Reading F.C.

Reading F.C.

Full name	Reading Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Royals
Founded	1871
Ground	Madejski Stadium Reading (Capacity: 24,224)
Chairman	John Madejski
Manager	Brian McDermott
League	The Championship
2009–10	The Championship, 9th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Reading Football Club (pronounced /ˈrɛdɪŋ/) is an association football club, based in the English town of Reading, in Berkshire, who play in the The Championship. Formed in 1871, the club is one of the oldest teams in England, but did not join the Football League until 1920, and never played in the top tier of English football until the 2006–07 season.

The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season (13 wins at the start of the 1985-86 Third Division campaign) and also the record for the number of points gained in a professional league season (106 points in the 2005-06 Football League Championship campaign). Reading finished champions of their division on both of these occasions.

Since 1998 they have played at the Madejski Stadiumwhich is named after the clubs chairman Sir John Madejski, on the outskirts of Reading. Prior to this they played at Elm Park for 102 years. They are nicknamed The Royals, due to Reading's location in the Royal County of Berkshire, though they were previously known as The Biscuitmen, due to the town's association with Huntley & Palmers. The crest design is based on the club colours, blue and white, a crown representing royal sovereignty for the County of Berkshire and an image of Reading's most famous landmark, the Maiwand Lion.

The club is chaired by John Madejski (who bought the club in 1991). The current manager is ex-chief scout and physio Brian McDermott, who was appointed as manager on 27 January 2010 after taking over as caretaker manager following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers on 16 December 2009. ^[1]

History

The early years

Reading F.C. were formed in 1871. They were originally nicknamed The Biscuitmen after one of the main trades in the town, Huntley & Palmers biscuits, but changed to the Royals in the 1970s, when the company closed their factory^[2]. This history is reflected in the name of the club's unofficial fanzine, Hob Nob Anyone?, named after a popular British biscuit.

The club played at Reading Recreation Ground until 1878, before moving on to Reading Cricket Ground (1878–1882), Coley Park (1882–1889) and Caversham Cricket Ground (1889–1896).

The Elm Park years

The last competitive match at Elm Park, against Norwich City

The switch to professionalism in 1895 resulted in the need for a bigger ground and, to this end, the club moved again, to the purpose-built Elm Park on 5 September 1896. When Reading eventually left Elm Park in 1998, it had a capacity of 15,500.

In 1913 Reading toured Italy and beat Genoa 4-2 and A.C. Milan 5-0, narrowly lost 2-1 to Casale, before beating Italian champions Pro Vercelli 6-0 and the full Italian national team 2-0, prompting the leading sports newspaper Corriere della Sera to write "without doubt, Reading FC are the finest foreign team seen in Italy." Reading were invited back for another tour the following year, but there is no evidence it took place. It is possible it was cancelled due to the imminence of World War I, which claimed the lives of many Reading F.C. players, including Alan Foster, who put a hat-trick past Milan.^[3]

Reading were elected to the Third Division of the Football League in 1920, and have spent the majority of the time since then in the third and fourth tiers of the league, with occasional flirtations with the second tier.

Reading's best performance in the FA Cup came in 1926–27 when they lost to eventual winners Cardiff City in the semi-final. The side's moment of cup glory came in 1988 when they won the Simod Cup, beating a number of top flight sides en-route to their Wembley win over Luton Town.

Reading were promoted to the Second Division as champions in 1986 under the management of Ian Branfoot, but were relegated back to the Third Division in 1988. Branfoot left in October 1989, having failed to get the Royals back into the Second Division. His successor, Ian Porterfield, lasted just 18 months before further failures cost him his job. The appointment of Mark McGhee as player-manager, shortly after the takeover by John Madejski, in June 1991 saw Reading move forward.

