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Archived News - October 2001

Wednesday, 31st October

ITVDigital signed a three-year contract for coverage of Nationwide League games at the start of the season. They paid up-front for this season, but have not yet paid for the next two. The League is now concerned about the potential closure of either ITVDigital itself or, as has been suggested from finance people, of the ITV Sport Channel. It may well turn out that, even if the channels concerned don't close down, the football contract will be returned to the Football League for renegotiation with another party (which basically means Sky).

Apparently, Reading have withdrawn from the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup this season. And typically, that would just be the season immediately after I spent much of the summer upgrading that part of my website! To look at some of the history of this great tournament, go to the reserves archive page. Even if Reading aren't taking part, I still intend to cover this year's competition at a ludicrously comprehensive level.

With our FA Cup Round 1 opponents now known, let's look at some of the connections between Reading and Welling United over the years. Obviously the first one is that we met in the second round of the same competition 12 years ago. After three replays, Reading finally won through - no chance of that happening with the new-style, non-improved FA Cup where there's no such thing as even a second replay. (Obviously, you'd hope that there was also no chance of it because of us being three divisions higher than Welling.) Incredibly, you can see action and interviews from the two previous games at Welling by going to the video clips section of "Wings on the Web", an unofficial Welling website. The quality's not brilliant, but at least it's there.

Welling currently play in the Dr Martens League Premier Division and are near the bottom of the table. Players to appear for both sides include Paul Barron, Tony Witter, Lee Lough, Neville Gordon and most recently Andre Fashanu (thanks for some of that information to www.13inarow.com).

Tuesday, 30th October

Reading progess in the LDV Vans Trophy with a 2-1 win over Colchester United in Round 2. Click here for match details. Apparently, the draw for the area quarter-finals will be made at 7.45pm on Friday, and will be broadcast live on Radio 5.

Welling United easily beat Folkestone Invicta 5-1 in their FA Cup 4th qualifying round replay tonight, and so will play away to Reading in Round 1 on Saturday, 17th November.

Reading's Under-17 side lost 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace this morning. The game was an additional fixture, and was played to replace the games cancelled for both sides against Peterborough United, who resigned from the Academy structure after the groups and fixtures had been determined.

As from lunchtime on Thursday 1st November, ITV1 will start tests via Sky Digital. In particular, they will be testing Meridian at 10891H. I think this will mean that wherever you live in the country you will be able to watch Meridian, at least during the test period (as long as you have Sky Digital). Given Meridian's bias against our club, this won't add too much to the amount of Reading FC news or action you can see, but I'm sure most exiles will appreciate the few crumbs that they do offer. ITV2 will not be available on Sky at this stage, and I have no information about the ITV Sports Channel.

Here are instructions for how to look for the test channels:

(a) Select "services"
(b) Select "4" - System Setup
(c) Select "4" - Add Channels
(d) Type in the frequency (10891)
(e) Polarisation - use the green left and right arrows to select H
(f) Symbol rate - as above to select 22.0
(g) FEC - as above to select 5/6
(h) Highlight "Find Channels" and press select.

Once these channels are up and running, the names of channels available on this frequency will appear. (However, during testing there is no logic as to the name of the channel which appears, so the Meridian channel may just say "iFF435tfc" rathern than "ITVMeridian".) Highlight any channel names which seem to be relevant, select store and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have finished saving channels, you need to:

(a) Select "services"
(b) Select "6" - Other Channels to get a list of any channels you saved
(c) Highlight the channel you want and press "select"

Monday, 29th October

The reserve game scheduled for Wednesday away to Luton Town has been postponed.

Saturday, 27th October (published Sunday, 28th October)

In the first round proper of the FA Cup, Reading have a home tie against Folkestone Invicta or Welling United, both of whom are in the Dr Martens League Premier Division. Their Kent derby in the 4th qualifying round ended as a 1-1 draw on Saturday - the replay is at 7.45pm on Tuesday night at Welling. Our game should be played on Saturday, 17th November - I think it is pretty safe to assume that it will not be moved for television coverage.

Reading's poor home form continues with a 2-1 defeat against Brentford, and we slip to eleventh in the table. For match details, click here. A match report may follow.

In the FA Premier Academy League, both our sides drew against Bristol City. The Under-19 game away from home ended 3-3, whilst the Under-17s drew 2-2 at home. Click on the results for match reports on both games. Updated league tables can be found here.

Friday, 26th October (published Sunday, 28th October)

According to the Evening Post, Nathan Tyson will stay at Swansea City for a third month on loan. My understanding of the rules is that this will have to be his final month unless Reading agree a loan to the end of the season (and that does not seem a likely scenario because we would not be allowed to recall him).

Wednesday, 24th October (published Sunday, 28th October)

Reading's reserves draw 3-3 at home to Millwall in a rearranged Avon Insurance Combination League game. Click here for a match report.

