Royals home rebranded as long-standing Partner, Select Car Leasing, puts name to our stadium
Our 150th anniversary season presents us with the perfect opportunity to celebrate this club’s history. And it also motivates us to take a step into the future and all that lies ahead for the Royals.
And in a partnership which will help to support Reading Football Club and its long-term stability, we are delighted to announce that our home will be branded as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for the next ten years.
A locally-based business, established in 2004 and headquartered very close to the stadium complex, current Principal Partners Select Car Leasing are the UK’s leading independent car and van leasing specialists.
Directors James O’Malley and Mark Tongue are both lifelong supporters of the Royals and current Season Ticket Holders at the club – and this historic stadium sponsorship agreement represents an expansion on what has already been a successful long-running partnership with Reading Football Club.
Select have been a valued partner of the club since 2015 and this summer became our Principal Partner by committing to a record front of shirt sponsorship deal for the next three years. Now the flourishing local organisation has not only opted to extend that shirt sponsorship contract to 2026 but has expanded its partnership to rebrand the Royals’ stadium for the next ten years.
While there has always been the potential to secure similar stadium branding agreements with other organisations, it remained imperative to the us that a partner with an affinity to the club, its supporters and the town was chosen. Select were the natural choice, as a firm built and grown by local people with a strong sense of community. Select Car Leasing are the perfect fit.
And as devoted supporters, O’Malley and Tongue hold a deep and sincere respect for former Royals Chairman, Sir John Madejski – the man whose vision it was to relocate the Royals and whose investment it took to build our RG2 home back in 1998. Therefore, integral in their decision to lend their business’ name to the stadium, an agreement to honour the influence he had on shaping the club we all love today by renaming the East Stand as The Sir John Madejski Stand. His legacy will live on.
“This began as a pipe dream. When James and I began this business from the back room of a house in Reading, we were following the Royals’ rise to the Premier League and always joked that one day it would be Select Car Leasing’s name being linked with the blue and white hoops. Now, the dream is being realised."
Mark Tongue
“We’re delighted to be able to welcome Royals fans to the Select Car Leasing Stadium,” said Co-founder of Select Car Leasing, Mark Tongue. “This is an incredibly proud moment for us, both as a company and personally as Reading supporters.
“This began as a pipe dream. When James and I began this business from the back room of a house in Reading, we were following the Royals’ rise to the Premier League and always joked that one day it would be Select Car Leasing’s name being linked with the blue and white hoops. Now, the dream is being realised. We are thrilled for Select Car Leasing and its affinity with Reading Football Club and personally we are absolutely delighted to be able to give something back to the club we have both supported for so long.
“The very foundations of the stadium were built on the success of Sir John Madejski’s AutoTrader enterprise and, as a Reading-based automotive company that now employs almost 300 people in the local community, we feel there is a tangible synergy between this stadium’s magnificent beginnings and its promising future.
“Sir John went on to make an insurmountable contribution to both Reading Football Club and its community. We have been handed the baton, but Sir John Madejski’s legacy will be protected for future generations.”
Chief Executive Dayong Pang said “On behalf of the club, I would personally like to welcome Mark, James and the whole Select Car Leasing family to Reading Football Club. A successful local firm, employing local people, supporting its local club and giving back to its community, Select Car Leasing are the perfect partner. I look forward to working with them in our 150th anniversary season and beyond as our Principal Partner until 2031.”
Now boasting a customer base using a fleet of more than 50,000 vehicles, Select have well-established partnerships with global automotive distributors and retailers as well the UK’s major motor finance companies, securing the best car and van lease deals in the market. Not just the largest Personal Vehicle Leasing brokerage in the UK, Select Car Leasing are also the most recommended leasing business in the country, according to Trustpilot.
This stadium sponsorship comes at a time when financial accountability and self-sustaining revenue generation is more important than ever within football. So the agreement with Select is another positive step towards helping the club achieve its long-term goals.
