Football Season Review

Reading will be left heartbroken after they failed to win promotion to the Premier League thanks to losing the play-off final to Huddersfield on penalties. But even that scenario will come as a huge achievement given the Royals were not expected to do anything better than mid-table. In fact Jaap Stam will go down as one of the managers of the season in the Championship after leading his men to third. On few occasions did Reading impress but were able to string together some impressive wins thanks largely to the tactical nous of Stam who implement a largely defensive brand of the Dutch total football philosophy. The Reading side were one of few stars but played well as a team, but ultimately they really lacked the required class. If they had won the play-off final it would have been miraculous and in that respect promotion would have probably come too soon. Yet Stam can be very pleased with his first season in English football management, with plenty to build on for the coming campaign. He knows there is strengthening necessary, in particular up-front. Keeper Ali Al Habsi rolled back the years with an outstanding season in goal and was named player of the season.

Player of the Season: Ali Al-Habsi