Will it be snakes or ladders for Reading in 2023?

As 2022 becomes 2023 the Championship table has never been tighter, writes BBC Berkshire's Tim Dellor.

Like a hotly contested family game of Snakes and Ladders, teams gather momentum, but then with one bad roll of the dice dramatically slither back down the board.

Reading started the game against Swansea on Tuesday evening lying 16th.

90 minutes later, thanks to a 2-1 win, they had catapulted up to 8th, level on points with 5th placed Norwich.

A couple of bad weeks and any of 16 teams could find themselves worrying about relegation, but equally a couple of good weeks and the same teams might quite reasonably start dreaming about promotion.

Right now League One or Premier League football in 2023 are both possibilities for a lot of Championship teams.

Reading’s next game is against Norwich on Friday at Carrow Road.

Then on Monday they are off to West Bromwich Albion.

The fixture computer clearly wasn’t wishing Reading a wonderful Christmas time or season’s greetings.

No game on Boxing Day left many fans wondering what to do.

2023 will be fascinating for Reading fans.

Providing Paul Ince can continue with his deft touch as a manager, and Mark Bowen can control things in his characteristically canny and calm manner anything is possible.

The transfer embargo should be behind them, and the restrictions around the squad they build will be lifted.

Based on the progress the club has made in the last ten months, it is not fanciful to think about promotion, if not this season then next.

The nagging worry is more Monopoly related, than Snakes and Ladders.

Each month Chinese owner Dai Yongge, who makes his loot munching up disused air raid shelters like a Hungry Hippo and converting them into extremely profitable shopping centres around China, transfers millions of pounds across to the UK to bankroll Reading FC.

That is terrific, providing it remains straightforward transferring money between the two countries, and providing the shopping centres are still ringing to the sound of cash tills.

There is a Risk, though.

Political intervention, a cultural shift discouraging links abroad, or another lock down preventing shopping centres thriving in China, could all spell trouble for Reading FC.

As we enter 2023 there ought to be a fair bit of nervousness around Reading’s current business model.

The next five games will go a long way in determining what sort of year 2023 will be.

Rack up a few points and be in the mix for a play off spot and Ince will be the hero, or go on a winless run and get dragged into a relegation scrap, and it will be onto Cluedo - the manager, in the board room, with the axe.

It is an unusually open-ended storyline ahead of Reading as they go into the New Year.

Usually by this stage of the season the general trend has been established, but unusually anything could still happen.

Best wishes for the New Year to everyone who regularly reads my Balderdash – and I promise to try and Articulate my thoughts on Reading FC more accurately in 2023.