Earlier
today, Alan Pardew had said that he would play Jamie Ashdown for
the next three games (against Chesterfield in the League, Barnet
in the LDV Vans Trophy and York City in the FA Cup) but he was
also trying to bring in a goalkeeper on a short-term or week-to-week
contract in time for tomorrow's game. The Evening Post said that
it would be Alan Knight of Portsmouth fame, but Reading said that
it was not him.
In fact, it proved to be 21-year-old Anthony (Tony) Malessa, who came through the Southampton youth system and then joined the Bristol City Academy. One year ago he made one substitute appearance for Bristol City in the League and one start in each of the League Cup and LDV Vans Trophy, but was released last May. Malessa had trials with both Woking and Oxford United last summer, and did sign for Oxford for one month, but most recently he has played for Salisbury City. Malessa has signed for Reading on a non-contract basis, which might suggest that he will only provide cover in the short-term and that another keeper may join later. This may well depend on Jamie Ashdown - if he performs well in the next three games, he will probably keep the job until Phil Whitehead returns, and Malessa may be the back-up. Otherwise, Alan Pardew may look to get another keeper in, perhaps on loan, with Ashdown reverting to the bench.
As
hoped, John Salako has signed an extension to his loan deal which
takes him up to 1st January 2002. There is still talk of a
permanent deal but in the meantime the terms of the loan allow
him to be recalled to Charlton Athletic at 24 hours' notice.
Should a transfer eventually happen, Charlton are apparently
prepared to take only a small fee, so the only issue is Salako's
personal terms. However, according to Ceefax, Salako is suffering
from tonsilitis and is doubtful for the Chesterfield game.
Everything points to Kevin Watson not being allowed to also extend his loan, and he will instead return north after playing against Chesterfield tomorrow.
Reading's
reserve side lost 3-1 in a friendly played away to Rushden &
Diamonds. Phil Parkinson and Chris Casper both started the game
in their returns from injury. For a match report, click here.
Meanwhile, Cardiff City are saying that next Wednesday's reserve game between us and them has been called off by Reading and rearranged for 23rd January. This seems likely to be true because Reading have both an LDV Vans Trophy area quarter-final and an FA Youth Cup Round 3 game to play next midweek. (Later news: Reading confirmed that the Cardiff reserve game has moved to Wednesday, 23rd January.)
Our
destination in the second round of the FA Cup is now known, after
York City beat Colchester United 3-2 on penalties in a Round 1
replay tonight after the game had finished 2-2 after both normal
and extra time. The trip to York will be an exact repeat of last
season's 2nd round tie, with hopefully the differences being the
attitude of the Reading players and the result of the tie!
Phil
Whitehead has aggravated an old thigh injury and will be out for
up to six weeks. It seems that he was feeling it as long as one
month ago, so we can certainly say that the club kept that quiet!
Reading have the option to either play Jamie Ashdown whilst
Whitehead is out, or to look for a loan goalkeeper. In any event,
Ashdown is likely to play in the two cup games next week.
Presumably, Simon Cox will be on the bench for any game that
Ashdown plays, and so will (like at the end of last season) get a
squad number.
Signing a loan keeper is complicated by the rule that a club is only allowed two players on loan at any one time. John Salako's loan deal expires on Friday, and Kevin Watson's on Saturday, but Reading are negotiating with both their clubs for extensions to their time at Reading. The suggestion from Alan Pardew today is that also we will at some stage try to buy both players.
Alan
Pardew has surely won the November Manager of the Month award.
Reading have 15 points out of 15 from the month, as well as an FA
Cup win. No other club has managed more than 11 points and that
club needed 6 games to manage that many! This will of course lead
to speculation about the supposed curse affecting winners of this
award. It's quite simple - Pardew is doing things in reverse, and
suffered from the curse in October (and late September).
Reading
beat Peterborough United 2-1 and stay in fourth place in the
League table. Those bare facts do not even come close to
describing the events of the afternoon with two late Darius
Henderson goals securing the win, and a performance in midfield
from Kevin Watson that ranks as one of the best I have ever seen
from a player in a Reading shirt. Reading's overall performance
was of a high standard, and the only real surprise was that our
attacking play took so long to break through the home defence.
For match details (report to follow), click here.
