I
should have stuck to my guns last Wednesday when stating that I
thought Steve Sidwell had only received four yellow cards this
season, rather than the five that would lead to a one-game
suspension. Reading have now announced that he has definitely
only had four and so is available for the Millwall away game. If
he can get through February without picking up another yellow
card, then he will avoid a suspension altogether.
The
link mentioned yesterday between Northampton Town and Phil
Whitehead turns out to be true, but due to a recurrence of his
knee injury after the reserve friendly at West Ham United
Whitehead will not at this stage be joining them on loan. It
seems likely that he will do so, with a view to a permanent move,
once he is properly fit (unless, I guess, Northampton have
brought in someone else in the meantime).
For
Division 2 and 3 clubs not involved in the end-of-season play-offs,
this season ends on Saturday, 3rd May. That means that such a
club can take a player on a 93-day loan (the maximum allowed)
tomorrow and have him available for the rest of their season. So
clubs who are either fighting to avoid relegation or to gain
automatic promotion might show interest in taking certain Reading
squad players on loan from tomorrow. According to the Reading
Evening Post, Northampton Town (currently near the foot of
Division 2) have made enquiries about Phil Whitehead, although
they don't say whether this is for a loan or a permanent deal.
Incidentally, because of the maximum loan length both Adrian Whitbread and Alex Smith will have to return to Reading at some point this season, unless they either sign permanently for the clubs that they are currently at, or unless they go to another club.
For Division 1 clubs, the season ends on Sunday, 4th May so a player signed on a maximum length loan tomorrow would be ineligible for the last game. Similarly, a club in any division that might be involved in the play-offs has to decide whether it is worth taking a loan player who might help get them there but would then be unable to take part unless he was signed permanently. For both those reasons, it is therefore less likely that Reading are looking to take advantage of a loan signing at the moment, quite apart for any other reasons.
Jamie
Young is currently playing in Egypt for England Under-18s in the
UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup. He has squad number 13 so I guess he is
the second choice keeper. England have played three games so far,
a 3-2 win over Burkina Faso, a 1-1 draw with Mali and (today) a 1-0
win over the hosts Egypt. Jamie was a substitute (presumably
unused) for the game against Burkina Faso but he played the whole
of the match against Mali. No team line-up details for the Egypt
game yet, but I would guess that Jamie was on the bench and is
likely to play in the last group game, against Nigeria on
Saturday. (Later news: Jamie was indeed an unused substitute in
both the Burkina Faso and Egypt matches.) For full details of the
tournament, go to the current
internationals page.
Nathan
Tyson has been added to the England Under-20 squad for the game
on Thursday, 6th February against Germany at Madejski Stadium. As
far as I know, it's his first international call-up of any type.
Again, for full details of future England Under-20 games which
Tyson might conceivably be called up for, go to the current internationals
page.
A
reserve side drew 2-2 in a friendly played at West Ham United's
training ground. Click here for
match details.
The
BBC are reporting that Steve Sidwell's booking last night was his
fifth of the season, and that he will therefore be suspended for
one game. Soccerbase shows Sidwell as having three bookings so
far, and I have only been able to locate one that they have
missed. If however the BBC are right, then he will miss the
Millwall game (or the Sheffield United trip if Millwall win their
FA Cup round 4 replay and our game against them is therefore
postponed). What is certain is that Ricky Newman picked up his
tenth yellow card of the season last night, and will miss the
Millwall and Sheffield United games (or the Rotherham United game
instead of Millwall if the Millwall game is postponed.) (Later
news: Sidwell definitely has reached five yellow cards.) (Later
later news: See news for 31st January for the final version of
the story.)
It's
taken a while but tonight we have seen a referee worse than Clive
Wilkes. Mike Warren of Walsall was the most incompetent official
I have ever seen (try sueing me for writing that, you bastards at
the Football League). His series of absolutely crap decisions
were responsible for the magnitude of tonight's 3-1 defeat at
home to Leicester City. However, the reason we lost the game was
because of Alan Pardew - wrong team selection, wrong tactics,
wrong substitutions. Click here for
match details.
Reading's
FA Premier Academy League teams both beat Bristol City this
morning. The Under-19s won 3-1 away whilst the Under-17s maanged
only their second win of the season, by 2-1 at Bisham Abbey. See
the updated tables here (published
before 3pm on Saturday - a new personal best!).
