The Drifter's Guide to Childhood Podcast

Being caught up in the present with university, it is always nice to look back on what our childhoods were like. This is an incredibly engaging listen, as all three of the podcasters come from different parts of the UK.

I am joined in this podcast by 20 year-old Will Murray and London-born Aaingel Nathan as we cover several nostalgia themed topics. GTA V and trampolines is a bit of a mix, however we managed to fit both in to this podcast!

Please Note: This show contains infrequent strong language.

Listen to "The Drifter's Guide to Childhood" on Spreaker.
Image Credit: Pixabay

OPINION: It Was Right For Ron Gourlay To Leave The Club

There was increasing scrutiny over the performance of Reading Football Club Chief Executive Ron Gourlay by supporters after a torrid 2017/18 season on the pitch and mass departures off it. After a downturn in fortunes since his appointment by current owners Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li, he has departed the club. This is the right decision.

Coming off the back of a very successful 2016/17 season at the Madejski Stadium, there was a fresh sense of optimism injected in to the club. This was with the Royals finishing third in the league and reaching the Play-off Final. They were only denied a place to the Premier League on penalties to Huddersfield Town.

Former Chelsea Chief Executive Ron Gourlay was appointed as the new CEO of Reading Football Club in the summer of 2017. The appointment came after the adjustment of Nigel Howe's position from Chief Executive to Vice-Chairman.

In his first transfer window as the CEO, the Chinese owners pumped a lot of capital in to the club. This money was invested most notably in to the squad, where numerous signings were made by former manager Jaap Stam. This was in an attempt to bolster the squad for another promotion push.

Instead, the 2017/18 season was dreadful, where the Royals side slumped to finish in a lowly twentieth, in the same league that they finished third in the previous season. Inevitably, Stam departed the club due to poor performances and awful results. Paul Clement was appointed shortly after and is also struggling to lift this club from the bottom half of the Sky Bet Championship.

Source: Reading FC YouTube Channel

With a CV boasting experience at Manchester United and Chelsea, Gourlay arriving at the club provided a lot of excitement for the Berkshire side's fanbase. However, a lot of the signings that were made under Gourlay's watch were questioned by the Reading fans, with the former CEO being under the microscope. A report from Charles Watts as well as many rumours swirling around social media suggest he was an incredibly negative influence on the club.

Charles Watts is a very reliable journalist, who acquired sources within the club when he worked for GetReading. Watts' report was truly worrying for the club's fanbase, as we built our club identity with hardworking players all over the pitch.

It was a clear theme in our two promotion-winning seasons to the Premier League, where the 2005/06 squad broke the record for the amount of points for a Championship season. This crowned the club as Champions as they were promoted to the Premier League for the very first time in their history.

There is now a huge gulf between the quality of that record-breaking team from over a decade ago and this current side who are struggling in the Championship. The only direction we have gone in is backwards ever since Gourlay arrived back in 2017.

The pressure only increased on Ron Gourlay since more poor signings arrived in this season's summer transfer window. This is combined with the departure of the Technical Director, Brian Tevreden. The Dutchman reportedly did not have the best working relationship with the former Chief Executive. That only helped to ramp up the already building pressure on Gourlay.

Attendances down, commercial director gone and not replaced, marketing department about to disappear, long-serving academy manager gone, youth coaches leaving, scouting and recruitment team all but non-existent now. #ReadingFC chief executive doing a sterling job........

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) September 12, 2018

Mass departures are worrying in any organisation, let alone a highly media-magnified professional football club. It was strange of Gourlay to not address this issue with the fans or resolve it immediately. The lack of communication from the owners has left other officials at the club to attend to media duties such as interviews.

Only making himself available for a couple of interviews per year was  anger-inducing, considering he was taking home a large salary worth thousands per month whilst there was chaos on and off the pitch.

