05-04-2018, 16:13
Reading Football Club (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ (About this sound listen) RED-ing) is a professional association football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the second tier of English football.
Reading 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 and Palmers. Established in 1871, the club is one of the oldest teams in England, but did not join The Football League until 1920, and had never played in the top tier of English football league system before the 2006–07 season. The club competed in the 2012–13 Premier League season, having gained promotion at the end of the 2011–12 season after winning the Championship, but were relegated after just one season back in the top flight.
The club played at Elm Park for 102 years between 1896 and 1998. In 1998 the club moved to the new Madejski Stadium, which is named after the club's co-chairman Sir John Madejski.
The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985–86 Third Division campaign and also the record for the number of points gained in the professional league season with 106 points in the 2005–06 Football League Championship campaign. Reading then finished eighth in the 2006–07 Premier League, their first ever season as a top flight club.
Six to go as we head to the Madjeski to play the Royals who have had a season to forget, having reached the play off finals last season they have scuttled around the lower reaches of the Championship this season and at one time looked like they were destined for the drop. They decided just before Easter that a change in management was required out went Stam and in came Paul Clement. He won his first game against QPR hanging on with 10 men after Kermorgant getting sent off, Rangers also missed a penalty. On Tuesday at Villa again down to 10 with Dave Edwards going for an early shower. Although they got to the play offs last season thought they were bang average and were not much better when we won 1-0 at the start of the season. They have some decent players Aluko, Swift and on loan Chris Martin and have a bit of pace in the side and will be scrapping for points although think they will be safe given the bottom three are now cast adrift.
Think in the past we beat this lot 18-0 a repeat of that scoreline highly unlikely but would not go amiss.
Who plays in goal for us personally would go with Rudd, would like to see Harrop play also think we've stuck with the same side or therebaouts in the last couple of matches time to get some fresh legs in.
Long day out match blog maybe Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.
Time to have a go nowt to lose.
Stat Attack: Reading
We travel to the Royal County of Berkshire for the 27th time in the league, looking to improve on our record in Reading.
Our hosts have four times as many victories in this fixture as we do (16 to four) whilst only six games have finished all square.
Although we lost the opening game of last season at the Madejski Stadium, we had recorded our first win in Reading for 34 years just four months previously. Jermaine Beckford had given us the lead, only for North End to be pegged back in the 86th minute but then Daniel Johnson popped up with the winner in the second minute of injury time.
Our previous triumph, by 3-2 at Elm Park in 1982, was our third in five matches against the Royals at their previous home, but these were spread over a 52 year period. Having recorded our biggest win to date by a 4-1 scoreline in 1930, we did not meet again until 1971 and then there was to be only two further meetings until that 1982 win for the Lilywhites.
Goals are a regular feature of this fixture, but unfortunately we tend to be on the receiving end. Our 4-1 defeat in 2010 was only the second time we had conceded four times, but prior to that we lost 5-1 in 2003 and our heaviest defeat came in 1990.
Les Chapman’s side found themselves 4-0 down at half-time, but stemmed the flow slightly in the second half to restrict the final scoreline to 6-0. Not the best way to mark his first game in charge of the club for Les, but he did enough in the remainder of the season to secure our place in the third division.
One of Les Chapman’s successors in the manager’s office at Deepdale began his playing career with Reading and later returned for a second spell at Elm Park. Gary Peters joined North End as assistant to John Beck in 1992 and took over the reins when John left the club in 1994.
Gary was of course in charge of our promotion side in 1996 having spent a long career as both a full back and defensive midfielder for various clubs in the south of England. He was a trainee with Aldershot but did not appear for them before eventually finding his way to Reading. He made his debut in 1975 and was a regular for the next four seasons before joining Fulham. After three years at Craven Cottage, he joined the Crazy Game at Wimbledon and after a short spell back at Aldershot, he returned to for another four seasons. In all, he made 294 appearances for the Royals, scoring 12 goals and was North End manager for 102 matches.
