Hob Nob Anyone?

Dear Hob Nob Anyone? member,

Hob Nob Anyone? is 20 years old!
We're practically the oldest football website, online since 1994, giving you continual fans' views and opinions on the mighty Royals.

To celebrate a birthday that most of the major websites will have to wait a long time for, we're running a competition to win one of two Reading FC shirts.

To enter just visit the discussion forums, sign in, visit the classifieds forum, find the right post, and add your three favourite Reading FC memories from the past 20 years.

Things have changed a lot since the website first started in 1994.
The Royals have moved to the Madejski Stadium and, most importantly, established themselves as a side a least a Division better than the late nineties. Hob Nob Anyone? has continued to grow during that time but still needs fan contributions, on the discussion forums or via articles.

If you have an opinion on the Royals and would like to submit an article, either as a one off or as a regular thing, please get in touch. Thanks to the banners on the website we are now in a position to pay for contributions.

Thanks for your continued support of the website.


View the match report archive stretching back 20 years:
http://www.royals.org/archive

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/hobnobanyone

Hob Nob Anyone?
1994-2014

hi hobnob

Shouldn't this be in competitions?

Three favourite memories:

1) Moving to Madstad

2) Promotion @ Brentford then back at the stadium with the players on top of the coach

3) Winning @ Southampton with two crackers from Alfie to almost sort promotion and the championship

Urrrzzzz

1) Murty's penalty v QPR
2) Cardiff Away Play-Off Semi final 2nd Leg
3) First game in the Premiership v Middlesbrough.

1. Winning the championship with 106 points # recordbreakers

2. Middlesbrough game 3-2 from 2-0 down

3. Mr Woof at half time. Just kidding. First season in prem, just missing out on Europe. Who would have thought it.

Let the good times continue. C'mon URZ.

1. The Butler\Cureton striking partnership a perfect blend.

2. Leaving Elm Park

3. Andy Hughes hitting the Derby crossbar against Derby. When the ref gave a drop ball in the centre circle and Hughes swung a boot to pass the ball back towards the Derby goal.

1. Murty's penalty v QPR 2006
2. Tranmere 1 Reading 3 - P.O.semi-final 1st leg 1995
3. Curo's equalizer v Brentford - 2002

1. 2005/06 106 point season.
2. Wembley play-off final journey
3. 7-1 vs Bolton 2014

1) Archie Lovell's two 90th minute goals against Wolves.
2) Winning the first ever game at the Madejski Stadium.
3) Beating West Ham 6-0 in the Premier League.

Have gone a bit different:

Winning 4-2 at Upton Park on the way to promotion in 2012
Lita's overhead and Sonko's late header vs. Palace in 2005/6
Federici's equaliser against Cardiff, Boxing Day 2008

Winning first Premier League game v Middlesbrough 3-2 after going 2-0 down. Being first on Match of the Day!
Inspired by Nicky Shorey's drop of the shoulder. Kitson scores our first Prem goal.
Ivar Ingimarsson turning up on the left wing to cross for Sidwell's goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yVa02GEB1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wLCiMgvJtE

Reading 3-1 Sheffield United 2006-2007
Primarily for Ulises De La Cruz's one and only Reading goal after he ran almost the length of the pitch.
Add to that Keith Gillespie's red card (having just come on?), then Colin getting his marching orders for a bust-up with Wally Downes on the sidelines.
Stephen Hunt's acrobatic mid-air back-heel for the third goal wasn't bad either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDojavq ... GZ8DQNtEHA

Reading 6 West Ham 0 New Year's day 2007
Lee Bowyer being stretchered off after a 50/50 with Harps. Singing "Give it to Anton".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx657ON ... GZ8DQNtEHA

Honourable mentions:
Brentford away - the 1-1 promotion game. Parky's flick on for Curo to score

4-2 v FSB's Wolves in the League Cup (96/97?)
Especially Parky pushing Ray Houghton out of the way to blast one into the top corner.
http://www.royals.org/matdoc/141097.html

3-3 v Forest in 98
Steve Stone's miss. Coming back from 3-0 down. James Lambert's goal.

Both legs of the Wigan play-off.
Away: Orange day, we filled a side of their ground, at the final whistle their fans invaded the pitch & threw golf balls at us after while we chanted "we want the Royals"
Home: 1-0 down with about a minute to go, winning 2-1 & the Mad Stad was bouncing

5-0 v Derby to secure the Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP8_O0vcuJQ

and finally beating QPR to reach 106 points
Murty's penalty then wiping out Kingsley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl_OlkCn3Fk

Lower West 2. Leaving Elm Park

Favourite?

