'Footballing culture' - Birmingham City old boy returns to key Championship role

Former Birmingham City coach Mark Bowen has returned to Reading for a third occasion. With the Royals having confirmed Paul Ince has been made permanent manager, the Championship outfit also revealed Bowen has come back as head of football operations.

The 58-year-old, who was part of Steve Bruce’s back-room team when Blues won promotion to the Premiership in 2002, is a former Reading player and joined the Royals as a technical consultant in 2019. He was later upgraded to sporting director and then took over as manager from Jose Gomes.

However, he was replaced by Veljko Paunovic last summer and despite being offered a role upstairs he moved on and later joined AFC Wimbledon in March, although he was unable to save the Dons from League One relegation. Bowen will lead Reading's recruitment, sports science, analysis and academy as the club aim to control costs.

"Owner Mr Dai and I recognise the considerable impact an appointment of this nature can make within the structure of the club and, as well as boasting a huge level of experience in football at the highest level, in Mark we have appointed an individual who possesses a very clear, strong understanding of Reading Football Club and the specific challenges we face," chief executive Dayong Pang said.

"He will provide valuable guidance, a football-driven focus and consistency across our first team and academy age groups, which we are confident will help re-establish an identity across all the pitches at Bearwood Park and develop a footballing culture which will be defined by an aim to ensure our players achieve their maximum potential. I'm very much looking forward to working with Mark once more."

Reading finished six points and one spot behind 20th-placed Blues but were