Reading manager Kelly Chambers has few complaints about the precarious position that the club find themselves in following yesterday’s 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Royals could be relegated this afternoon if Leicester City defeat West Ham United. Even if that result does go Reading’s way, they must beat Barclays Women’s Super League champions-in-waiting Chelsea next weekend and would again need Leicester City to slip up.
When speaking in the post-match press conference following yesterday’s defeat at Spurs, Chambers was realistic about the situation.
“We can’t be deluded with what needs to happen,” Chambers said. “It’s Chelsea on the final day. A tough day, a tough season but we need to look at it and reflect on ourselves.
“Leagues don’t lie, you end up being where you should be at the end of the season. For a club like us, it’s getting harder and harder every year.
“I’ve been here for however long now and I’ve never been in a situation like this, so it’s obviously very hard.”
Should Reading defy the odds and stay up, it seems highly-likely that Chambers would have to work with an even tighter budget again next season with the men’s side having been relegated to the third tier. Chambers admits that there is no real answer to Reading’s significant financial disadvantage in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
“If a miracle happened and we stayed up, then we’d probably be having another season like we are having,” Chambers said. “We can’t compete with the clubs that are in the league right now because of the budgets; everybody’s budget is going up. The women’s game is growing like this and we’re competing with Premier League clubs that are investing which is what they should do but we’re not. They are going up and we’re staying at the same level and that’s hard.
“Myself, the staff and the players, we are all competitors. We all step out onto that pitch to win not lose games. Tottenham could pay a quarter of a million pound for one player, we have nowhere near those funds. You look at Leicester and the budget they had in January to put towards players to try and stay in the league. Don’t get me wrong, we brought players in but that challenge is hard.”
Reading’s final Barclays Women’s Super League fixture of the season against Chelsea kicks-off at 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon.
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