For the third game in a row, our opponents are reduced to ten men and we take full advantage of it so let's hear no more of that old rubbish about it being more difficult to play against ten men (if it really was, then managers would deliberately start a game with ten!).
The
Under-19 side lose heavily, 5-1 away to Crystal Palace - for a
match report, click here.
Cameras from Channel 4 were present at that game, although I'm
not sure why. The Under-17s were at home to Crystal Palace and
won 2-0. Click here for
the latest league tables (but be warned - they do not make pretty
reading).
Russell
Lucas will be playing for Wales Under-15s tonight against
Northern Ireland in the Victory Shield. The game is at Ninian
Park in Cardiff and can be seen live on Sky Sports 1 at 8pm. Russell's father told 1871, "Russell is a
central midfield player for Reading's Under-17 side but under the
coaching of Clayton Blackmore (ex-Manchester United) has been
asked to play an attacking left wing-back's role. This is a
role that he has only ever performed in at international level,
so he is very pleased that he is being chosen ahead of other
squad members in this position."
The
projected players' strike from December 1st has been called off.
(This is with the exception of Wigan Athletic, who went out early
and are staying out.) As of noon Friday, the dispute has not been
settled, but the two sides are closer to an agreement.
Neil
Smith has a broken rib, and thinks that John Salako may have
caused it by jumping on him during the celebrations after the
first goal on Tuesday night! He expects to be out for three weeks
or perhaps longer - fortunately that means he will not miss too
many League games because Smith has been as important a part of
the recent revival as have been the two loan signings. This does
however give James Harper and Joe Gamble a chance to get more
involved in the next few games.
Various
reports, including The Times, say that John Salako will sign for
Reading today for £250,000. There was a time when a report like
that in The Times meant that it was certain to happen, but their
standards have slipped in the last few years. To my mind, it
would seem strange to sign him today because we know we can play
him until the end of his loan spell anyway, and he might pick up
an injury in that period. The only real reason for pushing a deal
forward was if we thought someone else was interested. [Later
news: In the Evening Post, Alan Pardew describes the story of an
imminent purchas as "rubbish" but adds that he is
talking to Charlton Athletic about a further month's loan for
Salako.]
On the other hand, if Reading do sign Salako, then that will give us a proper chance to show Kevin Watson the appreciation he deserves. His arrival has been as crucial as Salako's in getting our recent results, and he seems to have been overlooked by most fans because his play is not as eye-catching as the former England international.
Since the duo arrived at Madejski Stadium, Reading have won all five games that we have played. Alan Pardew looks a certainty for the November Manager of the Month award (even if we lose at Peterborough, we will still have accumulated more points this month than any other Division 2 club), and things generally look completely different from just six weeks ago.
Ceefax
report that Brentford have had a £10,000 bid for John Mackie
rejected. There had been some talk of this happening a few weeks
ago, and it's possible that Ceefax are just out-of-date. If they
have really come back with a bid that small for a defender
currently playing our first team, then it's no wonder that Alan
Pardew referred to Mackie being "tapped up" by another
club. At the start of October, he played a trial match with
Cambridge United and may well have left Reading had he not picked
up an ankle injury in that game. Cambridge were keen to have
another look at him, but since then we have lost Barry Hunter
whilst Chris Casper, Adie Williams and Adrian Whitbread have all
had injuries, giving Mackie a first-team chance.
The
reserve side lose 1-0 away to Bristol City in the Avon Insurance
Combination League Cup, meaning that we will not this season
progress any further in the competition, although there is still
one group match left. For an eyewitness match report, click here.
Nathan Tyson played his first game for Reading since returning
from a loan spell at Swansea City, whilst Darius Henderson played
most of the game as a centre-back!
Reading
announce that Martin Allen has left the club. The official reason
can loosely be translated as "football-related differences",
Allen saying that he was told that Alan Pardew wanted to take the
team in new directions. No-one will seriously believe that this
is the only reason for Mad Dog's departure, although it
undoubtedly formed part of the decision. Since Kevin Dillon took
over as acting assistant manager the results have improved
markedly, although I can't help thinking that this is mostly
coincidence. Whatever the truth of the matter, fans will accept
the departure of Allen as long as the results on the pitch are
satisfactory.
