Reading Football Club has begun flogging computer kit "at near trade pricing" through its own online store.

It is kicking off with MP3 players, laptops, PCs, handhelds, printers, cameras, scanners, speakers, GPS, storage, consumables and accessories.

Doing the donkey work is Westcoast, the Theale-based distie, and Reading FC sponsor. It will donate 50 per cent of the profits from the store to the club.

Football is one of the few industries that is more unprofitable than computer hardware. And football clubs are one of the few organisations that are even more unreliable than computer stores. So there is little chance of Reading FC scoring an own-goal if the returns mount up. Fans are already accustomed to disappointment. ®