Reading Football Club rename Madejski Stadium
Local firm has agreed naming rights and will rebrand the stadium for the next 10 years
Last updated 16th Jul 2021
Reading Football Club has confirmed that they are renaming the Madejski stadium - to call it the 'select car leasing stadium'.
The club say they chose the firm because "it was built and grown by local people with a strong sense of community."
The stadium was originally named after the club's former chairman who masterminded the move to the stadium at the end of the 1990s.
As a tribute to him the east stand will be named after him.
The club say it's "a partnership which will help to support the club and its long-term stability", and 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, Select Car Leasing claim to be the UK’s leading independent car and van leasing specialists.
Directors James O’Malley and Mark Tongue are both lifelong supporters and current Season Ticket Holders at the club.
Select have been a partner of the club since 2015 and this summer became shirt sponsors.
The club said:
"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."
Mark Tongue, co-founder of Select Car Leasing, said:
“We’re delighted to be able to welcome Royals fans to the Select Car Leasing Stadium, 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.”