Nothing Should Intimidate This Resilient Reading Side In 2024/25

Sim previews a fascinating new season that’s just over 24 hours away from kicking off.

The day is March 14, 2024, it’s around half past midnight, and I’m too scared to sleep.

A few hours earlier, news had broken that Reading Football Club were about to sell their training ground to Wycombe Wanderers. The jewel in the Royals’ crown was to be flogged to division rivals; if you wanted proof that Reading were being stripped for parts by an owner intent on not selling the entire club, this was surely it.

Just like all of you, I’ve gone through every emotion following this club. Ecstasy, depression, anxiety, shock, hope, we’ve felt it all. Sometimes in the same season. Hell, sometimes even on the same day. The early hours of March 14 though were the first time I felt genuine terror for Reading’s future. Our situation seemed hopeless. This was the kind of desperation no football fan should ever have to encounter.

Five months on though, on the eve of a new season, I’m feeling something that seemed a million miles away in mid-March: genuine excitement for the future.

Reading responded to that Bearwood crisis on the pitch, behind the scenes and in the stands impeccably, securing safety against the odds and ensuring the club kept going. Given what was at stake for the entire club last season, and considering the fate that ultimately befell the Women’s team, we simply should not take for granted the fact that we have a League One team to support in 2024/24. Let alone that we have one so enjoyable to watch and so easy to like.

Last season was one hell of a trial for Reading’s rookie manager and young squad, but that didn’t show on the pitch. Not when Harvey Knibbs was covering every blade of grass, not when Lewis Wing was firing home a rocket every other game, not when Tyler Bindon was showing a maturity well beyond his years at the back, and not when Ruben Selles’ side finally mathematically secured safety at Oakwell with a few games to go.

Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images

This is a team that’s gone through the wringer, come out the other side, and is all the more resilient for it. It’s not yet been rewarded by a takeover, one that will finally bring this club’s darkest chapter to a close, but it’s shown remarkable grit regardless of what happens at boardroom level.

No opponent and no challenge that comes this team’s way should intimidate it. No pundit should underestimate it.

A squad long in the making

While Reading’s summer squad building in recent years has been defined by heavy turnover, this time the key word was retention. No extensive overhaul, but rather a quietly effective job of keeping hold of those already here.

Much of the groundwork for that was done by Reading finally starting to tie players down to multi-year deals during the post-relegation rebuild. In total, eight of the Royals’ 13 summer 2023 signings agreed contracts lasting more than one year, while two more (Tivonge Rushesha and Joel Pereira) had options in their deals for another 12 months. Just Paul Mukairu, Dom Ballard (both loans) and Clinton Mola only committed for 2023/24 itself.

However, May’s retained list revealed that Reading’s squad longevity was stronger than we’d earlier thought. The Royals were in a position to activate 12-month extensions on half a dozen players, five of whose clauses weren’t publicly known - Femi Azeez, Michael Craig, Jeriel Dorsett, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and Jayden Wareham - in addition to Pereira. Rushesha and Kelvin Abrefa later signed fresh contracts.

A bunch of players left Reading on free transfers or by returning to their parent clubs at the end of the season, yes, but none were major losses. Tom Holmes had been a key player but made only four appearances in the second half of the season, Mukairu played fairly regularly but frustrated just as often, Matty Carson had one hell of a left foot but struggled to defend, and Mola was revitalised after moving to right-back but still didn’t full convince.

Crucially, the club resisted any approaches for its key players. Mercifully - bizarrely even - rumours of rivals coming in for Wing, Azeez and co were conspicuous by their absence.

Some young players were added into the mix for first-team consideration too as the academy production line continued to chug along, despite the chaos of last year. Abraham Kanu, Andre Garcia, Emmanuel Osho, Tyler Sackey and Adrian Akande are ones to watch, going by their inclusion in pre-season. John Ryan would have also been in that list, but he was cruelly dealt an ACL injury in the friendly at Woking.

As we head into the new season, Reading’s squad looks like this:

Just as important as having a good group though, Selles has had a proper opportunity to mould it in his image.

Unlike in so many previous years, Selles had time and clarity on his side as he fine-tuned his summer plans. He’d only been allowed to officially start working in mid-July 2023, but this time round was able to start on pre-season preparations as far back as February. Having got to know his squad throughout last season, he knew which players he’d have in his group going forwards, and then had a full pre-season to drill that group on the training ground.

It’s basic stuff, but these are opportunities Reading managers generally haven’t had in the last decade. And on the basis of what we saw in pre-season, those opportunities weren’t wasted.

Selles has tactically evolved his side over the past few months, rather than completely overhaul it. Reading have seemingly committed to 4-3-3, as opposed to the 4-1-4-1 and 4-2-3-1 that was generally used in the back half of last season. The full-backs tuck in as auxiliary midfielders (familiar from 2023/24 but apparently now further emphasised), the wide players operate narrower and higher up, and Reading look better in possession.

The Royals often struggled to score goals from open play in the second half of last season which weren’t long shots from Wing. However, they signed off pre-season against Hull City with a delightful counter which was capped off by Ben Elliott...

...before doubling the lead through Sam Smith at the end of a similarly incisive team move:

It’s not all been about style though - there’s substance too. That 2-0 win over the Tigers was the culmination of a very commendable set of pre-season results that also included a 2-0 win against Watford, 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town, 2-0 win at Woking and 1-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Sure, results in pre-season aren’t that important and they’re always caveated by the games not being under normal conditions - bigger crowds, fewer subs etc - but Reading’s results can and should still give encouragement. The Royals were competitive against higher-tier opposition (including in a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City) and have got into the habit of winning games.

There’s no good reason Reading shouldn’t take that into 2024/25.

The new season gets underway in what is, on paper, our trickiest fixture. Birmingham City have undertaken a big-money overhaul of their squad since relegation, are now under a highly rated young coach in Chris Davies, and will be backed by a sell-out crowd.

Less resilient sides would find such a prospect daunting, but that’s not this Reading.

What is true of this Reading side is that it’s mentally tough; it runs its socks off; it’s earned the love and backing of the fans; it enjoys its football; it benefits from a clear but ambitious tactical philosophy of positive football and aggressive pressing; and it’s led by a manager who’s a massive credit to the club.

Write this Reading side off at your own risk.