On This Date
Bob Kelly made his last appearance for North End on April 7th 1934, having joined us from Huddersfield Town two years previously. An inside forward, Bob had made his debut for Burnley in 1913 and is notable for being one of our oldest debutants ever, being three months short of his 39th birthday when he played in a 3-2 home defeat to Bradford Park Avenue.
Despite his advanced years, Bob spent two years at Deepdale, scoring 19 goals in 84 appearances, but still he wasn’t done, as he went on to play for Carlisle for two seasons before turning his hand to management with the Cumbrian club and later Stockport County.
Michael Robinson made his North End debut as an 18-year-old striker in a 1-0 defeat at Cardiff City on this date. He made a further substitute appearance that season and over the next three years played 54 games in all, scoring 17 times before attracting the attention of Manchester City.
He later played in the FA Cup Final for Brighton and wore the red of Liverpool with distinction before moving to Osasuna in Spain. Long settled in that country, he has established himself as the leading football pundit on television in his adopted land.
Last Five Games At The Madejski Stadium
Reading 1 (Swift) Preston North End 0, 6th August 2016
Reading 1 (Quinn) Preston North End 2 (Beckford and Johnson), 30th April 2016
Reading 2 (Kebe, Robson-Kanu) Preston North End 1 (McCarthy, og), 5th April 2011
Reading 4 (Kebe, McAnuff, Sigurdsson, Church) Preston North End 1 (Wallace), 2nd May 2010
Reading 0 Preston North End 0, 7th February 2009
Ref Watch: Reading
For the third time this season and for the second time versus Reading, Andy Madley will be the match referee for the Lilywhites’ fixture.
Having taken charge of the 1-0 win over the Royals at Deepdale back in August, there has been a bit of a gap since his last game, when we played Ipswich Town at the beginning of November.
He is one of the most familiar faces in terms of match officials for North End fans, as not only did he take charge of five of our games last season, but he also refereed the Play-Off Final win at Wembley in 2015 and our last encounter with local rivals Blackpool – when Tom Clarke wrote his name in PNE folklore.
Last season he was the referee away at Queens Park Rangers, in both games we played at St James’ Park, Newcastle, the away game at Aston Villa in January and the 5-0 home thrashing of Bristol City in April.
He also had the whistle for three PNE games in 2014/15, including the win at Wembley, having been the referee in the first league win of the season, the 4-0 triumph at Scunthorpe United back in August of 2014 and then the live TV game against Fleetwood Town at Highbury in March 2015.
Mr Madley, as mentioned, was also in charge of our now memorable League Cup win over Blackpool in 2013/14 and then at Port Vale when North End won 2-0 with ten men.
This year he has so far officiated 37 games, issuing 112 cautions and just one red card. This is his fourth game in the middle for the Royals this season – as well as the game at Deepdale, he took charge of their loss at Millwall and draw at Bolton Wanderers.
He will be assisted on Saturday by Neil Davies and Lee Venamore and the fourth official will be John Busby.
Our home games are massive!”
Back on home turf this weekend, the Royals will be aiming to put a bit of daylight between themselves and the drop-zone when Preston North End visit.
And for manager Paul Clement, these are the games which are particularly important. On our own patch, he hopes for an atmosphere which replicates the QPR meeting last weekend... and a result to match!
“We move forward quickly – we’ll recover from Aston Villa and move on to Preston,” Clement said. “We want to play well, get the fans behind us again and get the right result.
“The home games are massive. You have the advantage of your fans getting right behind you, and it’s familiar territory for the players. So we need to take advantage of that.
“The next game comes around very fast. It’s a winnable game for us.
“My confidence hasn’t been damaged, and I’ll make sure that transmits to the players. The players have got to focus on the right performance on Saturday now.
“I really hope that the fans turn up again in numbers and get behind the team, because they really helped in the last game against QPR. We’ll need that help again on Saturday.”
