BBC Radio Berkshire’s Reading commentator Tim Dellor
Likeable, calm and well organised, Ruben Selles’ character was tested to the full at Reading.
A lesser man in charge of the Royals for the past 18 months would have thrown the toys out the pram and snapped at least once but Selles took all the nonsense thrown at him by the owner and chief executive in his stride.
He also patiently and courteously fielded media questions about the baffling situation week after week, when really others should have been fronting up. He’s as well qualified to be in the cabinet at Westminster as be a Championship football manager.
He got the tactics all wrong for his first few months in charge, playing a wretched 4-2-2-2 formation that was completely ineffective and, in another situation, after being winless in nine games and bottom of the League One table, his tenure would have been ended after three months at Reading.
However, a change in tactics and selection and a remarkable turnaround in results, with young players at the fore, all helped Selles become one of Reading’s most popular managers ever.
All said and done though, the basic human quality of being a really likeable man is by far the most important quality, and that was what made him so effective during his 18 months at Reading.
