With Reading Women’s last three away matches (against Fleet Town, Windsor & Eton and AFC Portchester) all postponed due to the continued wet weather, The Tilehurst End took the opportunity to meet up with goalkeeping coach Ryan Robinson.
During our discussions, he kindly shared his views on how he felt the season has gone so far, the potential and positivity within the squad, his time with the Community Trust, and his goalkeeper coaching role for the first team and youth pathway.
What is clear, and
shines brightly during these dull and grey winter months, is his absolute love of what he does, as well as his commitment and professionalism. He is also very proud of the young Reading goalkeepers he coaches and the talent within the squad.
With Reading on a four-match winning run and only beaten once in their last seven games, recent postponements have meant it’s been a frustrating couple of weeks for fans, management and players alike.
So, with a bit of spare time, we asked him how he thinks the season has panned out so far.
“I think it sort of splits in half,” Robinson says. “The first 10 weeks of the season was us trying to find our feet, trying to figure things out a little bit. We weren’t very consistent. We were just trying to sort out who we are and how we’re going to be successful.
“If you look now at the second half of the season, particularly post-Christmas, I know it’s only been five games but we look so much stronger.
“Especially the home match against Wycombe Wanderers. To take points away from Wycombe, the best and most consistent team in the league, was a special moment for the club and also for the players as well.
“In fact, both of the games against Wycombe Wanderers were examples of just how good we can be, and how good we are going to be. It’s a match we’re still thinking back to, where we feel we were really unlucky not to win the game.
“For us to be able to take points off [the league leaders] shows our trajectory of where we’re going to end up and where we’re going to get to. I think that, if we can continue to build on that for the rest of the season, we are at least going to be in the conversation to be promoted, and one which we are in right now.”
Robinson’s journey so far
Being part of the coaching set-up this season isn’t new for Robinson either. He supported Pedro Bruno and Shelley Strange last season, at the same time as managing Maidenhead United Women’s Development Team (and his first job in charge of a side).
“There weren’t many matches played in the Development League,” Robinson recalls (there were 12), “so if Maidenhead United’s Devs weren’t playing, I would help out. So, yes, I was the man warming up the goalkeepers [last season] pre-match too.”
“Clubs at WSL and WSL2 level mainly have PGAs (professional game academies) and we used to have that with our under-14s and under-16s,” he continues.
“I took the goalkeepers at the PGA for about six months before it got disbanded at the end of the season when we got relegated,” he recalls. That was at the conclusion of the 2023/24 campaign, when the Royals went from the second-tier Championship (now WSL2) to tier five.
“I’ve been with the women’s department in the ETC (Emerging Talent Centre) for around three years and already had a working relationship with Emma Hopkins (head of women’s football) and pretty much everyone involved, so when the position became available, I was asked if I could come and support.
“I owe an awful lot to Emma Hopkins in terms of my career in women’s and girl’s football, so I didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“I’d also worked with Pedro Bruno for a brief stint, before I got involved with a women’s first team, as he was part of the PGA, an under-16s coach for the academy.”
Working with Ed Jackson-Norris and Max Scott
Robinson’s relationship with Reading’s first-team manager Ed Jackson-Norris and assistant manager Max Scott also goes back some time – and has formed an important part of his career development to date.
“Me and Max go way back,” he recalls. “We went to college together, we played grassroots football together, so we’ve been together for years now. It feels like forever.
“I played for Eversley. I played a few games for the Eversley & California FC first team, but mainly under-21s.” (Unsurprisingly, Robinson played as a goalkeeper.)
“Through Ed Jackson-Norris and Matt Angel – the manager at the time – I was invited to take over the newly established boys under-18s Allied Counties (midweek football for under-18s), where Max and I had our first coaching stint together.”
It sounds like it was a school of hard knocks?
“We had a tough time of it, a really tough time of it. It was our first coaching roles,” Robinson says.
“Both of us had just turned 19 years old and were coaching the under-18s lads. It was tricky to be fair and we had to sort of figure things out very quickly of what we could and couldn’t do.
“I learned a lot about myself in terms of what my abilities were at that time. It took us the best part of 12 months to get a win – literally one of the last games that we played, against Guildford City, which was genuinely one of the best moments in my coaching career.
“It was an amazing feeling to win your first competitive game as a coach. Really, really special.”
The Community Trust
Robinson and Scott also coached together as part of the Community Trust’s Premium League Kicks set-up, taking a Reading boys team to the final at St George’s Park.
The Premier League Kicks is something Robinson is clearly very proud of. A journey which he started as a participant has come full circle, with him now leading the very programme that helped shape his coaching path.
