🤝 Royals bid farewell to five first team players out of contract

Thank you and good luck to Chris Gunter, Garath McCleary, Jordan Obita, Charlie Adam and Tyler Blackett…

Reading Football Club can confirm that a number of first team players will leave the Royals at the end of the month as their contracts with the club expire.

Midfielder Charlie Adam joined the Royals ranks last summer and scored two goals in 13(+14) appearances for the club, while Tyler Blackett ends a four-year stay at Madejski Stadium after 107(+14) appearances in blue and white hoops.

Academy graduate Gabe Osho, meanwhile, has been offered a new contract at the club following a series of impressive performances towards the end of the 2019-20 campaign.

We do however also bid farewell to three club stalwarts, who between them have made 775 appearances for the club across the last decade - Chris Gunter, Garath McCleary and Jordan Obita.

Jordan came through our Academy ranks from the very earliest age group and made his senior team debut almost exactly ten years ago, coming off the bench to represent the Royals at Torquay…aged 16.

He went on to cement a place in the starting eleven and earned the Player of the Season gong from Royals fans in 2013-14. A serious knee injury forced him to sit out two years of his career on the sidelines, but he returned to the first team fray last August and made 18(+8) appearances for Reading in his comeback campaign.



Both Gunter and McCleary initially joined the club from Nottingham Forest following our promotion to the Premier League in 2012.

Chris made more than 300 appearances for the club, rarely missing a match or even a minute as the right-back refused to ever let injury strike or fatigue affect his attitude or performance on the pitch.

As a Royal, Gunter has continued to represent Wales – becoming his country’s most-capped player in history and representing his nation at the European Championships, steering them to the semi-finals in France in 2016.

Garath, meanwhile, scored 27 goals during his eight years in RG2 – none more memorable than his goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final and perhaps none more spectacular (although a fair few came close) than his audacious volley at home to Burnley in 2014.

Model professionals throughout their careers at Madejski Stadium, we would like to sincerely thank them for their hard work and dedication to the club, whilst wishing them the very best of luck in their future careers.