With
no first team action tomorrow, it's time to review what other
options there are for watching Reading this weekend. The Under-17
side are at home to Bristol City on Saturday morning (kick-off 11am
at Bisham Abbey), whilst the Under-19s play Bristol City away at
Clifton College. The Academy schoolboy teams are all playing
against Crystal Palace on Sunday morning, with home games at
Cantley for the Under-15/16s, Under-13s, Under-11s and Under-9s.
The Girls' Centre of Excellence teams have no games this weekend.
Alternatively, loanees Adrian Whitbread and Alex Smith should play for Exeter City and Shrewsbury Town on Saturday and Sunday respectively, with the easiest option being to watch Smith against Chelsea in the live BBC FA Cup tie at 6.30pm on Sunday.
Something else to look out for is that we are due to play Millwall in the League on FA Cup 5th round weekend. If they win their tie at Southampton, our game will be postponed. We are also scheduled to play Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford on future FA Cup dates, teams that are both still in the competition.
Adrian
Whitbread has joined Exeter City on loan until Saturday, 1st
March. The spell in Division 3 is to help him regain match
fitness. Incidentally, if you check the "Attendance"
section on the page for last week's reserve game against Oxford
United (here),
then you'll see that I may not have known much about who was
there but certainly got the important bit!
A
reserve side lost 3-1 in a friendly at Chelsea's training ground,
with the main interest being that this was Steve Sidwell's first
game in a Reading shirt.
Russell
Lucas is in the Wales Under-17 squad for their two forthcoming
home friendlies against Scotland. Although he took part in a
recent training camp in Wales, Ryan Crockford did not make the
list of 17 named players. Darren Campbell will undoubtedly also
feature in these two games as part of the Scotland squad. For
dates and venues of the matches, visit the current internationals
page.
To
make up for yesterday's postponement, Reading have arranged a
reserve friendly match against Chelsea for tomorrow. The game
will take place at Chelsea's training ground in Harlington behind
closed doors. This will allow Steve Sidwell to make his first
appearance and also give a run-out to other players who have not
played recently.
The FA
yesterday charged John Mackie with a breach of rule E2 (relating
to abusive or insulting comments) in relation to events during
the home game with Sheffield United on 14th December. The charge
specifically states that the events under investigation took
place during the game rather than after it, although I suspect
that is only because the FA have messed up. It took them 37 days
to make the charge, but Mackie now has 14 in which to reply.
Other players who have been charged under this rule and subsequently found guilty have generally received a two- or three-game suspension and a fine, but that probably is not much of an indicator as to what punishment Mackie might receive if he is also found guilty. What would be surprising would be if the FA was to review the video evidence of events and not also charge the Sheffield United player concerned for elbowing Mackie in the face in the first place.
Today's
reserve game away to Millwall has been postponed due to a
waterlogged pitch. Steve Sidwell had been expected to make his
first appearance in a Reading shirt in the game, but that will
obviously now have to wait.
Well,
it took a while to finalise but Steve Sidwell has signed for
Reading from Arsenal today. Given the various announcements over
the last week or so, it seems reasonable to assume that the
transfer fee is £75,000 now, plus up to £225,000 based on
appearances or Reading's progression, plus a percentage of any
future transfer fee. The last item was supposedly the one that
held the deal up for a few days. He takes squad number 27.
John
Salako was one of the guests on the London version of Soccer
Sunday this afternoon. He said that Reading were under more
pressure at the moment because the honeymoon period in Division 1
was over, and also mentioned that the players are allowed to
gamble by playing cards on coach journeys but only for a few
pounds.
Another
poor display provides only one point as Reading draw 0-0 at home
to Walsall. Click here for
match details. Our failure to score more than one goal in five
hours of football against this exceptionally poor side (not to
mention more than one penalty out of three) is reminiscent of the
run of draws towards the end of last season. Alan Pardew had no
idea how to change things then, and it seems unlikely that he can
do so now.
On the other hand, the draw does take us to 43 points. On the last two occasions that we were relegated from this division (1988 and 1998) we managed only 42 points whilst the other occasion (1931) we would have had 42 points had the three points for a win system been in place. Due to the incompetence of other clubs in Division 1, we remain in seventh place and outside the play-off zone only on goals scored.
