Happy Birthday dear The Tilehurst End.
So much has happened in 15 years, both personally and for Reading Football Club, but two things have remained strong: your support for this website and the dedication of the team who keep it and the podcast going.
Since our first articles in March 2011 (back on WordPress, remember them?) we’ve seen Brian McDermott, Nigel Adkins, Steve Clarke, Brian McDermott (again), Jaap Stam, Paul Clement, Jose Gomes, Mark Bowen, Veljko Paunovic, Paul Ince, Ruben Selles, Noel
Hunt and Leam Richardson in the managerial hot seat.
The club has also switched ownership between Sir John Madejski, Anton Zingrarevich, back to SJM, the Thai consortium, to He Who Shall Not Be Named and now finally to Rob Couhig and co.
Two playoff finals, a promotion, two relegations and an FA Cup semi-final later, we’ve seen fanzines and podcasts come and go.
The Whiff was just wrapping up its final issue as we went live in 2011, while the Royals Post Podcast with Westy, Williams and Johnny Fordham morphed into the TTE Podcast in 2013, which you still listen to, and now watch. We’ve even outlasted the end of the club’s official programme and the demise of The Reading Evening Post.
We’ve been fortunate to have interviewed countless legends of the club from the past 40 years, from Shaka Hislop and Stuart Lovell to Phil Parkinson, Kevin Doyle and dozens more. On top of that we’ve had the two previous Reading managers on the show while they were in the role, in Ruben Selles and Noel Hunt.
What matters the most is that, as a website and podcast, we’ve been able to provide thousands of hours of content for Reading fans everywhere.
We’ve been there for commutes to away games, while you’ve got that spare five minutes in the office, as audio for long sleepless nights raising children, as something to read in the stands before a game and, of course, providing that much-needed bathroom-break reading material.
Beyond that I’m proud we’ve created and maintained a place where journalists and writers can hone their craft or where a fan can simply express their opinion in a safe, long-form environment.
We’ve had contributors go on to work for Sky Sports, the BBC, The Guardian, The Mirror, The Olympics, Royal Ascot and many other media organisations. There have also been those who’ve gone on to work in professional football, including Reading Football Club themselves.
All of that would not have been possible without one man in particular, who never likes being singled out but without whom I doubt there would still be a TTE, our beloved editor Simeon Pickup.
Sim had already been a key part of the team for many years as an assistant editor and took up the role of supremo when I hung up my keyboard back in 2017. Since then he’s steered the site through a pandemic, ownership chaos, points deductions, relegation and much more.
To give more than a decade of your life to keeping something going, with very minimal financial compensation, is something to be truly applauded. While Sim and the rest of us might have made the odd mistake over the years, we like to hope that, overall, we’ve provided something which is appreciated not just by Reading fans, but anyone who stumbles over our humble creation.
Special thanks as well to Marc Mayo who took on the pod, Olly Allen who took Pod Extra duties and then to Ross and Ben, who’ve only made things bigger and better. Not to mention the likes of Jonny Williams, Will Owain, Steve ‘Royal Hoops’ Curtis, Adam Jones, Ryan Jefferiss, Bobbins, Harry Chafer and countless others who have helped behind the scenes and in front of the microphones over the past decade and a half.
Thanks also to Waldemar Januszczak and ZCZ Films for the long-term support for the website and podcast.
It’s easy to feel frustrated as a Reading fan, but as we celebrate 20 years of the ‘106’ and 15 years of TTE, it’s a reminder that good times will return, and I hope this site and podcast will be around to celebrate them once again.
I’ve been lucky to welcome two kids into the world since TTE was founded, one of whom is now a season-ticket holder alongside myself and Wimb Snr, as we share a combined 60 years of ups and downs.
To round this off, I just wanted to encourage anyone who’s ever fancied having a go at contributing to TTE to please get in touch. Please drop us an email to thetilehurstend@gmail.com, as it’s only with the support of our readers and listeners that we can keep going.
We’ll forever be by the fans, for the fans.
Cheers,
Your unprofessional joke of a former podcast host and editor, Wimb.
