Jose Gomes Final Approval Rating: October 2019

How good or bad a job was he doing in the weeks before his dismissal?

For one last time, we want to know what you think of the job Jose Gomes did as Reading manager.

It’s been a little while since we last asked you to grade his performance. At the end of August, you gave him an average score of 3.84/5, which reflected a not overly inspiring pre-season and slow start to the season.

Since then though, Reading’s fortunes shot up before plummeting straight back down. Wins over Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town, combined with an impressive draw against West Bromwich Albion, had fans hoping for a top-half finish. However, a winless run since then - with just one league draw at Swansea City - ultimately cost Gomes his job.

In the cup, the Royals defeated Plymouth Argyle 4-2 at Home Park before taking Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers to penalties. However, misses from John Swift and Lucas Boye (who had combined for the late equaliser) contributed to Wolves’ spot-kick victory.

Gomes was widely criticised for his ineffective, malleable tactics this season. He went through variations of the 3-5-2, 4-4-2 diamond, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-2-2-2 and other formations, never really settling on any one of those. He also failed to get the most out of his summer signings, not least George Puscas who spurned a number of golden chances that could well have given us a very different set of results.

Reading also developed a worrying habit under the Portuguese of going 1-0 down fairly early and struggling to get back into the game. How you divide the blame up for that between players and manager is open to debate.

On the other hand though, Gomes was only given a quarter of the season or so before being given the boot by the club, so may simply have needed more time to solve those problems above. He also maintained a strong relationship the fanbase, shown pretty clearly by the frustrated responses from the supporters to his sacking on social media.

Vote

So what do you think of the job Gomes was doing before he was relieved of first-team duties? This isn’t about whether or not he should have been sacked, but a poll on how much he was impressing you in the closing weeks of his time at the club.

In the poll below, which you can view here if it doesn’t show up on whatever device you’re using, grade him from 1-5 (1 is lowest, 5 is highest). To see how the approval rating for Reading managers has changed over time, see the chart below.

TTE manager approval rating over time