The Royals could be relegated for the first ever time since they were promoted from the Women's Championship after winning the league in 2015 and have been in the top division ever since.
Reading finished the 2017-18 season in 4th place and 5th in both 2018-19 and 2019-20, reaching the Semi-Final of the FA Womens Cup in 2018-19. The side finished 7th in the 2020-21 season, continuing the steady decline to 8th in 2021-22 and finishing off even worse this season.
Reading are winless in 7 games with their last win coming against West Ham back in March. A crucial game in their season was vs Leicester in April. The Foxes beat the Royals 2-1. To follow on from this result, Leicester picked up more points as they got a big 4-0 win at home to Liverpool, to overtake Reading in the table.
With 1 game left, Reading currently sit bottom of the table by 2 points to Leicester City. For the Royals to escape relegation it would mean that they would have to beat Chelsea and would need to rely on Brighton to beat the Foxes.
Although the Royals did make summer signings to bolder their squad for the new season and other players that came in the January transfer Window to help fight for their WSL survival, it has not been able to help Reading.
Manager Kelly Chambers put out a statement on the difference it makes when it comes down to money. She pointed out that Spurs striker Bethany England who signed in January for a domestic fee of £250,000, as being pivotal in Spurs’ salvation, and evidence of the disadvantage clubs like Reading face when attempting to compete in tight margins.
Chambers said that a potential rebuild could be on the cards for Reading, with Bristol City’s recent bounce back into the top-flight as an example for the club to follow.
It will be interesting to see what happens, as it goes down to the last game of the season this Saturday.