Reflections

[jgriowa]

I've only been following club football since 2002/3 and watched the second leg of the play-off semi and thought eh whatevs --disappointment to be sure, but it's clear this is a club that has its act together and is going places

Which turned out to be more or less an accurate read, but then what little did I really know at the time, etc

Anyway I of course always want to know as much as I can about the way it was and join in saluting the OP for a presentation at once comprehensive and concise and an excellent jumping-off point for further inquiry --I'm very much obliged

THANK YOU for taking the time to gather your recollections.

That is wonderful reading.

I see what you did there

Glad you noticed Thought about capitalising the 'R', but didn' want to be too obvious

[facaldaqui]

As we approach the end of my 64th season as a supporter of RFC I cannot remember feeling as proud of our team as I do at this moment. On 19th November last year, having lost 2-1 to Cardiff, we were 14th in the league with a record of P17 W5 D6 L6 GF17 GA17 Pts 21. Since then we have won 22 of the 27 games played, drawing 1 and losing 4. We have scored 50 goals against 20 and gathered 67 points, i.e. 2.48 points per game. That is a truly astonishing achievement by a team that has not consistently dazzled everyone with the quality of their football, but has shown what can be achieved by a superbly managed group of players for whom the team is far more important than any individual. McDermott has shown them how to win football matches and they have learned the lesson well. He and they deserve all the plaudits that come their way.

Times like these are a time for reflection, and also memories of good times (some), bad times (far too many) and realising how what for years seemed to be a permanently third-rate club has turned itself into a member of the Premier League for the second time in six years. Just a few random memories………

1940s
- 1948-49: my first season – we finished second in the old Div 3 South, but only one promoted in those days.

1950s
- the very fine side of 1951-52 managed by Ted Drake – having beaten Plymouth 2-0 in front of 28,000 at Elm Park in March it looked as if it would be our season, but three defeats in April put an end to our hopes and we finished 2nd again. I was a very despondent 11-year-old.
- the wonderful goal-scoring ability of Ron Blackman.
- Jimmy Wheeler’s debut in a 5-3 win over Shrewsbury. He was a wonderful servant of the club and one of my boyhood heroes.
- Bomber Reeves’s left foot.
- beating Colchester 7-0 at home in 1957-58.
- the silky inside forward play of Jimmy Whitehouse.
- our best-ever half-back line of Anderton, Spiers and Evans.
- the skills and humour of Johnny Walker.
- the despair at being being beaten 5-0 at home by Aldershot in the opening game of the season.

1960s
- losing 5-2 at Newport despite being 2-0 up in the first five minutes of the first game of the season.
- stuck in Division 3, lots of mediocrity and never getting close to promotion.
- 2 goals from goalkeeper Arthur Wilkie in a 4-2 win over Halifax.
- The enthusiasm of Douggie Webb and consistency of Dennis Allen.
- losing 7-0 at home to Manchester City in a FA Cup replay.

1970s
- relegation to the Fourth Division. Possibly the worst decade in our history. Far too many very poor players.
- The goalkeeping heroics of Stephen Death.
- Robin Friday (speaks for himself).
- The Wagstaff brothers, Gordon Cumming, Dick Habbin. The arrival of Martin Hicks.
- Promoted to Third Division, but back to the Fourth after one season.
- the amazing run of 11 consecutive clean sheets to end the 1978-79 season and gain promotion once again.

1980s
- the dreadful 1982-83 season with relegation and home defeat by Bishops Stortford in the first round of the FA Cup. Home crowds down to 3,000 or so.
- on the verge of extinction with Maxwell’s plans for the Thames Valley Royals. Enter Roger Smee the saviour.
- promotion back to the Third again thanks to Trevor Senior’s goals. The 4-3 home win against Plymouth was unforgettable.
- The 13 wins to open the 1985-86 season. Not a great side by any means, but promoted to Division 2 for the first time in my life. Was this the beginning of a new dawn?
- No, it wasn’t. Back to the Third Division in 1987-88 (although we did win the Simod cup).
- Stuart Beavon, Steve Wood, Steve Richardson, Jerry Williams, Kevin Bremner, Michael Gilkes.