They were crowned champions of the new Division Two in 1994 and, when McGhee moved to Leicester City halfway through the following season, Reading were in contention for a second successive promotion. 35-year-old striker Jimmy Quinn was put in charge of the first team alongside midfielder Mick Gooding and guided Reading to runners-up in the final Division One table — only to be denied automatic promotion because of the streamlining of the Premier League, from 22 teams to 20. Reading had eased past Tranmere Rovers in the play-off semi-finals and looked to have booked their place in the Premier League after building up a 2-0 lead over Bolton Wanderers by half time in the final. Two late goals from Bolton forced extra time and the match ended 4-3 to Bolton. Quinn and Gooding's contracts were not renewed two years later after Reading had slid into the bottom half of Division One.

Their successor, Terry Bullivant, lasted less than one season before being sacked in March 1998. The Royals finished that season bottom of Division One and slipped into Division Two.

Move to Madejski Stadium

1998 also saw Reading move into the new 24,200 all-seater Madejski Stadium, named after chairman, John Madejski. Tommy Burns had taken over from Terry Bullivant but lasted just 18 months before being replaced by Alan Pardew who had previously been reserve team manager before being released. In 2001, Reading became the first football club to register their fans as an official member of their squad, giving the "player" registered with squad number 13 as 'Reading Fans'.^[4][5].

Reading returned to Division One in 2002–03 after finishing runners-up in Division Two. The following season they finished fourth in Division One and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost in the semi-final to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Pardew acrimoniously moved to West Ham United the following October and was replaced by Brighton & Hove Albion's Steve Coppell. Coppell took the Royals to seventh in the Football League Championship, missing out on a place in the play-offs by three points. Reading won the 2005–06 Championship with a league record 106 points, scoring 99 goals and losing only twice.^[6] They were promoted to English football's top division for the first time in their history.

The 2006–07 season saw Reading make their first appearance in the top flight of English football. Striker Dave Kitson became the first player to score for Reading in the Premier League, in a 3–2 win against Middlesbrough^[7] The Royals defied pre-season predictions of relegation to finish the season in eighth place with 55 points. Reading turned down the chance to play in the Intertoto Cup. The club's top scorer in the league was Kevin Doyle with 13 goals, while top scorer overall was Leroy Lita with 14.

In the run up to their second season in the Premier League, Reading took part in the 2007 Peace Cup in South Korea, playing River Plate, Lyon and Shimizu S-Pulse, but failing to qualify for the final on goal difference.^[8] This second season was less successful and Reading were relegated back to the Championship following a terrible loss of form in the second half of the season, before which they had looked set for a mid table finish. Their 7–4 defeat to Portsmouth remains the Premier League's highest aggregate score.

Reading started the 2008–09 season with 15 match unbeaten home run until losing to Southampton. In the second half of the season, they struggled to regain the form and slipped down the table before recovering to finish fourth and qualify for the play-offs^[9], where they lost to Burnley in the semi-final. This spelled the end of Steve Coppell's five and a half year reign as manager of the club, as he quit the club just hours after the game.^[10] He was replaced by Brendan Rodgers^[11], who left the club by mutual consent on 16 December 2009 - Brian McDermott, who has filled a number of roles at the club, was announced as caretaker manager on the same day. ^[12]

Players

As of 31 August 2010^[13]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Adam Federici 2 DF Andy Griffin 3 DF Marcus Williams 4 MF Jem Karacan 5 DF Matthew Mills (vice-captain) 6 MF Brynjar Gunnarsson 7 MF Jay Tabb 9 FW Shane Long 10 FW Noel Hunt 11 MF Jobi McAnuff 14 MF Jimmy Kébé 16 DF Ívar Ingimarsson (club captain) 17 MF Michail Antonio 18 FW Simon Church 19 MF Hal Robson-Kanu 20 MF Brian Howard 22 DF Julian Kelly

