We’ve been told quite often recently that we’re a miserable old, negative bunch at The Tilehurst End. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. TTE Towers is a regular hotspot of positivity – we have
rainbows, fluffy white bunny rabbits hopping around and unicorns that fart glitter. Sim even regularly wears a spinning bow tie, like a Mr Tumble tribute act.
And when things do start to look a little down, we have plenty of “break glass in case of emergency” solutions to tap into. For example, we have Steve Coppell locked away in a cupboard. So we’ll wheel him out with his confetti cannon to shoot thousands of pieces of brightly coloured paper in the shape of “106”, while he gives us an anecdote about Marcus Hahnemann booking the wrong restaurant for a team dinner. Magical.
Now, the observant among you dear readers would say: “But who is clearing up all the confetti?” Fear not, we have a solution for that too. Brian McDermott is a part-time janitor at TTE Tower’s very accurately described day-to-day, and everybody knows how much he delights in coming in to finish off what Coppell has started. You can absolutely bet he’s pleased as punch, just whistling a happy little tune about Jason Roberts while tidying up the confetti.
Ah, but down the rabbit hole we have ventured. And the rabbits are relevant – who is cleaning up the rabbit dropping of the fluffy white delights that we have bringing sunshine to the masses? Well, the TTE Brains Trust thought of this too. We just bring in a random Swindon fan, because it’s a well-known fact that they don’t have souls and cleaning up rabbit droppings and unicorn glitter is seen as a privilege for them.
Now we’ve covered that peak behind the curtains to reveal how things run around here, I am going to push on and share some reasons for us to be happy little rascals so far this season, and demonstrate to the wider world that we are nothing but beacons of positivity here at TTE. Warning: this article is so chock full of unrelenting positivity, there is a danger that, after reading this, you may spontaneously break out into a song and a dance, in a show-tune manner.
The summer transfer window
We had a good, solid transfer window. We spent money on three players, which in itself was a bit fun and unusual for us. We brought in cover in all areas of the pitch, both in terms of experienced players, young talent and people ready to make an impact now. We were also able to strengthen the academy.
For the first time in a long while, we have actual squad depth and options all over the pitch to pick from. The experience we have added complements our youth, and the players we have brought in are all professionals who are committed to helping the club succeed and are willing to put the club over their own priorities.
Brian Carey is magical, and we are in better shape as a club for him having been there to oversee the recruitment in recent years.
Contract extensions
It wasn’t just about bringing in new players and squad depth: we needed to keep our existing players and tie them down on new, longer-term deals. And we did exactly that.
Joel Pereira is the best goalkeeper in this league and is probably also better than a lot in the division above. He ignored interest from elsewhere and signed up to take his rightful number one shirt because he knows that we’re a great place for him to be.
Similarly, Lewis Wing, 2023/24’s player of the season, regular scorer of outrageous goals and often viewed as one of the best midfielders in the league – if not the best – decided to commit his best years to the club and sign a new deal. Not only this, he officially became club captain.
We should be delighted about this, and I don’t believe there is a single Royal who isn’t. Not just this, but it shows what we are offering as a club to be able to convince them to hang around. Not that they took any convincing, seemingly both more than happy to sign up and lead the charge for this season.
The women’s team
Ed Jackson-Norris and his assistant Max Scott were poached from Maidenhead United in the summer and have helped oversee a recruitment drive to supplement the squad built last season, with far more strength in depth.
In their last game, an FA Cup tie, they pushed a very established and experienced Brentford side all the way and were unfortunate not to have taken the game further.
In the league, they are in fourth place – a position at no point in time they occupied last season – and also have two games in hand on the team in third. Things are looking good for this new-look Women’s side, and for only £30, the opportunity is there to get an affordable season ticket to watch the games. What’s not to love about all of that?
The academy pathway
It’s still alive and kicking, people! We saw the academy become the centre piece of our last couple of years of football, with exciting prospects getting more opportunities to come in and stake a claim, owing to the lack of first-team numbers, and many have gone on to nail down those places.
After a busy summer of recruitment, we are still seeing academy players getting the opportunities to make breakthroughs. We are mostly seeing them play in the cup competitions, but they are also breaking through into the first team as well.
The main example of this has been Ashqar Ahmed. He scared Son Heung-min out of England in the summer and has now made the first-choice right-back slot his own. John Ryan, after losing last season due to injury, is really staking a claim for a starting left-back berth with some great performances in the cup competitions and really standing out with his great deliveries from wide.
Shay Spencer is beginning to start more and more games in cup competitions as a part of the double pivot, and this move to a 4-2-3-1 system compliments his style of play – though 4-3-3 also did, in fairness. He is absolutely ready to be available if we pick up an injury in the engine room. Jacob Borgnis has broken through, the defensive midfielder dropping in to cover at centre-back and even scoring a goal against West Ham United’s under-21s. Marvellous stuff.
And speaking of scoring goals – Sean Patton. The summer academy signing has looked bright coming off the bench and also notched his first goal recently, to secure a win for Reading against MK Dons. Not a bad way to announce yourself to the Reading world. And the attacking breakthroughs don’t end there, with Jeremiah Okine-Peters getting a lot of game time out wide, and even playing up front against AFC Wimbledon.
We still have the likes of Philip Duah, Tyler Sackey, Gabriel Osho, John Clarke and Basil Tuma all knocking on the door too. The talent conveyor belt is still running as well as it has ever done.
