Can The Royals Finish In The Top 6?

10 February 2025
By Hob Nob Anyone?

League One continues to be one of the most competitive football divisions in Europe. You only have to look at the battle for promotion that’s currently taking place to realise just how competitive English football’s third tier is. One of the teams hoping to realise their promotion dreams this season is Reading, but there are questions about whether or not they can make the cut.

At the time of writing, there are four teams outside the League One top six who are within touching distance of it. Charlton, Reading, and Bolton are level on points with Leyton Orient who currently occupy sixth but have a better goal difference, and Barnsley trail by one point. So, while there’s plenty of competition for the four playoff places. Reading are in a good position to be one of the four teams to lock down a spot.

As you will expect, based on their season so far, Reading are deemed one of the stronger teams competing in the third tier, which is backed up by football match betting, where they’re regularly selected, and usually the team favoured to win. And you’d say it’s quite remarkable that this continues to be the case when you consider all the off-field troubles the club is enduring. Manager Ruben Selles also left to take the Hull City job.

Since Noel Hunt’s appointment as Selles’ replacement, it’s been steady going. Reading have played 11 league games with their former player in the dugout, winning four, drawing two and losing five. The Royals are a streaky team, with a run of three wins in a row in the league, soon followed by three defeats on the bounce in League One. And it’s ultimately this that has to change if Reading are to be serious playoff contenders.

Now, what could hinder Reading between now and the end of the season is the loss of striker Sam Smith, who was bought by automatic playoff hopefuls Wrexham in the January transfer window. Smith, who was a regular starter for the Royals in the first half of the campaign, scored eleven goals in twenty-five appearances and weighed in with a couple of assists. His goals made up a fair portion of the goals scored by Reading thus far, and his contributions will be missed.

Reading were active in the window themselves, with Tyler Binden being sold by the club to Nottingham Forest, but a deal for him to return on loan for the remainder of the season was agreed. Winger Billy Bodin also arrived from fellow League One outfit Burton Albion. Hunt will be hoping both players can enable the club to push on.

Reading are undoubtedly in the League One playoff conversation. But it’s going to be a tough ask for them to become one of the teams to cement a place in the top six, largely due to matters out of their control. Without Smith and his goals, the Royals could lack the firepower needed at the top of the pitch.

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