Quinton Fortune appointed first-team coach at Reading

Former Bafana Bafana and Manchester United midfielder Quinton Fortune has been appointed as the first-team coach at Reading Football Club.

Fortune now moves to The Royals from Manchester United where he was an assistant coach to their U23 side.

The Cape Town-born coach has now reunited with former Atletico Madrid teammate Veljko Paunovic, who was recently appointed as the new manager of Reading.

Reading released the following statement on Fortune’s appointment:

‘Reading Football Club are pleased to confirm that Quinton Fortune and [former Portugal international] Nuno Gomes have both put pen to paper to sign coaching contracts with the Royals.

‘The duo arrive as part of our new manager’s first-team staff and joined Veljko Paunović on the training pitch at Bearwood Park for the first time this morning.

‘And it is from Manchester United that Fortune arrives in RG2 – having played 126 times under Sir Alex Ferguson, he completed his Uefa A Licence and last season assisted Neil Wood as a coach with United’s Under-23s.’

Welcoming former @ManUtd midfielder @QuintonFortune to the Royals’ ranks 🇿🇦

Quinton joins the club as First Team Coach. 👏 pic.twitter.com/GfOeT9afvV

— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) September 8, 2020

United, meanwhile, released a statement of their own, which reads:

‘Manchester United can confirm that assistant Under-23s coach Quinton Fortune has left the club to take up the position of first-team coach at Reading.

‘Everyone at the Academy wishes Quinton the best of luck in his new role. All of our coaches, as well as the players, receive a huge amount of development and this is another example of the type of progress that an individual can make within the Academy system.

‘The Under-23s’ promotion was a great achievement for Neil Wood and his staff so we’d like to thank Quinton for his role in that.’