Won’t Somebody Please Think Of The Children?

As Alex writes, we sometimes take for granted just how young a side Reading have.

I’m going to open up this article with some shock statements here, so to both of you reading this: brace yourselves! Reading FC are not a normal football club. We also have a rather young first team. These two things are invariably linked together. I’ll give you a moment to collect your thoughts after those brazen statements.

It’s interesting, though, that we as a fanbase have kind of just gotten used to being a basket case of a football club. We’re starting to, or have already begun to, normalise things that just simply aren’t normal.

For example: this season, the average age of Reading’s first-team squad is 23.8. The average age of the starting XI has been 23.2. Sounds about right doesn’t it? The youngest team we have put out in the league this season had an average age of 22.7, which was the surprise 1-0 home loss to Leyton Orient.

Now let’s take a step back a moment and assess this through the lens of the rest of the league. We have the second-youngest squad in the league – Peterborough United having an average age of 22.6 and average starting XI of 22.8 are the youngest. The other teams making up the top five in this department are Wigan Athletic (24.2), Lincoln City (24.7) and Crawley Town (24.5). For reference, the oldest in the league is Mansfield Town at 29.6, and the average for the league itself is 25.9.

We have a young team. Like, a really young team. As I write this on a Tuesday afternoon*, Reading currently find themselves seventh in League One, only outside the play-off places on goal difference.

*Editor’s note: Fortunately, nothing of note has happened since Tuesday afternoon. Ahem.

Comparatively, Peterborough United are 13th, Wigan Athletic are 15th, Lincoln City are 9th (having played one more game than us) and Crawley Town are 20th. Of all the “young” sides, we’re actually out-performing expectations of where we should be.

If we take a step back and look at the other leagues, the youngest squad in the Premier League is 23.4 (Chelsea) – the next is Brighton & Hove Albion at 24.6, the oldest West Ham United at 28.2 and the average age is 26.5.

In the Championship, the youngest squad is Sunderland’s with 23.3, followed by Stoke City at 23.9. Derby County have the oldest squad at 27.6, with a league average of 25.9.

In League Two, Crewe Alexandra have the youngest average at 23.5, with Fleetwood Town in second with 24.4. The oldest are Tranmere Rovers at 27.8, while the league average is 26.1.

Lastly, the youngest average in the fifth-tier National League is Halifax Town’s 23.8, with Sutton United second with 24.1. The oldest average is Ebbsfleet Town’s 28.3, with the league average on 26.

What does this tell us? Well, firstly, football is becoming an increasingly younger player’s game it seems, with the league averages all hovering around 26 years old, which is two to three years before the generally accepted “peak” for outfield players.

Secondly, it tells us that we have the joint-fourth-youngest squad in the top five leagues of English football. This number also factors in players such as David Button (goalkeeper and second choice), Harlee Dean (bit-part player these days) and Andy Yiadom (remember him?). In short, it’s not like our most experienced players are key first-teamers, as they are more or less used as back-up options for injuries or to help close out games.

Now to look at academy representation. It’s one thing to buy young and develop, but a whole other thing to develop your own. I don’t have the data for all the other leagues, but I suppose really the only relevant data is that from the league in which we compete.

We have had 16 players this season play League One football for Reading who have featured at academy level for Reading as well. I knew we had a lot, but 16? I may have missed one or two, so for transparency, here is the list that I have collated:

• Sam Smith
• Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan
• Michael Craig
• Jeriel Dorsett
• Kelvin Abrefa
• Jayden Wareham
• Mamadi Camara
• Andre Garcia
• Adrian Akande
• Basil Tuma
• Coniah Boyce-Clarke
• Abraham Kanu
• Tivonge Rushesha
• Emmanuel Osho
• Ashqar Ahmed
• Shay Spencer

That’s a hell of a lot. For reference, the closest in the league to us is Wigan Athletic with 13 players, which is also really impressive. We have double the number of third-placed Leyton Orient’s eight. Two teams have only had two academy players represent them in the league this year, six have only had one academy player represent them in the league this year, and another two teams haven’t had any at all.

We all know why we are in a situation where we are so reliant on our academy to keep our first team afloat. I think there is a risk here that we have gotten just so used to this that we have really forgotten how unusual it is in comparison to the rest of the teams around us.

The Harborough Town game at the weekend is another example of this. We started the game with eight academy players in the starting XI and another five on the bench. We all expected rotation, and yes the opponents are in the seventh tier of English football, so we didn’t have any qualms with this rotation.

But it’s not like we deliberately played the kids, is it? These are legitimately our back-up players – indeed, some of them are actually first-choice XI players. And they are all so young (excluding Button and Lewis Wing, from this particular game).

The fact is that we expect these kids to deliver, more often than not. Really though – they shouldn’t be doing so, should they? So many are only in their first or second seasons of first-team football, others only just starting to get a taste. Some of these first-teamers aren’t old enough to buy alcohol or rent a car.

Yet we expect them to compete against battle-hardened sides that will rough them up, subject them to uncompromising and/or unfriendly environments, exploit their lack of experience and in-game knowledge and do so against the backdrop of not really knowing what their futures hold.

It’s one thing to be a regular starter who doesn’t know if he is going to get paid, but a whole other one entirely in an academy set-up where you don’t even know if you’re going to be retained for the next season, while not knowing if you’re going to get paid that month either.

We as a fanbase can see the potential in this group – some of them have the potential to go to the top. Others have the potential to become stalwarts at Championship level and some have probably found their level already in League One. Some will probably drop further down the pyramid in their later careers. It’s not fair to name these players, and similarly, they are so young, we just don’t know what to reasonably expect of them.

However, there is no denying that they are a good, talented group. There are some who may really hit their stride in their mid-20s, others who might have already peaked and are on a slow decline. Football is a funny game. One minute you’re the next Wayne Rooney and the next minute you’re just another Josh McEachran. If you know, you know.

For me, it’s no coincidence that Dorsett came back strongly after injury. Going from playing no football to all of the football must have been exhausting. The pressure he and his peers surely feel at such an age and such inexperience has to be draining.

I fully expect we’ll see Ehibhatiomhan come back like a man on a mission when he returns from injury as well. They need a break, they need rest. We saw the best of Ben Elliott at the end of last season and start of this one after being eased into proceedings. Perhaps that’s why Charlie Savage has been rotated so much?

So what is the point that I am making here? Well – it’s this. Maybe we need to take stock and remember just how unusual the make-up of our playing staff is, recognise that they are massively outperforming against standard expectations and remind ourselves that, while days like the one against Harborough are frustrating and needlessly stressful, they are really vital for this young group to help them on their path for continued learnings.

The more we continue to back them, support them and allow them to be nurtured while creating a safe environment for them to develop, the more they will begin to repay it and thrive.

In the famous words of Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons: “Won’t somebody please think of the children?” After all, they’re not just our future – they are our now.