Poll: Should Noel Hunt be sacked?

[leon]

He’s been here for nearly a year now with (from a very rough count) about a 1/3 win rate in a poor division with some good players

League games only ...
First spell - 0 % (5 games, 2 pts, 0 wins)
Last season - 42.8 % (28 games, 45 points, 12 wins)
This season - 16.7 % (12 games, 11 points, 2 wins)

So what I hope to see is some improvement in the short term, a new team to build and gel together, more academy/un-heralded/scouted players and a return to some sort of "not being stupidly short term for the sake of it" normalcy.

not sure you can say with certainty that Couhig will continue the management hiring and firing. The key is to get the right manager and stick with him. Alas under the last two owners our recruitment was very "reactive" lets say.

[Clyde1998]

Final result of the Tilehurst End poll was nearly 86% in favour of change out of 950 votes.

RFC Latest have done a similar poll with 1407 votes 84% so similar to TTE.

Pretty conclusive.

FWIW, the poll done on here in November 2023 showed 82% in favour of sacking Selles once removing the undecided/Ian Royal option. Can't find an equivalent Twitter poll from the time.

Given both of these polls were on Twitter, I'd imagine the demographics skew much younger than the club's general supporter base and that's without considering the general user base Twitter currently has. It certainly doesn't help TTE is strongly Hunt Out at the moment and will no doubt be guiding people towards sacking Hunt.

I'd imagine there's a lot more of a nuanced situation among our supporter base at large. I've not really heard anyone outside the terminally online demographic having strong opinions about whether Hunt should be sacked tbh.

[Berxwedan Zinar]

once last season's momentum dissipated the performances seem to have got progressively worse with no indication of any plan that might be likely to turn things around

[LUX]

Clearly things aren’t great. And Hunt has brought a number of players in, with limited success.

But the budget he has had to work with is paltry, his hands are tied. Pretty sure no manager could improve things without more investment.

Imagine if Marriott gets injured/ suspended

[Hound]

Clearly things aren’t great. And Hunt has brought a number of players in, with limited success.

But the budget he has had to work with is paltry, his hands are tied. Pretty sure no manager could improve things without more investment.

Imagine if Marriott gets injured/ suspended

Signed too many players. We have enough players for a strong reserve team and a solid u21 side on top of a first 11 if everyone fit. That’s not sensible and eat up the budget

Marriotts goals will dry up soon I suspect and then we’ll be in even more of a mess.

[RoyalBlue]

Clearly things aren’t great. And Hunt has brought a number of players in, with limited success.

But the budget he has had to work with is paltry, his hands are tied. Pretty sure no manager could improve things without more investment.

Imagine if Marriott gets injured/ suspended

No manager?

To me, the current management/coaching team is woefully lacking in experience and necessary breadth of skills. I'm pretty sure that altering that (could possibly be done without removing Hunt?) could make a big difference.

[stealthpapes]

I'm pretty sure that altering that (could possibly be done without removing Hunt?) could make a big difference.

now we're talking.

[Clyde1998]

Clearly things aren’t great. And Hunt has brought a number of players in, with limited success.

But the budget he has had to work with is paltry, his hands are tied. Pretty sure no manager could improve things without more investment.

Imagine if Marriott gets injured/ suspended

No manager?

To me, the current management/coaching team is woefully lacking in experience and necessary breadth of skills. I'm pretty sure that altering that (could possibly be done without removing Hunt?) could make a big difference.

I've said previously, our biggest loss this season has probably been Nigel Gibbs.

[Hound]

Clearly things aren’t great. And Hunt has brought a number of players in, with limited success.

But the budget he has had to work with is paltry, his hands are tied. Pretty sure no manager could improve things without more investment.

Imagine if Marriott gets injured/ suspended

No manager?

To me, the current management/coaching team is woefully lacking in experience and necessary breadth of skills. I'm pretty sure that altering that (could possibly be done without removing Hunt?) could make a big difference.

I've said previously, our biggest loss this season has probably been Nigel Gibbs.

Of so, tbh that’s even less in Hunts favour

[SouthDownsRoyal]

I’m torn.

The football is far from good to watch, Noel’s tactics are questionable at times, we are in the relegation zone and although form has improved a little it’s still not great.

On the other hand, I don’t know what contract Noel has to buy out, I read three years but no idea if true.

Also, who would we get? As Reading fans we remember the premier league years, the years in the championship, often challenging for the playoffs and think we are a catch and can attract someone decent, maybe we can, but also the reality is we are fast turning into league one fodder and so from the outside how attractive are we?

I hope I’m wrong, but for me, I think we will continue to limp along under Hunt, bobbing up and down between the bottom 4 and maybe the few places above it.

It’s all a bit sad really, the happiness of getting rid of dai only to be in (potentially) a relegation battle.

For me, weighting it up, I’d ever so slightly er on hunt out.

Ok, we can give him some more time, sure, but will we be in this never ending cycle in a month, two months, three months? Probably

Be very interested to be in the mind of couhig sure he wants stability and not wanting to blow the budget but surely he will get to the point of either being worried about league 2 or just thinking why did I invest in this club only to bob ariubd the L1 relegation zone.

[Dirk Gently]

The answer is definitely "Yes."

But you're asking the wrong question.

You should be asking "When should Noel Hunt be sacked?"

[Orion1871]

I’m torn.

The football is far from good to watch, Noel’s tactics are questionable at times, we are in the relegation zone and although form has improved a little it’s still not great.

On the other hand, I don’t know what contract Noel has to buy out, I read three years but no idea if true.

Also, who would we get? As Reading fans we remember the premier league years, the years in the championship, often challenging for the playoffs and think we are a catch and can attract someone decent, maybe we can, but also the reality is we are fast turning into league one fodder and so from the outside how attractive are we?

