Marked for Liam Fraser
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
Liam Fraser hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Reading can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Derrick Williams 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Huddersfield Town left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match23 Jan 2027
The run is over for Reading
5 matches without defeat, and then Huddersfield Town. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paudie O'Connor, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan commits to Reading for another 4 years.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Reading can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Reading
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Will Keane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Wrong net for Brian White
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The dugout
Haydon Roberts dropped after a run of poor form
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Derrick Williams 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A move Martín Ramírez would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Martín Ramírez is living that version at Reading, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Lewis Wing falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
Three points for Reading, 2‑0 the final word against Port Vale in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
One of those days for Lewis Wing
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liam Fraser, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at Reading
Something was said to George Earthy and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
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Squad
Martín Ramírez signs on for more
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Kelvin Abrefa
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Reading training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Wing is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aaron Bibout. 3‑1 against Rotherham United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Liam Fraser 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Joel Pereira
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Derrick Williams 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Lewis Wing falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Paddy Lane
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Brian White was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match28 Nov 2026
Reading rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. AFC Wimbledon had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liam Fraser, and the manager let it.
Match28 Nov 2026
It needed Brian White to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against AFC Wimbledon, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Joseph Kelly after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Reading
Derrick Williams and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dennis Bossman is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Reading training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Wing is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match10 Oct 2026
Plymouth Argyle made Reading work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andy Rinomhota commits to Reading for another 4 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Liam Fraser
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 7.48. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
Reading march on in the cup
Salford City are out and Reading go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Reading — 7.84
1 for Liam Fraser, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Reading
Derrick Williams and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Lewis Wing falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match19 Sep 2026
Wigan Athletic left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
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The dugout
Joel Pereira gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
6 new faces, and Reading are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
George Earthy damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Daniel Kyerewaa to Stevenage has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Reading with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Sep 2026
The phone has started ringing about Jack Marriott again, and this time the name on the line is Nimes. Reading are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Reading close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Derrick Williams 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match5 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Blackpool, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Liam Fraser
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.