Reading FC – Player Contracts

It’s a key time of the season for many players, whilst some are gearing up for the play-offs, others are returning from loan spells, going off on holiday or in some cases, looking for a new contract.

Two players left the club yesterday at the end of their current deals, but who will be next? Reading currently have 7 players out of contract at the end of this season (including 2 loan players), and those players will have their futures decided very soon.

Below, we’ll be looking at what has already happened and what might take place in the coming weeks.

Reading FC Loan Report – May 4, 2011

Reading FC Loan Report – May 4, 2011

It’s been another busy week for Reading’s loanees with two players seeing their season end, as well as a goal for one player last weekend. With three players returning at the end of this weekend to join Scott Davies, Sean Morrison, Julian Kelly, Nicholas Bignall and Ben Hamer on the list of recently rejoined players.

Below the jump, we’ll be looking at what possibility there is of these players featuring in The Royals’ upcoming Play-Off campaign.

Reading FC Weekly Roundup – April 18-25, 2011

Weekly Roundup April 18-25, 2011

Another  interesting week for the Royals has just come to its conclusion. One poor performance ended in a fantastic point away at Leeds United and was followed up on Monday with a shock defeat to the nearly relegated Sheffield United.

There was also a great send off for Chris Armstrong and a few bits of news involving Reading players out on loan.

Loan Report Extra – April 20, 2011

Although the weekly Loan Report was done on Monday, there have been a couple of interesting developments with regards to Reading players out on loan since then. Two players are now back with the Royals, with another loanee giving an interview about his future.

Reading FC Loan Report – April 18, 2011

Reading FC Loan Report – April 18, 2011

Young Midfielder Harry Harding scored in the first minute for Blue Square South Bromley as Reading’s loan players got plenty of action this weekend.

Reading Loan Report – April 11, 2011

Loan Report – April 11th, 2011

While it was a super week for the Royals first team, you could say that those out on loan fared rather poorly compared to their teammates back at Reading, with just goalkeeper Ben Hamer making an appearance on a winning side.

Hamer, currently at Exeter, made a number of good saves including a great save with his legs to deny Bristol Rovers’ Jo Kuffour a late equaliser. Exeter went onto win 2-0, and are currently 9th in League One. It was Hamer’s 6th clean sheet of the season at Exeter.

Reading Loan Report – April 4, 2011

Loan Report – April 4, 2011

The Royals currently have a number of players out on loan and here’s a weekly look at how they are getting on.

Royals defender Julian Kelly - currently on loan at Lincoln

Marcus Williams – Defender – On Loan at Scunthorpe

Williams didn’t feature for the Iron in their 6-0 defeat at second place Norwich, having only joined the club a couple of weeks before.

Loan Line  –  Apps: 0   Goals: 0

Dave Mooney – Striker – On Loan at Colchester

Mooney isn’t expected to remain at Reading when he returns from loan, with his contract expiring in the summer. Mooney played 67 minutes for Colchester in their 2-1 defeat at struggling Sheffield Wednesday.

Loan Line  – Apps: 38 (+2)  Goals:  12

Youth Matters – The Royals Academy In Focus

Hello and welcome to the first of what I hope will be many posts here on The Tilehurst End.

I thought I’d start by looking at a topic that divides opinion for fans of almost every club, is the club’s Youth Academy set-up a success?

For Reading Football Club, the desire to make the club financially self-sufficient has led to an increased focus on the Academy over the past few seasons. The logic is that players who come through the ranks will be A) cheaper than bringing players in, and B) will be brought up with the club ethos, making it easier for them to come into the team and hopefully more inclined to stay long term.

In terms of measuring success I’m going to look at it two ways;  from a financial and a performance standpoint. In terms of finance, that’s the amount of money generated by the Academy through player sales, and from a performance standpoint, the number of first team players to have come through the club’s youth system.