The Reading Chronicle
Squad29 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Derrick Williams
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reading lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout29 May 2028
Benn Ward keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Reading may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Tyler Walton has agreed to leave Reading for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market29 May 2028
Kallum Fuller-Thompson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Reading they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market29 May 2028
Reading promote Jacob Graham from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jacob Graham has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market29 May 2028
Simon Wright steps up from the Reading academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon Wright has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market29 May 2028
One of our own: Thomas Roberts joins the Reading first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas Roberts is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Reading
Joaquín Cornaglia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Reading
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Kochiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
- The dugout No hiding place for Khetag Kochiev
- The dugout Paddy Lane asks for a word with the manager
- The dugout When it matters, Tyler Sackey plays