Grays Athletic beat Northwood 1-0 in front of 313 spectators this evening to win the right to travel to Madejski Stadium for the FA Cup 1st round on Saturday, 18th November. I bet they have mysteriously found a load of new fans by then. It's a bit of a shame really because Northwood were the lowest ranked team in the competition and would have appreciated their big day out a bit more, I think. There is at least one connection between Grays and Reading because goalkeeper Ray Kemp joined us from them in 1949 and played three games for Reading (without managing a clean sheet).
Tomorrow's reserve match at home to Luton has been switched away from Farnborough and will be played behind closed doors at an "undisclosed venue". All a bit cloak-and-dagger, if you ask me. Still, all you have to do is camp outside, say, Kevin Dillon's house tonight, and then let him lead you there.
The Reading Clubcall service report that Reading offered Barnsley midfielder Ian Woan a one month deal but he instead chose to go to Swindon because he wanted a permanent move. The theory is that he would add some experience to our midfield, but I don't see how this works at all - if anything, we have too many wide midfield players at the moment and none of the midfielders are youngsters. I saw Ian Woan play for Runcorn not so long ago - he was good at that level!
Alan Pardew is one of the guests on Mark Bright's Football Show on Radio 5 Live, joining Charlton defender Chris Powell and Radio 5 commentator John Murray (who is not the John Murray who used to play for us, even though they both come from the North-East). For some comments on the show, click here for an article in the Features section.
The Auto Windscreens Shield draw is due for next Saturday, except that Auto Windscreens have pulled out of sponsoring the competition. Whether the Football League can come up with another sponsor or whether the tournament will revert to a name like the Associate Members Cup remains to be seen. The fact that eight Conference teams are taking part this season might mean a new name is needed - I favour the Totally Useless Cup, sponsored by a well-known cheesy biscuit. The venue for the final is yet to be decided as well. (Incidentally, I really hope we draw away to a Conference side - it will make a pleasant change.)
Keith Scott has picked up a knee injury and has returned to Reading from Colchester. This is a real shame because they had shown some signs of wanting to take him on permanently, and that will obviously not happen now at least until he is fit again.
Tickets go on sale for the trip to Bournemouth, another game that is all-ticket for Reading fans. To stand on the terrace, it's £12 for adults and £5 for children. The away terrace holds 2,620, and it's about time that we filled it. There's no excuse as the price is much lower than last season, it's a short journey and we are top of the League. In previous years, there have also been 140 seats available for families - although I haven't seen this advertised this season, it may well be worth asking about if you fit the description.
Quote of last week from Alan Pardew: "I don't believe in past history." Does Alan believe in future history, I wonder?
A quick look at the League table (and let's face it, we've all done that a few times today) and the fixture list shows that next Saturday not only is it 2nd v 1st at Bescot Stadium, but also 4th v 3rd at Millmoor. So it's an important day for our division as the battle to see who can finish second behind the super Royals continues.
Another look at the League table shows Oxford United in 24th place, and you can now get 5000/1 on them to win the division. Mind you, that is with a bookmaker who has Reading as second favourites behind Wigan, so you can tell they don't know what they're talking about.
The FA Cup 1st qualifying round replay between Grays Athletic and Northwood is set for Tuesday, 31st October at 7:45pm so we can pretty well guess where Martin Allen will be doing his "trick-or-treat" rounds this year.
I'd just like to mention that we are STILL top of the League.
Although the match certainly didn't go as planned, Reading beat Oxford 4-3 with two late goals from substitute Tony Rougier. Those three points and the fact that Walsall lost means that we go TOP of the table for the first time in over six years. I think I'll type that again - we go TOP of the table! For a match report, click here.
The crowd of 16,022 is the highest in Division 2 this season, and again the fifth best that Reading have managed since the move to Madejski Stadium, beaten by the games against Manchester City (20,055), Fulham (18,741) and Luton (officially 18,108) two seasons ago, plus the friendly against Newcastle (16,884) at the start of last season. The number of Reading fans at the Oxford match (over 14,000) was the highest for any game except the two mentioned against Luton and Manchester City.
