Royals off to BB10…
Paul Ince’s men will be looking for back to back victories this weekend as we travel to Burnley in the Sky Bet Championship.
We will kick off against the top of the table Clarets on Saturday 29 October (3pm), for our first trip to Turf Moor in seven years.
So as we return to the North West, check out all the crucial information in our big preview…
Tickets
Tickets remain on sale until 12pm on Friday for the match, with prices below.
Please note that there will be no on-the-day sales for Reading supporters at Turf Moor.
| Age Category | Price |
| Adult | £25 |
| 65 and Over | £18 |
| 18 to 21 | £18 |
| 17 & Under | £10 |
Travel
The nearest railway station to the ground is Burnley Manchester Road, which is one mile away and is served by Northern services from Manchester and Preston for connections from London and Reading.
For those travelling by car, Burnley's official off-site parking partner provide parking a 20-minute walk away with a link below.
ROYALSTV
A reminder that our Season and Monthly subscriptions are now available for RoyalsTV – fans in the UK/Ireland can get hold of Audio packages (£4.49 per calendar month, or £45 for the entire season), while overseas supporters can get Video packages which cover eligible Sky Bet Championship fixtures (£25 per calendar month).
The following Match Passes are available for this fixture:
- Audio Match Pass (£2.50) | Worldwide
- Video Match Pass (£10) | International only (excludes UK & Ireland)
See our available subscriptions
The opposition
Burnley FC were founded in 1882 and six years later were among the founders of the Football League, where they stayed for an initial nine years.
They claimed their first silverware in their first season outside the top flight when they sealed an instant return with the Division Two title in 1898.
The period just before and after the First World War was some of the most successful in the club’s history, with a 13-year spell outside the First Division ending with their second Division Two success in 1913 in the same season they were beaten by Sunderland in an FA Cup semi-final.
The following year they would go one better, with Bert Freeman scoring the only goal of the game to beat Liverpool to win the FA Cup, with King George V becoming the first monarch to hand over the trophy to the winners.
Following the conflict, the Clarets made up for falling just short in the title race in 1920 to win the top flight for the first time a year later.
The Clarets were relegated in 1930 and didn’t earn promotion back until 1946-47, the first league season following the Second World War, in a campaign they also reached their second FA Cup Final however they were defeated by Charlton Athletic.
The League title was claimed for a second time in 1960, and after pipping Wolverhampton Wanderers to it on the final day, the two shared the Charity Shield following a 2-2 draw.
This also earned the club entry to the European Cup where they were knocked out by Hamburg at the quarter-final stage following an aggregate score ending 5-4 in the Germans' favour.
1962 proved a nearly year for the club as they finished three points short of Ipswich Town, as they looked to reclaim their crown, and were defeated by holders Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Final.
Their 24 year stay in the First Division ended in 1971 but the Clarets returned two years later - although a sixth place finish in 1974 proved a false dawn as relegation in 1976 saw the club embark on a long spell away from the top flight.
Four years later saw them playing third tier football for the first time and just two years later the club endured their only spell in the old Division Four, the nadir being their 22nd place finish in 1987.
The Lancashire outfit escaped at the seventh time of asking in 1992, and in doing so they joined a select list of only five sides to have won the top four tiers of English football.
The Clarets beat Stockport County in the Play-Offs to win promotion back to the second tier two seasons later, but they lasted one season before a prolonged spell began after a second place finish in 2000.
The appointment of Owen Coyle in 2007 was the final piece of the jigsaw in the club’s quest to return to the top table, and after they were denied a place at Wembley by Tottenham Hotspur, having reached the League Cup semi-finals, a 3-0 aggregate win over the Royals in the Championship Play-Off semi-finals set up a one-off match with Sheffield United to see who would be playing Premier League football in 2009-10.
A spectacular Wade Elliott was the difference to seal a top flight return after 33 years away. Coyle’s boys started life in the Premier League with four successive home wins, the first of which a 1-0 victory over reigning champions Manchester United, under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson.
However, that early success earned Coyle admirers and he departed for Bolton Wanderers in the January, with Brian Laws only able to secure three wins as they slipped to an 18th-place finish.
Sean Dyche’s arrival in 2012 saw a steady transformation of the club, with his first full campaign in charge achieving a second-place finish to bring Premier League back to Turf Moor however they finished five points short in their quest for safety the next season.
