Reading's head of AI explains ambition to be pioneers as League One club looks for an edge to reach the Premier League
Reading owner Rob Couhig has appointed Stuart Fenton as the first head of artificial intelligence in English football. Adam Bate speaks to Fenton and Max Sebti, the co-founder of Score, the AI company that the Royals hope will help them rise through the leagues
Tuesday 27 January 2026 10:10, UK
At Reading, their starting point was identifying the target. They are in League One. Thirty-six clubs currently stand between them and even the foot of the Premier League. But the top division is where they aim to be. The problem to solve is how to get there.
"We are looking at what we can do to innovate," Stuart Fenton tells Sky Sports. "How can we be different?" In a sense, Fenton himself is the personification of that difference. Reading are the first club in England to appoint a head of artificial intelligence.
Fenton is a Reading fan so needs no reminding that it has been a challenging period for the club. In the Premier League as recently as 2013 and with an academy to envy more recently than that, they slipped into the third tier in 2023 and were facing financial ruin.
But new owner Rob Couhig has big plans. "It has been a culture change for us," says Fenton. "He has driven that culture change. He wants us to be innovative, wants us to be data-driven. It comes from the top but everyone is on board. It is to make us better."
He adds: "We have a plan that we want to get to the Premier League. We will only be able to do that by taking advantage of opportunities. What can we see that will give us the innovative edge that we want? That is why we want to be the early adopters for this."
It has led to a partnership with Score, the computer-vision AI company behind Reading's new AI infrastructure. Although the initial partnership is only for one year, the long-term goal is to integrate this in their day-to-day work. Fenton regards it as transformative.
"It is a great opportunity for us to try and differentiate as a team, be innovative, but actually be pioneers. Rob's ambition is that we are going to be the most innovative team using AI in world football. This is kind of the first step that we need to do to get there."
Intuitively, those driving change at Reading understand that what they describe as "first-mover advantage" has the potential to propel the club forward at pace. They also know it comes with risk of missteps. "Others will wait it out and see how it goes," he admits.
Max Sebti, chief executive and co-founder of Score, is smart and engaging, conceding that all this is still at the proof of concept stage. "Our goal is not to be a sports analytics company. Our goal is to show that our AI can help a football team," he tells Sky Sports.
The spiel when the partnership was announced talked of performance analysis and tactical insights, although that is some way off being implemented. The initial intention is for this artificial intelligence to inform Reading's approach to the transfer market.
"The resource required to analyse hundreds of thousands of games from different leagues is work that is clearly only accessible to the top clubs," says Sebti. "We are trying to give that same tool to other clubs. It is all about speed, cost and accuracy."
He explains: "AI can process large amounts of data so we are talking to Stuart and his team to understand where to focus. Can we look at different types of players, find new young talents, understand if that player from South America could play in this league."
For some, that thought is exciting. Can Reading unearth that Brazilian gem whose brilliance was teased out by the data? For others, this is spreadsheet football, ignoring the nuances and practicalities of the game. Acknowledging these limitations helps.
"AI needs to be controlled by experts," says Sebti. "We are here to help actual people make better decisions." Fenton is just as firm on that point. "We will always be dependent on the people that we have at Reading." A key figure in it all is a club legend.
Brian McDermott was the man who last took the club up to the Premier League as champions in 2012. He retains an important role in the project. "Brian brings that expertise, that trust. He can engage with our coaches and with our recruitment staff."
The hope is that eventually AI can be rolled out more widely across the club. "We can operate at real time so at some point we will be able to help with performance too," says Sebti. He also envisages being able to improve tactical decisions ahead of each game.
"The beauty with AI is that you can simulate a lot of scenarios. Before a game, you would be able to set up different teams, run different scenarios and then make your own decisions on who should play. It is literally playing Football Manager with real players."
It might sound fanciful but there will be a club that gains a significant edge from this even if, as is the case with AI across sectors, not everyone involved is certain yet what precisely that edge will be. Will it be what Fenton has taken to calling Reading-ball?
"More teams will experiment," he insists and in that he is surely right. Business as usual is simply no longer an option for clubs. Doing something different - and doing it first - is the only hope. "We have pitched ourselves as wanting to be one of these innovators."
He adds: "We will have a level of data that teams in the lower end of the pyramid would not usually be able to afford. We want that first-mover advantage. We want to be pioneers in AI and hopefully it will give us the gains, the insight, that we need as a club.
"We know that we will uncover some challenges as we move forward. Any change can bring fear. The speed of it is going to be the biggest challenge because many people will want quick results and that is not going to happen with this because it is a process.
"People sometimes see AI as a light switch. You know, you flick it on and suddenly you are a really smart team. It is not that. You have got to have the data strategy in place, the partnerships in place. Once we have that, we will then start reaping the results."