My earliest memories...
My earliest memories, and some of my best, are as a child attending games at Elm Park in my first ever season in 1994/1995, back when HNA? was first formed. I'd watched football on TV before then, but one weekend early on in the season I was round my uncle's house when he said 'come on then lad, I think you're old enough to see the real thing' and so he took me to my first ever game, after which I was hooked. My memories of my first ever season are of standing on the South Bank, right down at the front towards the Tilehurst End so that I had a little space and could actually see the pitch. I was in awe at some of the players on show back then, not least Jimmy Quinn and Archie Lovell. As the season progressed we moved further towards the Town End to get closer to the atmosphere, and what an end to the season it was. I recall walking down Wembley way, and some of the Play-Off final game itself, but luckily as a young lad my memories of that particular day are somewhat hazy, and so my over-arching memories of that first season are all about falling in love with Reading FC.

My first taste of success...
Skip forward to 2001/2002 and by now I'm a teenager, having held a season ticket since 1995/1996 I've seen the club move to the Madejski Stadium and I am now also attending several away games with my mates. At home we've got our first ever family computer, allowing to discover HNA? for the first time. This added dimension to following Reading helped me in playground arguments as to why following the Royals was better than Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal, and I still believe that even today. My over-arching memory of this season though came on the final day, the promotion decider away to Brentford. What an incredible day it was, with blue and white balloons filling the away end before kick-off, a real party atmosphere, followed by one of the most tense games I can remember. When Cureton latched on to that flick on by Parky, and so beautifully took the ball over their keeper to make it 1-1, the away end went into complete pandemonium. The fifteen or so minutes that followed were nail biting stuff but the relief and celebrations at the final whistle will stick with me forever, my first taste of Reading success!

Give it to Murty!...
By 2005/2006 I'd left school and was studying at University, with HNA? giving me something useful to read in the library, as well as being good at helping to break up the monotony of a six hour round train journey to home matched having refused to give up my season ticket, and what a fantastic decision that turned out to be. To be honest I could have picked one of so many highlights in what turned out to be a record breaking season, not least clinching promotion itself away at Leicester, or even thrashing Derby 5-0 at home to secure the title, but for me it was the final goal in the final game of the season which really put a smile on my face. Having broken so many records the season looked like it was going to end with a 1-1 draw against QPR, when with about five minutes of normal time left the Royals were awarded a penalty. Every outfield player of note had scored during the season, with the exception of one, our loyal captain Graham Murty. Immediately the crowd began singing his name, willing for him to take the penalty, and so it was that the great leader would step up and smash the ball home down the middle of the net. I've never seen the Madejski erupt with so much passion, what a great way to end the season, capped off by a celebration which saw Murty take out our fury mascot Kingsley, who once tackled to the floor ended up at the bottom of a bundle featuring without a doubt the greatest squad of players I have ever had the pleasure of seeing wear the famous blue and white hoops.

Here's to another 20+ years!

1. Winning 5-0 to win the Championship v's Derby at home and invading the pitch to celebrate with the players
2. The Wigan play off semi-final - Has there been a better game in terms of excitement and atmosphere? - It was under floodlights, had balloons invading and impeding play, police horses on the pitch, a pitch invasion, a comeback from being behind.
3. Reading v Man City 2-0 win at Elm Park in the cup ~1994/95, A personal favourite for me. My second visit to Elm Park and the game that got me into football and supporting Reading.... I discovered some new website called Hobnob Anyone around the same time and used to login on my 33.3kps dial-up modem to read the latest news (original login name being "Dazza")

Some other honourable mentions:
Reading 3-2 Middlesbrough in the Premiership
Bobby Convey's goal v Millwall
Reading v Luton Town - First game at the Mad Stad
Our second promotion to the Premiership
Our performance at home versus Man Utd (when they were good and had Ronaldo)
The Chelsea game - Not the injuries to their two goalkeepers, but the fact it mean't so much to them to score against us
Elm Park - Reading v Gillingham ~1987, my first game
Bristol City 2-3 Reading in our second Championship winning season
Reading 7-1 Bolton
Reading 6-0 West Ham
#sockg8


I know it's a competition, but I'm only entering once even though I have a spare username.

1st game at Mad stad. Grant Brebner
final whistle at Leicester in 06. Coppell's coat
Ooh Trevor Morley's overhead kick and goal at EP. Let's all have a disco!

1) Leicester away after Doyle equalised and scores from the other games started to filter through.
2) Cureton's equaliser at Brentford - we had drawn so many of our preceding games that I was confident we would hang on for the draw (actually pressed on after and looked good for a win). Indeed as we left Prenton Park having snatched a draw there (Rougier & Salako IIRC), I predicted that we would draw at Brentford to get promoted!
3) Peversely - the joy when we were awarded the penalty at Wembley in the playoff final - rapidly downhill from that moment onwards that day!

1) Reading 6-0 West Ham
2) 106 point 2005-06 season
3) Murty's Penalty

1) Cureton's equaliser v Brentford
2) Jimmy Quinn's 2nd at home to Brighton
3) Graeme Murty leaving

Brentford away to get promoted

Cardiff away play off semi final

Watford away last game of the season even though we lost.