Jaap Stam had a difficult job on his hands when he took over at Reading last summer, charged with lifting a squad after two poor seasons going in the wrong direction. But that task might have felt easy in comparison with the one he faced on Monday as he attempted to pull his deflated players up from the Wembley turf, one by one, after the Championship play-off final defeat by Huddersfield Town in a penalty shoot-out.
There was not a lot he could say. Tiago Ilori, the Reading defender, said few words were exchanged between team-mates in the dressing room afterwards. Chris Gunter, who captained the side, said “nobody knows what to say to each other”.
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