Academy
goalkeeper Simon Cox has been called up for the Republic of
Ireland Under-18 side playing an international tournament in the
Czech Republic between 10th and 16th September. For a summary of
Simon's international career to date, click here to go to an article in
the features section of this site.
Nathan
Tyson today played his first game for Swansea City since his move
there on loan. It was in a "secret" behind-closed-doors
friendly at Ninian Park against Cardiff City. Swansea lost 1-0,
with Cardiff's goal coming from an exceptionally unlikely source.
A bit
of a recurring theme this week! - the result of tonight's
Division 2 game means that we drop one place in the League table
to ninth.
Reading's
reserve side returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory away to
Cheltenham Town. Click here for
match details. This means that Reading are top of the table (the one evening game
did not change our position).
The
Swansea City official site has reported that they have signed
Nathan Tyson on a month's loan, after two of their strikers
picked up injuries on Saturday. The Evening Post also reports
today that Leyton Orient tried to take Nicky Shorey back on loan
but that Alan Pardew would not let him leave.
Despite
what it said here earlier, tickets for the West Ham game really
are on sale today although there are problems getting through on
the phone. Printed tickets state that the game is on Tuesday, 11th
September.
This
evening's Division 2 match sees Reading now drop to eighth in the
League table.
Graeme
Murty has signed a new contract keeping him with Reading for the
next four seasons (including this one). That still leaves at
least ten players out of contract at the end of this season - see
the player database for
details.
The
date of the West Ham United League Cup 2nd round game is now
confirmed as Tuesday, 11th September with tickets on sale from
tomorrow. Click here
for details of the ticket arrangements.
After
today's games, Reading drop to seventh in the League table.
Reading
draw 0-0 away to Queens Park Rangers and drop down to fourth in
the table. Click here
for a match report. The main event of the match is that
incredibly we had a goal disallowed for offside when James Harper
scored direct from a free-kick.
The FA
Premier Academy League started today, and both the Reading teams
played away to Blackburn Rovers. The Under-19s drew 1-1 whilst
a very young Under-17 side lost 7-0. Click
on the results for match reports (only a very brief report for
the Under-17s).
We are
drawn at home to West Ham United in the Worthington Cup. The game
is scheduled for the week beginning Monday, 10th September.
The
official site has announced that the game with Wrexham has been
rearranged for Tuesday, 2nd October. However, given that the game
scheduled for next Tuesday was called off because Wrexham had
three players (two Wales and one Northern Ireland) involved in
Under-21 squads for games three days later, it seems a bit odd
that the new date is also three days before Under-21 games for
both the countries concerned.
A
transfer tribunal has decided that we should pay Notts County an
initial £250,000 for Andy Hughes plus a further sum based on
appearances. Although Hughes was out of contract in the summer he
is under 24, allowing County to claim a fee as compensation for
bringing him through the ranks. The odd thing about this case is
that it was in fact Oldham where he played as a youngster, before
being sold to Notts County. Supposedly Reading offered £150,000
and Notts County asked for £500,000, so we have not come out too
badly from today's decision. (Later news
added 23rd August: the fee based on appearances is £25,000
after Hughes has played 20 games for Reading and a further £25,000
after 40 games. In addition Notts County will receive 10% of any
transfer fee Reading eventually receive for Hughes - I assume
that this is only the fee in excess of what we have already paid
but the statement I saw was not clear.)
Reading
comfortably see off the challenge of Luton Town in the first
round of the Worthington Cup with a 4-0 win. Click here for match
details (report to follow). The draw for Round 2 will take place
on Saturday - it is live on ITV during the "On The Ball"
programme between 12.30pm and 1.20pm.
Jamie
Cureton makes his return from injury in a reserve League Cup game
away to Cardiff City, but makes little impact in a 5-1 defeat.
For a match report, click here.
Reading
beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 and climb to third place in the table.
Click here
for a match report.
(Added
Sunday, 19th August) Also, the Under-19s won 3-0 in a friendly
away to Southampton. Click here for
amatch report.
As
expected Wrexham have called off our home game against them,
which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, 28th August. No news
of a revised date yet, and I think it makes sense to at least
wait to see what progress the two clubs make in the Worthington
Cup before trying to set one.
Trinidad
& Tobago have named a squad of 31 for their two forthcoming
World Cup qualifiers. This does not include Anthony Rougier,
although it is not clear whether he is unavailable for them or if
they have just not chosen him. The squad includes only seven
overseas professionals, and is mostly made up of locally-based
players as T&T look to begin rebuilding for the 2006 World
Cup. There is also no place for the three Trinidad & Tobago
players currently with Wrexham (see next story).
