Reading

The club

Reading were founded on 25 December 1871 and play at the Select Car Leasing Stadium in Reading, Berkshire, a ground opened in 1998 as the Madejski Stadium and holding 24,161. The club are known as the Royals, and before that as the Biscuitmen, after Huntley and Palmers. They play in blue and white.

Recent seasons

Reading were a Championship club at the start of this run and are now in their fourth consecutive League One season. They finished 14th in 2019/20 with 56 points and seventh in 2020/21 with 70. The decline that followed was driven by financial penalties as much as by results. In 2021/22 they were 21st with 41 points after a six-point deduction for breaching the EFL's profitability and sustainability rules. In 2022/23 they were 22nd with 44 points, again six points lighter after a deduction for breaching an agreed EFL business plan, and were relegated. In 2023/24, their first season in League One, they took another six points of punishment in three separate tranches, one point for failing to pay players on time, three for late wage deposits and two for overdue payments to HMRC, and finished 17th with 53 points. The club stabilised in 2024/25, finishing seventh with 75 points, and were 12th in 2025/26 with 63 points from 46 games (16 wins, 15 draws, 15 defeats, 64 goals scored and 60 conceded). Average home attendance in 2025/26 was 12,194. Ownership passed to Redwood Holdings Limited in a takeover completed on 14 May 2025, ending the Dai Yongge era that produced the deductions above.

Honours and landmarks

Reading have not won a major national cup. They won the Full Members' Cup, then sponsored as the Simod Cup, in 1988, beating Luton Town 4-1 at Wembley. League titles are Division Two in 1994, Third Division South in 1926 and Fourth Division in 1979. Their best-known achievement is the 2005/06 Championship season, in which they took 106 points, a record for a professional English league season, scored 99 goals and lost twice, going up to the top flight for the first time. They finished eighth in the Premier League in 2006/07, still their highest league placing. They also hold the English record for consecutive league wins from the start of a season, 13, set in the Third Division in 1985/86. Reading have reached the FA Cup semi-final twice, in 1926/27 and 2014/15. Record attendance is 33,042 against Brentford in an FA Cup fifth round tie in 1926/27, set at the old Elm Park ground. Martin Hicks made a record 603 appearances between 1978 and 1991. Trevor Senior scored a club record 191 goals across two spells, including 41 in 1983/84; Ronnie Blackman holds the league goals record with 158 between 1947 and 1954. Jimmy Kébé scored the club's fastest FA Cup goal, after nine seconds, in 2009/10.

Notable scorelines

Record victory: 9-0 against Exeter City in the EFL Trophy on 19 September 2023. Record defeat: 0-18 against Preston North End in the FA Cup first round on 27 January 1894, one of the heaviest results in the competition's history. The 1988 Simod Cup final win over Luton, then a top-flight club, is the club's only Wembley trophy.

Head-to-head notes

No published all-time head-to-head records were established for Reading's 2026/27 opponents. The club's own website was not consulted successfully for this dossier and web search was unavailable, so this section rests on nothing and should be treated as a gap rather than as evidence that no such records exist. What is on record from 2025/26: Reading lost 0-2 at home to Lincoln City on the opening day, beat Port Vale 1-0 on 30 August 2025 for their first win of that campaign, and drew with Bolton Wanderers, Doncaster Rovers and Stockport County. In the cups they beat AFC Wimbledon 2-1 at home in the second round of the EFL Cup before losing 0-2 at Wrexham in the third, and went out of the FA Cup in the first round, beaten 3-2 after extra time at home by Carlisle United.

Right now (2026/27)

Leam Richardson is the manager, appointed on 28 October 2025 on a two-year contract after Noel Hunt was sacked on 26 October with three wins from 14 matches. Richardson had previously managed Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United. John Coleman was named assistant manager on 3 July 2026.

The summer business has been mostly free transfers and low fees. Forward Kyreece Lisbie joined from Colchester United on 22 June for an undisclosed fee and defender Udoka Godwin-Malife from Burton Albion on 30 June, also undisclosed. Forward Jacob Brown signed as a free agent on 2 July, defender Callum Cliff on 9 July, and midfielders Matteo Dashi and Torin Ntege both on 31 July. Midfielder Josh Stokes arrived on a season-long loan from Bristol City on 10 July. The one significant sale was forward Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan to AC Horsens on 29 July for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £640,000. Goalkeepers Tom Norcott and Harrison Rhone went out on loan to Derry City (3 July) and Brackley Town (11 July) until 1 January 2027, and forward Reece Evans to Bedford Town on 24 July until 31 August 2026.

Reading have not played a competitive match yet. They are away to Bromley in the first round of the EFL Cup on 8 August 2026, and open the League One season at home to Luton Town on Saturday 15 August 2026 at 12:30. Jack Marriott, signed from Wrexham a year earlier, was the club's top scorer in 2025/26 with 16 league goals and 17 in all competitions.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Reading_F.C._seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Reading_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Reading_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_League_One

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.