I hope I’m wrong, but for me, I think we will continue to limp along under Hunt, bobbing up and down between the bottom 4 and maybe the few places above it.

It’s all a bit sad really, the happiness of getting rid of dai only to be in (potentially) a relegation battle.

For me, weighting it up, I’d ever so slightly er on hunt out.

Ok, we can give him some more time, sure, but will we be in this never ending cycle in a month, two months, three months? Probably

Be very interested to be in the mind of couhig sure he wants stability and not wanting to blow the budget but surely he will get to the point of either being worried about league 2 or just thinking why did I invest in this club only to bob ariubd the L1 relegation zone.

Very. There are very few managers in League 1 who wouldn't swap their job for the Reading job.

[URZZZZ]

It's a no from me. I'd give him more time

Whole new team and yes, he still doesn't know what his best first team (and seems to have no idea how to sort out our piss weak midefield) BUT, for me there are signs of improvement. Not least of which is the fact that (unlike last season) he seems to be able to make changes and subs that positively impact the game.

A new manager will go back to square one in trying to figure out what the best first team is. Can't see how that will help us at all

This is where I am, emphasis on bold.

And in 12 months time, when we're bored with the new one, we change again. Right?

and not have a thing about leaving Ben Elliott out.

I think there’s a player in Elliott but let’s not pretend this is particularly a thing

He’s started a good 7/8 games this year (another 60 minutes against Huddersfield) and hasn’t done enough given the competition for places in midfield

All five of our midfielders have identifiable strengths but Elliott’s is the easiest to eliminate in a struggling side as when he isn’t creating, the overall contribution isn’t there. And he hasn’t been creating

[South Coast Royal]

This is where I am, emphasis on bold.

And in 12 months time, when we're bored with the new one, we change again. Right?

and not have a thing about leaving Ben Elliott out.

I think there’s a player in Elliott but let’s not pretend this is particularly a thing

He’s started a good 7/8 games this year (another 60 minutes against Huddersfield) and hasn’t done enough given the competition for places in midfield

All five of our midfielders have identifiable strengths but Elliott’s is the easiest to eliminate in a struggling side as when he isn’t creating, the overall contribution isn’t there. And he hasn’t been creating

Nor has Wing, nor, Savage ,Doyle or Fraser.
Savage runs around a lot ,does the odd foul, does the odd long pass and (last season) scores the odd goal.
Wing scores great goals but his passing accuracy has dropped off
Doyle runs around a bit
Fraser doesn't run around much, in fact doesn't do much but has scored the one screamer.

If Elliott can't be accommodated in that midfield then he might as well ask to leave, especially whilst Hunt is in charge and seemingly wants the ball wellied forward at every opportunity so the ball probably then soars over Elliott's head.
Also it doesn't help our midfield creativity with our wide players being so poor.

No, I am not Elliotts dad nor do I think that Elliott is the next Glen Hoddle but I think he offers more than Doyle or Fraser (Hunt's signings) going forward and even if he is not that strong in the tackle the others aren't either nor do they have much pace or any semblance of dribbling ability.

Hunt out.

[Hound]

Tbh Doyle is a more obvious example of this team’s failings

He has managed 2 assists in 13 games (7 starts) where he managed 7 goals and 4 assists in 21 (15 starts) for Crawley last season

And tbh he has not looked like doing a whole lot more than he has

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Jacobson, Carey and possibly Couhig need to get Hunt into an office for a formal review.

Give him the standard performance review questions:

We’re not where we expected to be at this time of the season. Can you explain why?

What are you going to do to change the situation and get us back on track?

How long would you give yourself to change things around? A month? Two?

What would be your target? - what position should we be in or what number of points do you think we should have by date Y.

Are there any specific things we can do to help you achieve your targets?

We expect to see X amount of progress by date Y.

We’ll review the situation on date Y.

It’s a bit brutal - I hate doing it, especially to people I like - but it’s clear, gives the person time to explain, they know just where they stand.

I haven’t seen much evidence that Hunt can come up with good answers to any of these questions, so I’d give him a short time to improve. Next two games.

[Clyde1998]

Jacobson, Carey and possibly Couhig need to get Hunt into an office for a formal review.

Give him the standard performance review questions:

We’re not where we expected to be at this time of the season. Can you explain why?

What are you going to do to change the situation and get us back on track?

How long would you give yourself to change things around? A month? Two?

What would be your target? - what position should we be in or what number of points do you think we should have by date Y.

Are there any specific things we can do to help you achieve your targets?

We expect to see X amount of progress by date Y.

We’ll review the situation on date Y.

It’s a bit brutal - I hate doing it, especially to people I like - but it’s clear, gives the person time to explain, they know just where they stand.

I haven’t seen much evidence that Hunt can come up with good answers to any of these questions, so I’d give him a short time to improve. Next two games.

The question is: what are the realistic expectations from the ownership for this season? It feels like all the pre-season talk of being in the top six was merely to win over fans, rather than their serious view. I think the club always viewed it as a transitory season, but felt they couldn't come out and say it.

I maintain I thought we'd be mid-table this season, I think we can achieve that once players like O'Connor; Ritchie; Yiadom; etc. get up to speed and playing regularly.

If there's any hallmark of a successful side, at least in our history, it's that it should be a settled side - particularly the centre-back pairing. We've not really been able to have that so far. There seems to be the view O'Connor is our best centre-back from the higher ups at the club, so his return may help things defensively and giving us a more stable base to build from.

It will be interesting to see how O'Connor's (and perhaps Yiadom's) return affects things in the next few weeks.