Old Reading Footage on VHS/film/Youtube

[comeonyouroyals]

Fantastic. That West Ham game was a cracker. Good old Repka

This one's even better - check out 6 mins - the look on the face of the thieving bastard is fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlkQEK4E9-k

Amazign to think they had Carlos Tevesz on the bench that day. His pose was exactly the same as last night at Eastlands - only the eyes visible.

And Mascherno on the bench or not even in the squad.

[strap]

Fantastic work strap.. I remember thinking at that West Ham game I didn't care if Kitson didn't score another goal for us, he'd become a legend anyway... Didn't he get a hat-trick against them the next season at home?

Cheeres Ian. You are right about the next season. Sadly RFC in their wisdom saw fit NOT to produce a DVD of 2004-05. I haven't found a link to it, but this was from a some dopey Sham site, which tickled me.

Bywater was this reporter's MoM, which just about sums up how bad Wet Sham were! Fantastic game, took the boys and we sang ourselves hoarse! Truth is, 6-0 wouldn't have flattered us!

When I was a kid there was one sure fire thing that would make me hide behind the sofa. I was always to be found there when the Cybermen appeared on Doctor Who.

Today, we witnessed something even more horrific at the Madejski Stadium, yet there was nowhere to hide. All we could do was stand - I mean sit - there and watch the total and abject humiliation of our club.

We all knew what was at stake here. This was the return of Pardew, the non-prodigal son to his former employers, a team that had not won in thirteen, yes, thirteen games in the League. A team, though, that was level on points with us in what has now become a free for all scrap for a play off place. This team, by the way, had also only scored 6 goals in those thirteen games.

We needed something out of this game after two defeats on the bounce and a very poor performance at home against Preston. We had been promised by the manager as well that we would do better.

Promises, promises

This is what Pardew said before the match, “There will be thousands of Hammers fans at the Madejski Stadium looking to see their team get back on the promotion chase and it’s up to me and the players to make that happen and make sure that they’re satisfied. We’ve got to perform better than we did against Preston. This is a really big game for us, but the same can be said for every game between now and the end of the season.”

That was nothing but empty rhetoric, because rather than improve, we went significantly backwards. Pardew can talk the talk but he is not walking the walk.

Unlike various reports I have heard, the vast majority of the Irons traveling support did not join in with the Royals fans baying for Pardew’s dismissal, but believe me, the temptation was great for each and everyone of us.

Makeshift defence

The obvious fear about the team that started the game was the makeshift look about the defence. Hayden Mullins and the poorly performing Malky in central defence is enough to give anybody the jitters, and the newly acquired Shaun Newton also had to start down the right due to Tom’s suspension. In midfield, there was Lomas and Fletch in the middle, with the returning Mark Noble down the right and Matty down the left. Teddy was left on the bench and Marlon and Z-man started up front.

From the outset it was clear that they were up for this much more than we were. On 4 minutes with the chants of “Pardew out” and “Stand up if you hate Pardew” ringing around the ground, a corner by Little saw a poor clearance by arrive at the feet of Newman. He hit a sweet volley which beat the diving Bywater hands down, but the ball hit the foot of the post square on and bounced out.

On 9 minutes, Shaun Newton – who looked quite decent coming forward but indifferent in his defensive duties today – hit a nice crossfield pass, which probably amounted to the sum total of passes completed by West Ham in the entire first half.


Set piece mugging No. 1

Then on 13 minutes the first set piece mugging of the day took place. A free kick was awarded to the left of the penalty box right in front of the West Ham fans. The so-called offence looked like a con of the linesman by Morgan under a challenge from Malky. Shorey stood up and hit a good free kick but Mullins was effortlessly out jumped by the ginger headed Kitson to nod powerfully down and into the goal at point blank range.

This was hopeless defending and there has to be some real questions asked about the wisdom of putting Mullins in that position in the first place. He may be inexperienced, but surely Elliot Ward would have brought some much needed height into the defence and Mullins has hardly been showing much of late to justify inclusion.

