by Joe »
16 Feb 2007 13:45
From bbc.co.uk/sport
Reading director of football Nick Hammond could be forgiven for having felt a little queasy when the Royals were drawn to face Manchester United in this weekend's FA Cup fifth round.
Paul Parker shinned it inside the near post and basically made me look stupid
Nick Hammond
Not so much because of the mountainous obstacle that had been put in their path, more the memory of the last time the sides met in the competition.
An Eric Cantona-inspired United won the 1996 meeting at Elm Park 3-0, seeing off a Reading side who had Hammond in goal, despite the keeper having suffered from chicken pox all week.
"My main memory of the game is feeling so unwell that I was hoping the game would be called off because of the weather," Hammond told BBC Sport.
"I had been ill all week. I came in to training on the Monday with some spots and saw the physio who identified them at chicken pox.
"The club immediately sent me home so I wouldn't infect any of the other lads, but home at that stage was Plymouth so it was a long way to go.
"I was in my late 20s and chicken pox can hit you badly at that age so I spent most of that week tucked up in bed feeling very poorly.
"I came back to Reading on the Friday and stayed at a hotel. By then, I knew I would have to play on the Saturday because Bobby Mihailov, our Bulgarian international keeper, was injured.
"The doctor gave me a special type of medicine that they don't normally prescribe but I had a really uncomfortable night. When I got up and looked out of the window everywhere was white from frost and I remember thinking 'please call this game off'."
Form guide
Sep 23 2006:
Reading 1-1 Man Utd
Match report
Dec 30 2006:
Man Utd 3-2 Reading
Match report
Unfortunately for Hammond the match beat the cold snap and United, bidding for back-to-back FA Cup final appearances, cruised into the last 16.
Ryan Giggs put the previous season's beaten finalists in front, but it took a freak goal from Paul Parker to break Reading's stubborn resistance before Cantona added gloss to the victory.
"It was very cold and, because I wasn't feeling well, that was not helpful," remembers Hammond, groaning as he relives the pain of illness, as well as defeat.
"Cantona's goal was a bit of a one-on-one and I vaguely remember that, but the goal that sticks in my mind is Parker's.
"I had anticipated the cross and tried to nick a yard to give me a chance to go and get the cross. But Parker attempted to cross it and instead caught it with the outside of his right boot. He basically shinned it inside the near post and made me look stupid."
There seems little chance of the modern-day Reading looking daft as the sides meet again in Saturday's live BBC game.
Since the former Arsenal and Plymouth keeper was appointed Reading's director of football in 2003, the club have reached heights never before seen in their long history.
At 135 years of age, the Premiership's newest club is also its oldest - and much of the credit for their new-found status belongs to Hammond.
His first task after being appointed in the wake of Alan Pardew's acrimonious departure from the club was to appoint Steve Coppell as his replacement as manager - a decision which has proved to be inspired.
Hammond was also the mastermind behind the deal to bring Kevin Doyle to the club in a £78,000 move from Cork City, one of the best pieces of business in recent Premiership history.
Steve is excited. I know he is. For him to take a team back to Old Trafford is special
Nick Hammond
"I had worked so closely with Alan Pardew and had such a good relationship with him, that when he left the expectation was probably that I went with him.
"So when the club offered me the director of football role it was a real career decision that I had to make.
"The role I do now is vastly different from what I anticipated it would be. It has been a very steep learning curve for me.
"Steve is at the coalface and takes a game-by-game approach. My job is to support him in every way but to make sure we have a mid-term and long-term view. Managers these days are under such pressure for results that the majority of them will only ever see short term."
That short-term view this week turns to Old Trafford, as Coppell returns to the Theatre of Dreams in which he once boasted the lead role.
If he is excited, he doesn't show it, his anticipation hidden by an ice-cool demeanour that has ensured success has not gone to his team's heads.
But Hammond insists his manager can't wait to return for another meeting with United, who beat Reading 3-2 at Old Trafford in their last game of 2006.
"Steve is excited. I know he is. He lives for his football and for him to take a team back to Old Trafford is special," says Hammond.
"When we played in 1996 it was one of the club's biggest ever games. It was a massive game for everyone involved at Reading and everyone in the town.
"We are fortunate now that we are in a position where we have a massive game every week. But Saturday is a fantastic opportunity for us because we are in the latter stages of the best domestic cup competition in the world and we are going to one of the greatest clubs in the world."
Reading's meteoric rise from Championship also-rans to Uefa Cup contenders under Coppell has led his former Old Trafford boss Tommy Docherty to tout his former winger as a possible replacement when Sir Alex Ferguson retires.
And Hammond admits his biggest challenge as director of football is now to keep a firm grip on the manager who has transformed the club's fortunes.
"We need to be aware that Steve Coppell's stock has risen enormously since he has been here off the back of the job he has done here - and rightly so.
"Anyone out there at the top level looking for a football manager will potentially have Steve on their wish list and we are aware of that. I think Steve is happy at Reading but we cannot be blase about it and will be doing everything we can to get him to sign a new deal."
It is a safe bet that it was a situation that the director of football saw coming - and that Hammond will handle it better than a Paul Parker cross.