However, we must never forget that before he joined, our "team" was an utter shambles and that his arrival provided the impetus for the turnaround in fortunes that saw us reach mid-table in 1999/2000 and the play-off final last season (even if last season's side should definitely have finished higher in the table than they managed to do). His brand of coaching may yet come back to haunt us in the future.
Neil
Smith went off injured during last night's game against Tranmere
Rovers. He is to have X-rays today to see the exact nature of the
problem.
The
Professional Footballers Association announce that they have
called a strike for all matches on 1st and 2nd December where
television cameras are present. Now, we are due to play
Chesterfield on the Saturday, and under normal circumstances
there would of course be cameras inside Madejski Stadium. So what
will happen? Well, by far the most likely occurrence is that
before that date the two sides come to a deal. The next most
likely scenario is that the strike is put off pending further
negotiations. However, if neither of these happen, then either
the TV cameras will have to go or the game will not take place.
As far as I can tell, Reading players support the strike and it's
a racing certainty that a team based in Chesterfield will do so.
Reading
comfortably dispose of ten-man Tranmere Rovers by 4-1 this
evening, and stay in fourth place in the League table. For match
details (report to follow), click here. This
game saw a true passing performance, with use of the space left
by the opponents missing player, and attacks at pace. I said that
Northampton might have been the turning point - well, this makes
marks the stage at which we can pretty well say we have arrived.
Before the game, Joe Gamble and Darius Henderson sign extensions to their contracts, taking both of them up to the end of the 2003/04 season.
Tomorrow's
reserve League Cup fixture against Bristol City has been switched
from the home of Almondsbury Town to Ashton Gate (which is a real
shame because I was looking forward to a trip to the middle of
nowhere!). The game will still kick off at 2pm, and unlike a
previous reserve game against Bristol City that was switched to
Ashton Gate the game will NOT be behind closed doors. Admission
prices are £3 for adults and £1 for concessions.
Nathan
Tyson is back at Reading from his loan spell at Swansea City. The
two clubs had agreed a season-long loan for him to remain at
Swansea, but Tyson himself turned that down. It appears that
Swansea have reacted by releasing him now, even though he could
have played in two more games for them on his current loan deal.
Whilst at Swansea, he has played in 11 League games, scoring one
goal and picking up one red and one yellow card (although the red
card was later overturned). With the injury to Martin Butler,
Tyson obviously has a better chance of getting into the Reading
first team, although I think it is more likely that he may go out
on loan to another club.
It's
the draw of the FA Cup 2nd round, and Reading will play away to
Colchester United or York City. The tie is to be played on the
weekend of Saturday, 8th December with little prospect of live
television coverage on either the Friday or Sunday. The prize
money for winning a Round 2 game is £30,000. Colchester and York
drew 0-0 yesterday with their replay set for Tuesday, 27th
November at Bootham Crescent. Should York prevail it will be a
repeat of last year's 2nd round tie.
A
Jamie Cureton goal is enough to secure Reading a place in the FA
Cup 2nd round, and to pick up the £20,000 prize for a win at
this stage of the competition. The 1-0 victory over Welling
United is best forgotten, but for a match report, click here. The draw
really is on Sunday afternoon, at around 3pm and is live on both
BBC1 and Radio 5 Live.
The
Under-17s lose 3-2 at home to Charlton Athletic in the FA Premier
Academy League. For a match report, click here. The
Under-19s play away to Charlton and lose 5-2 - for some basic
details of the match, click here.
Also,
at Cantley this morning, the Under-14 and Under-12 girls teams
took on Fulham. The Under-12s won 3-2, whilst the Under-14s were
losing 1-0 midway through their game. [News added 21st November:
Reading lost 4-1 in the Under-14 match.]
Despite
what it says in the news story immediately below this one, I've
now got conflicting information about the FA Cup draw. The BBC
seem to think that they're showing the draw live at around 5pm on
Saturday, 17th November. Either way, I think that Reading (or
Welling United) will be ball number 19.
The
draw for the FA Cup 2nd round will take place on Sunday, 18th
November and will be live on both BBC1 and Radio 5 Live. It will
happen after the live game between Hereford United and Wrexham
has finished, at about 3pm.