Pre-match and post-match events
Putting the “event” back into “matchday event”, the new ownership are delivering a bit of punch pre- and post-game to keep fans merry and living their best lives. Basically, it doesn’t even matter who we draw 1-1 against because that’s just the secondary event. The pre- and post-game is where it’s all at.
Fireworks! Ohhhhhh. Colours. Pretty colours. Live music! With fireworks! Did someone magically roll Christmas and the creation of this hallowed football club into one magical day? What’s that? They actually did? Well – that explains all the good time feelings we’re feeling at the Select Car Leasing Stadium!
Post-game jaunts include getting to see teams from the lower regions of English football, like Chelsea or Liverpool, strive to gain cult status to match that of Reading (around since 1871), which those two (having been created in 1892 and 1905 respectively) are basically wet behind the ears compared to us. But it’s fun to watch! And there’s beer! Varieties of such now include more than Heineken!
Not just this, but in the next coming months, we have a fireworks show on November 22, a (what the club describe as a) festive bonanza on December 18 and a Louisiana Day on January 24 celebrating our new-found American nationality. Want more? You’ve got it – there’s a special open training day on October 27 with autographs, inflatables and an opportunity to watch a live training session at the SCL. Aren’t we a spoiled bunch? And you thought you were going to idle the time away at work on that Monday? Silly you!
Bearwood Day
The pride of Reading! For so long we have heard about it, and been teased photos of it, but in the summer, the club went one further and invited the fans down to Bearwood for a Sunday afternoon. For anyone who went, it was a truly memorable experience.
The sun was shining, the grounds were a gleaming green and there was a beautiful blue across the sky, enhanced by the Reading blue. We got to see the grounds, training pitches, player rooms, boot room (smell included!), laundry room, the canteen, the gym, the physio room and the first-team and academy buildings.
It’s little wonder that players have (supposedly) turned up, seen this and asked for more money. This place was literally a license to print money on the day (this writer may have gotten a little carried away with the merch purchases!).
And the facilities really were impressive. It was an amazing experience for the fans to go behind the scenes, and then get to meet the players and coaching staff. I was thwarted in my attempt to lock Harvey Knibbs in a broom cupboard until September, but he looked happy there. And someone found Ben Elliott down the side of the sofa and brought him out too! It was the first time we had seen him in months.
What a day, what a experience, what a memory. I will be walking with a skip in the air and a sideways heel tap for the rest of the day, thinking about that one.
Away attendances
Wherever Reading are playing, we always bring a loyal following. It’s a thing we’ve demonstrably shown in the last couple of seasons; as the chant goes, anywhere we go, people will always know who we are and where we come from.
The support the fans give to the team is always fantastic away from home, and we very often sell out our allocations for the Saturday kick-offs. There are not many teams in the league that can say they manage to do that, and it’s something to be very proud of.
Building on having the joint-fourth-highest away attendance of last season, this shows the loyal support is here to stay and back the team.
Q&A session
Literally, how many clubs’ owners have taken the time to sit down with their fans lately to answer questions? Quite literally demanding difficult questions? And then publishing those answers to those questions?
Rob Couhig is here with us for the journey, because he cares. He wants to hear what we have to say, and what’s to share in this with us. And not just Rob, either. Fellow director Rick Catania spent the night at the mercy of fans, bouncing around the stand to make sure they had a microphone to be able to speak.
Yes please. More of the same, as far as I’m concerned. It’s not about being better than before, because that comparison should never have had to be relevant. It’s about looking at those around us and asking ourselves – is anyone in better hands, in our league? Nope. The sun is shining all the time in Reading these days.
Jack Marriott
Saving the best until last? Quite possibly. I could have led with this one, but I wanted to tease it out to take the readership through the many, many thrills, joys and positives that float around our existence as Reading fans.
Jack Marriott has been a phenomenal signing for us. Coming in at the end of the window from Wrexham, he was a little slow to get game time, but now he is leading the line for us with aplomb.
The stats say it: six goals in six games. That is to say: he has scored consecutively in his first half a dozen starts for us. That’s a hell of a record, and he is closing in on the all-time Reading record of scoring in eight consecutive matches.
He’s been a great addition for us in a position where we don’t have a lot of options, and one where we haven’t had a huge amount of experience in the team. He has come in, made it his own and become an instant crowd favourite.
His game mirrors that of Sam Smith, who was the best striker we’ve had to lead the line in a number of years, but still didn’t manage the consistency that Marriott is displaying, and Marriott shows no sign of slowing up. Until I just jinxed it, anyway. Oops. Sorry all.
Conclusion
We’ve got a great squad, we’ve got depth in strength and a thriving academy, we’ve got a fan-favourite player in the dugout, alongside another former player who was a fan favourite. We’ve got an engaged owner. We’ve got the women’s team up and running and making great strides. We’ve got loyal fans, we’ve got fun events to look forward to leading up to the home games. Life is good, people!
We’re above such frivolities as collecting three points. We’re so happy we want to spread the joy to the others in the league by sharing the points, before we consolidate a magnificent play off-push and win – which, let’s be honest, is always more fun than just strolling to a boring, routine league victory.
Birmingham City might have enjoyed the end of the season, but did they love every minute of their previous season? No! And partly because of the problems our magnificent side caused for them.
Let’s all have a collective wooooooooosaaaaaaaah, remember this article and break out the Dave Kitson face masks and have a party!