The
BBC reported last night that Reading had signed Steve Sidwell
from Arsenal. This is another example of the shoddy journalism on
offer from the BBC at the moment, as they were wrong. They had in
fact been stupid enough to believe a press release from a bitter
club about to fall out of our division. My information is however
that we will be able to sign Sidwell early next week, although I
couldn't see him at today's game.
In the
FA Premier Academy League, both of our sides played against
Coventry City. The Under-19s lost 5-1 at Bisham Abbey whilst the
Under-17s managed slightly better, losing 5-2 away from home.
Last
night the Reading Sports Aid Foundation awards, sponsored by the
Evening Post, were dished out and Alan Pardew was named Manager
of the Year for 2002.
The
away game at Sheffield United, postponed on 16th November, has
been rearranged for Tuesday, 18th February.
Steve
Sidwell has now agreed personal terms with Reading and is having
a medical today. Expect further news later.
Reading's
reserve side lost 1-0 to Oxford United this afternoon, in a game
played at the Loop Meadow Stadium in Didcot. For match details,
click here.
Jamie Cureton picked up an ankle injury near the end of the game,
and from what I hear is unlikely to be able to play for the first
team this Saturday.
The
home game with Leicester City, abandoned on 1st January, has been
rearranged for Tuesday, 28th January.
The
Steve Sidwell story takes another twist as the club where he is
currently on loan, Brighton & Hove Albion, have matched
Reading's bid. This means that Sidwell now has to choose between
the two clubs, or could also decide to remain at Arsenal (in
which case he will have to remain on loan at Brighton for the
rest of this season). It has also emerged that the transfer fee
would be £75,000 down, with further payments based on the
progress of both player and club. This is probably quite similar
to the James Harper deal where neither club ever published the
precise details but it was eventually leaked that the initial fee
was £400,000 with a further £600,000 payable under various
circumstances.
A 4-1
penalty shootout defeat to Walsall ends Reading's interest in
this season's FA Cup after the game had finished 1-1 at the end
of extra time. The entirely predictable result means that we lose
out on the £50,000 prize money available for winning a third
round game, and miss the chance of a home game with Wimbledon in
round 4. For match details, click here.
In the two seasons since large prize money and TV payments have been available for the FA Cup, Reading have banked a total of £20,000 (for an unconvincing win at home to Welling United). In contrast, Farnborough Town have banked nearly £400,000 for this season alone.
Reading
have put in a successful bid for Arsenal's attacking midfielder
Steve Sidwell. He is currently on loan at Brighton & Hove
Albion, but was withdrawn from their FA Cup line-up this evening
in order to remain eligible to play for Reading in the tournament
(a pointless gesture as it turned out). The deal will be
completed once personal terms have been settled.
Manager
Alan Pardew has signed an extension to his contract, now taking
his deal up to the end of the 2005/06 season. No doubt after
Saturday's debacle he rushed to sign it quickly before the offer
was withdrawn.
Alex
Smith's loan spell with Shrewsbury Town has been extended to
Thursday, 13th February. Not only does this allow him to take
part in the FA Cup Round 4 game at home to Chelsea (which is live
on BBC1 at 6.30pm on Sunday, 26th January) but Reading have also
said that he can play in the LDV Vans Trophy area semi-final
against Crewe Alexandra next week. Shrewsbury could try to get a
further loan extension taking them up to about 15th March.
However, if they can reach the LDV Vans Trophy final and want
Smith to play in that, they would need to sign him permanently.
The story was always that Reading's interest in him started after
his performance for Port Vale in the 2001 LDV Vans Trophy final
at Cardiff.
Totally
unacceptable. A complete lack of desire in the last hour of a
match sees Reading lose 3-2 to easily the worst side in Division
1. For match details, click here.
Heads must roll before Tuesday or we are looking at yet another
in the long list of FA Cup embarrassments. The rubbish on offer
for most of today sees us drop to seventh place in the table.
Both
of Reading's games in the FA Premier Academy League were
postponed due to unfit pitches. All of the schoolboy games
scheduled for Sunday have also been called off.
