Reading FC youth academy costs to come under scrutiny
Reading owner tells us the bill for the top-flight academy may have to be 'looked at'
Last updated 8th Apr 2026
Reading football club owner Rob Couhig says the club's youth academy is costing too much.
In comments made shortly after the club's accounts were released he said new forms of revenue had to be found to counter the high running costs of the club as a whole.
One such way of reducing the costs for the club's top-rated youth academy would be to downgrade it.
He said: "Nobody likes talking about it but it costs three and a half million dollars to have a top flight academy and we have to look at all of that, as soon as I say this 'oh my god Rob's going to get rid of the academy' that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about how we spend our money properly."
And he explained the bigger picture in terms of the challenges facing the club, adding "This club still operates like a high championship club in 90% of the ways and that has to be addressed at some point we have to come up with better sources of revenue."
One such source of revenue could be hiring out the stadium for more events, ideally the Reading owner wants it used around a hundred days a year. He says currently the stadium costs two and a half million a year to run.