Meanwhile, Reading will be without both our current loan players, John Salako and Kevin Watson, for Saturday's game against Welling United after their current clubs understandably refused permission for them to play for us. Presumably Nathan Tyson will not be allowed to play in the Swansea City game against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday night.
Now
that this week's round of reserve games is complete, Reading are
in sixth place in the table.
We had no reserve game this week as the scheduled game against
Millwall was rearranged for three weeks ago.
At
last night's fans forum, Alan Pardew said there would be some
good news for Darius Henderson this week. What he was undoubtedly
referring to was that Darius has been offered a two-year
extension to his existing contract, which expires at the end of
this season. Joe Gamble, whose contract also runs out at the end
of June, has been given a similar offer.
Also
from the forum, Kevin Dillon explained that the operation Ricky
Newman had on his anterior cruciate ligament had not worked and
he would require a second one, which would be by a different
surgeon. In today's Evening Post, physio Jon Frain says that a
final decision has not been taken, but it would actually be two
more operations with a one-month gap inbetween. The first would
be to remove the results of the original operation, and the
second to try to get his leg right again. The whole process plus
recovery could take as long as a year, which is terrible news for
both Ricky and Reading.
The
Bristol City right wing-back has admitted that he did not get a
touch to score their first goal last Saturday. That means the
goal will go down as a Nicky Shorey own goal. I'm certain that
Shorey will be absolutely delighted at the honesty shown by his
opponent.......
Swansea
City have denied that Reading are about to buy defender Jason
Smith. This denial is the first I'd heard of the rumour anyway,
but the Evening Post adds that the (non-existent) deal would have
involved Swansea getting Nathan Tyson and £225,000.
More
bad injury news - Ricky Newman may need a further operation on
his leg. Originally, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament on 22nd
April this year and was expected back around December or January.
He is to see a specialist on Tuesday of this week and if, as
expected, does need a new operation this will undoubtedly put his
comeback date further into the future.
Trinidad
& Tobago draw 0-0 with the United States of America in their
final World Cup qualifer. T&T were already confirmed in last
place in the six-team qualifying group. Anthony Rougier played
the full 90 minutes, as the sweeper in the T&T defence.
In
perhaps the best League game of the season so far, Reading
overcome Bristol City 3-2. John Mackie and John Salako both score
their first goals for us and we stay in fourth place in the table
- click here
for a match report.
When the Reading team was read out at 2.30pm, it included Adie Williams but Adi Viveash was named as captain. I thought this was a little odd at the time - when at 5 to 3, the line-up actually included John Mackie rather than Williams I started wondering whether we had pulled a fast one. Officially, though, Williams injured himself in the warm-up, presumably by doing durther damage to the dead leg he had almost recovered from in the days leading up to the game.
At
about the same time, Martin Butler was having an operation on his
broken bone.
The
Under-19 side lose 5-0 at home to Arsenal in the FA Premier
Academy League. For match details (report to follow), click here.
Meanwhile the Under-17s play away to Arsenal and lost 3-0.
Halifax
Town beat Blackpool 3-2 in the FA Youth Cup, and so will host
Reading in Round 3. The tie is meant to be played on a midweek
evening before Saturday, 8th December so let's hope that it's on
a date that does not clash with a first team game allowing a few
more supporters the chance to go without having to choose between
matches.
The
reserves comfortably beat Barnet 3-0 at Newbury - click here for a
match report. Paul Mortimer is back on trial again after
recovering from an injury and played for Reading in this game.
Anthony
Rougier has flown to the Caribbean to take a place in the
Trinidad & Tobago squad for their final World Cup qualifier
against the United States on Sunday. T&T are already
guaranteed last place in the group, whilst the USA have qualified
for the finals, so nothing rests on the game. Rougier had
previously said he would retire from international football if
his country failed to qualify for the World Cup, but has
presumably had a rethink since not featuring in the Reading first-team
squad recently. This might be significant later in the season
when T&T play in the Gold Cup tournament - should Rougier be
in that, he would be unavailable for a number of League games.