The next passage of play saw us largely under siege as Morgan, Little and Kitson all looked dangerous every time they got the ball to feet. Reading were passing the ball around fluently, unlike West Ham whose answer was the aimless hoof upfield. The one exception was a nice ball from Noble out to Chris Powell on 23 minutes, but Marlon made a complete mess of a free header from Powell’s cross. It went sideways instead of goalwards.

Set piece mugging No. 2

Three minutes later we were two down after a corner was won immediately after Kitson had what looked like a good shout for a penalty after Bywater dived at his feet. The corner from the right was provided by Shorey and he found the head of Morgan who was far quicker to react than the lethargic Malky. Kitson was waiting at the back post and lunged forward to head it into the net over Shaun Newton who was defending the far post.

This second goal led to a new anti-Pardew chant from the Reading fans, “You’re worse than Mark McGhee” (Reading’s manager in the early 1990’s). This was totally the wrong chant in my view. If it had been, “You’re worse than Lou Macari”, I might have joined in.

Marlon failed again with a header on 33 minutes following a corner and the main answer we had to continued Reading pressure was to punt the ball forward with no particular objective in mind at all. The ball kept coming back at us, but Reading’s style was about accurate, quick passes that had us floundering and consequently winning a succession of corners (eight in the first half compared to our two). They were coming at us down both flanks and we were struggling to contain them.

Saved by the whistle

The whistle for half time was a relief, as I am not sure that we would have held on for much longer. West Ham were simply not playing anything resembling football. The only response to Reading was the long ball, and Zamora in particular was having one of those days where his touch had deserted him. The typical ball went high and long, Z-man failed to hold it and Reading would build for another break. We had no width in our game and Matty in particular looked totally disinterested in the game. On the few occasions when he got the ball, he had no desire whatsoever to try and take the defender on.

Fletch – who had taken a knock in the first half – was replaced at half time by Chadders and it was him that showed something a little more encouraging on 50 minutes when he made a good run, but his shot was straight at the Reading keeper Hahnemann. But Chadders than turned from hero to zero a minute later as he failed to make a pass which sent Reading on an incisive break. Little, who just could not be handled today by our defence, made a clever pass which left Sidwell clear on goal, but he blasted wastefully over.

How much time does he need?

West Ham managed another rare shot on goal on 53 minutes after Marlon hit a first time ball following a chest down by Zamora, but three minutes later Zamora dwelt on a ball too long in the centre circle to allow another Reading attack down the right flank. Mullins had to clear a dangerous cross from almost under the crossbar.

Any hope of a revival – and that hope was minuscule given the inept and insipid first half performance - was snuffed out three minutes short of the hour, when West Ham got caught down the right. Morgan got free and hit a powerful shot which Bywater did well to stop, but on the second time of asking Kitson got hold of the loose ball to smash it into the back of the net.

Almost from the restart, Matty went close with a shot as the ball came out to him outside the box following some good work by Chadders and Marlon. He looked very disappointed to miss the target, but that just about summed up his day, which looked very similar to his poor performance against Preston.

Marlon goes missing

Zamora, whose contribution had been virtually non-existent, was replaced on 61 minutes by Teddy, but this was a change that was hardly going to get us anywhere near on terms. He did manage a nice through ball on 65 minutes to find Marlon free, but he hit an appalling sliced shot when he had found some space. This was one of the worst displays I have seen from Marlon and with no spark of inspiration anywhere, the team just looked completely demoralised.

It could have easily been 4-0 on 72 minutes as Kitson was allowed to find space again from another corner. He was having one of the easiest days this season and we were doing absolutely nothing about it. This time, however, Bywater saved well down low although for one split second it looked that the ball would spill out. Kitson broke free again on 73 minutes, but Bywater saved again.

