Bring Reading FC Women home: Rob Couhig’s to do list

The Reading FC takeover saga is over. Sell Before We Dai is done.

Those are the headlines from a heady week I’m sure many Royals fans believed may never come true.

Yes, Reading missed out on the play-offs on the final day, but that a youthful, inexperienced side built by Ruben Selles and pushed across the finish line by Noel Hunt was even in the play-off equation is remarkable.

Key player sales, points deductions, protests and pitch invasions all hampered this quite remarkable squad of men.

New owner Rob Couhig has work to do. Investment, rebuilding bridges. The mantra has been “back the team not the regime,” this is a fanbase burned by an owner. For many this maybe a clean slate, for others, trust in an owner will take a little longer.

There’s one thing he could do that would show his outright commitment to do the right thing by the club.

Bring Reading FC Women home. Back to the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Not just that, a commitment to getting back to professionalism. Back to building a pathway for the thousands upon thousands of young women and girls to professional football without having to move half way across the country.

I am sure a lot of response to this will be around investing in the men’s team. Yes, that has to happen – I’ve written before how Reading Football Club should be something to aspire to for all young footballers in the county.

I also know the SLC ISN’T the ideal place for a team at Level 5 of the Women’s Football Pyramid. But to grow, foster a fan base and a player pathway, the team MUST play in Reading – the only suitable place is the SLC.

But if Mr Couhig is to show ambition and a deeper commitment to the club, bringing the women’s team home would do it.

Fran Kirby, Mary Earps, Emma Harris, Eve Annetts. Fara Williams, Jess Fishlock, Deanne Rose, Rachel Rowe, Lily Woodham. You know these names.

Get it done.

More reasons?: ‘Reading FC Women is a massive inspiration to our daughter’