The Academy sides have a mixed day, with the Under-19s losing 2-0 to Wimbledon whilst the Under-17s beat Southampton 2-1, both matches played at home. Click on the results for match details. The Academy League tables will be updated here on Sunday, 29th October.
In the FA Cup 1st Round Reading are drawn at home to Grays Athletic or Northwood, the match to be played on Saturday, 18th November. Will it be on Sky? Of course it bloody well won't. Grays Athletic are in the Ryman Premier Division and play in the town of Grays near Tilbury in Essex. They recently lost 6-0 to Aldershot. Northwood play in the Ryman League Division 1, and (believe it or not) are based in the town of Northwood in the North-West London suburbs. In their fourth qualifying round tie, the two teams drew 1-1 in Northwood in front of 467 spectators. Grays scored a last-minute equaliser to force a replay.
Tomorrow sees the eagerly anticipated clash between the best and worst teams in Division 2.
In the blue corner:
Reading, the division's leading scorers, featuring the top individual
scorer in English football this season, unbeaten at home with five
successive home wins, owner of the highest Division 2 crowd this
season, and playing at the best stadium in the country.
In the yellow (for cowardice?) corner:
Oxford United, trying hard to put together the worst season in
Football League history with only 5 points so far, seven straight
away defeats, managerless, and with two half-built grounds.
And yet, I'd be happy with a 1-0 win as long as we get three points. Our record against Oxford is appalling - they embarrassed us at home in front of the Sky TV cameras last season, playing the match as if it was a vitally important local derby (as opposed to Reading's approach which was more akin to a beach kickabout). Talk of record wins can only serve to lull Reading's players into a false sense of security whilst motivating the visitors.
The scheduled referee is Peter Jones of Loughborough, who is normally a Premiership referee and also on the FIFA list, although he did handle our 2-0 defeat at Chesterfield last season. I remember the Reading team putting in a truly shocking performance in that match, but I also wrote in my match report that "the referee failed to take action against bad fouls from Chesterfield". We shall see tomorrow if he is just biased towards home teams (hopefully) or biased against Reading (like Clive Wilkes) or if he just had a bad day back in February.
One other point - Saturday is likely to see the highest attendance in the Division so far this season. Make sure you get there early - it means you can take part in the pre-match build-up and guarantee to get in for the start. And I don't see why kick-offs should be delayed for the sake of those who can't make it before 3pm, when there are already thousands inside the stadium who have made the effort to get there on time.
In the FA Youth Cup 2nd round, Reading are away to Bristol Rovers. The match is to be played on or before Saturday, November 11th (but probably on a midweek evening). Bristol Rovers do not have an Academy side - instead playing in the lower-rated Football League Youth Alliance - so we might reasonably expect to progress to the third round, which is for the last 64 teams in the competition. Incidentally, in the 1st round Bristol Rovers beat the mighty Hillingdon Borough 4-0.
The Under-17 team make up their Academy game in hand (called off during the supposed petrol crisis) by putting out a much weakened side and losing to Birmingham by 3 goals to 1. For a match report, click here. To see the up-to-date Academy League tables, click here.
The expected management change takes place, with Nicky Hammond taking over as Academy Director. Kevin Dillon replaces Nicky as reserve team manager.
Reading announce that Adie Williams will be out for about six weeks with cartilage damage following his injury at Bristol City last Saturday and that Matthew Robinson is doubtful for Saturday's game against Oxford after limping off with an ankle injury at Bury on Tuesday night. Other news today is that Jim McIntyre is off the transfer list - with the way he has played for most of this season (the visit to Millwall excluded), it's a bit surprising that no-one appears to have shown any interest.
Reading beat Basingstoke Town 3-1 in the 1st round of the FA Youth Cup at the Camrose Ground this evening. Basingstoke take the lead but Reading's Under-18 players come back to claim a place in Round 2. For match details, click here.
Oxford and Reading play a reserve team friendly in Reading this afternoon. It's a 1-1 draw. For match details, click here.
Reading return to form with a 2-0 win at Bury but stay second in the table. The old combination of Martin Butler and Jamie Cureton get the goals. Phil Parkinson returns from injury to start the game, whilst both Barry Hunter and Tony Rougier are on the bench, with Rougier coming on as a late substitute. However, Matthew Robinson goes off injured fairly early in the game. For a match report, click here.