Will the #GourlayOUT chants be loud and clear for once at home next week, or will we once again just sit their tutting and sighing? ... #ReadingFC

— Jamie Gorman 🇮🇪 (@OfficialJGorman) October 27, 2018

A lot of people who have left the club were long-serving, these figures including the commercial director and several members of the marketing department. The fact that Gourlay did not address this, with several resignations and redundancies, was irresponsible. Gourlay didn't address the fact that several departments of the club were weakened by resignations and redundancies, and it's just another demonstration of his irresponsibility.

Former Reading striker Simon Cox had a say on the running of the club under Gourlay in September, when he was still the CEO. He stated that a lot of hardworking people have left the club.

Worrying times ahead if the owners of the football club who say they care about the club and the supporters don’t get it right. The club could find itself in a worse situation then it finds itself in already. They need to bring back the hard working people back to the club.

— Simon Cox (@SCoxy31Real) September 12, 2018

In the summer of 2016, then-new appointed Technical Director Brian Tevreden set out a three-year plan to get promoted to the Premier League with the structure he initially put in place. The former Technical Director's three-year plan was not notably mentioned after Gourlay took over the CEO role.

That indicates that Brian Tevreden's once-important role was diluted by the current Chief Executive. It is hugely disappointing to think this has almost certainly happened after Tevreden had a very successful 2016/17 season without Ron Gourlay at the club.

The identity of the football club has been lost, with attendances down, supporters disillusioned by their own club and visible dissent in the stands against the players. Ron Gourlay must take a large portion of the blame for this as he departs the Madejski Stadium.

The morale around the club has dampened since staff turnover has increased. High key figures such as Sir John Madejski and Nigel Howe being relegated to lower status roles. The high spirits that have been around the club for over a decade are now diminishing, and Ron Gourlay did not manage to turn this around, through lack of effort and/or ability.

He could have promoted promoted an academy-focused strategy to provide a clear pathway for youngsters looking to make it to the first team. This will enable a club identity to be re-established in order for supporters to enthusiastically get behind the team. Instead, he leaves the club in a terrible state. Charles Watts is clearly pleased with this departure after having inside knowledge of the club.

It’s all caught up with him in the end. Can’t keep treating people the way he did and continue to get away with it. Owners finally saw sense after the amount of good people quit because of him. Truly dreadful appointment.

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) 19 November 2018

With Gourlay leaving this club seemingly in a mess, I am incredibly glad he has departed. The work  that needs to be done to re-build the club starts now, and this needs to happen quickly before Reading decline even further...

The State of Reading FC Under the Chinese Owners

The demise of Reading Football Club since the summer of 2017 has been clear to see, ever since the play off final against Huddersfield Town in the same year.

The current Chinese owners took a majority share of the football club from Lady Sasima Srivikorn, Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, Narin Niruttinanon, with the latter retaining a smaller share of the club. The other two former owners have completely cut their ties with Reading, with Thanakarnjanasuth becoming the owner of Oxford United.

After becoming the new owners of Reading the same day as the club reached the Championship play off final in 2017, the club has taken a huge downward spiral to the point where they are struggling near the bottom of the second division table.

Their tenture thus far has been rocky, and this interactive timeline below emphasises that point. With few successful moments since the takeover, times have been very bleak at the Madejski Stadium:

The Chinese siblings' tenure at the Madejski Stadium has been nothing short of awful so far. The Royals had a very lucky escape from relegation last season after their very poor form which saw Jaap Stam leave the club. The fact that their Championship survival was only confirmed after the final fixture of the season was incredibly worrying for supporters of the Berkshire side.

Some sections of the Reading support have noticed the fact that the current shareholders have not been seen frequently at games. This is concerning fans who fear that they may be disinterested in the club, and may have bought the club for non-football reasons.

After starting their tenure so promisingly by investing in the pitch and the squad as a whole, the owners have been incredibly quiet and have spent little money on players over the past year.

Action might be taken against the brother and sister by the Reading fanbase unless they come out and state their ambitions for the club in the long term.