Make sure you’re here for a vital match against the Lilywhites – hit the banner below for ticket information.
Reading 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 and Palmers. Established in 1871, the club is one of the oldest teams in England, but did not join The Football League until 1920, and had never played in the top tier of English football league system before the 2006–07 season. The club competed in the 2012–13 Premier League season, having gained promotion at the end of the 2011–12 season after winning the Championship, but were relegated after just one season back in the top flight.
The club played at Elm Park for 102 years between 1896 and 1998. In 1998 the club moved to the new Madejski Stadium, which is named after the club's co-chairman Sir John Madejski.
The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985–86 Third Division campaign and also the record for the number of points gained in the professional league season with 106 points in the 2005–06 Football League Championship campaign. Reading then finished eighth in the 2006–07 Premier League, their first ever season as a top flight club.
Six to go as we head to the Madjeski to play the Royals who have had a season to forget, having reached the play off finals last season they have scuttled around the lower reaches of the Championship this season and at one time looked like they were destined for the drop. They decided just before Easter that a change in management was required out went Stam and in came Paul Clement. He won his first game against QPR hanging on with 10 men after Kermorgant getting sent off, Rangers also missed a penalty. On Tuesday at Villa again down to 10 with Dave Edwards going for an early shower. Although they got to the play offs last season thought they were bang average and were not much better when we won 1-0 at the start of the season. They have some decent players Aluko, Swift and on loan Chris Martin and have a bit of pace in the side and will be scrapping for points although think they will be safe given the bottom three are now cast adrift.
Think in the past we beat this lot 18-0 a repeat of that scoreline highly unlikely but would not go amiss.
Who plays in goal for us personally would go with Rudd, would like to see Harrop play also think we've stuck with the same side or therebaouts in the last couple of matches time to get some fresh legs in.
Long day out match blog maybe Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.
Time to have a go nowt to lose.
Stat Attack: Reading
We travel to the Royal County of Berkshire for the 27th time in the league, looking to improve on our record in Reading.
Our hosts have four times as many victories in this fixture as we do (16 to four) whilst only six games have finished all square.
Although we lost the opening game of last season at the Madejski Stadium, we had recorded our first win in Reading for 34 years just four months previously. Jermaine Beckford had given us the lead, only for North End to be pegged back in the 86th minute but then Daniel Johnson popped up with the winner in the second minute of injury time.
Our previous triumph, by 3-2 at Elm Park in 1982, was our third in five matches against the Royals at their previous home, but these were spread over a 52 year period. Having recorded our biggest win to date by a 4-1 scoreline in 1930, we did not meet again until 1971 and then there was to be only two further meetings until that 1982 win for the Lilywhites.
Goals are a regular feature of this fixture, but unfortunately we tend to be on the receiving end. Our 4-1 defeat in 2010 was only the second time we had conceded four times, but prior to that we lost 5-1 in 2003 and our heaviest defeat came in 1990.
Les Chapman’s side found themselves 4-0 down at half-time, but stemmed the flow slightly in the second half to restrict the final scoreline to 6-0. Not the best way to mark his first game in charge of the club for Les, but he did enough in the remainder of the season to secure our place in the third division.
One of Les Chapman’s successors in the manager’s office at Deepdale began his playing career with Reading and later returned for a second spell at Elm Park. Gary Peters joined North End as assistant to John Beck in 1992 and took over the reins when John left the club in 1994.
Gary was of course in charge of our promotion side in 1996 having spent a long career as both a full back and defensive midfielder for various clubs in the south of England. He was a trainee with Aldershot but did not appear for them before eventually finding his way to Reading. He made his debut in 1975 and was a regular for the next four seasons before joining Fulham. After three years at Craven Cottage, he joined the Crazy Game at Wimbledon and after a short spell back at Aldershot, he returned to for another four seasons. In all, he made 294 appearances for the Royals, scoring 12 goals and was North End manager for 102 matches.