1990s
- this is when it all began to change for the better. The coming of Mark McGhee as the manager, together with the financial stability insisted upon by John Madejski, put the club on a different plane.
- Promotion to the new Division 1 in 1993-94 thanks to the phenomenal goalscoring of Jimmy Quinn backed up by the likes of Archie Lovell, Adie Williams, Phil Parkinson, Mick Gooding, Dylan Kerr and Kevin Dillon.
- The wonderful season of 1994-95 and the nightmare of finishing 2nd without getting promoted.
- The skills of Darius Wdowczyk, a marvellous defender. The ludicrous antics of Boris Mikhailov.
- The betrayal of our club by Mark McGhee and the disastrous appointment of Quinn and Gooding to replace him.
- The awful season of 1997-98 and the appointment of Tommy Burns as manager – yet another failure. Were we slipping back to the bad old days? The very sad goodbye to Elm Park – inevitable, the right decision, positive of course but so many memories left behind.
- Some really dreadful players (too numerous to mention).

2000s
- the disappointment of losing to Walsall in the play-off final.
- back on track, with promotion to the Championship (or whatever it was called then) thanks to Cureton’s goal at Brentford.
- Pardew in charge. I know many fans liked him, but I never did and the way he went to West Ham left a very nasty taste. Still, it led to the appointment of Steve Coppell and it seemed that Madejski was at last learning about the importance of a good manager.
- The disappointment of Coppell’s first season, but then it really did change for good that summer with the management seeming to realise that the endless signings of second-rate players was a waste of time and money and the fans were getting fed up.
- Leicester in March 2006. An unforgettable day with many, many tears of joy. My Reading, the one and only club I have ever supported and who had spent so long in the lower reaches of the Football League, with neither ambition nor inspiration, were now in the Premiership. Unbelievable.

And now we’ve done it again!! Given our dreadful start to this season after the loss of Mills and Long, I think our achievement is even more impressive than in 2005-06. On the field the arrival of Kaspars Gorkss to give us stability in defence was probably the key and the signing of Jason Roberts has proved to be an inspired one. Player of the Year? How to choose one from Federici, Gorkss, Pearce and Karacan? Off the field Brian McDermott’s decision not to go to Wolves was all-important. Let us hope that the lessons of our first two years in the Premier League have been learned.

How far have we come? Well, of the 21 other clubs in Division 3 (South) in 1948-49 (my first season) two are now in the Premier League, 6 are in the Championship and and 13 are in lower divisions. To think that we are ahead of clubs like Leeds, Leicester, Stoke, Derby, Charlton, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley, Nottingham Forest, Wolves and Birmingham is the stuff of boyhood dreams.

Thank you, Reading FC, for always being there for me. You have given me many dark times and many frustrations, your incompetence has caused me much unhappiness, but there have been good times too, especially in the last few years, that have given me much joy. It’s strange how all the bad times seem worth all the suffering when the good times come. Now we are back the top flight and I am bursting with pride. Reading will always be my club, whatever division we be in, but to be on our way back to the Premier League sure feels good.

Quality post, thanks for taking the time to share it. Have been a fan since 84-85 and I thought I'd seen my fair share of games in the lower divisions. You must in a dream world!

I would have to question why you think Quinn and Gooding were disastrous though. They did very nearly take us up to the PL after all!

Jim n Mick kept us on course and there was a lot of motivation there to prove a point to McGhee for walking out on us. The next season or two showed, even though we lost some very good players, that as managers they just weren't good enough. As has proven the case with JQ in other managerial posts since.

I think it's complicated about Jim and Mick. They did a brilliant job in getting us to second place and the playoff, and the following year they didn't get us relegated, did they? The next two managers were far inferior to them, and Bullivant started with the same players. The reason it's complex is that I suspect that Gooding was the mastermind, and that Quinn was the weak link of the two.

