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2001/02 Reports

Match facts:

Reading goals: Phil Parkinson (penalty, 29 minutes), Stuart Lovell (69 minutes), Michael Gilkes (73 minutes)
Assists: Nicky Forster (fouled for penalty), ?, ?
Ex-England XI goals: Dennis Wise (33 minutes), Stuart Pearce (34 minutes), Dennis Wise (64 minutes), Kerry Dixon (83 minutes), Ryan Wheeler (91 minutes, in second-half injury-time)
Assists: Chris Waddle, Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle (or Luther Blissett?), ? (none for second goal)
Half-time: Reading 1 Ex-England XI 2
Gamebreaker: Ex-England XI's fifth goal
Attendance: 19,496
Weather: Light rain, chilly
Referee: Paul Armstrong (Thatcham)

Reading first half line-up: 1 Phil Whitehead; 2 Graeme Murty, 5 John Mackie, 6 Adie Williams, 3 Nicky Shorey; 8 Kevin Watson (14 James Harper, 27 minutes), 4 Phil Parkinson, 11 Andy Hughes; 7 Nicky Forster, 9 Martin Butler (12 Anthony Rougier, 27 minutes), 10 Jamie Cureton

Reading second half line-up: 1 Shaka Hislop; 20 Mick Gooding, 15 Keith McPherson, 6 Adie Williams (23 Jeff Hopkins, 52 minutes), 16 Dylan Kerr; 21 Simon Osborn, 4 Phil Parkinson (24 Ricky Newman, 85 minutes), 12 Anthony Rougier (22 Tom Jones, 59 minutes); 17 Stuart Lovell, 19 Lee Nogan, 18 Michael Gilkes

Ex-England XI line-up: 1 Tim Flowers (13 Dave Beasant, half-time), 2 Andy Sinton, 4 Gordon Cowans (19 Neil Webb, half-time), 5 Keith Curle (8 Tim Flowers, 79 minutes), 6 Stuart Pearce, 3 Chris Powell (18 John Gorman (10 Ryan Wheeler, 88 minutes)); 7 Jamie Redknapp (17 Alan Pardew), 8 Paul Gascoigne (9 Chris Waddle), 10 Dennis Wise (12 Kevin Dillon); 9 Chris Waddle (15 Luther Blissett), 11 John Barnes (20 John Salako (16 Kerry Dixon, 79 minutes))

Match report:

I think this was the first time I'd ever been to a testimonial match for a Reading player, and given the statements from John Madejski about the principle of testimonials there's a fair chance that it will also be the last. I suppose it's fair to say that if I do ever get to one then it's appropriate that it should be for a player like Phil Parkinson.

Now I have never been his greatest fan - I've never voted for him in a player of the year competition (or indeed ever come close to doing so), and if you know where to look you can find me on two separate occasions stating in print that he should never play for Reading again. To be fair, both of those were where I said that entire line-ups should never play for us again, and it just so happened that he was the only player to take part in both games.

And that's the point, really. Throught thick and mostly thin, Parky has always been there over the last decade. At a Fans Forum earlier this season, Alan Pardew read out a list of the players brought to Reading in order to replace him, and yet we still haven't managed to do so. This game saw a coming together of the current Reading staff, with players who have played alongside Parkinson in our past, and some big name internationals to celebrate the ten years so far that Phil Parkinson has been involved with Reading Football Club.

At the start of the match, I found it difficult to get too interested. In fact I spent some time trying to work out whether Paul Gascoigne and Kevin Watson had been at Spurs together after the former clattered into our star midfielder. Halfway through the first half things started to get more lively. Anthony Rougier came on as a substitute and showed that he does have a role at Reading - in friendly games he can put on a few tricks. John Salako came on as a substitute for England, and was roundly booed as a reject. He even ended up in the front row of the Lower West Stand after a rather too robust challenge.

Soon after, Reading took the lead with a penalty. It is of course important that every player who has a testimonial has a chance to score, and pretty obviously Parkinson's best chance would be from the spot. Nicky Forster went down in the area under a challenge from Stuart Pearce, allowing Parky to slot the ball under the dive from his old Southampton youth team-mate, Tim Flowers.

The Ex-England team scored a couple of goals soon after that, opening up the Reading defence with a fair amount of ease.

