View From The Field: Ward’s Words (Helen Ward column)

Helen Ward reports mission accomplished: Reading have avoided relegation and secured top-flight football until at least summer 2018 because of the winter league’s reintroduction, though one win does not reflect how they played and she identifies closing games out as what they must learn. The gap between the divisions, she argues, is not about quality but about the transition from part-time to professional: the top six have been professional for three or four seasons while she, Doncaster and at times Sunderland – the last three promoted clubs – fought at the bottom. The Spring Series will give next season’s promoted clubs a pressure-free adjustment. She is, she says, one hundred per cent jealous of Scotland.