Stephen Saunders

The EFL have confirmed that the takeover of Reading Football Club by Redwood Holdings Limited has been completed 🚨

🏆⬇️ Announcing our referees for the upcoming finals. #UCL: István Kovács 🇷🇴 #UEL: Felix Zwayer 🇩🇪 #UECL: Irfan Peljto 🇧🇦 #UWCL: Ivana Martinčić 🇭🇷 #UNL: Sandro Schärer 🇨🇭

Join us this Thursday at Reading RA for a session with Adam Parry, RDO @BerksandBucksFA. He’ll share updates on referee initiatives and grassroots efforts. Plus, we’ll welcome newly qualified officials. Check your inbox for details! #FootballDevelopment #Referees

Dispiriting events at Reading should concern everyone in English football. Fans are lied to, players and an impressive manager are let down, and so are staff. A thoughtless, heartless owner damages a historic club. It’s another warning to all in football. If we tolerate this, then your club could be next. Fans at some other clubs fear similar pain or just feel relief to have escaped danger. Many will simply focus on their own form and fortunes. Football’s tribal. Most headlines revolve around the big names, the big games like Manchester City versus Arsenal. But Reading embody the pyramid, a local beacon and hub for nurturing talent. Neil Webb started there. The windfall from the Michael Olise deal helps sustain the club currently. Ted Drake learned his managerial trade at Reading before guiding Chelsea to their first title. Football clubs are community assets and have to be protected from individuals like Dai Yongge wreaking such misery at Reading. He has his motives and his methods but none seem aligned to the club’s future wellbeing. He doesn’t communicate with fans. Reading FC Women withdrew from the Championship because of financial difficulties. Sustained mismanagement of the club has seen a failure to pay men’s players and HMRC lead to points deductions. A proposed takeover by Rob Couhig, an American businessman welcomed by the fanbase, collapsed, leaving Yongge still in charge and supporters still in torment and again asking questions. Does Yongge really want to sell? If the club goes under is it then all about valuable real estate? Would administration and another points deduction actually be better than this shambles? And so Reading fans rally again, fighting for their club’s life. But Yongge doesn’t listen. He doesn’t appear to care about the negativity his ownership brings to the door of the dressing-room. Ruben Selles and his whole-hearted squad give everything they can on the field, and sit a defiant 12th in League One, but they aren’t detached from the mess. It must be dismaying and distracting. Losing Selles would be a disaster. He’s doing a good job in trying circumstances. If he left, Selles would be picked up swiftly by a better run club. Reading fans post messages of support to Selles and his squad. They will back them loudly at Bolton Wanderers today. It’s about finding the balance between demonstrating support for the team while demonstrating against the owner. Much is right about Reading: committed fanbase, stadium, training ground, the attitude of manager, squad and club staff. It’s just the owner. It’s a nightmare that Reading are living through. And it’s a cautionary tale all football needs to heed. #ReadingFC #EFL

⚽️ Reading RA will be joined by WSL assistant referee Sophie Dennington on Thursday 19th September. Any RA member welcome to attend. Venue: Earley Home Guard Social Club, Pitts Ln, Earley, Reading RG6 1BT Doors: 7pm Session start: 7:45pm

📣 We need more referees! We are looking for 40,000 more referees to help run the game at the grassroots level. 💡 Interested? Check out how to become one: ⬇️ #BeAReferee

The football/soccer Laws of the Game for 2024/25 are now available on all IFAB platforms in up to seven languages! ➡️ Website: theifab.com ➡️ App: bit.ly/Laws_App_ ➡️ PDF: bit.ly/Laws_PDF_24_25 ➡️ Law changes & presentation: bit.ly/Changes24_25 ➡️ Printed book: bit.ly/Laws2024_25 The new Laws officially come into effect on 1 July. Competitions starting before that date can implement the changes beforehand.

Félicitations, Clément! ⚽ France's Clément Turpin will referee the opening match between Germany and Scotland at #EURO2024!

We would also like to say thanks to ALL the match officials who have taken part in an @EmiratesFACup game this season - from the Extra Preliminary Round to today's match at Wembley. 🏆🏟 The Final can only happen because of YOUR contribution throughout the season #EmiratesFACup

👏 Another great performance in a final from one of Europe's top referees – congratulations to Rebecca Welch and her team! #UWCLfinal | @UWCL

Well done to our Match official on todays game! Referee- Samuel Palmer AR’s - Ebby Saleh and Jason Southwell 4th Official - Steve McMahon

2024 Isuzu #FAVase and #FATrophy finals 🏆 #NonLeagueFinalsDay

🏆 The referees for each of this season's European club finals have been announced! #UCLfinal: Slavko Vinčić 🇸🇮 #UWCLfinal: Rebecca Welch 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #UELfinal: Istvan Kovacs 🇷🇴 #UECLfinal: Artur Soares Dias 🇵🇹

Good luck to our #FAVase and #FATrophy match officials today! 🏆 #NonLeagueFinalsDay is an iconic event in the football calendar - congratulations again on your appointments. 👏

The match officials for the 2024 #AdobeWomensFACup final 🏆

The officials for the #AdobeWomensFACup Final have been confirmed 👇

The match officials for the FA Sunday Cup have been confirmed. 🏆 Congratulations to the officials on their appointments! 👏 #FASundayCup

The match officials for The Isuzu FA Trophy have been confirmed. 🏆 Congratulations to the officials on their appointments! 👏 #FATrophy

The match officials for The Isuzu FA Vase have been confirmed. 🏆 Congratulations to the officials on their appointments! 👏 #FAVase

2023/24 UEFA Youth League Final 🏆 Congratulations, team! 💪