Unlikely goal

Mark Noble – who has not looked as good as he did prior to his injury – managed a shot on goal on 78 minutes and with eight minutes of normal time left Teddy popped up with an unlikely goal as Newton ran into the box and Marlon had a shot blocked. He hit the rebound sweetly into the bottom right hand corner.

Elliot Ward was thrown on as an extra striker for a final assault, when in reality he should have come on at half time to try and put some height into our besieged defence. Surely Pardew knew what to expect from the likes of Shorey and co. If he didn’t the first half gave him a bit of a clue.

It was all too late and a miserable game came to an end just after a few of the traveling fans gave a rather pitiful chorus of “Paolo di Canio”. I’m not sure what sparked that, but it felt like a half-hearted attempt to inject some cheer into a dire afternoon. A distant memory of happier times when we used to be entertained rather than put on suicide watch. It had the effect of depressing me further as it just seemed to underline the gulf - a Grand Canyon - in class between the silky skills of the Italian master and the absolute garbage that was served up today.

It could have been worse

It would have not been a surprise if we had gone down by five or six today, as Reading certainly had the chances. Prior to Xmas, I felt that Pardew had lost the plot, but there was also little doubt that the club was in no position to do anything about the floundering manager. Once again, the ‘Micawber strategy’ (“Something will turn up”) of the Brown regime has been exposed for all to see. To misquote Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - and like Dud, I say this with all the dignity I can muster - “Is this a way to run a f*cking football club?” We now have ten games left to try and rescue something out of this season, but we have all the signs of being in free fall.

On the way back from the game, we heard the usual classic defence of Pardew on the radio phone-ins, which is all about the “unrealistic” expectations of the fans and the fact that the club has lost all of its talent. Well, the West Ham fans I know are not unrealistic. What they want to see is decent passing football. They want to see a decent squad of players actually perform to their undoubted abilities. They want to see some spirit and fight, some emotion in the team. They also want to see a leader on the park, someone taking responsibility.

Emotion? That is illogical, Captain

Funnily enough, the departure of Kevin Keegan raises an interesting point here. Simply put, some of the debate has been about whether football has changed to the degree that emotion is no longer enough, as successful football clubs require technical ability and the right system. The answer is probably that you need to have both. Pardew to me – and this was evident in the po-faced interview he gave after the game – sounds like Spok. He’s like an extra from I, Robot.

For f*ck’s sake Alan, put the text books away and inject some spirit into the team. You don’t look angry enough to me and you need to stick some posters up on the wall of Julian Dicks, Billy Bonds and Stuart Pearce. It’s time to kick ar*e. “Moore than just a football club” just doesn’t do it for me.

As for that other point about the club losing its talent and still being in recovery mode, the time for that excuse has long passed. It’s the footballing equivalent of Tony Blair blaming the continuing ills of the nation on the Thatcher Government. We’ve moved on and we deserve a lot better performance from the resources at the manager’s disposal than the clueless, dismal exhibition we had to suffer today.

[papereyes]

Brilliant

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

nice Pigtails.

[strap]

Brilliant

I know it's in the past, and I know I shouldn't, but I absolutely loathe, detest and hate The Sham. When I was a kid collecting football programmes like some kids collect stamps, The Sham were my "second team" after RFC. Their programme was small, but had about 36 pages, crammed full of stats, info, and not a single advert in sight. Of course ut helped they had the likes of Moore, Peters, Hurst et al.

Sadly, after the lying, thieving, scheming, coniving bastard Brooking stole Judas from us, I have had a pathological hatred of the man and the club.

I SO wish someone would unearth the taped interview of Brooking with Ray Stubbs on Football Focus, where, on LIVE TV, the charlatan actually said these words about The Sham's attempts to entice Judas from his contract : "We've tried the legal approach to get 'our' man. That didn't work, so we'll now try the illegal approach". Ray Stubbs couldn't believe what he was hearing, and IIRC tried to backtrack on Brooking's behalf, but the bastard was adamant he was going to get Judas and nothing as tawdry as a contract with a little club like RFC was going to stop him.