After half-time, the Reading team had changed almost totally. We now had essentially a mid-90s team - one good thing about this was that those fans who constantly clamour for certain past players to return to Reading will surely shut up now. If Archie Lovell is really one of the top players in Scotland, then my previous statements about the quality of football there need to be further lowered, although he did manage to pick up a soft goal. Perhaps top Scottish clubs would struggle against Reading Sunday League sides. There were two exceptions about our former players, though - surprisingly Michael Gilkes still had some of his pace, and also managed to score with a lovely curling shot. More ominously Simon Osborn, currently with one of our opponents next season, showed a lot of skill in midfield, very reminiscent of his short spell with us.

Reading also brought on Jeff Hopkins as a substitute, a man who had flown from Melbourne to be at the game. As I understand it, he and Dylan Kerr are Parkinson's two best friends among Reading players, but I hope Hopkins isn't expecting the favour to be returned any time during the English league season!

The England side made things easy for us by bringing on some old-timers - Alan Pardew at right-back allowed everyone to boo him, particularly when he reminded the East Stand of the score (4-3 to England at the time), whilst John Gorman at left-back showed again just how poor Scottish people are at football.

Towards the end, things got a bit silly, with Dylan Kerr going in goal and Shaka Hislop up front (where he nearly scored, and looked surprisingly good). Then Tim Flowers came on as an outfield sub for England wearing Gascoigne's shirt. Dave Beasant made a fantastic save at some point after that to keep the one goal lead. Ricky Newman made a comeback from injury for the last five minutes, putting a weak shot in that Beasant also saved.

Finally Ryan Wheeler, the young winner of an Evening Post competition came on as a sub for England wearing Dennis Wise's shirt (surprisingly still too big for him), and managed to put the ball past a Kerr non-attempt to save. The result ended 5-3, but obviously no-one really worried about that. Parkinson had managed to be anonymous for most of the game, probably just as well because it meant no heavy challenges on our guests!

Afterwards the Reading players received their Division 2 runners-up medals, and Parky lifted the shield that the club receives. A lap of honour, and the season was finally over.

Match notes:

Ricky Newman made his first appearance in a Reading shirt since 21/4/2001, although clearly has not yet reached full fitness. John Mackie also returned from injury in this game.

To show the quality of the ex-England side, here is how many full caps they have each won:

Tim Flowers - 11
Andy Sinton - 12
Gordon Cowans - 10
Keith Curle - 3
Stuart Pearce - 78
Chris Powell - 5
Jamie Redknapp - 17
Paul Gascoigne - 57
Dennis Wise - 21
Chris Waddle - 62
John Barnes - 79

Dave Beasant - 2
Neil Webb - 26
Luther Blissett - 14
John Salako - 5
Kerry Dixon - 8
Alan Pardew - 0
Kevin Dillon - 0
Ryan Wheeler - 0
John Gorman - 0

Match preview:

The testimonial match for Phil Parkinson is our chance to salute one of the great Reading Football Club servants, and to enjoy ourselves at the same time. Tonight's game will also be another perfect chance to remember the achievements of the season, with the second-rate silverware on offer for Division 2 runners-up being presented to the players after the game.

The match itself will be between the current Reading team (although also featuring some former Reading players) and an ex-England XI managed by John Gorman. Before the main game, and during half-time, there will be a five-a-side match between a "Reading Legends" team and a Celebrity Team.

The list of people turning up to play at these events can always change at the last minute, but whoever is on show it promises to be a good night.

Ticket information:

Tickets went on sale on 31st January. Season ticket holders will have their seats held until 9am on Monday, 1st April - after that date any unsold season ticket seats will go on general sale.

Obviously the bulk of the proceeds will go to the Phil Parkinson Testimonial Fund, but he will donate 10% of the proceeds to the Bobby Moore Fund for Imperial Cancer Research.

To purchase tickets:

(a) Visit the Madejski Stadium ticket office in person between 9am and 5.30pm on Mondays to Fridays, 9am and 4pm on Saturdays, or 9am and half-time on match days (note that it is closed on Sundays).

(b) Ring 0118 968 1000 between 9am and 9pm on Mondays to Saturdays, or 10am to 8pm on Sundays.

(c) Use the on-line booking service to be found on the official Reading FC website. It's in the section called "Ticket News". This operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but you can only use it if you have previously purchased tickets from the club by some other means.

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