Reading
England
League One
Est: 1871
Reading Football Club ( RED-ing) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. They compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. They play their home matches at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
Reading are nicknamed The Royals after the Royal County of Berkshire, and were previously known as The Biscuitmen, due to the town's association with biscuit maker Huntley & Palmers. Established in 1871, the club is one of the oldest teams in England, but did not join The Football League until 1920, and first played in the top tier of English football league system in the 2006β07 season. The club competed in the 2012β13 Premier League season, having gained promotion at the end of the 2011β12 season after winning the Championship, but were relegated after just one season back in the top flight.
Reading won the 1987β88 Full Members' Cup and were one of only two Second Division clubs to lift the trophy, beating Luton Town 4β1 in the final at Wembley. The club's best performance in the FA Cup was reaching the semi-finals which they achieved twice: in 1926β27 and 2014β15.
The club played at Elm Park for 102 years, from 1896 to 1998. In 1998, the club moved to the new Madejski Stadium, which was named after the club's former chairman Sir John Madejski. In 2021, the club announced that the ground would be known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for the subsequent decade for sponsorship reasons.
The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985β86 Third Division campaign. During their 2005β06 Football League Championship season, Reading set a new record for the highest number of points gained in a professional league season, at 106. Reading then achieved their highest finish of eighth in the 2006β07 Premier League, their first season as a top flight club.
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