Wednesday 9 October 2019 17:27, UK
Reading have sacked manager Jose Gomes after less than a year in charge.
The Royals have lost five of their last six Championship games and sit in the bottom three with eight points from their opening 11 matches.
It comes just six months after Gomes saved the Berkshire club from relegation to Sky Bet League One, having taken over in December 2018 with the club in deep trouble towards the foot of the second tier.
The Portuguese arrested a run of 10 games without a win and secured six victories before the end of the season to finish 20th and avoid the drop by seven points.
Gomes' summer preparations for the new season were somewhat hampered and they did not make a new purchase until late in the window, when George Puskas and Lucas Joao joined in early August.
He was also credited by some supporters as having brought back a "feel-good factor" to the club, and was praised by several players.
Reading said in a statement that owner Mr Yongge Dai had made "the difficult decision to part company with Gomes", adding: "We would like to sincerely thank José for his hard work during his tenure as manager and we wish him the very best of luck in his future career."
Sky Sports' EFL reporter Simeon Gholam
Those who watched Reading play against Cardiff, West Brom and Huddersfield in August would scarcely believe that Gomes would be out of a job barely six weeks later.
Once the new signings of George Puscas - a big-money arrival from Inter Milan - and Ovie Ejaria, who arrived on loan from Liverpool, had been bedded in the Royals briefly looked a genuinely exciting prospect.
Having lost their first two games of the season they hammered Cardiff 3-0 at the Madejski, and were only denied a win at promotion-chasing West Brom by a late Baggies penalty.
Since their win at Huddersfield, however, results have taken a complete nosedive. Just one point has been picked up from their last six games - and even that was courtesy of a last-gasp goal at Swansea at the end of September.
Gomes was working hard to try and improve the style of play at the Madejski and largely had the fans on his side, but he departs with a similar record to that of his predecessor Paul Clement, having won just nine of his 38 games in charge.
