“It’s been a long wait” – Reading fan pundit reveals verdict over Shane Long decision ahead of Blackpool match | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Reading have a big season in the Championship ahead of them after struggling against relegation in the second tier in the last campaign.

The Royals played some good football in the 2020/21 season and looked like potential promotion contenders, with Lucas Joao firing the club towards the top end of the division.

However, in the second season under Veljko Paunovic, the club ended up marooned near the bottom of the Championship instead. With a points deduction thrown into the mix too, it led to the side spending the majority of their season trying to move away from the relegation zone.

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It led to their boss losing his job and being replaced by new manager Paul Ince, who managed to keep them in the second tier. Now, the manager is eyeing a push further up the table and has started to improve his squad by adding the likes of Shane Long to their ranks.

Long has played plenty of EFL and Premier League football and they’ll be hoping that if they can keep the striker fit, he can bag goals for Reading over the course of the campaign. If he does, then they may not have to think about the drop zone again.

Speaking about the player and whether he would feature in the first-team during the opening weekend though, Reading’s Football League World fan pundit Johnny Hunt has revealed he doesn’t think the player will get the nod – but that he could come off the bench. The pundit even mentioned that he fancies Long to bag the winner in the fixture.

Speaking about the player then, he said:”I don’t think he will [start] because he’s been out injured, possibly will be be back Saturday, so I reckon the best would be off the bench and I predict if he is playing, he’ll come on and score the winner in front of the Reading fans with about five minutes to go.

“Wouldn’t that be a nice comeback? But you know, it’s a long season as we all know, so there’s no point in rushing him back if he’s not quite right. Hopefully, [Lucas] Joao will be fully fit but yeah, it’ll be great to see Shane Long back playing in the league for us again, it’s been a long wait so best of luck to him.”

The Verdict

Reading doing a deal for Shane Long is a good piece of business, even if he is getting on in his career now.

He’s 35-years-old and hasn’t bagged a double digit amount of goals in a season since way back in 2015/16 for Southampton. In the last campaign, the player bagged just one goal and managed three starts too, which means that he might be slightly rusty for the Royals.

However, when the player gets into the team on a regular basis and gets the chances given to him, he has proven he can score goals. In the Championship as well, a league lower, it could allow him to thrive at the back end of his career.

Looking at the player’s goalscoring record in the second tier, it reads two goals, 21 goals, six goals and nine goals. They’re better hauls than the 35-year-old managed in the Premier League and if he becomes a first-team regular, he could bag close to double digits for the Royals.