“I originally went to Henley College but I dropped out of college during Covid,” Robinson recalls. “Max Scott, and a few friends I knew from football, were already at the Community Trust, and so I came down and met with some of the amazing staff.
“I would have been 17 when I started and signed up for a two-year [level three diploma qualification] course. One year in sport enterprise and another in sports coaching.
“And that’s also where I also met Ed Jackson-Norris. He was one of our tutors and also the football team coach.
“Through that I was given the opportunity to volunteer, which is something the Community Trust offers for young people – not only to educate themselves but also to get experience in education and of working within the sport [delivering Kicks sessions, working within development centres], and from there I just haven’t left really.”
“Premier League Kicks uses the power of football to create safer, stronger and more respectful communities, providing free access to facilities, coaching and mentoring for young people in the wider community,” Robinson explains.
“We see anywhere between 600 and 800 kids a week, across all of our sessions. Some of them are youth-club-based, sort of like school-based sessions, and some of them are open-access community sessions. So it’s a big mix of individuals that we see.
“Our main two sessions are run at the dome (by the SCL Stadium). On Monday evening we have a girls-only session and one for those aged 8-13. On Friday we run a mixed group for 14-to-18-year-olds and that’s where a lot of our long-term participants are. We are also planning to run a girls-only tournament at Easter.”
The Community Trust charity is a force for good in so many ways and it is something – particularly as Reading fans – that we really all ought to know more about, as Robinson explains.
“We deliver so much in the community. We must see around 1,500 kids a week across all departments of the Community Trust, including Premier League Inspires, run by Shelley Strange (a programme predominantly delivered in secondary schools and pupil referral units) and Premier League Primary Stars, run by the amazing Fay (using the appeal of football to inspire children aged five to 11 to be active and develop essential skills).”
Coaching for Reading Women
In addition to his day-time Premier League Kicks lead role, Robinson is the goalkeeping coach for Reading Women’s first team, who train on Tuesdays and Thursdays and play on Sundays, and also for the younger-aged pathway girls too.
“It is a lot sometimes but – the thing is – when you speak to anyone who loves their job, it doesn’t feel like work, it doesn’t feel like you’re doing lots and lots. I absolutely love coaching the goalkeepers. It’s amazing,” Robinson says.
“The other coaches take the mickey, saying my job is just to kick the ball to the goalkeepers for a bit and that’s it. But obviously [they are only joking and] a lot goes into it for planning and preparation. Especially for the younger goalkeepers in the under-14s and under-16s.
“And not just setting up the session for the sake of it, but making sure it’s actually aligned to what they all need [individually] to improve on. They all have different individual levels and different things that they need to work on at certain points.
“I love every single bit of it,” Robinson says, adding with a smile: “The detail and the ball strike which is obviously great as I get to kick the ball around for a bit.”
“The relationships are the most important thing for me,” he continues. “You have to be a really tight-knit goalkeeping group. You have to really understand, especially in a senior game.
“At times we’ve had four goalkeepers all ready to play: Lilly Hadrava, Sophie Butler, Jess Webb and, recently, Eliska Simpson.” (The latter is dual-registered with Bristol City and made her debut in the League Cup against Larkspur Rovers.)
“Out of those four goalkeepers, at any one time, we might have had three in training and two of those aren’t going to play at the weekend,” Robinson notes. “I’ve got to make sure that they understand their role. They understand why and they understand the reason behind it.”
All four goalkeepers have played consistently (Butler, Webb and Hadrava all playing a similar amount of matches) and are all of a good quality, so what additional strengths and things is Robinson looking out for?
“I’m really lucky in terms of the type of goalkeepers that we’ve had available to us,” he says. “Goalkeeping, especially in women’s football, is very tricky. You’ve got to be really resilient. You’ve got to really work hard and try and improve as much as you can.
“All the goalkeepers have done an amazing job. Not only to keep focussed, when they are potentially not playing as much as they would like, but also to have the resilience to come in when they perhaps haven’t had much of an opportunity.”
They are all playing senior women’s football at such a young age – and many fans probably don’t realise how young they are!
“That’s where we do have a bit of a luxury,” Robinson says. “Yes they’re young goalkeepers, but they’re not young goalkeepers that haven’t got experience. They are really experienced at an elite level. It’s helpful for us but also they are all more than capable of playing.
“What’s really impressed me with all of them is their mindset and their mental resilience. I know first and foremost as a goalkeeper that it can be a really difficult place to be.
“If you feel like you’ve made a mistake or you feel like you’ve played a bad game, it can build up very frequently. But mistakes are going to happen, especially for young goalkeepers – it would be weird if they didn’t happen.
