Reading FC have been getting some special attention from the Portuguese press since December, when they hired manager José Gomes.
Now that the new boss has managed to save the club from relegation and fans are eager to celebrate Portugal Day, the gesture is obviously getting many stories in the Lusitanic country.
Newspaper Record published an interview with Gomes himself on Wednesday, who showed his appreciation for what Reading fans are doing.
“It started with a fan proposing this on social networks. I don’t even have it, so I didn’t see it, but it became viral and the club found the idea funny and took the initiative”, José Gomes told Record.
“It’s really an honor and gratifying. The game gets associated with Portugal and this phenomenon turns out to be pride. It even increases the responsibility to have a good result.”
Gomes explains that the situation wasn’t the best when he took charge of the club, and credits the squad for improving their campaign to stay in the Championship.
“The club was in bad shape, but we worked hard, they accepted my ideas and we stayed up due to the players. Fourteen players left, five came in and we were a family. The city was on our side and this was seen by the support in the decisive matches.”
In 22 matches in charge of the Royals, Gomes managed to get six wins, nine draws and seven losses. These certainly wouldn’t be impressive stats in other scenarios, but that was enough to save the club from relegation and conquer the love from the fans.