With a long trip to Bury tomorrow (well, for some of us it's actually pretty short!), Alan Pardew has to make some more team choices. Adie Williams is out, with apparently both Hunter and Mackie possibilities to take his place. Phil Parkinson may be back (although he always seems to be injured when we play against his old team Bury) so might go back into midfield. That would mean Ricky Newman could return to right-back instead of Graeme Murty. However, I wonder if Pardew might keep faith with Murty - although he had a poor game on Saturday, he only needs match experience to show us the talent that we have fleetingly seen and he won't get that by sitting on the bench. Up front, it's obvious, isn't it? We start with Cureton and Butler, and let the opposition defence get worried.
The injury that Adie Williams picked up on Saturday will keep him out of at least the Bury game on Tuesday. It's not a recurrence of the injury he suffered in the Southampton friendly in July because it's the other leg (left instead of right). It is however a knee injury, and requires a scan to assess how bad it is. Looking at him after he went down on Saturday, I have a bad feeling about it.
Meanwhile, Bristol City fans continue to talk total rubbish about the serious injury to their player. Every single one of them claims to have clearly seen Newman stamping on their player, and to have had this confirmed by watching the video. Meanwhile, their manager Danny Wilson continues to talk as if the injury occurred as part of Newman's challenge for the ball. Has no-one else spotted the obvious inconsistency here? For a start, I do not believe any fan who claims to have had a good view at the game of an incident where there were two people involved and therefore bodies in the way. Secondly, I've seen the incident on Sky and there is certainly no clear stamp. The only thing you can see is Newman's foot coming down, but then given that it was in the air and he wanted to stand up, it was going to have to come down at some point. In any event Danny Wilson says that the injury had already occurred by that point.
The visit of Oxford United to Madejski Stadium this Saturday is no longer all-ticket for away fans. It turns out that this restriction was imposed by the police and Oxford have managed to overturn it. What this really shows us is how out of touch the local police force is, but then I think we all knew that already. Presumably it also indicates that Oxford have not been able to shift too much of their allocation. (Incidentally there were at least two websites describing this match as "all-ticket", without specifying that it was only so for the away fans. The game will however see reserved seating in the East Stand for Reading fans, but still unreserved in the North Stand.)
Trinidad & Tobago announce that they will take part in a tournament in India between 10th January and 25th January next year. It remains to be seen whether they want Tony Rougier for this but it seems unlikely that it will be an official tournament as far as FIFA are concerned, which means we would get first claim on the winger.
Reading's recent run of fine form comes to a fairly emphatic halt with a 4-0 reverse at Ashton Gate against Bristol City, although we do stay second in the table. Martin Butler's scoring run obviously stops at five games, although in terms of League goals he remains the country's leading scorer, as well as topping the Division 2 chart for all goals. For a match report, click here. The unfortunate thing is that had we won today we would have been top. Still, there's always Tuesday for that. (Incidentally, the referee was Paul Danson, in a change to the information I'd got hold of on Friday.)
However it's not all bad news today as Fulham fail to beat Wolves, meaning that Reading's sequence of 13 successive wins from the start of a season remains as the record for at least one more year. As a matter of interest, the overall League record for successive victories at any point in the season is 14, held jointly by three teams of no consequence.
The Academy sides don't have a great day either with the Under-19 side losing 3-1 at Arsenal whilst the Under-17s draw 0-0 at home to Charlton. Click on the results for match details.
The Republic of Ireland beat Bulgaria 3-2 in their last match in the qualifying mini-tournament for the UEFA Under-18 Championship (played on Thursday in front of 200 fans in Sardice in the Czech Republic). Again Joe Gamble played the whole match. This means that the Republic of Ireland finish second in their group - in the last tournament two years ago that would mean that they were out but I've been unable to confirm if that is the case this time. In any event, I'm not sure what the best outcome would be - under normal circumstances I wouldn't want Reading to lose a player in March and April when the Intermediary Round takes place, but given that Gamble will probably not be a first-team regular this season, it might be better for his development as a player if he got that extra international experience. [Footnote added 13th December, 2000: Joe Gamble's team did indeed fail to qualify for the next stage.]
