How Do You Rebuild Your House After It’s Been Burned To The Ground?
Victims of the wider chaos at Reading Football Club, the Women’s team are effectively having to rebuild from scratch this summer.
When the club statement on June 30 confirmed the devastating news (which we already knew from Tom Garry of The Guardian) that Reading FC Women had withdrawn from the Barclays Championship (tier two) and were moving to tier five of the pyramid, so began the waiting game for details of the plan to rebuild this once-proud women’s football club.
As the statement went on to confirm, there had been a real chance of Championship survival, with new investment from a new consortium, but “despite best efforts, the complexities around separate ownership, and operating under a separate funding model, meant this had not been possible”.
With the emergency services unable to be called upon - because of these alleged ‘complexities’ - it meant that, instead, everyone just stood around and watched while the house burnt to the ground.
So, how do you rebuild a house? I’ve certainly never done this and I’m no architect or project manager. After typing this, and looking at the communications and planning order, I’m not sure the club have used any of these specialist skill sets either.
I’ve pieced together what scattered information and communication I can find, and have set out below how I think the the rebuilding process is going and what we (currently) know.
Set a budget
As any football fan will know, football clubs aren’t the most transparent when it comes to finances (Reading’s 2023 accounts still haven’t been filed with Companies House but were due on June 30) and there’s already a bit of confusion around what funding and budget was actually required to remain in the Championship for the 2024/25 season.
According to the club, one of the reasons Reading Women now find themselves in tier five is that the club couldn’t (or wouldn’t) commit to the cash injection required to “meet the revised mandatory criteria”, which would have “included returning to a full-time training model as well as further investments in facilities and personnel”.
At the same time (and, presumably, under the same “mandatory criteria”) the news from the Lancashire Telegraph was that Championship side Blackburn Rovers are to pay their women’s team players a salary of £9,000 a year, on a 16-hour contract (in line with the minimum wage, which is £11.44 for those 21 and over).
You can only assume, from these contrasting approaches, that one of them hasn’t read the script properly.
Whatever the budget is for the Southern Region Women’s Football League (one of eight leagues in tier five), it’s nothing like the Barclays WSL or Championship. Reading Women appear to have now been taken on by Reading’s Community Trust. There are no longer any salaries and, instead, players are now required to pay subs (although, thanks to the Community Trust, Reading players will not be required to pay subs for the 2024/25 season).
Find a plot
Inevitably, the club have “elected” to leave the SCL Stadium and (the hard-fought-over) Bearwood training ground to, instead, play 21 miles (and 30 minutes) away, down the M4 at Arbour Park in Slough.
In August, the club tried to build up the excitement with the announcement that “we will soon be able to share with you [details of] our new ‘home’ for the women’s team”. Of course, we already knew this, from the details previously released for the open trial to attract new players (see below).
And you have to further admire and acknowledge the marketing attempt, which included “on-site toilets” and “plenty of signage”.
Get the materials
With the 2023/24 players and management team having either already left for pastures new - or forced out by the fire exit (many hearing of their redundancy via social media) - and with the the successful double-winning (league and cup) under-21s team disbanded, the club made its first rally call for new players, via open-trial applications in mid-July.
From this announcement you didn’t need to be Sherlock Homes to deduce (and ruin the later attempt at suspense for where the new home of the Royals would be) that Arbour Park - of Slough Town Football Club - was to become the new ‘home’ of Reading FC Women. The online player application confirmed Arbour Park as the training base (twice a week) and access to a gym.
The deadline for applications ended in July, so let’s hope the take-up was good.
Build the foundations
It’s already clear that we have a lot to thank the Community Trust for. They have not only taken on the Women’s team but they’ve also worked hard (together with generous crowdfunding) for the girls pathway to continue for both the under-13s and under-15s.
Early August also saw the announcement of the new head of women’s football, Emma Hopkins, with further exciting news to follow: details of the new squad, the new ‘home’, a new managerial appointment (at this time there was still no update regarding the old management duo of Liam Gilbert and Dan Logue), pre-season calendar fixtures and details of the season-ticket campaign, themed ‘Comeback’.
Complete the framework
This is the time to check everything is secure, tight and waterproof, and nothing is missing. Cue the announcement of the new first-team manager: Pedro Bruno (although there’s still no mention about the old one...).
The announcement stated:
“Pedro has had a distinguished career in football, having held roles such as performance analyst at Cambridge United, performance football coach at the University of Essex, and most recently, playing a vital part in our youth pathway as the under-16s assistant coach.
“Pedro also made significant contributions to our Women’s first team last season as the first-team analyst, where he excelled in conveying technical and intuitive coaching instructions to the players.”
The management team was also strengthened with the news that Shelley Strange will be working alongside Bruno as assistant coach.
Add the finishing touches
This is the bit that we, as fans, are still waiting to hear all about. Currently, there’s no news of the playing squad, the ticket prices (‘Comeback’ season tickets) or pre-season friendlies, which is a little optimistic now, with only one spare weekend (the Reading Festival sunday remaining) before the league matches get underway.
Move in and enjoy your new home
Technically, I guess we’re room-sharing with Arbour Park hosting matches for both the men’s and women’s Slough teams (the latter also kicking off at 2pm on Sunday), as well as being available to the wider community and local schools, so it’s going to be busy. And for anyone concerned about the state of the pitch, it’s a state-of-the-art 3G artificial-turf surface.
At this level, not unsurprisingly, it’s not easy to find out much about the teams, the leagues and wider detailed set-up. The league had only released the opening few fixtures, to be played in September (maybe because of two teams dropping out at late notice) and I’m guessing the remaining fixtures will be announced as soon as possible.
Reading start the season on Sunday September 8, a 2pm kick-off away to Sholing (previously called ‘Eastleigh in the Community’), and for anyone wishing to support the Royals, it’s pretty tricky just trying to find where the match will be played!
What is clear is that the financial resources, infrastructure and facilities are also fragile at this near-enough grassroots level. With the unexpected addition of Reading Women, the Southern Region Women’s Football League had been due to be expanded to a total of 12 teams.
In just the last couple of weeks there’s been sad news with two of the teams announcing they are having to withdraw from the league and ‘take a break’ (fold): highlighting the precarious fragility of the teams at this level.
Long Crendon have paid the price of success with promotion last season - only to decline the chance to play at this level due to being unable to compete without the necessary infrastructure, facilities and finances (where have we heard that before?).
Within days, Warminster Town Ladies were the second team, their announcement on August 9 citing player availability and broader logistical challenges that come with maintaining a competitive and thriving team at this level.
With the league now down to only 10 teams, at rather short notice, it means that although Reading don’t start until September 8, the league officially kicks off with four matches on the opening Sunday of September.
Open house
So, with a match squad taken as a given, it looks like we’re just about ready to go. If you want to be first in for a sneaky peak of the Royals’ new home, the new team, hospitality, entertainment and, of course, use of those on-site toilets, come to Arbour Park on Sunday September 15 for the Royals’ first home match of the season.
It’s a 2pm kick-off against Oxford City (who we can now also add to the list of teams with the ‘fake blue and white hoops’).
With the takeover imminent (surely this time it’s for real?), who knows what may happen and where this new chapter, and journey, may take us?