I enjoyed the OP's post. I started supporting in the sixties and I remember it being very dismal, especially the Bentley era. I loved the seventies, despite our atrociousness--at least largely it was a colourful atrociousness, with a team full of comic-strip characters--probably because I was going from 16 to 26, prime age for football craziness, and I hitched all over the country watching the team (thanks all you who gave me lifts and some mad adventures). This last few years have been the best, though--no "good old days" nonsense from me either.

[robbieroyal]

As we approach the end of my 64th season as a supporter of RFC I cannot remember feeling as proud of our team as I do at this moment. On 19th November last year, having lost 2-1 to Cardiff, we were 14th in the league with a record of P17 W5 D6 L6 GF17 GA17 Pts 21. Since then we have won 22 of the 27 games played, drawing 1 and losing 4. We have scored 50 goals against 20 and gathered 67 points, i.e. 2.48 points per game. That is a truly astonishing achievement by a team that has not consistently dazzled everyone with the quality of their football, but has shown what can be achieved by a superbly managed group of players for whom the team is far more important than any individual. McDermott has shown them how to win football matches and they have learned the lesson well. He and they deserve all the plaudits that come their way.

Times like these are a time for reflection, and also memories of good times (some), bad times (far too many) and realising how what for years seemed to be a permanently third-rate club has turned itself into a member of the Premier League for the second time in six years. Just a few random memories………

1940s
- 1948-49: my first season – we finished second in the old Div 3 South, but only one promoted in those days.

1950s
- the very fine side of 1951-52 managed by Ted Drake – having beaten Plymouth 2-0 in front of 28,000 at Elm Park in March it looked as if it would be our season, but three defeats in April put an end to our hopes and we finished 2nd again. I was a very despondent 11-year-old.
- the wonderful goal-scoring ability of Ron Blackman.
- Jimmy Wheeler’s debut in a 5-3 win over Shrewsbury. He was a wonderful servant of the club and one of my boyhood heroes.
- Bomber Reeves’s left foot.
- beating Colchester 7-0 at home in 1957-58.
- the silky inside forward play of Jimmy Whitehouse.
- our best-ever half-back line of Anderton, Spiers and Evans.
- the skills and humour of Johnny Walker.
- the despair at being being beaten 5-0 at home by Aldershot in the opening game of the season.

1960s
- losing 5-2 at Newport despite being 2-0 up in the first five minutes of the first game of the season.
- stuck in Division 3, lots of mediocrity and never getting close to promotion.
- 2 goals from goalkeeper Arthur Wilkie in a 4-2 win over Halifax.
- The enthusiasm of Douggie Webb and consistency of Dennis Allen.
- losing 7-0 at home to Manchester City in a FA Cup replay.

1970s
- relegation to the Fourth Division. Possibly the worst decade in our history. Far too many very poor players.
- The goalkeeping heroics of Stephen Death.
- Robin Friday (speaks for himself).
- The Wagstaff brothers, Gordon Cumming, Dick Habbin. The arrival of Martin Hicks.
- Promoted to Third Division, but back to the Fourth after one season.
- the amazing run of 11 consecutive clean sheets to end the 1978-79 season and gain promotion once again.

1980s
- the dreadful 1982-83 season with relegation and home defeat by Bishops Stortford in the first round of the FA Cup. Home crowds down to 3,000 or so.
- on the verge of extinction with Maxwell’s plans for the Thames Valley Royals. Enter Roger Smee the saviour.
- promotion back to the Third again thanks to Trevor Senior’s goals. The 4-3 home win against Plymouth was unforgettable.
- The 13 wins to open the 1985-86 season. Not a great side by any means, but promoted to Division 2 for the first time in my life. Was this the beginning of a new dawn?
- No, it wasn’t. Back to the Third Division in 1987-88 (although we did win the Simod cup).
- Stuart Beavon, Steve Wood, Steve Richardson, Jerry Williams, Kevin Bremner, Michael Gilkes.

