Football Season Review

Whereas Reading arguably overachieved last term, this was a campaign where they underachieved. Last year's beaten play-off finalists should have really pushed on, instead they got themselves stuck in a rut, struggling to win games and were badly short of confidence. Jaap Stam worked wonders in his first season but had a disaster. He could have gone at numerous points in the campaign but eventually departed towards the end with the Royals' very existence in the Championship in doubt. In came Paul Clement who did an adequate but far from overly convincing job. Stam's main failing was the arrival of new players that just did not perform. On paper Vito Mannone, Leandro Bacuna, Dave Edwards, Sone Aluko, Chris Martin and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson appeared to be reasonable signings at Championship level. But they all disappointed severely. In fact it was only Modou Barrow, who scored 10 goals, that did anything like impressing. Their problems in goal and at left back did not help confidence either and they were especially disappointing on home soil. Clement may well be given funds to spend over the summer and he must use them wisely after such a dreadful summer of recruitment last time out. He has already shown signs of knowing what he is doing with the astute capture of Barnsley captain Andy Yiadom. Reading's captain Paul McShane missed much of the season and they also had injuries especially in the start of the campaign that caused a slow start so there are some excuses for the poor form shown in the campaign just gone.

Player of the Season: Modou Barrow