Reading FC to Tour Thailand in Pre-Season

The Royals of Berkshire will be jetting off to South East Asia in the summer for the tour that will last ten days, covering Thailand and Malaysia. Leaving on July 5th, the trip clearly shows the impact of the club's Thai consortium owners, which has thus far led to numerous advertisements and sponsorships and appears to be set for the next level with this tour.

Manager Steve Clarke told GetReading:

"It will be interesting. I’ve been there before and both countries are football mad. We look forward to going there. We can be showcased a bit, as the owners rightly want to show off their team in their own countries. It should be good."

"Travelling now is quite straight forward, it won’t effect our preparation. We’ll get a lot of good work in before we go, we’ll get good work in when we’re out there and then we’ll come back and get ourselves to a peak for the start of the season.

"As long as you know when and where you are going in pre-season, to prepare is easy."

It marks a stark contrast to the summer of 2014 - where budget constraints meant no trip abroad for the squad. Indeed, this harks back to the South Korean Peace Cup in 2007 - the tournament best remembered for a Simon Cox-inspired 1-0 win over Karim Benzema's Lyon in the Seoul World Cup Stadium (admittedly, that tournament didn't prove to be indicative of both striker's respective future careers...).

For the record, a British Airways Heathrow to Bangkok return ticket would set you back a tidy £436 at time of writing, but we at The Tilehurst End are holding out for the hand of friendship being extended from the club's Thai owners for an all-expenses paid media trip.

Is this trip good for the club's brand - if such a phrase doesn't turn your stomach? Will you be going? Comment below.