Martin
Butler's injury is revealed to be extremely serious - he has
ruptured ankle ligaments and also broken his leg, all achieved by
his body weight being taken on his leg. He is expected to be out
for four to five months, which may well mean that he is out for
the rest of the season. What makes this worse is that in the last
few games Butler had shown a return to his normal all-action
style as well as picking up a couple of goals. Reading are now in
a quite similar position to last season when Nicky Forster
returned only at the very end of the season after picking up an
early serious injury.
Reading
reach fourth place in the League table, the highest since the
very early weeks of the season, after a 2-0 win at home to
Wrexham. This was one of those rare instances where we actually
won our game in hand! However, the evening is spoilt when Martin
Butler is stretchered off after what looked an innocuous
challenge. Click here for match
details.
Meanwhile,
Reading's Under-18 side beat Southend United 2-0 away in Round 2
of the FA Youth Cup. For a match report, click here. We
will be away to Blackpool or Halifax Town in the next round -
they play their tie on Wednesday night. Round 3 represents the
last 64 teams in the competition.
Reading
beat Northampton Town 2-0 away from home, with the goals coming
from last season's deadly duo of Jamie Cureton and Martin Butler.
Both of yesterday's loan signings, Kevin Watson and John Salako,
play key roles in the game. As a result of the win, Reading move
up to eighth in the table. For a brief match report, click here.
Our
Under-19 team beat Chelsea 4-2 at home this morning, whilst the
Under-17s travelled to Fulham and lost 3-2.
In
Round 3 of the FA Youth Cup, Reading will play away to Halifax
Town or Blackpool, assuming that we can get past Southend United
in Round 2. That's just a slightly different kettle of fish from
last season's home tie with Manchester United! Our Round 2 game
will take place on Tuesday, 6th November at Roots Hall with a 7.30pm
kick-off, which is a shame as it clashes with the first team home
game against Wrexham - should you attend, ticket prices are £3
for adults and £1 for concessions. Round 3 should be played
before Saturday, 8th December.
Academy
Under-16 midfielder Russell Lucas played for Wales Under-16s in
their 3-1 defeat to England in the Victory Shield this evening.
The game was at Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers, and
was also live on Sky Sports 1. Text commentary from the game can
be found at:
Official
Football Association website
Sky are also showing repeats of the game at midnight tonight and 4am on Saturday mornng, both on Sky Sports 1. Reading's Under-16 forward Darren Campbell was in the England squad but did not make the starting eleven or the substitutes' bench.
In the
area quarter-finals of the LDV Vans Trophy, Reading will play
away to Nationwide Conference side Barnet, who reached this stage
with victories over Division 2 sides Bournemouth and Northampton
Town. The game will take place in the week commencing Monday, 3rd
December, with obviously the Tuesday of that week being the most
likely date.
As the
loan signing of Kevin Watson is completed, so also is the arrival
on loan for one month of Charlton Athletic winger John Salako. It
seems likely that both players will be involved against
Northampton Town tomorrow, as otherwise there was no real point
in bringing them in this week. Hopefully the new blood will start
another revival in our results.
Watson will wear the number 6 shirt and Salako will take number 29.
Should
we need an FA Cup replay against Welling United (and let's face
it, we had better not do so), it will be played at Charlton
Athletic's ground, The Valley, on Wednesday, 28th November.
(Tremendous
timing shown by the webmaster in choosing which two days to go
away.....) The Reading Chronicle leads with an exclusive story
that Martin Allen has been sacked, with Kevin Dillon stepping up
to the post of assistant manager. Later it is confirmed that
Allen is "on leave", clearly just a formal way of
saying that he and the club are discussing the terms of his
departure.
If you look at the way Reading were playing in the period before Martin Allen joined, and the way we have played afterwards, it is clear to see the effect he has had. His arrival, coupled with that of Matt Robinson, started a revival in our fortunes that has only really been lost in the last month or so. Mad Dog was clearly a Reading supporter as well as an employee, something that is exceptionally rare these days, and I for one will miss him. He had toned down his style this season, in public at least, which I asssume was partly to try to show that he could be serious enough to take a management job one day. I don't know whether he will get such a position, but frankly I would rather have him for us than against us.
Midfielder
Kevin Watson is due to sign on loan for Reading from some
Yorkshire club where he is apparently too cultured a player to
get a game. It's a one month deal, but his current manager says
that there is no prospect of a permanent move.
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