Saturday sees Reading's latest journey to Ashton Gate, scene of two defeats last season. Although the home team are lurking near the foot of the table - something that I am sure makes us all smirk - this is unlikely to be an easy game. Bristol City are unbeaten in their last six games, although five were draws. More importantly, they have yet to win at home this season, and given that that includes games against Bournemouth, Swindon and Brentford it's not just because they've been playing decent teams. Reading reject Tony Thorpe is likely to be their main threat, showing far more ability than he ever did for us (although apparently he is struggling with a knock and needs a fitness test). Right-back Gerard Lavin has only played five games so far this season, most recently on 9th September, so it's unlikely that we'll get to show him what we think of him. The referee is Eddie Lomas who we last met in the 2-0 win at Swindon three years ago.
After Reading's first-half performance on Tuesday, you would think that Alan Pardew would start with the same eleven, but I'm not so sure. That was an extremely attacking line-up and I think he will want more steel in midfield if possible. With Neil Smith definitely out, that means that the line-up may depend on Phil Parkinson's fitness test. I think he may come in for Jamie Cureton with Jim McIntyre partnering Martin Butler up front. Butler of course will be looking to score in his sixth successive game, which would still leave him two short of the club record. Cureton would take on the same role as he did at Wigan. If Parky isn't fit for duty then Jamie may get the start.
This afternoon, Jamie Cureton was a guest on Talksport's "The Season Ticket", presented by Tom Watts, with Crystal Palace's Alan Smith also in the studio. Watts and Smith talked more than Cureton but there were still a few interesting quotes. As far as this season goes, Jamie said that "We're doing very well. Everything is clicking at the moment and hopefully it will continue." He added that Alan Pardew had "got together a very good squad". He reckoned that the move to Reading was easier for him than it might have been because he hadn't changed divisions.
On Martin Butler: "He works very hard, and his appreciation of other players very good. He's very unselfish for a forward." On the club: "Reading bought well in the summer, the momentum from the end of last season has carried on, we're playing very good football which is frightening at times, and we create chances for fun." The conversation turned to tomorrow's trip to Ashton Gate. Jamie reckoned that he was "relaxed" about the game and might play better than he had done for Bristol Rovers in the Bristol derby for that reason. He also expected that the crowd "will have a bit of fun with me".
Oxford have today announced that they will recommence work on
their new ground by the end of this month. Of course, no-one
actually believes this - it's the fourth different start date
they've announced recently (not forgetting that work only stopped
in the first place for a few weeks .... back in December 1996).
To learn more about Oxford's new ground, visit these two superb
links from Reading sites:
Return to
Minchery Farm - from The View from South Wales (written March
2000)
Oxford's New Home -
from Hob Nob Anyone (from July 1999 but still bang up-to-date!)
The top of the table trip to Walsall on November 4th has been made all-ticket. We've got 1900 tickets available which go on sale on Monday, 23rd October. £14 for adults, £10 for children. (Before you ring up and get one, please leave it long enough to be certain that I've managed to get one first.....) On Friday, 20th October Reading announce that the Walsall tickets are only available to season ticket holders from Monday, and will go on general sale from Thursday, 26th October. Quite why this needed a separate announcement is beyond me.
Joe Gamble is playing with the Republic of Ireland in their qualifying mini-tournament for the UEFA Under-18 Championship. Joe has played the whole of both of their games so far, a 1-0 defeat to the host Czech Republic and a 2-0 victory over Moldova. If they lose their last game against Bulgaria on Thursday, they're out of the competition but a win will give them a slight chance of topping the group and a place in the next round.
According to the FA Premier Academy League there are a couple of fixture changes for Reading in the next week. The Under-19s trip to Arsenal is now a 3pm kickoff on Saturday at the Arsenal Training Ground in Shenley (between Watford and Hatfield). This match was originally fixed for the Friday. I have tried to confirm the date with Arsenal but it's about as easy as getting information out of Virgin Trains, I'm afraid. Meanwhile Reading's Under-17 match at home to Birmingham, which was postponed during the supposed petrol crisis, has been re-arranged for Thursday, 26th October at Cantley, with a 1pm kick-off.
