How AI could take Reading back to the Premier League

Things change quickly in the spaces around them. And innovation comes from unexpected sources.

In the spring of last year, Reading Football Club were perched on the brink of oblivion. A disastrous eight-year spell under the ownership of Chinese businessman Dai Yongge had brought ever-worsening financial chaos, multiple English Football League (EFL) points deductions and relegation to the third-tier League One.

That period of neglect reached a terrifying crossroads in April 2025. With Yongge disqualified as an English soccer director, the Royals were warned they had to provide proof of funding or find a new buyer.

Failing that, they would be expelled from the EFL. Mercifully, for a club founded in 1871, deliverance came just a few weeks later.

American businessman Rob Couhig, who previously owned nearby Wycombe Wanderers, returned after an earlier failed bid to take full control of the club. He set about reintroducing stability and pointing the club's gaze back towards the heights from which they had fallen.

A return to the Championship, and then the Premier League, is once again the target. A few months into his tenure Couhig was approached by Stuart Fenton, a lifelong fan working as a private consultant in artificial intelligence (AI) after spells in telecoms, the academic sector, and the UK's Department for International Trade.

Impressed with his manner and philosophy over a series of exchanges, Couhig hired Fenton last August as the first-ever head of AI at any English soccer club. "They wanted to think differently, and they took a bet," says Fenton.

"We know this is the way the game's going. We know that teams are looking to be more intelligent.

We want to make sure that we're at the forefront of that." Fenton is speaking during an on-stage presentation and an interview at SportsPro AI and Tech, held in late September at the London Stadium.