Tuesday, 23rd October

Another Jamie Cureton goal is enough to see off Oldham Athletic in a 1-0 away win this evening. This means that Reading move up to ninth in the table. For a brief match report, click here.

According to the Royals Direct Newsletter, the reserve League Cup game for tomorrow afternoon against Swindon has been postponed. However, the reserve League game against Millwall has been moved so that it will be played at Newbury at 2pm on Wednesday (Millwall's scheduled League Cup game on Monday had been cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch leaving them with a free week).

Monday, 22nd October

Our destination for Round 2 of the FA Youth Cup is now known, as Southend United beat Walton & Hersham 3-1 in their first round tie this evening. We are therefore away to Southend in a game that should be played at Roots Hall on a midweek evening before Saturday, 10th November.

Sunday, 21st October

What's the next date in the following sequence: 27th August, 28th August, 2nd October, 6th November? Well, the answer might just be 7th November. In case you haven't twigged, the first four are the various different dates that the home game with Wrexham has been arranged for. A potential problem with the currently scheduled date of Tuesday, 6th November is that Wrexham are playing the previous Sunday, which might be why their most recent matchday programme (last Tuesday's LDV Vans Trophy Round 1 game) listed the Reading fixture as Wednesday, 7th November. Of course, it might just have been a cock-up on their part.

According to the fixture list on Reading's official website, supposedly the best source of all knowledge about Reading FC on the web, the only date given for the game is on 2nd October. Ho hum.

Saturday, 20th October

Hey, look! Three points, and all in one game as well. Reading beat Notts County 4-3 away from home, but not however with a particularly good performance. Importantly, our finishing was there for the first time for some while. For a match report, click here.

Reading's Under-19 side lose 4-1 away to Southampton - click here for a match report. My expected Under-17 match reporter decided not to go the home game against Southampton due to the weather (!), and he may have made the right decision as we lost 5-1.

Jonathan Hunt had been on trial with Reading (see news on Tuesday, 9th October), and some reports had said that he would play in last Wednesday's reserve game. However, he did not take part in that match, and I have heard that he has left.

Thursday, 18th October

Reading easily progress to the second round of this season's FA Youth Cup with a 6-0 win at home to Woking. For a match report, click here. In the next round, we will play away to Southend United or Walton & Hersham, who meet at Southend on Monday evening. The second round is supposed to be completed by Saturday, 10th November.

Academy Under-16 forward Darren Campbell has been named in the 22-strong England Under-16 squad for the Adidas Victory Shield game at home to Wales on Friday, 2nd November. The match is to be played at Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers, and may feature Russell Lucas, who played in Wales' first match in the tournament. Like all Adidias Victory Shield games, it is also live on Sky Sports. Full details of all representative games these two players might be invloved in can be found on the internationals page.

Wednesday, 17th October

In the second round of the LDV Vans Trophy, we will be at home to Colchester United. The game is set for the week beginning 29th October, which is almost certain to mean Tuesday, 30th October.

Reading's reserve side draw 1-1 with Northampton Town in a match played behind closed doors at Madejski Stadium. Andy Hughes plays the full 90 minutes, whilst Martin Butler and Nicky Forster played together upfront in the first half (during which period Reading did not score). Click here for match details, and here for the latest league table.

Tuesday, 16th October

As expected, Barry Hunter has signed a permanent deal with Rushden & Diamonds today.

Monday, 15th October

Wednesday's reserve game against Northampton Town has been switched to Madejski Stadium and will be played behind closed doors. There are several possible reasons why something like this would happen:
(a) The AFC Newbury pitch is still unplayable, no alternative venue was available and the costs of opening Madejski Stadium to the public were far too high; or
(b) Reading are playing a trialist who does not have a work permit (which means that it is not allowed to charge spectators to view the game); or
(c) Our entire first team are playing the game, and Alan Pardew doesn't want them distracted from the business in hand.

I'm not claiming to have any inside knowlege, but (a) seems the most likely.

Adam Lockwood has signed for Yeovil Town, having played there on loan for some weeks. He leaves Reading on a free transfer, having found his way to the first team blocked by a large number of other centre-backs. Meanwhile, Rushden & Diamonds have stated that they expect to have signed Barry Hunter by Tuesday this week, his loan period with them having recently ended.

Saturday, 13th October

Amazingly, Alan Pardew's tactics at the start of the second half of playing four wide players with only Jamie Cureton up front fail to work, and the end result is a 3-1 defeat at home to Swindon Town. At least we managed to score a goal in this game - for a match report, click here. After the game, rumours abound that Pardew has resigned but these prove to be false.

Reading's Under-19 side get a fine 2-1 win away to Millwall in the FA Premier Academy League - click here for a match report. The Under-17s lost 2-0 at home to Millwall. Up-to-date league tables are here.

