Floyd's cup of sh*t

[floyd__streete]

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a competition I love – Ronnie Radford, Ricky Villa, Dave Beasant, Jimmy Melia, Matthews & Mortensen, the Leatherhead lip, the names roll off the tongue. J’adore the FA Cup. I just hate following Reading FC in the competition.

We have a long history of being downright disappointing as it is and the last time we made notable progress in the greatest cup competition in the world (copyright John Motson) Adolf Hitler was sat at a typewriter writing Mein Kampf. And struggle we have – my first memory of abject FA Cup misery was a fourth round EP replay loss to the might of 4th Division cod adorning Grimsby; my brother’s first game, he behaved abysmally and this particular match also ignited the flames of my chronic obsession with RFC programmes as litt’lun stropped so much that Dad decided to pacify him with the solitary programme he was prepared to buy.

The following year a 0-0 draw with Welling was the summit of my personal FA Cup adventure, although I can still vividly recall Dad making whooping sounds and embarking on a David Pleat-style run as Radio 210 reported that Reading had tied up a 4th round match with Newcastle with a last minute equaliser. That replay result? 4-1 Newcastle. Into the 90’s and in my last year at primary school it was about as cool to be a supporter of Reading FC as it was to be a Cliff Richard fan, so a 2-1 loss at Conference side Colchester was particularly humiliating and truth be told the Monday morning ribbing I received from my Aldryngton peers goes a long way towards explaining my downright miserable attitude towards supporting RFC 16 years later.

91/92 saw the emergence of that trusty old friend the crap cup draw as we battled through 2 rounds (including an extraordinarily frightening in every way 3-3 draw at Slough, my first experience of following Reading away) only to draw Bolton at Burnden Park. Steve Beddow - you had the influence to make or break many a weekend for me throughout the late eighties and early nineties and you broke my heart this time as Philliskirk Pen had the beating of the mighty Jim Leighton and we crashed out again in typically mundane fashion. At last, a decent tie the following term as an impressive 1-1 draw at Maine Road brought Premiership Man City and the SKY cameras back down to hum-drum old EP. Magic of the cup? This turned out to be the Tommy Cooper of cup nights, 4-0 Man City. Two successive first hurdle tumbles followed as the mid-nineties at least offered the consolation of some exciting progress in the league.

’96 saw Man Yoo visit and an outrageous Paul Parker fluke that frankly they didn’t need saw them canter to a chilly victory in the EP snow. At last something to cheer in ’97 as we duffed up Southampton to the tune of 3-1. The reward, he said with chilling sarcasm, was a visit to the graveyard of my dreams, Fratton Park where a typically gutless Reading performance at said venue saw us concede 3 in as we played like a bunch of tarts on crack. ’98 was, by RFC standards, a bit of a cup run – ok, more a brisk jog – as we sneaked past the might of Cheltenham and Cardiff to reach the last 16 for the first time since before Stonehenge was assembled. Bibbo’s finest hour and a half was dented by a Sheffield United winner scored late on by poxy Lee Sandford which at least left us free to concentrate fully on the task of being relegated.

Into the MadStad era and our bitter cup record took a decided turn for the sinister; defeats to Stoke, Plymouth and York twice in successive years as we blundered about in Division 2 like a dazed burglar who had broken into the wrong house. Promotion at least ensured we couldn’t get knocked out before the third round and so it was fittingly obvious that we promptly lost entirely tedious home third round replays to Walsall and Preston and our victory in an extra time replay at Swansea in January ’05 was our first win over league opposition in the FA Cup since an epic, never-to-be-forgotten November ’99 triumph over Halifax Town. Last season provided a rare highlight with a reply win over WBA from 2-0 down.

I wouldn’t ever dare dream that we could come even close to winning the cup, but it don’t half rankle that the might of Chesterfield and Wycombe have enjoyed semi-final appearances in the recent past. The closest Reading FC ever get to a semi is when John Madejski brushes Cilla’s knee with his hand. Meantime all I ask is that we don’t lose on penalties or to two offside goals or draw a team in our own bloody division again or worse still a welsh team. Better still perhaps it’d be best all round if our ball was just left in the velvet bag in the first place.

[RG30]

LOL genius as ever Floyde. Name call for those 300 or so who went to Preston a couple of years back to witness a 6 goal thriller.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

Suprised you failed to mention the stat/myth that we have lost more games in the FA Cup than any other team?

[Platypuss]

Really no need for this to be a new thread other than blatant look-at-me-ism. Stick it in the preview thread.

Sorry.

edit.

D'oh, shame to bury such a good post though, isn't it?

Let's make this thread for FA Cup nostalgia then - talk about Burnley and SC's treatment of the FA Cup elsewhere.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

Really no need for this to be a new thread other than blatant look-at-me-ism. Stick it in the preview thread.

Sorry.

edit.

D'oh, shame to bury such a good post though, isn't it?

Let's make this thread for FA Cup nostalgia then - talk about Burnley and SC's treatment of the FA Cup elsewhere.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

FA Cup Nostalgia has to include the run of games against Bury in the late 80's, I'm sure someone with the info can fill it in, 4 games?