On This Date
Bob Kelly made his last appearance for North End on April 7th 1934, having joined us from Huddersfield Town two years previously. An inside forward, Bob had made his debut for Burnley in 1913 and is notable for being one of our oldest debutants ever, being three months short of his 39th birthday when he played in a 3-2 home defeat to Bradford Park Avenue.
Despite his advanced years, Bob spent two years at Deepdale, scoring 19 goals in 84 appearances, but still he wasn’t done, as he went on to play for Carlisle for two seasons before turning his hand to management with the Cumbrian club and later Stockport County.
Michael Robinson made his North End debut as an 18-year-old striker in a 1-0 defeat at Cardiff City on this date. He made a further substitute appearance that season and over the next three years played 54 games in all, scoring 17 times before attracting the attention of Manchester City.
He later played in the FA Cup Final for Brighton and wore the red of Liverpool with distinction before moving to Osasuna in Spain. Long settled in that country, he has established himself as the leading football pundit on television in his adopted land.
Last Five Games At The Madejski Stadium
Reading 1 (Swift) Preston North End 0, 6th August 2016
Reading 1 (Quinn) Preston North End 2 (Beckford and Johnson), 30th April 2016
Reading 2 (Kebe, Robson-Kanu) Preston North End 1 (McCarthy, og), 5th April 2011
Reading 4 (Kebe, McAnuff, Sigurdsson, Church) Preston North End 1 (Wallace), 2nd May 2010
Reading 0 Preston North End 0, 7th February 2009
Ref Watch: Reading
For the third time this season and for the second time versus Reading, Andy Madley will be the match referee for the Lilywhites’ fixture.
Having taken charge of the 1-0 win over the Royals at Deepdale back in August, there has been a bit of a gap since his last game, when we played Ipswich Town at the beginning of November.
He is one of the most familiar faces in terms of match officials for North End fans, as not only did he take charge of five of our games last season, but he also refereed the Play-Off Final win at Wembley in 2015 and our last encounter with local rivals Blackpool – when Tom Clarke wrote his name in PNE folklore.
Last season he was the referee away at Queens Park Rangers, in both games we played at St James’ Park, Newcastle, the away game at Aston Villa in January and the 5-0 home thrashing of Bristol City in April.
He also had the whistle for three PNE games in 2014/15, including the win at Wembley, having been the referee in the first league win of the season, the 4-0 triumph at Scunthorpe United back in August of 2014 and then the live TV game against Fleetwood Town at Highbury in March 2015.
Mr Madley, as mentioned, was also in charge of our now memorable League Cup win over Blackpool in 2013/14 and then at Port Vale when North End won 2-0 with ten men.
This year he has so far officiated 37 games, issuing 112 cautions and just one red card. This is his fourth game in the middle for the Royals this season – as well as the game at Deepdale, he took charge of their loss at Millwall and draw at Bolton Wanderers.
He will be assisted on Saturday by Neil Davies and Lee Venamore and the fourth official will be John Busby.
Our home games are massive!”
Back on home turf this weekend, the Royals will be aiming to put a bit of daylight between themselves and the drop-zone when Preston North End visit.
And for manager Paul Clement, these are the games which are particularly important. On our own patch, he hopes for an atmosphere which replicates the QPR meeting last weekend... and a result to match!
“We move forward quickly – we’ll recover from Aston Villa and move on to Preston,” Clement said. “We want to play well, get the fans behind us again and get the right result.
“The home games are massive. You have the advantage of your fans getting right behind you, and it’s familiar territory for the players. So we need to take advantage of that.
“The next game comes around very fast. It’s a winnable game for us.
“My confidence hasn’t been damaged, and I’ll make sure that transmits to the players. The players have got to focus on the right performance on Saturday now.
“I really hope that the fans turn up again in numbers and get behind the team, because they really helped in the last game against QPR. We’ll need that help again on Saturday.”
Make sure you’re here for a vital match against the Lilywhites – hit the banner below for ticket information.
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?