Nick Craig

@ReadingFC Joe Hendry for the 🍔 renewal please admin. #IBelieveInMbengue youtu.be/Hb17uaaldwM?si…

EL GATO IS HERE TO STAY 🤩 We are pleased to announce that Joel Pereira has signed a new deal with the Royals running until 2028. 👇

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

@WeAreFreeLions Ah that's annoying. Do you know of any recommended bars to watch England games in Essen/Gelsenkirchen?

@NickCraig93 They should be at the other fan zone at Nordsternpark which will be open that day. We’re not sure if the racecourse will be.

⚽️𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐚 𝐯 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 🗓️𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞, 𝐆𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 🏟️𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐀𝐮𝐟𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞 England fans will have access to the Trabrennbahn Gelsenkirchen, the racecourse, which has capacity for 40,000 people and will open at 11am on matchday and close at 3am. Entry is free. Inside there will be more than enough bars, €5 Bitburger Pils on sale as well as multiple food stalls including Bratwurst, Currywurst, pizzas, pretzels, nachos, tofu etc… There will be a large screen to watch the football for those without tickets to the game. There are some bars in the town centre, but not many. Serbia fans have sold their allocation of 10,000 and have a meeting point at Sankt-Urbanus-Kirchplatz in Buer, so it is advised not to use this area. 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐡𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 From Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof, there will be free shuttles to take you to the racecourse, plus you can take tram 107 to Revierpark Neinhausen, which is right next to Trabrennbahn. From Essen, you can catch tram 107 which will also take you direct to the racecourse. 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦 From the racecourse, tram 107 will take you direct to the stadium, there will be shuttle buses on standby should it be busy. We would advise heading to the stadium early. Journey’s should take around 20 mins. From Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof, you can take tram 302 which also goes direct to the stadium. The tram stop at the stadium, the Veltins Arena is where you will get off. Fans with accessibility needs should get off at Willy-Brandt-Allee, which is the station just before, assistance will be waiting to take you to the stadium. 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐀𝐮𝐟𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞 The stadium will open 3 hours before kick-off at 18:00. Cashless payments are preferred. Alcohol will be limited to two beers per sale, and drinking in the stands is forbidden. Power banks are allowed. Carry some form of valid ID. You must get your ticket activated at the stadium by a steward at the security perimeter, it won’t work at the turnstile without this process. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 Tram services will run for at least two hours after the game, and to assist with the demand on trams, shuttle services will run from car park P6 to Essen Central Station and to Gelsenkirchen Central Station. We have been assured there will plenty of trains afterwards to take you to surrounding towns and cities. Patience is obviously required, be kind to the volunteers. 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐬’ 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐲 Our England Fans’ Embassy will be located outside of the main station in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday 15th June (around 11am-4pm) and on Sunday 16th June (around 10:30am-5:30pm). We have arranged for ESTC staff to join us on matchday, 11am-1pm. Issue 185 of the Free Lions will be available to collect. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

@GoonerTwin Yeah 100%, will reserve judgement but it's a step in the right direction. Have seen first hand recently how precarious it is for EFL teams and wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through that!

@GoonerTwin Isn't the prems fault but a huge cause is the EFL being ineffective as an organisation due to lack of funding. Regulator should have been in place years ago. Whole system needs to be sustainable.

@GoonerTwin My point is what would be game changing for EFL teams is pennies for prem clubs. Part of the whole ecosystem that needs supporting. Atm too many clubs going close to extinction.

@GoonerTwin Spot on with it all being relative. 30 million pounds could buy you Reading FC or 1/3 of Antony. Having a couple extra mil come down from the prem teams would have basically 0 impact on their revenue potential. Prem is in no danger of losing out compared to other European leagues

@GoonerTwin EFL props up the whole pyramid! Obvs the top 6 bring in the most revenue, but they have more than enough. Needs even spreading of cash to help smaller clubs at the mercy of dodgy owners.

Right sentiment, wrong spelling #readingfc

Bold move considering the 23kg weight limit on suitcases. I would love to be this ambitious.

What a journey. Emi Martinez, King Shithouse, made in Reading.

'Railcard savings applied'

@PeterCrouchPod @petercrouch @BrewDog Why is there two @Chris_Stark's

Think it’s fair to say @petercrouch enjoyed his taste testing session of @BrewDog beers #Laout #ad

Scammed out of £3k by VAR and Callum Wilson's clown feet

@GoonerTwin Haha mate i clocked that end of the 1st episode too, swear it sounds nothing like him from GoT!

@GoonerTwin Started watching this the other day! So we'll put together I really rate it.

@VibesPatron @LifeisGroovy_ Club needs folding mate. Lost Olise, Richards and Loader for 8 mil total. Genuinely worth 50+ collectively. Whoever sanctioned it all needs putting down

Yooo @VibesPatron

@VibesPatron The time difference bro!!! Take that out of the equation and Australia would be so so tempting.