Reading FC confirm addition of 52-year-old to work alongside Paul Ince

Interim Reading manager Paul Ince has added experienced Scot Alex Rae to his backroom staff whilst he is in charge of the Royals, the club have confirmed.

Even though Ince is only in caretaker charge of the Championship strugglers, he is being allowed to bring in a former team-mate from his playing days as an assistant manager.

Rae played with Ince during their time at Wolverhampton Wanderers and the former England international signed Rae when he was at MK Dons in 2009 as a player-coach.

The pair went on to work together once again at Blackpool in 2013 before moving on to Genk in 2014 to assist Alex McLeish and then took on his own managerial role at St. Mirren in late 2015, which he lasted less than a year in.

Despite only co-managing the Royals along with academy boss Michael Gilkes, Ince has been approved to add Rae as an assistant manager and he will be in the dugout for the first time when Birmingham City visit the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The Verdict

Reading fans are obviously curious at the fact that an interim boss has been allowed to bring in an assistant, despite already having Michael Gilkes and Mikele Leigertwood to work with.

It does suggest that perhaps Ince’s stay at the Berkshire club could be more than a few games – unless results go badly wrong.

Rae does have experience working at multiple clubs in England, Scotland and Belgium though and he may be able to provide a positive impact on the training pitch.

But this deal does seem to give an inclination into how the Reading hierarchy are looking at Ince’s tenure as not being an extremely short-term measure.

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