1990s
- this is when it all began to change for the better. The coming of Mark McGhee as the manager, together with the financial stability insisted upon by John Madejski, put the club on a different plane.
- Promotion to the new Division 1 in 1993-94 thanks to the phenomenal goalscoring of Jimmy Quinn backed up by the likes of Archie Lovell, Adie Williams, Phil Parkinson, Mick Gooding, Dylan Kerr and Kevin Dillon.
- The wonderful season of 1994-95 and the nightmare of finishing 2nd without getting promoted.
- The skills of Darius Wdowczyk, a marvellous defender. The ludicrous antics of Boris Mikhailov.
- The betrayal of our club by Mark McGhee and the disastrous appointment of Quinn and Gooding to replace him.
- The awful season of 1997-98 and the appointment of Tommy Burns as manager – yet another failure. Were we slipping back to the bad old days? The very sad goodbye to Elm Park – inevitable, the right decision, positive of course but so many memories left behind.
- Some really dreadful players (too numerous to mention).

2000s
- the disappointment of losing to Walsall in the play-off final.
- back on track, with promotion to the Championship (or whatever it was called then) thanks to Cureton’s goal at Brentford.
- Pardew in charge. I know many fans liked him, but I never did and the way he went to West Ham left a very nasty taste. Still, it led to the appointment of Steve Coppell and it seemed that Madejski was at last learning about the importance of a good manager.
- The disappointment of Coppell’s first season, but then it really did change for good that summer with the management seeming to realise that the endless signings of second-rate players was a waste of time and money and the fans were getting fed up.
- Leicester in March 2006. An unforgettable day with many, many tears of joy. My Reading, the one and only club I have ever supported and who had spent so long in the lower reaches of the Football League, with neither ambition nor inspiration, were now in the Premiership. Unbelievable.

And now we’ve done it again!! Given our dreadful start to this season after the loss of Mills and Long, I think our achievement is even more impressive than in 2005-06. On the field the arrival of Kaspars Gorkss to give us stability in defence was probably the key and the signing of Jason Roberts has proved to be an inspired one. Player of the Year? How to choose one from Federici, Gorkss, Pearce and Karacan? Off the field Brian McDermott’s decision not to go to Wolves was all-important. Let us hope that the lessons of our first two years in the Premier League have been learned.

How far have we come? Well, of the 21 other clubs in Division 3 (South) in 1948-49 (my first season) two are now in the Premier League, 6 are in the Championship and and 13 are in lower divisions. To think that we are ahead of clubs like Leeds, Leicester, Stoke, Derby, Charlton, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley, Nottingham Forest, Wolves and Birmingham is the stuff of boyhood dreams.

Thank you, Reading FC, for always being there for me. You have given me many dark times and many frustrations, your incompetence has caused me much unhappiness, but there have been good times too, especially in the last few years, that have given me much joy. It’s strange how all the bad times seem worth all the suffering when the good times come. Now we are back the top flight and I am bursting with pride. Reading will always be my club, whatever division we be in, but to be on our way back to the Premier League sure feels good.

What a thoroughly great read E&G, would love to sit down and talk RFC with you!!

My first game was in '94 v Pompey at EP, nil nil IIRC.

I can only hope in years to come after we have established ourselves as a Premiership side- I can look back with as much experience as you have and remember the 'good old days' before the Russians came in and everything changed!

[Ark Royal]

A truly magnificent post.

My tuppence-worth...

I started watching Reading in 1966 and had to wait ten years before seeing Reading clinch promotion from Division 4 at Cambridge Utd. There was palpable joy at that relatively minor achievement, but bear in mind that it was the club's first promotion in FIFTY years, so there was a lot of pent-up frustration to vent on that night. Since that night at the Abbey Stadium in 1976, the club has won championships and/or promotion SEVEN times, so the club has done a lot of catching up in the last 35 years.