This remember, from a Knight of the Realm, and a Director of the FA!!!!

My oxf*rd arse Brooking you oxf*rd pcunt of a bastard!!!!

I would LOVE to get hold of a copy of that interview and post it on YouTube , sending a copy to the FA and asking for their comments!!!

Yes, it's old hat, old news, I should get over it, but everytime I see that pcunts face I want to put my size 10's through the bloody TV screen!!!!!

[Pete10]

Strap have you got footage Reading v Brentford easter saturday 93/93 promotion season . Jimmy Quin scored
, Last minute winner.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Strap have you got footage Reading v Brentford easter saturday 93/93 promotion season . Jimmy Quin scored
, Last minute winner.

wasn't that game in Feb 94? must have been a bloody early easter that year

[Ian Royal]

Brilliant

I know it's in the past, and I know I shouldn't, but I absolutely loathe, detest and hate The Sham. When I was a kid collecting football programmes like some kids collect stamps, The Sham were my "second team" after RFC. Their programme was small, but had about 36 pages, crammed full of stats, info, and not a single advert in sight. Of course ut helped they had the likes of Moore, Peters, Hurst et al.

Sadly, after the lying, thieving, scheming, coniving bastard Brooking stole Judas from us, I have had a pathological hatred of the man and the club.

I SO wish someone would unearth the taped interview of Brooking with Ray Stubbs on Football Focus, where, on LIVE TV, the charlatan actually said these words about The Sham's attempts to entice Judas from his contract : "We've tried the legal approach to get 'our' man. That didn't work, so we'll now try the illegal approach". Ray Stubbs couldn't believe what he was hearing, and IIRC tried to backtrack on Brooking's behalf, but the bastard was adamant he was going to get Judas and nothing as tawdry as a contract with a little club like RFC was going to stop him.

This remember, from a Knight of the Realm, and a Director of the FA!!!!

My oxf*rd arse Brooking you oxf*rd pcunt of a bastard!!!!

I would LOVE to get hold of a copy of that interview and post it on YouTube , sending a copy to the FA and asking for their comments!!!

Yes, it's old hat, old news, I should get over it, but everytime I see that pcunts face I want to put my size 10's through the bloody TV screen!!!!!

Erm Strap... that's not actually what Brooking said, so I wouldn't quote it if I were you.

It's essentially what he implied, but he said it in at least a slightly more veiled way, even if it was blatantly obvious what he meant and made the others uncomfortable.

[Pete10]

Your right got my dates mixed up whoops.

[royalsteve]

Ive got quite a bit of footage taped of TV an VHA tapes from the early 90s

I taped most of the Reading goals off Coasts to Coast and the like from 1991-95, (with added extras from the Goldstone and The Dell!).

I want to upload this to DVD, or a format where i can upload to my PC. Any advice? I know someone on here has uploaded footage from the record breaking Royals video.

the 91-93 period if great viewing as the club didnt release end of season videos for that period. Some great footage of Slough away in 91 and Senior's last game in 92. Also have these games in full:

Reading v Brum FAC 92
Reading v Orient FAC 92
Reading v Wolves 94
Reading v Charlton 95
Tranmere v Reading play off 95.

i have quite a few vids

simod cup final


exeter 4 reading 6 - was there and what a game! (1-4 up @ ht, 4-4, 4-6 i think)
etc


cant type anymore as this site is brokke

[strap]

Erm Strap... that's not actually what Brooking said, so I wouldn't quote it if I were you.

It's essentially what he implied, but he said it in at least a slightly more veiled way, even if it was blatantly obvious what he meant and made the others uncomfortable.

That's exactly what he said Ian, word for word. Ray Stubbs was apoplectic, and couldn't believe what he was hearing - neither could I, hence my maniacal desire to find a copy of the interview. If you can send me a link to the interview and I am proven wrong, I will take my punishment at any court that the pcunt Brooking cares to take me, but until then I stand by my statement.

