“A positive” - Rotherham United fan pundit delivers verdict on Reading FC developments | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Rotherham United’s survival chances received a big twist earlier this week with the deduction of six points from Reading’s total for this season, after "failure to fully satisfy a business plan agreed after a historical breach of the EFL’s Profit and Sustainability limits".

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This has dropped Paul Ince's side right into the thick of the action at the bottom of the table.

This, in turn, has boosted Rotherham's chance of survival, with Reading now entering the fray as a potential relegation candidate.

Can Rotherham avoid relegation?

The Millers have been in the relegation mix all season, but have managed to remain outside of the bottom three for much of the campaign.

Matt Taylor’s side hold a game in hand over Reading, but results have been hard to come by in recent weeks.

However, a giant stride towards safety was taken on Friday afternoon with the team's 3-1 win over West Brom.

This took Taylor's team three points clear of Reading, who dropped into the relegation zone with their 1-1 draw against Birmingham City.

FLW’s Rotherham fan pundit Tom Eyre believes this latest development regarding the point deduction is positive news for the club’s bid for survival. However, he feels that the team needs to focus on itself rather than their rivals in order to get the best out of their remaining games.

“Obviously I think it’s a positive for Rotherham, mainly because it drags them back into the relegation fight, and they’re really not in good form,” Eyre told Football League World.

“So you hedge your bets that now they’re the ones that are looking down rather than up, which is a positive for us.

“But it shouldn’t be, we should be well clear of this already.

“We shouldn’t have to worry about what they’re doing and how their season is going because we just need to focus on ours and get these extra points that are going to keep us up.

“But objectively you have to say it is a positive.”

How has Reading’s points deduction impacted Rotherham’s survival chances?

Reading’s loss is Rotherham’s gain in this instance as it brings one further team into the relegation battle.

It also brought the Millers up a place which creates some added separation between themselves and the drop zone.

Taylor’s side will still need results to maintain their place in the Championship for next season.