My only limited ambitions as a Reading fan was to see them play in the second tier and when we made it in 1986, I thought that I witnessing the zenith of the club's achievements. How wrong I was: 1994/95 was heartbreakingly memorable and so, so close; 2005/06 was a miracle; 2011/12 proved that miracles sometimes occur more than once.

Now I will not just casually dismiss the notion that Reading may well flourish in the Premier League and maybe play in Europe. Why not aim and aspire to get to the very pinnacle of the game? With what this club has achieved since John Madejski took over and the club eventually left Elm Park, who knows.

I will never, ever again limit my expectations of this football club, but I will still remain a Royal if those expectations disappoint and we end up in the Blue Square Conference. To me, being a Reading fan is all about who you are as a fan, and not about the division or level they are playing at. Once a Royal, always a Royal.

Total respect to any lifelong loyal Royals - and Biscuitmen - who have stayed committed to the club through thick, but mainly thin, since the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. I know that my two uncles will be ecstatic about this season's success and they have been watching Reading since the 30s and 40s. My never-ceasing loyalty to this wonderful football club is totally due to them. I caught the 'disease' from them as a starry-eyed nine-year old standing on the Town End terrace and I cannot thank them enough.

[Edelston & Brice]

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my post - it's great to know that there's quite a group of old-timers (some of them older than I am!!) and younger fans who value the past and rejoice in the present. I thought it might be fun to come up with a team based on favourite players since the 1940s - accent is on favourites, rather than necessarily the best. I was tempted to go for a 2-3-5 formation, but in deference to the present I've gone for 4-4-2. How about these - should bring back a few memories!

Shaka Hislop

Johnny Walker
Dick Spiers
Darius Wdowczyk
Bomber Reeves (just edged out Dylan Kerr)

Jimmy Wheeler
Mick Gooding
Maurice Evans
Tommy Jenkins (just edged out Michael Gilkes)

Ron Blackman
Jimmy Quinn

I look forward to getting reactions and alternatives. Edelston, Anderton, Friday, Osborn, Harris, Hicks, Doyle, Gorkss............who knows?

[FinchOwl]

1950s
- the very fine side of 1951-52 managed by Ted Drake – having beaten Plymouth 2-0 in front of 28,000 at Elm Park in March 1970s

Seems like we could fill a near 30k capacity in the 50's. Where's that stadium expansion?!

Cracking OP, as a royal only since we moved to the Mad Stad I have had it easy, people like you went through a whole heap of rubbish to witness the last 15-20 years of success - and for that I salute you, you deserve it!

[Super Kevin Bremner!]

Love this thread!

I think my first game would have been 1982/3. My old man was in the navy so we lived in Plymouth at the time, but whenever my dad had the time he'd drive up to see family and catch a game.

I was 5 then and remember that we used to pick my uncle up from Gallowstree Common, drive to and park in Prospect Park, watch a half of footie there (which I was too young to like) then walk over to Elm Park for about 2.15pm.

Was too small to see the game so we took an old bread crate and I sat/stood on that.

I used to infuriate my dad by sitting there bored and asking if there'd been a goal every time the crowd clapped. This was always in the South Bank, about 15 yards back, in line with the penalty area closest to the Tilehurst End.

As I got a little older and we moved to Reading in 1986, we started going weekly, and I have vivid memories of being one of the kids sat on the wall at the front of the South Bank. The most frustrating bit was that you weren't allowed to dangle your feet over the front of the wall so you had to sit at a weird angle contorting your back and neck up!

For a small while, we moved to the corner of the South Bank/Tilehurst End and the stewards would allow you to sit on the concrete block that the floodlight was perched on, but they soon nipped that in the bud!

We had a couple of seasons in the Tilehurst End where we used to stand on the little bridge at the back just in front of the refreshment window, over the alley way towards the pissers. Loved it up there.