I actually don't think there is any public copy of the interview just because of its content. If there had been, Brooking would have been up before the FA long before now.

[Ian Royal]

Well I saw it as well and that isn't what I remember at all Strap. I can't remember the exact words, but it was definitely made in more veiled terms than that as far as I'm concerned.

There is no way on earth he said legal and illegal though. It's certainly what he implied, but I'm pretty sure he said something like "try other methods to get our man". nod wink know what I mean kinda thing.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Well I saw it as well and that isn't what I remember at all Strap. I can't remember the exact words, but it was definitely made in more veiled terms than that as far as I'm concerned.

There is no way on earth he said legal and illegal though. It's certainly what he implied, but I'm pretty sure he said something like "try other methods to get our man". nod wink know what I mean kinda thing.

Agreed - it may have been something like "direct/indirect" but it certainly wasn't as explicit as "legal/illegal."

At the time there was a very determined - but unsuccessful effort - to find a tape of the programme.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

One of the best things about this thread - no Snowball!!

Just in case Snowball is reading this - you've amitted that you never saw Nicky Forster play so don't even try to darken this doorstep!!

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Statistically Shane Long has been involved in more RFC clips on TV than any other current RFC player.

[fozzy]

I've got all the seasons from 1986-87 through to present day on DVD, 86-87 and 87-88 are selected goals from matches, the rest from 88-89 onwards are goals or highlights package from every game. I put the older ones on DVD from VHS a few years back.

I'd be interested in a trade for the 85-86 footage or any earlier if anyone has the 78-79 or 75-76 TV games from Southern or any other pre 87.

I have also sourced the highlights of the Reading/Arsenal cup game from 5th Feb 1972 but I need about 20 people to commit to sharing the cost as the archive source want £240 for it.

Among many, I have the following oldies on VHS:

Reading v Derby 85/86
Reading v Doncaster 85/86
Reading v Forest 87/88 (Simod Cup)
Reading v Coventry 87/88 (Simod Cup)

Also have Exeter City 4 Reading 6 from 93/94. Bought it from ECFC.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Would love to see the James Lambert wonder goal again, Cup game I recall, bit hazy tho.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Would love to see the James Lambert wonder goal again, Cup game I recall, bit hazy tho.

I thought that was the 3-3 v Forest (the one where Steve Stone missed an open goal in front of the Tilehurst End).

[Mid Sussex Royal]

[quote="fozzy"]I've got all the seasons from 1986-87 through to present day on DVD, 86-87 and 87-88 are selected goals from matches, the rest from 88-89 onwards are goals or highlights package from every game. I put the older ones on DVD from VHS a few years back.

I'd be interested in a trade for the 85-86 footage or any earlier if anyone has the 78-79 or 75-76 TV games from Southern or any other pre 87.

1985-86 - there was a ITV strike at the start of that season which meant there was no TV coverage of the 13 game winning start as I think from memory ITV held the contract for all football league coverage. The club sold a VHS tape called royal gems but this covered 2 seasons (84/85 & 85/86) and although I've not watched it for a while I am fairly sure most of the action from 85/86 is from cup games.

[strap]

I've got all the seasons from 1986-87 through to present day on DVD, 86-87 and 87-88 are selected goals from matches, the rest from 88-89 onwards are goals or highlights package from every game. I put the older ones on DVD from VHS a few years back.

I'd be interested in a trade for the 85-86 footage or any earlier if anyone has the 78-79 or 75-76 TV games from Southern or any other pre 87.

I have also sourced the highlights of the Reading/Arsenal cup game from 5th Feb 1972 but I need about 20 people to commit to sharing the cost as the archive source want £240 for it.

Among many, I have the following oldies on VHS:

Reading v Derby 85/86
Reading v Doncaster 85/86
Reading v Forest 87/88 (Simod Cup)
Reading v Coventry 87/88 (Simod Cup)

Also have Exeter City 4 Reading 6 from 93/94. Bought it from ECFC.

Count me in Fozzy.