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Archived News - April 2003

Wednesday, 30th April

A Reading side featuring very few usual starters won comfortably by 3-0 away to Watford this evening. This means that we are now guaranteed a top four slot with home advantage in the second leg of the play-off semi-final, and also that we will definitely face either Wolverhampton Wanderers or Nottingham Forest in the semi-final. We could yet finish third in the league but for the moment we are still fourth. Darren Campbell and Peter Castle both made their League debuts tonight, and Castle becomes the youngest EVER Reading first team player at the age of 16 years and 49 days. For match details, click here.

Monday, 28th April

Sky Sports will be showing the Stoke City v Reading game live on Sunday afternoon. They have so far announced that the other live game will be on Sky Sports Extra, so we can deduce that our game will be on Sky Sports 1.

Sunday, 27th April

Now that we are guaranteed a play-off spot, I have started up The Play-off Page again after a two-year absence (a welcome absence, I have to say!). At the moment there are still some incomplete sections in there as we don't know our exact opponents, but if there is any other topic you think it should include please write.

The PFA have announced their Division 1 select team for the season, and not too surprisingly no Reading players feature. It's not just the fans of other teams that fall into the "I haven't heard of any of this lot" trap, but also apparently their fellow-professionals.

Some out-of-date youth international news - Jamie Young played the second half for England Under-19s as they lost 3-2 away to Germany last Thursday. Although he had previously played for the Under-18s, it's the first time Jamie had appeared at that age level. Ryan Crockford was presented with a Wales Under-17 cap before the Reading - Grimsby Town game on Saturday - I don't know exactly when he played for them but he was in the squad for two friendles against Scotland in February and I'm not aware of any other games that he might have played in. Ryan will still be eligible for the Under-17 side next season so should be able to look forward to more appearances.

Saturday, 26th April

Reading beat Grimsby Town 2-1 at home this afternoon to secure a place in the play-offs. Click here for match details. The win moves us up one place to fourth in the table, whilst none of our potential opponents managed to gain three points today.

Before the game, Darren Campbell received the Maurice Evans Memorial Award for overall excellence within our Academy system, the award being presented by Maurice's son Paul. Simon Cox won the Maurice Edelston award for outstanding progress within the Academy.

(Added Sunday, 27th April) In their final game of the season, Reading's Under-17s drew 1-1 away to Watford. This means that we finish third in our four-team play-off group.

Thursday, 24th April

Some major potential changes to the Football League were announced today - obviously, we hope that they won't apply to us! From next season the play-offs will be expanded to six clubs, providing just one more piece of evidence that the running of our sport is governed solely by money. Also, salary caps as a percentage of income will be introduced to the whole league by the season after next, and to Division 3 as soon as next season. Experience from other sports has shown that this merely encourages deceit and "creative" accounting rather than actually tackling the underlying problems.

Finally, there will be sanctions imposed in the future for clubs going into administration. Apparently the vote on this issue was carried by 71 votes to one, the one of course being Leicester City who have successfully managed to benefit from the fact that no such rules exist at the moment. Future penalties will be either deduction of points or even relegation.

James Harper has been named as the official Player of the Season, beating last season's winner Graeme Murty in a fairly close vote conducted by the club and the Reading Chronicle.

Sammy Igoe has returned to Reading from his loan spell at Luton Town due to injury. Reports say that he is out for the season - however, given that Luton's season ends on 4th May, which is hopefully over three weeks before our season ends, it may be that he will still be available for play-off games if needed. It is however more likely that we have seen his last game for Reading as he is certain to depart in the summer.

Wednesday, 23rd April

The reserves celebrated St George's Day by beating Bournemouth 4-2 away from home.

Monday, 21st April

Reading lose 3-0 away to Portsmouth - click here for match details. We drop to fifth in the table, but other results mean that just one more point from our three remaining games will secure a play-off spot. When we get there, Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers will definitely be two of the other teams, whilst Nottingham Forest look very likely to be the fourth side.

Saturday, 19th April

Peter Castle made another appearance for England Under-16s on Thursday, as they beat Gabon 2-0 in the Montaigu tournament in France. However, this won't be a game that he remembers too fondly as the Reading centre-back was shown a dubious red card after 15 minutes for a professional foul. Today England meet France in the last group game to play for a place in the final, although I assume that Peter will be suspended.

Friday, 18th April

Reading beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 this evening to keep well on track in the push for a play-off spot. Andy Hughes got the goal - for match details, click here. We stay fourth in the table. This match is the first time ever that we have beaten a side in a League game who had previously been champions of Europe!

Thursday, 17th April

Peter Castle has become the latest England international at the club, playing in the 3-0 win over Russia in the Under-16 Montaigu tournament yesterday evening. England play Gabon this evening and then face France on Saturday in a game that will probably decide which of the two coutries play in the final on Monday.

