Reading put faith in academy talent to leave miserable year behind them | Ben Fisher


Club hope little-known manager José Gomes and promising youngsters can stave off relegation after a historically bad 2018

With 2019 merely hours old, trite platitudes and empty resolutions are all the rage. “New Year, New Me” and all that, but no team will be more desperate to usher in a new era than Reading, who, for a while, have wanted to see the back of the worst year – statistically – in the club’s history.

The Royals picked up a miserly 36 points (from 138), the lowest tally in the Football League over the past year. The numbers make grisly viewing, yet things may get worse before they get better.

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