No. Position Player 24 DF Shaun Cummings 25 MF Jake Taylor 26 DF Alex Pearce 27 MF Scott Davies 29 FW Nicholas Bignall 32 FW Jacob Walcott 33 DF Chris Armstrong 35 DF Michael Hector 36 DF Jack Mills 37 MF Jordan Obita 38 MF James Rowe 40 MF Lawson D'Ath 41 GK Alex McCarthy 42 GK Simon Locke 44 DF Danny Joyce — DF Ian Harte — DF Zurab Khizanishvili (on loan from Blackburn Rovers)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 12 FW Dave Mooney (at Colchester United until 5 February 2011)[14] 21 GK Ben Hamer (at Brentford until 31 January 2010)[15] 30 MF Abdulai Bell-Baggie (at Port Vale until 13 September 2010)[16] 31 GK Mikkel Andersen (at Bristol Rovers until 2 September 2010)[17]

Notable former players

Player of the Season

Notable former players

In 1999 Reading F.C. commissioned a poll of the supporters' "Player of the Millennium", to determine the club's best ever player. The top ten were:^[18]
However, Reading's most successful period in their history to date was from 2005-2008, when they won promotion to the Premier League. Therefore, many other notable players, such as Kevin Doyle are not included in the poll.

Club officials

Board of Directors & Senior club staff

• Chief Executive - Nigel Howe
• Commercial Director - Pat Coyne
• Club Secretary - Sue Hewitt
• Financial Controller - Bryan Stabler
• Directors - Sir John Madejski (Chairman) & Ian Wood-Smith (non-executive director)

Management team

• Manager - Brian McDermott
• Caretaker Assistant Manager - Nigel Gibbs
• Goalkeeper Coach - Sal Bibbo
• Coach - Nigel Gibbs
• Director of football - Nick Hammond
• Football Consultant - Vacant
• Head of scout operations - Steve Shorey
• Reserve team manager/ Academy Manager - Eamonn Dolan
• Reserve team assistant manager/ Academy Coach - Michael Wallace
• Head physio - Luke Anthony
• Assistant physio - Dan Buchanan
• Football Physiologist - Karl Halabi
• Kitman - Selby Armstrong

Honours and achievements

• Football League Championship: 1
  

2006, runners-up 1995

• Football League Second Division: 1
  

1994, runners-up 2002

• Football League Third Division and Third Division South: 2
  

1926, 1986, runners-up 1932, 1935, 1949, 1952

• Football League Fourth Division: 1
  

1979

• Full Members Cup: 1
  

1988

• London War Cup: 1
  

1940-41

• Football League Third Division South Cup: 1
  

1938

• FA Cup:
  

Semi-finalists 1927

• Football League Cup:
  

Quarter-finalists 1996, 1998

• Highest league finish:

Premier League 2007, 8th Place

Managerial honours

• LMA Manager of the Year Steve Coppell 2005-06, 2006-07

Records

• Longest winning sequence at the start of a season: 13 victories in 1985–86.
• The first of the clubs who joined the Football League in 1920–22 to score 5000 League goals. Adrian Williams scored the 5000th against Wycombe in September 2000 but, due to a miscalculation, the framed certificate went to Darius Henderson who got the 5001st
• Most points in a single season in any English professional league: 106 points (2005–06)^[19]
• Reading have lost the two highest scoring matches in the history of the Premier League; Portsmouth 7 Reading 4, 29 September 2007 and Tottenham Hotspur 6 Reading 4, 29 December 2007. Both matches took place in the same season.
• Most FA Cup defeats of any current Football League team.
• Longest unbeaten run in English football's second tier - 33 matches (2005–06)
• Worst ever start to a game by a team in English football - three goals conceded after 5 minutes and 41 seconds v. Manchester United, FA Cup Fifth round replay 2007.^[20]

Between 18 August 1979 and 31 January 2009, Reading's Steve Death held the Football League record for the longest time without conceding a league goal, at 1,103 minutes, and comprising 11 consecutive clean sheets. On 31 January 2009, Edwin van der Sar, of Manchester United, passed Death's long-standing mark in the 72nd minute of United's home league match with Everton. At the end of that game, van der Sar had achieved 1,122 minutes of league football without conceding a goal. However, Death retained the Football League record, as the Premier League is not part of the Football League.

