How Reading finished 12th in TGG Academy Rankings on lowest Cat One budget

Reading’s Academy Manager is club legend Michael Gilkes, who made almost 400 appearances between 1984 and 1997, won the Full Members’ Cup at Wembley in 1988 and was voted the best-ever player in his position by supporters.

He returned to coach the Under-18s in 2013, worked with the first team under Jaap Stam and Paul Clement, and was appointed Academy Manager in November 2019. Gilkes nherited an Academy with a pedigree few that outside the Premier League can match, but one that has spent recent seasons fighting for its future and experienced a year’s downgrade to Category Two.

“For me it’s an outstanding achievement from everybody involved in the Academy and at the football club,” Gilkes said about Reading’s 12th place in the Rankings. “There are just nine Premier League clubs ahead of us and two Championship clubs – that gives you an idea of the work that goes into the production of players here.

“It speaks volumes, the way we produce players at this football club. Those players go on to play at other clubs, in other leagues, at other levels, in other countries.”

Reading are the only League One club with Category One status and, as TGG reported in May, spend only £2.8m a year on their youth set-up. This is the lowest in the top tier and well below the Category One average of more than £4m.

In May, owner Rob Couhig told BBC Berkshire that the Academy loses “around £3m a year” and that there would be redundancies on the Academy side, while insisting the club was working to maintain Category One status.

For two decades, Reading have built a reputation one of the most respected Academies in England. The architect of the youth set-up was Eamonn Dolan, who led the Academy from 2004 until his untimely death in 2016. 

The Premier League’s award for outstanding contribution to Academy coaching carries Dolan’s name. Gilkes coached under him for three years and was a Reading player when the club’s earlier generations of homegrown talent came through.

Now he is attempting to continue the tradition in testing circumstances.

“It’s difficult for the club running a Category One in the third tier financially, because they’re not bringing in as much revenue,” he admitted. “But it’s equally difficult being so successful on the limited budget we have.

“It’s a credit to everybody involved with the football club and obviously the Academy, and the hard work that goes into all the departments. That’s the coaching, safeguarding, sports science and medicine, education, scouting, recruitment. There are so many facets to it that are important, every one of them important in their own way.

“Coaching is one of the major things, but the coaching isn’t successful without all the other dynamics and all the other elements. One can’t work without the other.”

The Rankings measure each Academy’s contribution to developing the players who appeared in senior professional football in 2025/26, across 23 competitions, and Reading’s score reflects volume rather than a handful of stars.

Of their 61.77 points, 21.55 came from graduates playing in League One, more than any other club bar Cardiff, and only 3.13 from the Premier League.

The pipeline has never stopped. The Academy has produced 93 first-team graduates, nearly 40 of them making their debuts in Gilkes’ six seasons in charge. One more, forward Jerae Jones, has already followed this season.

“The players that have been through the Academy continue to go forward,” Gilkes said. “They’re continuously going upwards. They’re producing at other clubs, and also some players in bigger competitions.”

As at Cardiff, another of the big success stories in this season’s Rankings, alignment is crucial at Reading. In Head Coach Leam Richardson, Gilkes says the Royals have someone who gives senior opportunities to homegrown players and also develops them.

“We’ve been fortunate to have a manager who welcomes young players,” Gilkes said. “There’s a very positive relationship between the Academy and the first-team management – meetings every day regarding all the players necessary and support.

“We support the first team with whatever they need and the first-team management support us. It’s a really good working relationship.

“The manager has trusted us regarding our opinions of players and we’re very honest and pen with that. Being so transparent is most probably why it’s working so well.

“The first-team management have their targets that they have to achieve, and as an Academy our job is to work alongside and work underneath them, do whatever we need for them to be successful.”

Traditions

The Academy and homegrown players are part of Reading’s DNA and Gilkes takes that tradition very seriously. 

“Youth development has always been there for the football club, from when I started out,” he said. “We had young players coming through at the time who went on to become household names at the club. Then the Academy was built by Eamonn, and it’s never stopped going forward from there.

“It’s become not just part of the club but 100% part of the community. We have a lot of players coming in from Reading and surrounding areas, so it really keeps the community spirit very high, being involved with a successful Academy.”

The best-known graduate is Michael Olise, who came through Chelsea and Manchester City before joining Reading at 14. The forward was sold to Crystal Palace for £8m in 2021 and to Bayern Munich for £50.8m in 2024, and this summer set a World Cup record with seven assists as France finished third.

“He was at Chelsea and Man City up until about Under-14 and they let him go,” Gilkes remembered. “We took him under our wing and that’s where he blossomed. That’s where he got the confidence, that’s where he got the belief in himself. Our job is to support and develop the players, and that’s exactly what we do with all our players.

“But you can’t really predict where a player’s going to be. A lot of things need to be aligned. And there are many, many other players who have been doing very, very well at our club and in and around Europe.”

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