Looks like we've picked up a few more injuries in the last few days. Darius Henderson missed the Under-19s game on Friday through injury (I know no more), and both Neil Smith and Phil Parkinson missed the Wrexham game. The club have stated that Parky has a slight hamstring strain which will probably be OK for this Saturday, whilst Smith has a fractured cheekbone that he picked up at the training ground on Tuesday and which will keep him out for at least two weeks. I'd always thought that Smith was the sort of player who would run into a brick wall for the club, so perhaps he did.
Tonight's reserve game at Portsmouth in the Avon Combination League Cup is postponed, officially because of a waterlogged pitch. But we all know that really Portsmouth are just scared to face us.
Reading beat Wrexham 4-1, destroying their unbeaten away record in a superb first half. The Royals stay in second place in the table but close the gap to Walsall to just two points. Martin Butler and Darren Caskey get two goals each. For a match report, click here.
With Wrexham at Madejski Stadium tomorrow night, it will be interesting to see what team line-up we put out. Cureton or McIntyre? Robinson or Gurney? I would bring both Cureton and Robinson in, to replace Hodges and Gurney (with McIntyre playing wide on the left). Throw the miraculously recovered Sammy Igoe into the mix, and there are so many alternatives, though. Meanwhile Wrexham have massive injury problems with their defence - hardly the ideal preparation for a trip to Fortress Madejski. However, they are unbeaten away from home this season, so this will be a decent test of our current run of form.
Reading have three players out on loan at the moment. Keith Scott scored a fine goal for Colchester on Saturday but they still lost at Port Vale. Sean Evers came on for St. Johnstone at half-time when they were losing 2-0. He obviously made a huge difference because they lost the second half 2-0 as well! Meanwhile Jamie Ashdown did not play for Bishops Stortford in their home defeat against Billericay in the FA Cup 3rd qualifying round - apparently, this was because Reading had stated that he should not get cup-tied.
A few facts and figures from Saturday - the 15,443 attendance was not only the highest in our division so far this season, but the fifth highest since the move to Madejski Stadium (beaten only by the games against Luton, Manchester City and Fulham two seasons ago, plus the friendly against Newcastle at the start of last season). Furthermore, there were over 13,000 Reading fans there which has only happened a handful of times before (personally, I don't care how many opposition fans turn up as long as every single one of them goes home unhappy). There has to be every chance that this paragraph will need rewriting after we have played Oxford in a fortnight's time.
Martin Butler's goal puts him joint top of the divisional scoring charts alongside Jamie Cureton and some Millwall player (who has had to cheat to get this far by including at least one goal which took a massive deflection). Butler and the Millwall player lead the entire country in League goals scored.
According to the tannoy announcer Phil Parkinson made his 333rd apppearance for Reading, moving him up to 13th on the all-time list. But according to the programme, Parky had made 341 appearances before yesterday. (The difference might be something to do with whether AWS games count or not.) In any event, it's a tremendous achievement for a great servant of the club, and the real time for looking at such records is when a player's career is over, something which is hopefully some way off.
Reading beat a very negative Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 at Madejski Stadium in front of 15,443, the highest Division 2 crowd of the season. Martin Butler gets the first goal with Adi Viveash scoring his first for the club. [Note: Thanks to Tony Towers for pointing out via the mailing list that Viveash scored a goal during one of his previous loan spells. What makes my mistake even worse is that I actually looked that up before writing the last sentence and still managed to get it wrong!] Both Matthew Robinson and Sammy Igoe make returns from injury as second half substitutes. For a match report, click here. Reading move up to second in the table - that's an automatic promotion spot, folks.
The FA Youth Cup 1st round game away to Basingstoke Town is arranged for Wednesday, 25th October with kick-off at 7:45pm.
The Under-19 Academy team draw 1-1 with Millwall at Cantley in a game previously postponed because of panic over petrol availability. Click here for a match report. Nathan Tyson plays for 90 minutes but Darius Henderson is not featured, suggesting that it may well be Henderson on the bench against Wycombe tomorrow.