Thursday, 11th October

According to the official website, the home game with Bristol City (which kicks off at the same time as England's friendly with Sweden on Saturday, 10th November) will not be moved. The sticking point, as was initially the case with the Colchester United game last weekend, is that Reading are unhappy about playing on the Friday night because we are at home to Wrexham the previous Tuesday whilst Bristol City have a free week. As far as I know, Wales have no international fixture that weekend, so the Wrexham game is likely to go ahead this time.

Wednesday, 10th October (published Thursday, 11th October)

Reading's Worthington Cup campaign ends with a 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa. For a match report, click here.

The date of the FA Youth Cup 1st round game against Woking has been set for Thursday, 18th October, the game to be played at Madejski Stadium.

Tuesday, 9th October

Former Wimbledon, Birmingham City and practically-everyone-else-you-can-think-of midfielder Jonathan Hunt is on trial at Reading for a week or so. As he is a goalscoring midfielder currently without a club, it's easy to see the attraction in having a look at him. However, he has only started 40 games in the last four seasons which does not bode well.

Monday, 8th October

A young Reading reserve side lose 4-0 away to Cambridge United. For match details, click here and for the latest league table, click here.

I understand that Academy goalkeeper Simon Cox has just signed a glove sponsorship contract (but I'm not going to say who with because there's no advertising on this website!). This type of deal is almost unheard of for a keeper of his age outside the Premiership, and indicates that he is highly thought of in certain quarters. His international performances for the Republic of Ireland, most recently in the Under-18 side, have obviously helped him in this regard.

Our opponents in the FA Youth Cup 1st round are now known. Woking beat Abingdon United 4-0 yesterday, and so are away to Reading, with the game supposed to be played on a midweek evening before Saturday, 27th October.

Saturday, 6th October

Reading's Under-19 side draw 0-0 at home to Wimbledon in the FA Premier Academy League, whilst the Under-17s won 1-0 away, also against Wimbledon.

Friday, 5th October

(published on Saturday, 6th October) Reading lose 2-0 away to Colchester United - for a match report, click here. We drop to eleventh in the League table, and barring a postponement are guaranteed to slide one more place downwards after the one game in the Division finishes on Saturday.

Russell Lucas from the Reading Academy came on as a substitute for Wales Under-15s in their 4-4 draw against Scotland in the opening game of this season's Adidas Victory Shield last night. The next Wales game in the tournament is away to England, and is fairly conveniently being played at Wycombe Wanderers' ground. It's on Friday, 2nd November with an 8pm kick-off. All games from the tournament are live on Sky Sports. For details of fixtures for all Reading's current internationals, go to the internationals page of this site.

Thursday, 4th October

Reading drop to tenth in Division 2 after the one League game played today.

The Northern Ireland Under-19 side lost 2-0 to Scotland in an international friendly tournament game in Belfast last night. Reading's Declan O'Hara was in the squad, but I don't yet know if he played. The final game of the tournament, which Scotland have now won, is between Northern Ireland and Denmark at Glentoran's ground this evening.

Wednesday, 3rd October

In a reserve game played at Didcot Town, Reading lose 1-0 at home to Peterborough United. Click here for a match report. Andy Hughes made a return from injury, but never looked fit and went off after only 20 minutes. It was Peterborough reserves' first win of the season, and means that Reading stay eighth in the table.

The Cambridge United reserve line-up for their game on Monday included John Mackie, playing on trial. He twisted an ankle towards the game and had to go off, but Cambridge have suggested that they would like to look at him again.

Tuesday, 2nd October

Reading's reserves drop another place, to eighth in the Avon Insurance Combination League table after today's games.

The FA Youth Cup 3rd qualifying round tie between Abingdon United and Woking has been set for Sunday, 7th October at 2pm. The winners are away to Reading in the 1st round proper.

The results page now contains the dates of all future rounds of the LDV Vans Trophy.

Monday, 1st October

The Reading reserve team drop to seventh in the table after Crystal Palace beat Cambridge United today.

Under-19 goalkeeper Simon Cox was back in training today, for the first time since picking up a shoulder injury whilst playing for the Republic of Ireland Under-18 side in a tournament in the Czech Republic three weeks ago. Trialist Chad Harpur had taken his place between the sticks in our Academy side.

Nathan Tyson has signed a one-month extension to his loan deal at Swansea City. He actually put pen to paper before kick-off on Saturday in what would would otherwise have been his last game for the club, but was then sent off towards the end of the match. Based on my fuzzy reception of HTV Wales it looked a very harsh decision. If he does get a three-game suspension, then Swansea might not want to keep him for another month, but they have been considering appealing against the red card.

FOR NEWS FROM SEPTEMBER 2001, CLICK HERE

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