Reading FC blog run by fans, for fans.
We have our first Reading departure of the summer that isn’t related to a contract expiring or loan spell coming to an end. Matt Ritchie has today retired as a player and will return to AFC Bournemouth in a behind-the-scenes role, succeeding Simon Francis as technical director. It’s not hugely surprising news from a Reading […]
From the off, I’ve never written an article before, but my mouth, or thumbs on Twitter/X, have got me here. So be gentle. Our new owners (can we still call them new after a year?) have recently launched One Royal and, unless you’ve forgotten your email password or been living under a rock, you’ll know […]
This time last year, the mood music was all about how Reading had survived – beating the odds and avoiding further relegation – with an eighth-place finish in a league of just 10 teams. Fast-forward 12 months and there’s a new air of ‘what could have been?’, with the Royals finishing just six points short […]
“I don’t much care [about] the style of play… you either win or you lose.” Those were the words of Rob Couhig last month when he spoke to Ben and Ross on the TTE podcast. He said something similar more recently too, to BBC Berkshire: “My charge to [Leam Richardson] is not ‘go play great, […]
The Tilehurst End is looking for a new main sponsor. Established in 2011, we’ve grown both our content and supporter base considerably in that time. Are you a local business or individual that wants to get your name out to our friends and followers? Let us know! If you’re interested, please email us on [email protected] […]
Our recent managerial approval rating made it clear that Reading fans aren’t happy with the job Leam Richardson is doing, but the same is certainly not true of the owners. On the contrary, their score is on the rise. The first time we asked for your score on Rob Couhig and co – September 2025, […]
A year is a lifetime in football, but in life, a year can pass by in the blink of an eye. The ownership at Reading must feel like this as, two years ago, they thought they had successfully purchased the club, only to be set back a year, which was spent battling to get their […]
The results are in from our second approval rating on Leam Richardson, which we ran following the end of his first season in charge, and… they’re not good. You’ve given him an average score of 1.7/5, which is one of the lowest scores we’ve ever recorded for a Reading manager. To break down the voting, […]
Congratulations to Benn Ward, winner of our 2025/26 rookie of the season award! He only had one challenger, John Ryan, but he was a comfortable winner. Ward took 86% of the vote, well ahead of Ryan’s 14%. In truth this result was a bit of a foregone conclusion, and that’s no slight on Ryan. The […]
Very many congratulations indeed to Jack Marriott, who’s been voted as TTE’s 2025/26 player of the season! In fact, he’s essentially completed the double, having also taken the club’s award. That’s not the case every year though – last season for example, Joel Pereira pulled off a surprise TTE win despite Tyler Bindon getting the […]
A heads-up before we get going with this article: it’s an uncharacteristically personal piece which is probably quite self-indulgent. It’s certainly not in TTE’s usual focus, although it is about Reading Football Club (in a way). But I found it cathartic to write and it may be of help/relevance to some others, so here you […]
Both this season and last, there’s been lots of focus on whether we’d make the playoffs. Whether we’d ‘sneak in’ on the final day, be ‘in and around’ the playoffs for the new season or be able to ‘get back in contention’ over the final few weeks. And eventually, a sense that, although ‘at one […]
AFC Portchester scored five, including a hat-trick from Kim Fuller, to end Reading Women’s great run of form in a 5-3 thriller – if not a little chaotic match – at Arbour Park, Slough on Wednesday night. Team: Scarlett Bowcott (GK), Bethan Poole (Ava Broke-Smith, 65’), Sarah Thompson, Keziah Banduka, Jazz King (Lucy Bolitho, 16’), […]
Managing director Neil Peters joins The Tilehurst End to discuss the new One Royal initiative at the club. Neil gives a detailed interview on the process that led to One Royal. Ben and Ross ask about the changes to the loyalty points, and speak to some fan concerns about elite members receiving more points for […]
Though this season didn’t go as we’d hoped, falling apart in hugely disappointing fashion in the last few weeks, there were some strong individual performers. And now (you won’t have guessed by the title of this piece, I’m sure) we’d like you to vote for your standout. Jack Marriott has already won the club’s official […]
If you split every Reading player of the last eight years into either unanimously liked, split opinion or unanimously disliked, the latter of those categories would be distinctly more populated than the first. Andy Yiadom fits into the second though. There will be some fans that simply see him as a player who joined when […]
Leam Richardon’s got some work to do, hasn’t he? In the space of under a year, we’ve gone from a united fanbase who were behind the team, the manager and the ousting of the owner to now feeling completely disconnected with the team and the majority seemingly disillusioned with the manager. Maybe there’s a good […]
Here it is then, the end of the season. Lots of things have happened over the last few months: management changes, a playoff charge, injuries, player recruitment, more injuries and even more off the pitch. In earlier editions of this monthly summary, I always said February/March would give us the real indicator of whether we […]
“Reading are much, much better at developing youth nowadays”… is how I started this article last year. As for now? Not so much. While it’s been an oft-discussed point that Leam Richardson doesn’t really seem to trust youth players (just look at a lack of game time recently for Emmanuel Osho, Luke Howard and others), […]
Well, Saturday was a load of rubbish, wasn’t it? A quick caveat before I start. Yes, there are reasons to be grateful. The ‘at least we have a club’ mantra has become somewhat of a meme on social media, but it’s sometimes worth taking a step back and considering how poor the off-field situation was […]
We’ve got one final bit of housekeeping before we can roll out our player of the season voting: a last player of the month award. This time it covers five games in April and the final match of 2025/26, which took place in May. To put it bluntly, this was not a good period on […]
It’s the morning after the night before – the annual shuffle to the Purple Turtle where Reading fans usually gather to either celebrate or commiserate the season. This time there was nothing to celebrate, but plenty to unload. A season shared, yes, but one full of anguish, turmoil and absolutely no character to cling to. […]
Joel Pereira: 7 Reading’s best player on the day, saving them from worse calamity. Tipped a shot over the bar that looked destined for the top corner midway through the first half. Picked up another great save at the end of the day to stop the lap of appreciation being even more uncomfortable for Leam […]
Going to watch your team should be an escape from the realities of day-to-day life. You know, the bad weeks at work, navigating annoying errands, the bamboozlement of trying to get your head around multi-tiered subscription schemes – that kind of thing. But the notion of watching Reading being anything resembling an escape disappeared long […]
Form Blackpool finished ninth in League One last season, two places and eight points behind Reading. This season marks their third straight season in the third tier, having been relegated alongside the Royals in 2023. They will face another season in League One next campaign, currently sitting 14th in the league, four places and six points behind […]