Jamie
Young is in the England Under-18 squad for the 2003 UEFA-CAF
Meridien Cup, to be held in Egypt starting later this month. It's
his second call-up following the one-off game in Tunisia in
November. For more details of this tournament, and other
potential international appearances by current Reading players,
click here.
Ceefax
are reporting that Martin Butler has turned down a move to Stoke
City. Had he left, we would have received £250,000 with
potentially a further £50,000 after he'd played a certain number
of games, although the reports are unclear as to whether Reading
had accepted a bid. Ceefax add that Stoke tried to take Butler on
loan earlier in the season, although I can't recall this being
public news. (Later news: Stoke City have said that they did ask
about taking Butler on loan a month ago, but did not make a
permanent bid.)
Any
lingering doubts about Madejski Stadium staging the Farnborough v
Arsenal FA Cup tie are over, along with "the romance of the
Cup", as the game is switched to London on entirely
fabricated safety grounds.
Still
no confirmed news about the venue of the Farnborough v Arsenal FA
Cup tie. However, Sky have said that they will be showing the
game at 12.30pm on the Saturday of FA Cup weekend if it's staged
at Farnborough. If Sky are also prepared to show the game if it
is switched to Reading (and of course if we also beat Walsall
next week), then that would mean our game against Wimbledon
having to take place on the Sunday. Apparently the venue of the
game should be announced on Wednesday morning.
Next
week's home reserve league game against Oxford United has been
switched to Loop Meadow Stadium, the home of Didcot Town. That
game is still scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday, 15th January.
Today's
scheduled reserve friendly against Portsmouth was called off due
to a half-frozen pitch.
Reading's
League game away to Norwich City on Wednesday, 5th March has been
selected for showing on Sky Sports.
The
rumoured change to this week's reserve game that I mentioned on
Saturday proves to be not quite right, as instead our Combination
fixture against Portsmouth has now been called off. Instead a
friendly game against Portsmouth has been arranged to take place
at 1.30pm on Tuesday at Westleigh Park, the home ground of Havant
& Waterlooville. The last game due to take place at that
ground was called off due to a waterlogged pitch, but presumably
that has been put right now.
In
round four of the FA Cup we will be at home to Wimbledon,
assuming that we beat Walsall on Tuesday week. The game will take
place on Saturday, 25th January with absolutely no chance of it
being moved for TV coverage. However, Farnborough Town have been
drawn at home to Arsenal and there must be a possibility that
they will switch the fixture to Madejski Stadium. If so, and if
that game is televised, it might affect the day on which we play
Wimbledon, if indeed we get through.
Reading
drew 0-0 away to Walsall in the third round of the FA Cup. For
match details, click here. The
replay will be on Tuesday, 14th January.
Alex
Smith, on loan at Shrewsbury Town, played for the Division 3 side
in their FA Cup victory over Everton today, and so is now
eligible to play only for them in this season's competition.
Rumour
has it that the reserve game scheduled to be played at Fratton
Park against Portsmouth on Wednesday may be moved, with one
possible venue being AFC Newbury on Tuesday. Anyone thinking of
going to the game might want to keep Tuesday afternoon free as
well, just in case.
Walsall
are holding a pitch inspection tomorrow to see if our FA Cup game
can take place. This takes place at around 10.30am, but
apparently if there is no more rain the pitch should be
acceptable for the game to take place. Anyone intending to travel
to the game by train should both allow extra time and check
before leaving, because as at lunchtime today there were no
trains at all from Reading to anywhere further north. Again the
official line is that a normal service should be available if
there is no more rain.
After
an 11am pitch inspection, Reading's home game with Leicester City
started on time at 1pm. However, the referee decided at half-time
to abandon the game with the score still 0-0. For match details,
click here.
We do however stay sixth in the table.
If the referee had no accurate weather information, then I think that he was correct to start the game as it was not clear at that stage that the pitch would be unplayable (and I see it as a good thing that he was trying to get the match played). However, he should have called it off after 20 minutes or so when further rain had made the conditions unacceptable. However, to let the game go on to half-time and then abandon it just as the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to break through seemed particularly stupid. Obviously, had the pitch not been churned up on several occasions recently by two sets of overweight public schoolboy types indulging in their exceptionally tedious pastime of egg-chasing, then no doubt the ground would have been able to stage proper sport today.
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