he needs an arm around his shoulder rather than being bollocked.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Obviously a time where there will be lots of talk disecting what's gone before right now, but I thought a good idea for a more forward looking thread, with a bit of positivity too.

So congratulations to Noel Hunt on being offered, and accepting, the role of Reading Manager til the end of the season. And a big thanks for stepping up to take the reigns on this broken cart of a club and trying to steer it to safety. Good luck.

Noel's always struck me as an infectiously enthusiastic and positive guy, with a lot of humour and a relaxed but hard working attitude.

In his playing days he was full of positive running and graft. He knew where to put himself about on the pitch. A real trier with a laugh and a joke. An infectious smile.

More than anything the club needs an injection of hope and positivity, and if there's one thing I think Noel can bring, it's that.

Hard to say what he has to work with, with Meite mysteriously absent and Holmes looking crocked against Preston.

I'm hoping to see more of the Academy lads who at least have a real energy and buzz about them when they play. We've been far too passive, we need to give it a go.

Key priorities for Hunty in my view:
1) Lift morale and belief
2) Make sure the defence contains pace across the line
3) Play direct, but not long. Play it mostly on the deck. Pass and move.
4) Put in some simple patterns of play for moving forward and make sure everyone knows their role, and the role of everyone else.

Free hit as a Championship Manager. We're in a hole. No one expects much, but there's a chance.

Good post.

I wish we had more games to play with or a few more points in the bag (well not minus six) this is a huge uphill battle but I wish NHunt and the team all the best.

I think given the short notice and the dire situation it’s the best option, a) to have got rid of Ince and b) I feel NHunt is the best option, given where we are, the timescales and financial restraints we face.

Can he do it? As I say I wish he had more games and fewer injuries but I think he can.

Whether he will do it we will know in five games time.

At least we have some hope now which before we had none.

[Millsy]

Good thread I'll get behind him and largely agree with all the points.

However there's a 1% chance he's some guru and again the main plus is only that it's a shakeup.

The likelihood is we'll go down and get rid of him. Or worse still go down and dick around with him for a year or two until we realise he's not the Messiah. There's a chance he'll produce the new manager bounce and keep us up but then a repeat of Ince: well done for keeping us up but nothing much more to offer after that.

As most of us were saying when Ince joined I just hope Dai has a team excluding Kia on the lookout for someone. But something tells me this will be the same old cycle of crap.

[Royality creeps In]

Were sh1t at the moment.
As much as I want him to keep us up, as the saying goes "You can't polish a turd"

[Hound]

Yeah think we’ll go down tbh and doubt Hunt will get the role full time at the end of the season either

But you never know. The last 3 games are all winnable, even 7 points from them would see us safe I expect

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm hoping to see more of the Academy lads who at least have a real energy and buzz about them when they play. We've been far too passive, we need to give it a go.

Sure way of being totally undone at Championship Level. Being tactically inept with 5 games to go will achieve nothing.

Which is why we got rid of Ince. I'm asking for some tactical eptness there, Paul.

[Snowflake Royal]

Were sh1t at the moment.
As much as I want him to keep us up, as the saying goes "You can't polish a turd"

Although mythbusters proved you can in fact polish a turd.

[leon]

Were sh1t at the moment.
As much as I want him to keep us up, as the saying goes "You can't polish a turd"

Although mythbusters proved you can in fact polish a turd.

dry it and varnish it? Failing that roll it in glitter

[Stranded]

So Hunt has said he plans to tweak things a bit - would hope he just starts by playing square pegs in square holes and if there isn't a suitable "senior" player available, play a kid.

So bring Azeez in and maybe even Abrefa if they are the best natural option for a position.

Looks like Carroll will start, if fit, so if we have Joao in there as well - get the ball wide and keep getting balls into the box - high for Carroll or more into the feet for Joao. Just pepper their box constantly.

Win ball, get it wide, midfield bomb on, cross, cross, cross. Do it enough and with AC and Joao in the box, something will happen.

[Snowflake Royal]

Were sh1t at the moment.
As much as I want him to keep us up, as the saying goes "You can't polish a turd"

Although mythbusters proved you can in fact polish a turd.

dry it and varnish it? Failing that roll it in glitter

Dry and varish was one attempt but best results using just water and your hands.


They used baked lion shit so it had been sterilised and dried. Quite impressive shine on it.