St. Johnstone obviously liked what they saw of Sean Evers whilst he was there on trial, as they have now signed him on loan for three months.
Tomorrow sees the visit of Wycombe to Madejski Stadium. Wycombe have a 100% record for League games in Reading - they have lost them all. Another feature of the two games last season was that Reading had a player sent off in each (Jimmy Crawford away; Peter Grant at home). With a squad potentially including Newman, Williams, Viveash, Hunter, Parkinson, Smith and Jones this tradition might well continue as well.
Some people have described this match as the game of the day in Division 2 - this is nonsense, as no match featuring the non-leaguers temporarily finding themselves in the Football League can be given such an accolade. (Alternatively, I guess you could say that it is the match of the day, simply because it includes Reading.)
Jamie Cureton is suspended for Reading, so expect to see Butler and McIntyre starting up front again. Although Matthew Robinson and Graeme Murty are available, it is likely that Alan Pardew will keep faith with Ricky Newman and Andy Gurney at full-back. In other words I expect the same team as at Wycombe, with the same bench except that someone will have to take Cureton's place. This might be Darius Henderson or Nathan Tyson; another possibility is Barry Hunter if he is now fit, although this would seem a bit over-defensive.
Alan Pardew and Martin Allen both sign contract extensions, keeping them at the club until 30th June, 2003. Both had originally been under contract until the end of this season. It's been a while since Reading had a manager or management team who deserved a contract extension, so hopefully this will herald a new period of prosperity for the club.
Keith Scott has joined Colchester on a month's loan. Lua Lua out, Scott in. I bet they're thrilled.
Jamie Cureton fails to make the top three in the vote for Nationwide Player of the Month for September (see news for Friday, 6th October). He can console himself with the knowledge that no other player has scored more League goals than him so far this season.
Today is the 15th anniversary of the date when Reading broke the Football League record for successive wins from the start of the season. About 4,000 Reading fans travelled to Newport to see a 2-0 win, with Stuart Beavon and Kevin Bremner getting the goals. That meant that after 12 games we had 12 wins and 36 points. Despite our overwhelming superiority, we amazingly had a goal difference of only +16! We extended the record to 13 with a win at Lincoln one week later.
You may have read some rubbish on other websites or on messageboards about how Jamie Cureton was left out of the Wigan game due to a squad rotation system. In fact, what Alan Pardew said on the matter was "We're not talking about squad rotation". You would have thought that was clear enough, but apparently it wasn't.
Natalie Clark, Babe of the Month for both August and September, is expected at Madejski Stadium on Saturday. She will appear on the pitch at half-time. Given the (undoubtedly fake) photos of her on the official site of another football club, this will be a chance for her to show her true colours.
Ceefax report that the game with Oxford on Saturday, 28th October is all-ticket. In the absence of a similar announcement from Reading, this presumably just means that it is all-ticket for away fans. Given that Oxford brought approximately 800 and 1,000 fans on their last two visits, and obviously took very few to Swindon last Saturday, this seems a bit excessive.
The truth of the "Neville Stamp to York City" story is finally out. He has signed for York on a one-month contrct, with a view to making a longer-term signing. He had previously been on a week-to-week contract at Reading.
The management reshuffle at the club continues. Kevin Dillon is now caretaker reserve manager (does that entitle him to use the Reserve Manager's car parking space near the players entrance, I wonder?), presumably with Nicky Hammond taking over as Director of Youth.
Reading's reserve team win 3-0 at Northampton. For match details, click here. Matthew Robinson played the full 90 minutes on his return from injury.
Jamie Ashdown has gone on loan to Bishops Stortford for one month. With Scott Howie now fit, Ashdown has lost his place both for the reserve team and on the bench for first team games. He's also too old now for the Academy, but at least he did get a brief taste of first team football recently at home to Oldham. Bishops Stortford play in the Ryman League Division 1 and in Ashdown's first game they beat top place Boreham Wood 4-0, a match described by Bishops Stortford fans as their best since moving to their new ground in July 1999. (They also say that they "must try and sign that new keeper permanently", but they can forget about that!)
