Carlisle United: Reading player's response to Paul Simpson should teach him a lesson: View | OneFootball

Paul Simpson has managed at as high a level as any other manager in League One, but he made a rookie error before Saturday's game against Reading.

The Carlisle United boss has previously had jobs in the Championship, and he took the England under-20 side to World Cup victory back in 2017.

Other than this season, his record with the Blues has been imperious, with all three of his full seasons in charge of the club ending in promotion.

But, despite the vast wealth of knowledge and understanding that he has built up over the years, he made a bad misjudgement before the game which contributed to his side's downfall against the Royals on Saturday.

Days before the two sides met at Brunton Park, it was announced that Reading were going to be hit with yet another points deduction for breaching the EFL rules by failing to make payments to HMRC within the time that the EFL allows teams to make late payments.

In his press conference on Thursday, Simpson said that the Royals should have faced harsher punishment as they were repeat offenders.

"We know it’s not the players’ and the staff’s fault, or the coaching staff’s fault, that they keep getting points deducted," said Simpson.

"But there's something not right at the football club there. It keeps happening.

"And I also think there's something not right that the Football League aren't doing more about it, if I'm going to be really honest with you."

He didn't reveal what he felt would have been the right sanctions, but he added: "I just think if there are repeat offenders, then it can't really just be a softly, softly approach. I think there needs to be stronger punishment. And it's not for me to make those decisions."

These comments obviously reached the Reading dressing room, and they weren't taken lightly.

After scoring a brace in his side's 1-3 away win over Carlisle, winger Harvey Knibbs took to X to post this, in response to Simpson's remarks about Reading's points deduction.

Paul Simpson should have been smarter with post-match comments

The last thing you want to do is give professional athletes even more motivation to win or to prove you wrong. Not only was this a a big game in the context of the league, with Reading being dragged back down into the relegation scrap because of the deduction, but they will have been motivated to do even better to try and immediately make up for the lost points.

When you add those comments by the Carlisle manager on top of it, you could have guaranteed that the Royals were going to be well up for the game; and they were. They were more technically sound, more physical, and just an overall more dominating force than the Blues, and Simpson helped to light that fire that got the Reading players going.

The 57-year-old isn't necessarily wrong in his thinking; the point of these punishments is to try and deter teams from overspending, and if it's not going to have much effect on them, then what's the point?

In the grand scheme of things, that theory is certainly applicable, but Reading have been hit hard by punishments. Over the last three years they have had a total of 18 points deducted.

Simpson should also have known the negative effect that his comments would have on his team. They were down on quality and belief, in comparison to Ruben Selles' side, and he basically handed them the extra bit of motivation that they needed to go out and do what they did.