Reading with work to do on and off the pitch

Despite a tough week, Reading beat Charlton 3-0 in the rearranged friendly [Shutterstock] When things are going wrong in life, they say "it never rains, it pours". But at Reading that's an unfortunate expression, how they wish it would pour! Nothing seems to be growing quite as hoped at the moment even the grass on the newly laid pitch at the stadium has suffered in the drought, leaving club officials with no choice but to shift the final pre-season game against Charlton to The Valley, a game that they did win 3-0. It's bad luck, rather than incompetence, but fans looking forward to seeing the team back in action will be frustrated. It's been a similar story with the growth of the squad, the departures of Derrick Williams, Andy Yiadom, Ryan Nyambe, Finlay Burns and Michael Stickland, with a combined total of one hundred starts in defence last season, have been replaced with Udoka Godwin-Malife. He's out injured. In attack, arguably the most gifted flair player Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan has been sold. He played understudy to the late arriving and often injured striker, Jack Marriott last season, but Marriott is injured again, and promising youngster Sean Patton is also out for the next few weeks. The crucial striker role is instead being entrusted to Jacob Brown, who managed the grand total of one goal in 22 appearances at Luton and Portsmouth during the whole of last season. Scarred by watching loanee Mark O'Mahony's flat performances at the start of last season, Reading fans fear déjà vu. At the back end of last season, during the winless last six games, we were promised this time round would be different. The plan was to assemble the squad for the start of pre-season but it's played out exactly the same for Leam Richardson as it did for former manager Noel Hunt 12 months ago. Richardson will be pestering the owner for more recruits, and more quality in, knowing the same fate will befall him if he can't get more strength and depth. Money needs to be spent on attackers, defenders, fertiliser and water. Reading switch Charlton friendly to The Valley All the latest Reading news