The former Chesterfield defender went on to prove it was no fluke and he won the Clarets’ first divisional title for 24 years in 2015-16 to begin a six season stint in the top flight.
Their second season back saw the team achieve their highest finish in 44 years and 2018-19 brought European football back for the first time in 57 however despite beating Aberdeen and Istanbul Basaksehir, they were denied a place in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League by Olympiacos.
Dyche continued to keep the Clarets competitive in the division and earned his second top half finish in 2020 but following a 17th-place finish in 2020-21, he was dismissed in April with caretaker Mike Jackson overseeing relegation.
The arrival of four time winning Premier League captain Vincent Kompany this summer has raised hopes in Lancashire that the team can bounce back at the first attempt.
Making the most of his contact book, he has brought in the likes of Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen, Manchester City’s Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Jordan Beyer on loan as well as adding Kosovo international Arijanet Muric between the sticks, who crosses the North West from the Etihad.
Kompany’s focus on youth has seen the departures of a number of long serving players including Nick Pope, Ben Mee, James Tarkowski whilst academy graduate Dwight McNeil made a £20 million move to Everton.
The Clarets only won one of their first five fixtures but following their 5-1 win over Wigan Athletic they have raced up the table and after earning a 4-2 win at Sunderland last week, they claimed a 1-0 win over Norwich City on Tuesday to go into this contest top of the table.
One to watch: Nathan Tella
Lambeth born Nathan Tella joined the Clarets this summer on a season long loan from Southampton.
Having spent ten years in Arsenal’s academy, he joined the Saints in 2017 and made his first team debut in 2020 off the bench in a 3-0 win at Norwich City.
The 2020-21 season proved to be his breakthrough campaign, as he made 22 appearances for the South Coast club, and also scored his first goal in a 3-1 Premier League win over Fulham as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team finished 15th in the league.
He scored his next goal for the club in a 8-0 win over Newport County in the League Cup in August 2021 and racked up a further 14 top flight appearances as well as providing the assist in a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool.
So far this season Tella has made a strong start to life at Turf Moor, scoring twice on only his third appearance in a 3-3 draw with Blackpool.
The 23-year-old then scored the third in the 5-1 win at Wigan before helping his side gain four precious points in back to back away games, netting in the draw at Cardiff before scoring the only goal of the game at Coventry.
He is yet to miss a league match since arriving in BB10 and started the fightback last Saturday as the Clarets came from 2-0 down at the break to win at Sunderland with his sixth goal of the season.
On Tuesday he made his 16th appearance for the club and marked it with a booking as Kompany’s side went top of the table.
Head to Head
Ahead of the two clubs’ first meeting in six years, it is the Royals that hold the superior record, with 20 victories, to the Clarets’ 11.
It was upon the Lancashire side’s relegation to the second tier in 1930 that the two teams locked horns for the first time, with each side winning their home fixture.
The next meeting came more than three decades later with the Royals exiting the FA Cup at the Fourth Round stage in 1965 with a 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor following a 1-1 draw at Elm Park.
Following a 5-1 victory in 1984, we have won 17 of the matches since then, only losing on five occasions, however two of those defeats were in the space of four days in May 2009 as we were defeated in the Championship Play-Off semi-finals by Owen Coyle’s men.
Burnley won the Championship title the last time they competed at this level however the Royals took four points off them, with us winning on our most recent trip to Turf Moor in September 2015.
Two goals in the opening nine minutes were enough, through Nick Blackman and Lucas Piazon, with a Tendayi Darikwa consolation for the hosts before a 0-0 draw in RG2 in February 2016.
Ref Watch
The Football League have confirmed that Jeremy Simpson will oversee our clash with Kompany's side, with it being the first time he has officiated the Royals since our 1-0 defeat at Luton Town on the final day of last season.
Simpson has been refereeing in the Football League since 2012-13 with his first match being Cheltenham Town’s 2-0 win over Dagenham & Redbridge in League Two that August.
The Lancashire based official has overseen eleven matches this season, in the Championship and League Two, awarding 47 yellow cards but no red card.
Simpson will be assisted by James Wilson and Matthew Smith whilst Anthony Backhouse will act as fourth official.