Reading Football Club are delighted to announce that Wexford FC have officially partnered with our Category One Academy.
Academy Manager Michael Gilkes and Head of Academy Coaching, Jamie Greenwood, joined our Under-21 manager and former Republic of Ireland international Noel Hunt in south-east Ireland at the weekend to seal the partnership, which will see the promotion-chasing second tier side become an official affiliate club of Reading FC.
The partnership will see our elite coaching staff visit Ferrycarrig Park to share best practice with the League of Ireland side, leading sessions and sharing knowledge with our counterparts across the Irish Sea.
Wexford’s coaching staff will also travel to Berkshire on a regular basis as part of the link between the clubs – and there is potential within the partnership for some of our young promising Academy players to earn first team football on loan with the Wexford senior side in the future.
Wexford were only inducted into the League of Ireland structure in 2007 under the name of Wexford Youths – before rebranding as Wexford FC ten years later. Our affiliate club will benefit greatly from an Academy operating in the highest tier of the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan, serving one of the oldest football clubs in the country.
Our links with the League of Ireland have long been strong, especially since the arrival of Kevin Doyle and Shane Long – the former a Wexford-born striker who went on to fire the Royals into the Premier League in his first full season in RG2.
Gilkes has been working hard to reestablish those firm links in recent years and, with Noel now an integral part of our youth players’ development as Under-21s boss, the Irish connection has remained robust. Wexford staff have already enjoyed a highly-productive visit to Reading Football Club’s Community Trust where Trust manager Dave Evans and his staff provided the Irish club with advice and guidance on the community projects we are involved with in Berkshire and beyond. We now look forward to building that bond as this new partnership is allowed to flourish.
Our Under-21 manager, Noel Hunt said “We have had a fantastic history of young players coming to us from the south-east of Ireland over the last couple of decades and rekindling that relationship is important to us for many different reasons.
“This will be a great opportunity for both clubs to share coaching philosophies around developing young players and hopefully our relationship continues to grow towards the common goal of developing hardworking, talented, bright, young footballers.”
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