“But what’s great is that their reaction to those situations are so mature. Way more mature, beyond their ages, which is amazing.
“I couldn’t speak any more highly of any of them. They are superb. Their togetherness as a group as well: it’s been really great. They are all really, really good people.”
The first team’s momentum and belief
With four wins on the bounce and only one defeat in their last seven matches, it feels like there’s a real momentum and belief within the first team.
“Yes,” Robinson agrees. “We’ve had back-to-back 4-1 wins in the league and a 5-1 victory in the League Cup against Larkspur Rovers to get into the semi-finals.” That fixture will be against AFC Portchester, at Arbour Park, Slough on Sunday March 22, 2pm kick-off.
“We’ve still got Windsor & Eton to play in the Combined Counties Cup,” he continues. “There are so many different things that are happening and we are also fighting to be within the conversation [towards the top of league] at the end of the season. It’s going to be tricky as it’s not so much in our hands as we would like to be at this moment in the season.
“But it shows that, if we can continue our momentum from where we’re at now, there’s no reason why, at the end of the season, we can’t at least be very, very close.
“And we have that belief and the players have that belief as well. The mood is good and it feels like we are so nearly there.”
Although there appears to be a more of a settled line-up, there’s always changes among the 16 players involved each week (including some performances from some of the the under-16s pathway girls), so what’s it been like to be able to manage and keep the balance of the the squad?
“Everyone understands that if you’re not a starter, then you are a support to everyone else. So if you’re not in the matchday squad, you’re a cheerleader – as Ed [Jackon-Norris] would say – and you’re making sure that you’re smashing your role.
“You are as important as the 11 players starting the game. No matter what you are doing – whether you’re in the squad, out of the squad, injured – it’s important that everyone understands their role. And you can see that on matchday, every player in the squad is at the game. They are all 100% supportive.
“We are also starting to see more of the under-14s and under-16s coming to the games, some of the ETC girls attending the games. It’s a collective now: something the club hasn’t had for a long time, but we’ve now got that collective and that fight together.
“It’s been a really tough few years. Especially being on the inside and seeing everything happening [when the team were relegated to tier five and a lot of the initial pathway was disbanded], but I think – as we discussed earlier – we can really continue to build on the momentum.”
With teams taking points off each other, it looks like our league may miss out on the ‘best runner-up’ promotion place, with only the top side going up. It feels like Reading really need to build on that momentum as the league could be even harder next season.
“Yes,” Robinson agrees. “Winchester City, AFC Portchester, Southampton Women, Wycombe Wanderers and, obviously, ourselves, are all strong teams in this league.
“Farnham Town and Denham United look like they may be promoted and potentially Worthing coming down from tier four. So next season the league could arguably be the strongest it has ever been.”
While funding is outside of Robinson’s control and he can only focus on what’s within his remit, presumably small incremental steps and shows of support would be beneficial to the team’s progress?
“It’s important be able to really push on,” he says. “I’m sure other teams in our league will think the same but we genuinely believe that we have got the best squad in this division and I think we’ve shown that on multiple occasions this season.
“I think the difficulty is that [in order] to take that next step, it’s tiny things. Just simple things but detailed things that are going to cost, like the type of food for players. Are they getting enough support off the pitch? Or from a psychologist maybe? Those sorts of things like that can really make the difference.
“And you see that with clubs like Fulham. It took them a long time to get out of tier five. They’ve had a massive backing to be able to get out of that division and they’re probably going to get promoted to tier three.
“AFC Bournemouth are another example. It took them a long time to get out of tier four and, with backing, they’re probably going to get promoted to tier two.
“So, if they’re supported correctly, and it’s not got to be a lot (and as a club we are not asking for a lot), but enough for us to keep pushing.”
Just come to a game!
As Robinson has already alluded to, there seems to be a real buzz and sense of pride around Reading Women at the moment (and I’d say among the supporters too), with a lot of good things to look forward to. What would he say to anyone who hasn’t been to see the team yet?
“To any fan that hasn’t watched the Women’s team or hasn’t had a chance to come and see the Women’s team play, the first thing I’d say is don’t knock it until you try it. Come and have a watch.
“We’ve got big support on social media, especially on X and Instagram, and we can see on the socials that people are engaging a lot more in what we do.
“Just come down to a game. I promise, it feels exactly the same as any other [football] situation. It’s no different. Just come and engage with us because that helps so much more than you think it does.
“If you’re a Reading fan, there is no reason why you wouldn’t want to come and watch us this season. There’s no reason. Just come along and it’s probably going to cost you less than a coffee.”