According to Clubcall, Sean Evers has joined St. Johnstone on trial. If the trial is successful, he will sign for them on a three month loan deal. (Loan deals between clubs from different countries are for a minimum of three months, and the club loaning a player out is not allowed to recall him - the last bit's from me rather than Clubcall.)
York City fans are saying that Neville Stamp has joined them on a month's loan with a view to a long-term signing. There had been reports recently that Reading terminated Stamp's contract but there was never any official news of this. Stamp did play a couple of reserve games on trial for York a month ago, and the news soon after that was that York would offer him a permanent deal as soon as someone else left.
Yet more criminals are brought to justice - Swansea City fans David Perrott (28) and Owen James (20) have been banned from football grounds for three years, and also become the first Welsh people ordered to surrender their passports during Welsh away trips. This followed the criminal damage they inflicted on a bus in Reading in September. (In a presumably unrelated incident, someone has stolen the goal nets - and nothing else - from Swansea's ground, the Vetch Field. Well, as long as they get one of them back before we play there in February, I guess it doesn't matter too much.)
News reaches me that the Under-19 Academy home fixture, postponed in September, has been re-scheduled for this Friday, 13th October at 1pm. For all Reading FC Academy fixtures, results, match details and occasional reports, click here.
Joe Gamble gets another call-up for the Republic of Ireland Under-18 squad. In the qualifying mini-tournament for the UEFA Under-18 Championship, they have to play against the Czech Republic (15th October), Moldova (17th October) and Bulgaria (19th October). All games take place in the Czech Republic and kick off at 3pm local time. Should the Republic of Ireland get through this stage, then there is an Intermediary Round in March and April followed by the final tournament in Finland in July 2001.
Tonight, on Radio 5 at 7:30pm, there is an interview with
Lawrie Sanchez. The programme is called "Time of My Life",
so I think we can safely assume that it will feature the 1988 FA
Cup Final rather than his earlier career with Reading. You can
listen to Radio 5 (with about a one-minute delay) by following
this link:
Radio
5 live
Review: The programme did indeed feature mostly the 1988 FA Cup
Final. The matter of most interest from a Reading fan's point of
view was Sanchez' statement at the beginning about how he was
just about to leave Reading to join Swindon when Dave Bassett
contacted him and said, "Don't go there. Come to Wimbledon
instead." Also interviewed briefly in the programme was Ray
Houghton who pulled a Reading shirt on, but never actually played
for the club (unless you count the few games just before his
contract was up).
Mexico beat Trinidad & Tobago 7-0 in a World Cup qualifier. Obviously injury kept Tony Rougier out of the game, but in any event T&T had agreed not to call on their star players because they had already qualified for the next round. Such a poor result might well mean a rethink - their next game is on 15th November, which might put Rougier's participation in the home game against Colchester four days earlier in doubt and leave him jet-lagged for the FA Cup 1st round three days later.
In the FA Youth Cup 1st round, Reading are drawn away to Basingstoke Town. The match is to be played before Saturday, 28th October, although it is likely to be a midweek evening fixture. Full details of the FA Youth Cup competition can be found on the results page of the Academy section of this site in the Under-18 section. (PS If you run the website that steals stuff from this one and then claims it as an exclusive, please at least try to rewrite it so that it isn't too obvious where you nicked the information from.)
The Under-19 Academy side lose 2-1 to Norwich but the Under-17s beat QPR 1-0, both away from home. Click on the results for match details.
Reading draw 1-1 away to Wigan and drop one place to fourth in the table. Martin Butler gets an early goal but Wigan equalise almost immediately. Keith Jones starts his first match for Reading, pushing Jamie Cureton onto the bench. Graeme Murty comes on for about 30 seconds, touches the ball once and apparently remained injury-free. Matthew Robinson was on the bench but didn't get onto the pitch. For a match report, click here.
The draw for the FA Cup 1st round will take place at 5.15pm on Saturday, 28th October. It will be live on Sky Sports 1. The second round draw will be at 5.15pm on Saturday, 18th November (which is the date of the 1st round, of course).
