Reading Between The Lines

Here is a write up (with some paraphrasing as we love to ramble) of the predictions we made for Reading’s upcoming 25/26 League 1 campaign on on our recent podcast which you can check out here – https://t.co/Vhp8EE6LCs or on other podcast apps

League Finish

• Matt – 12th “I don’t think there is a clear position where Reading will finish. I think the doom & gloom prediction of 17th would need a lot to go wrong for us to drop that far down”
• Jordan – 14th “I still feel like, despite lots of false starts with recruitment, by the time we finish the window the squad will be quite good”
• Cal – 14th “There are still a few good, top end league one players here Pereira ,Wing etc”

Top Scorer

• Matt – Lewis Wing “In lieu of a proper striker, just on the freekicks and goals he will score this season. He always comes up big in a few games and I’m not convinced our top scorer will get that many goals this season anyway”
• Jordan – Not at the club yet (Devante Cole) “I don’t know if this is a cop-out or my faith in the recruitment. I don’t think our top scorer is in the squad yet. It could be Devante Cole… looking back on this next year is going to look stupid when 2 days after the pod goes out Cole signs for someone else”
• Cal – Mark O’Mahony – “he’s at the club now and he is a striker (glowing praise)”

Top Assists

• Jordan – Charlie Savage “those 5yrd layoffs for Wing wondergoals”
• Matt – Ben Elliott “One of those two 8’s that push forward, make things happen in and around the box and if Savage is out wide then Elliott will be more central and a bit better with those killer passes through”
• Cal – Ben Elliott “Could be a special connection on the right side with Kyerewaa”

Player of the Season

• Jordan – Paudie O’Connor “The type of candidate a lot of Reading fans like. He’s going to win loads of headers, block lots of shots and the other thing that will count in his favour is he’s going to score some goals”
• Matt – Daniel Kyerewaa “Those 5mins vs Portsmouth were incredible. I’m on the hype train baby”
• Cal – Joel Pereira “I think he’s going to have a lot of work to do. If we are good, he could with POTS and if we are bad, he definitely will win POTS”

Young Player of the Season

• Cal – Andre Garcia “If he get’s a lot of right wing minutes, I would be very moved. I am excited”
• Matt – Finley Burns “I think he looks a natural successor to Bindon, there’s nothing like overhyping people“
• Jordan – Michael Stickland “The type of player that if he gets into the team and does well, I don’t think he will drop back out. He’s got a manager that really rates him, academy player. I could see a world where Stickland get’s into the team and stays”

Reading Between the Lines Sponsorship Award

*Depending on who you ask this award has one of two meanings. Wise, learned folk know it represents who we would want the podcast the matchday sponsor for a season if we had the budget to. A purely vibes based decision. Others reduce it to an investment opportunity in a player who’s metaphorical stock could rise. Is football not already so consumed with greed….

• Matt – Michael Stickland “The vibes are towards Michael Stickland”
• Jordan – Mamadi Camara “My player will not help in the stocks side. I’m all aboard the Camara-coming-good-train. We are so ready for the Camara redemption arc.”
• Cal – Finley Burns “He’s big, he can pass and for those 20mins vs Dom Solanke he looked unbeatable”

Outlandish Prediction

• Cal – I think Hunt will be sacked before Christmas “I hope it doesn’t get toxic. He did great last season but I worry a lot of the underlying stats weren’t very good and we did drop off in performances. Even if he is quite good, he’s so new to the role and Couhig has loudly stated ambitions” Bonus prediction: Andre Garcia will score the goal of the season
• Jordan – The season will end up being quite fun “Season’s are not defined by the first month. Once this team has players in and they gel, we will have a fun second half of the season. Maybe even fun enough to see a playoff run. Hopefully with Hunt”
• Matt – Tyler Sackey will appear in 10 league games this season “He’s played a lot in pre-season but he’s playing where Ben Elliott so he’s not going to start many games. It’s not as nailed on as it looked a few weeks ago. He quietly went about it in preseason” Bonus prediction: Lewis Wing plays every minute again this season