Wednesday, 16th April

Andre Boucaud made his first League start this evening as part of his loan spell at Peterborough United, playing the whole game as they beat Cardiff City 2-0. Boucaud had previously made one subsitute appearance for Peterborough.

Reading's reserves beat Plymouth Argyle 4-2 at Didcot this afternoon. Click here for match details.

Tuesday, 15th April

Reading beat Preston North End 5-1 to move back up to fourth in the table. Nicky Forster scored a hat-trick whilst Preston had two players sent off. Click here for match details. This means that we now need seven points in the remaining five games to be sure of a play-off spot.

I mentioned on the 28th March that Preston had introduced a special new shirt to be worn only on two occasions. Well, the complete record for that shirt is a win away to Brighton & Hove Albion and a defeat away to Reading. No shirt in the history of the game can have such a desirable record.

Phil Whitehead has gone on a seven-day loan to York City because they have a goalkeeping crisis. This is an example of a rarely applied regulation that allows clubs to sign a goalkeeper on loan after the transfer deadline in extreme circumstances. In York's case, their only current goalkeeper is injured and they are trying to get promotion from Division 3. (Later news: Phil played the whole game as York drw 1-1 at Carlisle United this evening.)

Ceefax has reported that Luton Town are keen to sign Sammy Igoe permanently. Igoe is out of contract at the end of the season and it's clear that he will leave Reading - however, he might yet have a part to play for us as our season should last longer than that of Luton.

Monday, 14th April

Alan Pardew (who started off by saying he was a qualified glazier!) was on Radio 5 tonight, talking mostly about promotion and relegation issues this season. Pardew picked Arsenal to win the Premiership, with Fulham or West Ham United to be relegated. He added that Fulham hadn't spoken to him about their managerial vacancy. He didn't really make a Division 1 prediction (other than at the end of the programme to say that he would be spending the summer preparing for the Premiership!), but he did say that it was inevitable that things were going to get jittery at this time of year. He said that in our case, there was pressure to capitalise on what we've gained so far. Finally he said that his Division 1 player of the season was Michael Brown of Sheffield United. As you may have spotted, I'm not exactly Pardew's biggest fan, but excluding Reading players I do agree with him about Brown.

Saturday, 12th April

The Under-19s finished their FA Premier Academy League programme for the season with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Cantley this morning. Unless Southampton lose by five goals or more in their last game (a result which would move us up one place), we will finish fifth in the table. This is Reading's fourth year in the Academy system and easily the best performance we have achieved at this age group. In previous seasons we had finished 8th, 8th and 10th in our group, although the numbers of teams has varied a little from year to year. (Our Under-17 teams have finished 4th, 7th, 9th and 7th in their four seasons.)

The Under-17s did not play today, and will finish their season with a trip to Watford in two weeks' time.

Wednesday, 9th April (published Saturday, 12th April)

The reserves beat Cambridge United 3-2 at Madejski Stadium this afternoon. Click here for basic match details.

Adrian Whitbread has announced his retirement from professional football. Despite a recent short loan spell at Exeter City, he has failed to recover properly from the injuries that have plagued him in the last couple of years. His last contribution to the Reading first team was a tremendous defensive performance away to Oldham Athletic to help secure a 1-0 win, three points that proved vital in our promotion campaign last season.

Tuesday, 8th April

Results from tonight mean that Reading drop to sixth place in the table and now cannot secure automatic promotion.

Saturday, 5th April

Today's Division 1 results means that we drop to fifth place in the table. However, we are still six points ahead of the team in seventh place, plus we have a game in hand. This means that we now need ten points from the last six games to guarantee a play-off spot.

A disciplinary update - normally a player receives a two-game ban for ten yellow cards, but if the tenth is after the second Sunday in April (13th April this season), the only penalty is a severe (!) warning. Because Reading have no more League games before 13th April, it means that none of our squad can pick up such a ban. The only player that this really affects is Glen Little, who had eight yellows at Burnley. Anyone who manages to reach 15 yellow cards will get a suspension, although only Ricky Newman (currently on ten) is really likely to get anywhere near that figure. Suspensions for red cards remain the same throughout the season.

In the FA Premier Academy League this morning, the Under-19 side won 2-0 away to Millwall, but the Under-17s lost 2-0 in their home play-off group match against Manchester City. This means that whatever the result in the final game away to Watford, the Under-17s will not be able to progress to the quarter-final stage. (Later news: The Under-19 match also counted as a reserve game, after difficulties in finding a date for the previously postponed game between the two clubs.)

Kevin Watson's substitute appearance last night takes him up to 30 Division 1 appearances for Reading. If we believe the information released by the club when we signed him, that triggers a £50,000 payment to Rotherham United.

Friday, 4th April

Reading suffer an embarrassing 2-1 home defeat to very limited opposition tonight - click here for match details. Glen Little made his debut.

Wednesday, 2nd April

First blood to Reading, as the reserve side wins 1-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion tonight.

FOR NEWS FROM MARCH 2003, CLICK HERE

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