Club records

• Biggest win: 10-2 v Crystal Palace (4 September 1946, Football League Third Division)
• Greatest defeat: 18-0 v Preston North End (27 January 1894, FA Cup R1)
• Most successive league defeats: 8 (27 December 2007 to 24 February 2008)
• Most capped player (while at Reading): Kevin Doyle (25 Irish caps)
• Most league appearances: Martin Hicks (500, 1978 to 1991)
• Most league goals: Ronnie Blackman (158, 1947 to 1954)
• Most league goals in a season: Ronnie Blackman (39, 1951-52)
• Most league goals in a game: Arthur Bacon (6 vs. Stoke City, 1930-31)
• Record transfer fee paid: £2.5m Emerse Fae from Nantes^[21]
• Record transfer fee received: £7.0m Gylfi Sigurdsson to 1899 Hoffenheim on 31 August 2010
• First Reading-based player to play in World Cup: U.S. international Bobby Convey (2006)

Managerial history

Managers in italics were hired as caretakers.

Rivalry

Before going out of business in 1992, Aldershot were Reading's biggest rivals ^[22][23]. There was a strong rift between the two sets of fans, with riots between fans occurring on several occasions. Strong feelings persist between fans of Reading and fans of Aldershot Town, the refounded club in Aldershot. With Aldershot Town rejoining the league in 2008, it remains to be seen whether this traditional rivalry will be reestablished.

During Aldershot's exile, Reading's main local rivalries were with Oxford United and Swindon Town. When the three teams had shared a division, their rivalry was referred to as the "Didcot Triangle".^[24] However, the rivalry between Oxford and Swindon is far stronger than between either of the two and Reading, partly due to them both spending most of the last 6–7 years in lower divisions than Reading ^[25].

Reading also have a special rivalry with the other blue and white hoops team QPR, with both teams branding the other as the "fake hoops", matches between these teams are always hotly contested and very entertaining.

Famous supporters

There are few famous confirmed supporters of Reading. However, notable inclusions are:

• Reading-born actress Kate Winslet, who revealed that she and her family are keen Reading followers in a letter to Reading FC Fanzine "The Whiff".
• Radio broadcaster and television presenter Chris Tarrant^[26].
• Musician Mike Oldfield^[27] of Tubular Bells fame.
• Author and cricket commentator John Arlott.^[28]
• Musician Simon Gallup, long serving bass guitarist of The Cure, draped a team flag over his amp while playing in Sydney Australia during the band's 2007 tour. He also draped a flag over his amp at Coachella 2009.
• Boxer Michael Sprott ^[29].
• TV Golf Analyst and former professional golfer Richard Boxall
• Irwin Sparkes, lead singer and guitarist of The Hoosiers, originally from Reading.
• Andrew Peach, BBC Radio 2 Broadcaster
• Bill Oddie, English actor, writer, comedian, natural history presenter and musician.
• Reading born Director and Comedian Ricky Gervais has also revealed that he is a keen supporter.

Reading Women

Reading began their association with women's football when it affiliated with Reading Royals LFC (previously Twyford Comets) in 1988. In May 2006, Reading ended this affiliation and started their own women's team, Reading FC Women.^[30] In their very first season they achieved a Southern Region Women's Football League and Cup double^[31] and were promoted to the South West Combination Women's Football League. They followed this with an unbeaten 2007/8 League season to gain promotion to the Premier League Northern Division (in which they are competing due to an overload at the Southern).

References

External links

• Reading F.C. official web site
• Reading F.C. official photographic collection and sales site
• STAR - Supporters Trust at Reading
• Reading F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News – Recent results – Upcoming fixtures – Club stats
• Readingfootballclub.co.uk - All the latest news about Reading Football Club