[readingbedding]

The run against Welling was very, very dull.

One of the best memories for me in the Cup was Senior's? goal against Arsenal and Gilkey's equaliser against Newcastle at home.

[Lieutenant Pigeon]

Nice read as ever Floyd - when you gonna update your Blog?


C.

[papereyes]

FA Cup memories ...

1st one would be a game against Oldham. I think I remember the Man City game but I can picture a 6-0. Maybe its the 4-0. We gave them a much better game in the League cup a year or two later.

But my first bone fide FA Cup Memory is us losing 3-0 or 3-1 to Oldham.

And, even though Oldham weren't that much bigger or better than us, the whole crowd seemed to know we'd lose.

I can also remember beating Southampton because, on a sandy pitch, we made the cunning ploy of playing in trainers. Darren Caskey scored. Darren Caskey nearly scored on his debut, scored there but then went a bit rubbish for a few years. In my memories, not in real life.

[strap]

I suppose it's a personal thing. Frankly if we'd have had a bigger squad, if we'd secured our prem placed by Christmas, then I suppose SC may have put out a stronger team and taken it more seriously. However, the FAC only really held magic for me when we were in the lower divisions, and somehow managed to get through to the 3rd round with the prospect of a tie against a big club.

Of course now, we ARE a big club, and get to play the cream of English football twice a year. Would you rather have the Chesterfield/Wycombe fleeting glory of a semi-final appearance now and again, or the guaranteedfull houses week in week out in the Prem? A non-question really!

On this one, as with pretty much all of what SC says these days (!), I have to agree with him.

Hopefully, in 4 of 5 years time, when we are an established top 10 Prem club, (dreamland?), we will have the resources to battle on more than one front, but for the time being, I'll take guaranteed Premiership safety over say a quarter/semi final Cup appearance.

[Frustrated_Royal]

Brilliant post Floyd. Spot on about RFC in the FA Cup... more nightmares than dreams.

The first FA Cup Final that I watched on telly was 1987 Coventry v Spurs. What a magic day it used to be.

It has certainly lost something in recent years. Probably down to the fact that only Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United have won it since 1996.

Never mind. I still like singing "Que sera, sera..."

[Skin]

ah but prior to our stuffing playing like a bunch of tarts on crack at Fratton Park I remember the 3rd round (we did have to qualify for it in the old days ) against the (COUGH) mighty Southampton where we won 3-1 at EP with Souness seeing red in the final minutes of the game.

But granted most FA cup encounters were dire, just that one was good for all the right reasons.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

You brought back some real fond memories there Floyd. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Some more points to add:

Losing to Bishops Stortford. At Home.

Sheff Utd Away was very kindly switched to a Friday night, so our only 5th rnd appearance in 80 years was witnessed by about 200 Royals.

Being practically in tears for the Welling debacle which went to a mouth watering 3rd Replay.

Halifax away was so windy the subs 'bench' blew away when the subs got up to warm up, whilst dodging the advertising board that was cartwheeling down the side of the pitch. At least that was a laugh i suppose. Ou reward was a trip to basement side Plymouth. In the snow.

i feel a replay on the cards a week on tuesday

Oh, and who could forget Sir Leslie Ferdinand.

[Barry the bird boggler]

While I agree about Reading's attempts on the FA Cup, as 1 appearance at the 5th Round stage in 72 years shows, I still can't wait for Reading's involvement to start so I can adopt the attitude that this season it will be different!

How can anyone not want to experience the utter joy of 3 games to knock Bristol Rovers out followed by 4 games to remove Welling or the thrill of destroying Huddersfield Town in a 3rd round replay in 1986 only to draw Barnsley away.

Unfortunately though, I think our terrific record of never beating a league side in the cup, over 90 minutes, at the Mad Stad may well be extended tomorrow, let's hope though that at least the performance isn't the usual style of inept cr*p we tend turn out at home.

[RoyalBlue]

No mention of the visit to Barry Town where we got bricked by the Cardiff animals masquerading as home supporters?!

Can remember the lack of segregation and the bricks but not the score. Think we won though (3-1?).

[Deadlock]

Being practically in tears for the Welling debacle which went to a mouth watering 3rd Replay.

We played 10 FA cup matches that season - three against Bristol Rovers, the four against Welling, one against Sunderland, and then two against Newcastle.

I only saw the Sunderland match, but at least got to see a Linden Jones hat-trick in our 2-1 win (OK, so it was Armstrong that actually put the ball in the net for them, but Jones did pass it to him in the area).

[Platypuss]

The lovely home game against Vinnie Jones' Wealdstone (85?) also brings back painful (literally) memories.

[Barry the bird boggler]

No mention of the visit to Barry Town where we got bricked by the Cardiff animals masquerading as home supporters?!

Can remember the lack of segregation and the bricks but not the score. Think we won though (3-1?).

2-1

[handbags_harris]

LOL genius as ever Floyde. Name call for those 300 or so who went to Preston a couple of years back to witness a 6 goal thriller.

I was there...plenty of memories on the FA Cup for me. Mainly pretty piss poor ones. RFC + FA Cup = Major disappointments.

[AF1]

I'm not reading all that.