Approval Rating: Reading Fans Pleased With Leam Richardson’s Start

The results of our first approval rating on new(ish) Reading manager Leam Richardson are in, and it’s a clear verdict from you, the voting public: you’re pleased with the start he’s made.

Not unhappy, not delighted, but pleased. A whopping 82.3% of you gave him either a 3/5 or 4/5 (30% and 52.3% respectively), which to me says Reading fans are broadly happy with what they’ve seen from him so far, although there are some reservations with some aspects of his management.

As for the other marks, literally no one gave Richardson 0/5, but small numbers of you opted for 2/5 (6.9%) or 5/5 (10.8%). You can see the full breakdown right here:

As for those reservations I referenced, Alex outlined some criticisms in his original article on Richardson, touching on youth development, performances and results (though there were also plenty of positives to highlight too). A point of Alex’s that I found particularly poignant was this:

“It’s hard to get a feeling of how much we are benefitting from [Richardson’s] leadership, or whether it is just a case of us having an actual manager who knows what they are doing.”

Which I would agree with. Has Richardson made this Reading team – now into the top half of the table and in good form – the sum of its parts, or anything more than that? Only time will tell, especially given Richardson’s not actually had that many matches so far, despite being in post since October. The fixture list is an odd thing sometimes.

Richardson’s average works out to 3.67/5, a decent enough score for a manager’s first approval rating. For context, it’s a big chunk higher than the 3.02/5 which Noel Hunt signed off with, but well below Ruben Selles’ numerous ventures beyond the 4/5 level.

“Ah, but only if I had another big DataWrapper chart so that I could visualise all the manager approval ratings The Tilehurst End has ever done!” I hear you cry. Well fear not, dear reader, for we can provide that too, and here it is:

So Richardson’s popularity right now is broadly similar to Paul Ince’s 3.61/5 in December 2022. At that point, the Royals had started the season like a house on fire before dropping off into mid-table. Another historical equivalent would be Veljko Paunovic’s 3.59/5 in May 2021 – again when Reading had started well but fell away.

Obviously the circumstances are very different for Richardson now, given he’s not been here as long as those two predecessors. There is therefore good scope for his score to improve in the coming months as he continues to settle at the club, build a team in his image and hopefully push Reading onto a convincing playoff push this season.