Select Car Leasing Stadium

The Select Car Leasing Stadium, formerly Madejski Stadium, is the home of Reading FC. Read on for details and images from the ground, and my visits to it.

Arrival

Situated on the A33, adjacent to the M4 junction, the most complicated part of getting to the Select Car Leasing Stadium Is negotiating the queue into the Reading branch of Costco.

Visiting coaches drive up the ramp on to concourse level, turn around, and park up in the bus bay facing back down the ramp.

Food and Drink

A pie costs £5 and a Bovril £2.50 - slightly more than the price at the Turf combined.

There is a really clean and tasty looking burger vendor parked outside the away supporter entrances. If I wanted to eat on a future visit I’d use that.

Probably also worth pointing out that service time was woeful, the queues completely blocking access across the concourse at half time, and only 5-10 minutes into the second half was everybody back upstairs.

Program

Proper football clubs print programs, Reading do not. If you look hard enough you should be able to locate a printed team sheet.

Stadium

The stadium is a contiguous bowl, with a total capacity of just over 24,000.

The West Stand and Madejski Stands sit across the length of the pitch from one another, with the dugouts and hospitality sections housed in the West Stand.

Away support is placed in the South Stand behind the goal, with the Madejski Stands to the right, and west Stand to the left, with the Eamon Dolan Stand behind the opposite goal.

Atmosphere

There is none. The Select Car Leasing Stadium is a soulless bowl in Costco’s car park outside of Reading. The concourse areas were very similar to those at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium, while the arena was similar to, but not as architecturally distinct as, Bolton’s Toughsheet in Horwich.

The stadium is comfortably too big for its club, the support of which would have fitted in a single stand when I visited.

Reading also possess a drum, proper football clubs do not need drums. Thankfully the damn thing was kept pretty quiet through our most recent visit.

For balance, the stewarding was friendly and excellent. The first away game where I’ve not been frisked, and the assistance given to mobility impaired arrivals looked first class.