Wrexham
have already had three players called up for Under-21
international duty on Friday, 31st August (two for Wales and one
for Northern Ireland). Our home fixture with them is scheduled
for Tuesday, 28th August which is within the five-day period laid
down by FIFA. This means that Wrexham are now able to choose
whether or not to call our game off. In the past, they have not
hesitated from postponing matches due to international call-ups,
and it is also possible that they will have a further player
called up for the Republic of Ireland Under-21 team.
Reading's
reserve side opened their Avon Insurance Combination league
campaign this afternoon with a 4-0 win over Norwich City in a
game played in Didcot. Click here for a
match report. Last season Norwich and Reading finished second and
third in the League table and were the two League Cup finalists -
given that Fulham, the League winners, have left the League this
season, this was obviously a key match and a great result.
Reading are second in the table.
The
National Criminal Intelligence Service have released their annual
report from the last football season. The statistics section
shows 25 football-related arrests against Reading for the season,
of which ten were for drunkenness, six for assault, four for
threatening behaviour, two for violent disorder, two for running
on the pitch and one for racist or indecent chanting. I assume
that these figures relate to arrests at our home games, rather
than arrests of Reading fans. The only club in our division to
have no arrests all season was Bury, and you don't need me to
tell you which club had the highest number (although it was still
undoubtedly not as high as it should have been).
The report also catalogues incidents that occurred during the season. There were only two at matches involving Reading. The first concerned the pre-season friendly at Cheltenham (where a collection of pondlife were amusingly arrested moments after paying to get into the ground and failing to get anywhere near the home fans). The other incident related to pre-match trouble in Reading town centre before our home game with Oxford, which the report blames on Oxford fans.
Reading
beat Blackpool 2-0 in the opening game of the season, and for
what it's worth are fourth in the table. Click here for a
match report.
This
story's a few weeks old but I understand that Reading have shown
interest in Neil Lampton, a 19-year-old winger with Fulham.
However, his agent is Eric Hall so all news about him must be
treated with a pinch (or seventeen) of salt. Lampton played on
trial with Brighton & Hove Albion this pre-season, but they
decided not to keep him. He was also supposedly being watched by
Queens Park Rangers, Cardiff City and Luton Town! As far as I can
tell, he is still at Fulham at the moment.
So,
almost there. The season starts tomorrow with a visit to
Blackpool. A match preview is here. Future
previews this season will not normally be linked from this news
page, but can instead be accessed from the First Team reports and
results page a day or so before the game.
Nicky
Forster has signed a new four-year contract. Apparently, last
season's rule that all out-of-contract players would have to wait
until the end of the season no longer applies. And a good thing,
too.
A
Reading reserve team won 3-0 at
Swindon Supermarine (information published Tuesday, 7th August).
Click on the result for more details.
AFC
Newbury's Faraday Road Stadium is officially confirmed as the
venue for home reserve games this season. An exception, however,
will be the first League game of the season, against Norwich City
on Wednesday, 15th August, which will instead be at Loop Meadow
Stadium, the home of Didcot Town.
It
looks like the start of last season is repeating itself as one by
one the attacking Reading players succumb to injuries before the
season starts. This time last year we ended up buying Anthony
Rougier the day before our first game (sufficiently late on that
we couldn't even spell his name right on his shirt!), and still
having to play Keith Scott up front. This year, none of Martin
Butler, Jamie Cureton, Nicky Forster, Rougier or new signing Andy
Hughes are apparently going to be fully fit before the visit to
Blackpool on Saturday. Either we are playing mind games with the
opposition or else it 's going to be another makeshift line-up
this weekend.
Butler is the latest to be sidelined, picking up an ankle ligament injury at Rushden on Saturday. At least, Forster did come on as a substitute in that game, so he is presumably available if lacking in match fitness. There is also talk that Cureton and Hughes will be fit by Saturday, but we have heard that story for every game this season so far. Of course the really good news is that there is no chance of making the "Scott mistake" again.
Reading
lost 1-0
away to Rushden & Diamonds, whilst a reserve side drew 1-1 away
to Farnborough Town . Click on the results for more information (match
details from Rushden, report from Farnborough).
The
only home friendly of this pre-season ends in a 2-0 defeat to
Tottenham Hotspur, with only Phil Whitehead heroics keeping the
score down. For a match report, click here.
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