It's funny because when people whine about us not showing ambition and all that, it's because they're often scared of going back to a half empty stadium with shit teams to play, but when I look back at being one of only 3,426 supporters in the ground when David Leworthy scored with a diving header to beat Mansfield 1-0, I have such fond memories.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed it back then as much as I do now.

In my adolescent teen years where I would get high as a kite on a Friday night and not sleep for sometimes a day or two on the trot, I still could not bear the though of not walking freezing cold up the Oxford Road, to stand their shivering my bollocks off and throwing away a 3-0 lead against Port Vale.

It's all this that makes the RTG argument a bit benign for me. I don't sit there thinking everything's rosy when it ain't, but when push comes to shove, all I really give a toss about is that for the foreseeable future, my Saturday afternoon routine of watching Reading will not disappear. My little boy is 4 and a half years old now and this coming season will be his first with a season ticket. It gives me a little lump in my throat that he is already loving watching Reading more than I did at his age, and even more so at the thought that one day he might be reflecting on his oldest memories of watching them as I have now.

We're an emotional bunch, us footie supporters, ain't we?

[Super Kevin Bremner!]

Oh, and my 4-4-2 would be:

Hislop

Shorey
Williams
Upson
Murty

Gilkes
Osborne
Sidwell
Little

Quinn
Senior

Subs (7 because we're Premier League!): Jerry Williams, Lee Nogan, Scott Taylor, Kevin Bremner, Ingimarsson, David Lee and Jim Leighton.

[Norfolk Royal]

Congratulations to the OP on a wonderful post.

[LUX]

I feel young suddenly. Great to get R&A back on here too.

Probably not the thread for this, but my favourite 11 (not necessarily the best, that's would logically for the most part the 106 team)

Death

Peters
Richardson
Gorkss
Hetzke

Osborne
Scott Taylor
Kebe
Gilkes

Doyle
Friday

(in truth, it'd be the 75-76 team plus Doyle, Gorkss, ALF, Noel Hunt and Gilkes )

[Ark Royal]

My 442 would be:

Hislop

Murty
Wdowczyk
Williams
White

Little
Sidwell
Osborn
Gilkes

Friday
Quinn

[facaldaqui]

My team:

Death

Murty
Ingi
Upson
Wdowczyk

Sidwell
Karacan
Osborn

Little
Dixon
Jenkins

subs: Hislop Wooler Pearce Friday Kerr Gilkes Quinn

[Fox Talbot]

^^^^ Wooler

Shurely Harley from that era??

[boycey]

Now that, my good friends, was a quality read.

[facaldaqui]

^^^^ Wooler

Shurely Harley from that era??

Alan Wooler was an immaculate left back. I think he left us to play in the first division with Hammers.

[Maguire]

My first game was in '94 v Pompey at EP, nil nil IIRC

Ha, I was at the front of the Tilehurst End for that one. IIRC Kit Symons hit the post for Pompey and Jimmy Quinn hit the bar for us, both right in front of us.

[floyd__streete]

Before you jump to conclusions, some of us can't sit and read massive posts on Hobnob at work, and can only skim, and write short replies. I may of come across as not bothered, but I literally wanted a shortened version I could read without getting caught.

It was a personal, reflective piece from the fella. If you want an abridged version:

It's gr8 that the team I've supported for 64 years have been promoted again.

[Edelston & Brice]

I don't have any strong memories of Alan Wooler - I think he went to West Ham but only played a couple of games for them before spending quite a few years at Aldershot. I remember being impressed by Colin Meldrum when he was our left-back.

[Royal & Ancient]

Trips down memory lane!! And what a lane.
I have fond memories of Freddie Fisher- possibly because he seemed no bigger than I at the time

[RepressedRoyal]

Great post, brings back so many memories of the dismal 80's players and near extinction....for anyone of younger years wanting an example of how far we have come, my first game was in the League Cup (1979) when we were in division 4, we beat Rotherham of division 3 by one goal to nil......A GIANT KILLING!!!!

Not my first ever Reading goal however, my brother had taken me for my first ever South Bank urinal experience and I missed it!