Jamie Cureton is one of the shortlisted nine players for the Nationwide Footballer of the Month (as shown on Sky Sports' Football League Review). This works on a voting basis, so the number to ring (frequently) is:
09009 100 563
Lines close at midnight on Wednesday, 11th October. There is also a prize of a VIP day out for two with the winner and 10 runners-up prizes, but what is obviously more important is that a Reading player gets to win the award. Results will presumably be on the Football League Review programme shown on Thursday, 12th October and repeated the following day.
It's just one day to the big Wigan-Reading clash at the JJB Stadium in pie-eater country. Alan Pardew doesn't like to change a winning side so expect the same starting line-up as Rotherham. Barry Hunter is available again after suspension but will apparently be continuing to rest an injury he had previously been attempting to play through. The other possibility is that Keith Jones might start in place of Phil Parkinson but it is more likely that Jones will get to sit on the bench again.
Meanwhile, Wigan have lost their first-choice keeper and one defender (in the cause of Northern Ireland's doomed attempt to qualify for the next World Cup) although their second-choice keeper is still pretty decent. Another central defender is out injured, and their fans have been complaining all week about the quality of their midfield and forwards! Quote: "I don't know who we [Wigan] should play up front but I do know that it shouldn't be a bloody right-back." They will line up in their usual 5-5-3 formation, with Wigan's key players being the two wide men (one in attack, one in defence) carrying flags and the one in the middle with a whistle.
And some more good news - one of the thugs following Swindon Town has got his just rewards for threatening a policewoman at our game in August. Adam Cinquegrani has been jailed for three months and banned from all grounds for two years. Even better news is that he got bitten by a German Shepherd police dog at the time of the attack.
I've finally got to the bottom of the "Sean Evers to Grimsby" story for this week. Despite what anybody else might say, Evers did not train with Grimsby this week and has in fact spent a total of only one morning there (that being the Wednesday from two weeks ago). This information direct from the Grimsby Town press officer!
Sean Evers does not play or even sit on the bench for the Grimsby Town reserve match this afternoon. I think this has to rather call into question whether he is even with them on trial at the moment. It is entirely possible that those agencies reporting he had gone there were merely picking up some out-of-date news.
Not sure what to do on Saturday morning? Why not travel to watch our Academy teams? The Under-19s are away to Norwich, the game to be played at the Colney Training Centre on the outskirts of Norwich (referee M Thorpe). The Under-17s are away to Queens Park Rangers, the game to be played at the QPR Training Ground in Twyford Avenue, Acton. Both matches kick off at 11am, leaving plenty of time to get somewhere to watch the England-Germany match.
In a shock move, the Director of Youth John Stephenson leaves the club. According to the Evening Post, he is leaving football altogether and is likely to be replaced from within. They tip Nicky Hammond as the next Director, although also state that the Youth and Academy management set-up will be restructured. If nothing else, I will miss the very detailed and well reasoned programme articles that John Stephenson has written over the last few seasons (although I always had this sneaking suspicion that I was the only person who read them....).
Grimsby reserves play Stoke City at Blundell Park on Wednesday. Grimsby currently have five foreign players on trial who are expected to play in that game (well, one's Scottish but as far as I'm concerned that's foreign). According to Football News, they may also take the chance to have another look at Sean Evers, after the attempt to play him in their reserve game two weeks ago fell foul of the weather.
Reading's reserve team lose 3-1 away to Peterborough. For match details, click here.
Alan Pardew wins the September Nationwide manager of the month award for Division 2. A record of five wins in the League, plus one defeat in each of the League and the Worthington Cup, is enough for him to be the first Reading manager to win this since Tommy Burns in October 1998. The time before that was Mark McGhee in October 1993.
And in complete contrast, the Oxford manager Denis Smith has today resigned. This is a great shame - a quick glance at the league table will show you that he was doing a fine job! He is however staying on in an advisory capacity, so we can only hope that he gets his message across.
You may have heard that Arthur Cox has left Fulham - the hot rumour is that he is on his way to Reading. For more details, visit the rumours section.
Meanwhile, Luton manager Ricky Hill tells the nation on Sky Sports' Soccer Extra that he is looking to bring in some players on short-term deals. Perhaps a player with Keith Scott's experience might be what he is looking for. Alternatively, a trip back to Luton might shake Sean Evers back into some sort of form.
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