Divisive individual set to be involved in making key Reading FC decision

Football businessman Kia Joorabchian will be involved in the process to appoint a replacement manager for Veljko Paunovic at Reading FC, according to former Royals correspondent Courtney Friday.

The 50-year-old Iranian, who first gained notoriety in English football when bringing both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to the country for West Ham United, is said to be an advisor to the club’s Chinese owner Dai Yongge.

His apparent increased involvement in matters at the Select Car Leasing Stadium has led to increasing fan unrest, with supporters protesting before the club’s 3-2 loss at home to Coventry City on Saturday.

And now Joorabchian is set to help bring in a new man to lead Reading for the rest of the season, with the sacking of current head coach Paunovic expected in the immediate future.

Paunovic, who recently admitted that he does speak to the Iranian about club matters, is set to lose his job after overseeing seven Championship defeats on the spin which has left the Royals perilously close to the relegation zone.

The Verdict

Reading aren’t the only team’s fans that have been protesting recently that Joorabchian has been involved with – Everton fans have done similar this year already.

It doesn’t seem as though he is having a positive impact on clubs this season so it must be a concern that he’s going to be involved in appointing a new manager at the Berkshire outfit,

We saw how the reaction of Everton fans was when one of his clients Vitor Pereira was close to becoming the new boss of the Toffees, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a Joorabchian client turn up at Reading either.

That is something that Royals fans will be hoping doesn’t happen as it would suggest he has a lot of control at the club – which is