Reading analysis with football writer, Olly Allen

The only Women’s Super League team not connected to a Premier League club, playing every home game at the main club stadium, and a manager entering her 20th season at the Royals - the story of Reading Women is a unique one.

To share it with you, we spoke to journalist Olly Allen, who covers Reading for The Tilehurst End.

Sunday’s Continental League Cup fixture at the Select Car Leasing Stadium is Reading’s first home match of 2022/23, having had the initial opening league game postponed following the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

“Everyone’s looking forward to being back home,” Olly said. “Season ticket sales have soared this season and are up to over 500 this year. I think it was 98 last season and the club, as much as anyone else in the WSL, is completely riding this wave of Euro-mania. 

“Everyone is looking forward to it after two away games in the WSL and two results that have been pretty disappointing.”

Olly’s alluding to an opening day 4-0 defeat away to Manchester United, followed by a 2-1 loss at Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend. He believes Reading didn’t do enough to get anything from either game.

“With Man United, you just have to say that they are a class above Reading. They look as though they can break into the top three this season. Ella Toone was excellent on the day and Maya Le Tissier scored two on her debut from centre-back. Reading were simply outclassed and 4-0 down at half-time. 

“They were probably a bit lucky not to concede more in the second half as they couldn’t cope with the set-piece threat at all, which is how Le Tissier got her two goals. Alessia Russo’s goal came from a cross and the other one was a penalty.”

Against Brighton, Reading were clearly frustrated to have a Deanna Cooper goal ruled out for offside.

“Kelly wasn’t happy at all,” Olly said. “She said managers will start getting the sack due to those decisions. 

“In the first half, I don’t think she’d have had much reason to complain about being 1-0 down. Again, Reading were very poor, and that’s frustrating, because Brighton only finished a point above them last season, so it’s the sort of game where you’ve got to be trying to go and get a win, but in that first half they had really sloppy defending throughout.

“The first goal came as a result of a goalkeeping error from Grace Maloney. I don’t think, apart from the offside goal ruled out, they had a shot on target or even a shot at all. They weren’t good enough to be winning that game anyway. 

“In the second half, the second goal was a breakaway goal and Reading had chances of their own. Natasha Dowie had a pretty good chance that she missed and then Charlie Wellings got a consolation goal right at the end, but it’s frustrating because they started last season really poorly as well, losing the first four games, but then ended up doing alright. 

“I don’t think there’s a need to panic just yet but it’s certainly frustrating. That decision going against them, Kelly certainly believed it could’ve changed the outcome of the game, but for much of that Brighton game, particularly in that first half, they ultimately weren’t good enough.

“Kelly has spoken about this season as a chance to kick on following two slightly disappointing seasons after finishing fourth and fifth in the years before. It’s not been the best start so far.”

Head Coach Kelly Chambers certainly has enough experience to turn things around. She came through Reading’s academy, began her senior career with the club in 2007 and has been there in various capacities ever since.

Among the current managers, only Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has taken charge of more Women’s Super League fixtures.

“She is Reading Women FC,” Olly said. “She’s been here since right at the start and was influential in it being set up in the first place. She was a player first and foremost who suffered a pretty horrible injury about ten years ago, then moved into the coaching side of things. 

“She was manager of the club when she retired, when Reading were in the third tier of women’s football. She got them promoted to the second tier and that’s when Jayne Ludlow took over as manager. She left in 2014 to be Wales manager and Kelly took back over having been general manager in the meantime. 

“She got Reading promoted to the WSL and the fact that only Emma has managed more games tells you all you need to know. The men’s team at Reading have had eight managers in the time she’s been women’s manager. 

“She’s been a constant stability and the players and everyone at the club speaks so highly of her because she does a fantastic job in and amongst the big teams.

“If you look at the budgets that clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City have and, more recently, Man United, there’s no way that Reading should be able to compete with these clubs but they absolutely have. Beating Chelsea last season was massive for the football club. 

“Reaching the FA Cup semi-final in 2019… Kelly has done a remarkable job and she’s excellent at consistently getting this team punching above their weight competing with the big teams in this league. This year’s looking as if it might be a bit of a struggle but the goal every year for this club is to stay in the WSL. Every year they’ve done it comfortably, so that in itself has to be a massive achievement.”

Since 2020, Reading Women have played every home game at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, having previously made use of Wycombe Wanderer’s Adams Park.

“That’s a smaller ground, so there was almost a sense that they could get perhaps a bit more of an atmosphere there in terms of being able to pack it out a bit more,” Olly explained. “The more they played at what was then the Madejski Stadium and is now the Select Car Leasing Stadium, it’s gone from strength to strength. 

“Being able to say that you play at the same stadium as the men’s team and to be the first team in the WSL to do that shows the commitment that the football club has to Reading Women. There’s always been that support with lots of stuff on the club’s media channels. 

“They’ve done interviews before with the men’s and women’s managers together, as well as joint interviews with men’s and women’s captains. There’s a real emphasis on that at the club and being at the stadium helps. It does encourage people to go to games. 

“Wycombe’s not too far away but it is in a different county, so holding the games at the Select Car Leasing Stadium has encouraged more people to go. There’s much more signage that it’s also the women’s home as well as the men’s and in my view it can only be a good thing. 

“The rest of the WSL has an obligation to play at least one home game at the men’s stadium this season. It makes you proud that Reading were almost the trendsetter in that sense, playing permanently there since 2020.”

Two players to have played there for the home side before are Spurs duo Molly Bartrip and Angharad James, who both spent time with the Royals earlier in their careers.

“They were both massive players,” Olly recalled. “They were both key players to Reading finishing fourth and fifth in those seasons. Reading still seem to have a massive contingent of Welsh international players like Rachel Rowe, Lily Woodham and Jess Fisher previously as well, so Angharad was part of that. 

“Molly spent seven years at Reading and they’re two players that will hopefully get a good reception on Sunday.”