Many people rightly scoffed when Paul Ince returned to management, but he is working wonders at Reading.
Him and Man City legend Vincent Kompany are among the cream of the crop of managers in the Championship…
Michael Beale (QPR)
Beale/Keith Harris left Steven Gerrard/Orville the Duck high and dry in the summer to take the limelight as manager of QPR.
He was right by Gerrard’s side during his start as a manager at Rangers and Aston Villa, and Gerrard has looked a bit lost without his trusted right-hand man at Villa Park.
While Gerrard is floundering, Beale is thriving as a manager in the Championship.
QPR drifted to finish 11th last term and the club took the brave decision to part ways with Mark Warburton. A perhaps even braver call was made to give Beale his first chance as a manager.
But this decision has proved to be an inspired one so far; QPR currently occupy fourth place in the second tier. A top-six finish would count as a strong season for the Rs, and they are on track to pull that off.
Beale is blessed with having one of the league’s best players in Ilias Chair to call upon and the inexperienced boss is getting the best out of him.
Breaking into the top two is a tough ask for QPR this season, but a play-off push would be seen as real progress in a transition season.
Paul Ince (Reading)
Here’s a man most would have expected to be out of a job by the end of the year. But there’s no chance of Ince being sacked any time soon.
Under him, Reading benefited from Derby County’s points deduction last season as they stayed up with 41 points (would have been 47 without their own deduction).
Unsurprisingly, most backed Reading to go down this term, with Ince’s permanent appointment among the factors taking away the optimism around the club.
Ince’s last permanent job as a manager was way back in 2014 at Blackpool and even then it felt like his managerial prospects had fizzled out.
On the face of it, that time away looks to have re-energised the ex-England international. And Reading are reaping the rewards of that.
Seven wins in 12 is a superb return and he has got his son – Tom Ince – back to performing near to his best.
Keeping Reading up this season would have been classed as a success. Instead, they are flirting with a promotion challenge to confirm that the Championship is truly batsh*t.
Paul Heckingbottom (Sheffield United)
Heckingbottom not only has the best name of all the managers in the Championship, but he is also in…
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