Fran Kirby

[floyd__streete]

RFC have recently been plugging a supposed good news story about this lady getting a professional contract. Cool, good for her. Remarkable that you can get a contract when you play in front of 150 spectators, but fair play to her

Who funds her wages Surely not the 'main' football club who have been pleading poverty for months now and are seemingly unable to strengthen their first team squad

[WoodleyRoyal]

she plays for free but she makes her money from being a justin beiber lookalike

[gazzer, loyal royal]

who does she train with when the part time players are at their other jobs?

[Elm Park Pasty]

Apparently, she is going to be training with the Academy teams, but looking at her strike rate and some of the goals she scores, I think she could teach the first team a thing or two!!!

[Green]

Perhaps it's viewed as a loss leader?

[P!ssed Off]

Recently voted best player outside the top flight, by her peers.
With the tens of millions the club spends each year, I'm sure we can afford to pay one person out of women's team, who's likely on a 'normal person' salary.

[NessaFromEldorado]

Monkey tennis.

The world's gone fucking mad.

[AthleticoSpizz]

RFC have recently been plugging a supposed good news story about this lady getting a professional contract. Cool, good for her. Remarkable that you can get a contract when you play in front of 150 spectators, but fair play to her

Who funds her wages Surely not the 'main' football club who have been pleading poverty for months now and are seemingly unable to strengthen their first team squad

21 years old, been with Reading since 7 and apparently, soon to play for England in front of 55k at Wembley....it can only be a good thing.

Not a big follower of the wimmins game tbf, however it is gaining momentum.

Hope she sticks around and sees it through with Reading

from the beeb website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30134820

[Big Foot]

Recently voted best player outside the top flight, by her peers.
With the tens of millions the club spends each year, I'm sure we can afford to pay one person out of women's team, who's likely on a 'normal person' salary.

Hope she's not on the wage bill

[Forbury Lion]

I doubt her wages are big enough to have any impact, If the club were busy making redundancies it might be a worthy question to ask but as I understand it, the club now has money available form the new owners but isn't allowed to spend it as doing so would not be within the financial fair play limits thanks to the previous owner.

[RoyalBlue]

I think women's setup is funded by grants and sponsorship, IIRC the Reading VPs club used to be one of the sponsors, although I am not sure whether they still are.

Quite frankly the women's team is probably a more attractive and cost effective sponsorship option than the men's team at present!

The main club do provide the team with considerable support in terms of facilities and possibly also staff/staff time. And so what. Whether the dinosaurs like it or not, women are a significant part of the club's fan base now.

Adkins and some of the men's team also provide active support to the women's team.

As for Fran; on 11th May 2013 I said on The Reading Ladies thread:

Players to particularly look out for (and there are lots more very good ones too) are Lois Roche in the centre of midfield and Rebecca Jane and Fran Kirby up front. In the latter, RFC have a real star (19 goals in 12 starts in the league & 30 in all competitions). Nearest comparison (ignoring the differences in sex!) would be Jobi McAnuff with a lot more pace and loads of goals! A very exciting player to watch.

Things bode well for RFCW in Women's Super League 2 next season.

Fran is now a full England international and WSL top scorer. The team finished 3rd in WSL2 and both Lois Roche and Becky Jane also had good seasons for the team in WSL2.

[PieEater]

I doubt her wages are big enough to have any impact, If the club were busy making redundancies it might be a worthy question to ask but as I understand it, the club now has money available form the new owners but isn't allowed to spend it as doing so would not be within the financial fair play limits thanks to the previous owner.

.... signing crap players on massive wages that we can't afford, although I'm not sure HRK and Pearce signings can be blamed on Anton.

[sandman]

RFC have recently been plugging a supposed good news story about this lady getting a professional contract. Cool, good for her. Remarkable that you can get a contract when you play in front of 150 spectators, but fair play to her

Who funds her wages Surely not the 'main' football club who have been pleading poverty for months now and are seemingly unable to strengthen their first team squad

You would hope that it's paid through sponsors. If not then some questions need to be asked as to why the club are spending even a "normal" wage on such folly.