When was your first Reading game?

[Arnie_Pie]

Someone can probably nail the date but it was in the early to mid-nineties. Played Chelsea at Elm Park. Think it was a cup game. Think we lost 3-1 / 3-0 / 4/1?

Zola played and so did Ray Houghton for us. It was really hot, I was exceptionally drunk and got very sunburned in the Tilehurst end.

[Fox Talbot]

Someone can probably nail the date but it was in the early to mid-nineties. Played Chelsea at Elm Park. Think it was a cup game. Think we lost 3-1 / 3-0 / 4/1?

Zola played and so did Ray Houghton for us. It was really hot, I was exceptionally drunk and got very sunburned in the Tilehurst end.

Sounds like a friendly in 97?

[Handsome Man]

About 1973 on a Sunday, 4-0 up at half time and winning 5-0 against Northampton, or Doncaster, or 1974, and Robin Friday might have played.

Think it was Donny and Friday did play - it was his first home game possibly. It was on a Sunday due to power cuts or strikes i think/ Not for TV like today!

Yes Robins first game and he scored,remember it well.

oxf*rd me

I never knew about Robin Friday. I remember the power cuts being the reason for the Sunday game.

[UpThePrem]

7th October 1987 - vs Chelsea in the League Cup.

Reading lost the match but won the tie after a 3-1 home win at Elm Park.

I was in the Shed end and at the time was a Chelsea Fan!?!?!?!? Was only 15 but soon changed my ways and have supported Reading for 10 years now.

[stickywhisky]

I also remember being behind the goal vs Forest when Steve Stone missed from 2 yards out - anyone else there that night?

you're being harsh, it was 12 yards. Mind you it was an empty goal and my dog could have scored

Ha yeah it was about 12 yards, was the only moment of that game I can remember!

[Wuzzy87]

Crystal Palace at home, 1996 I believe.

We lost 6-1...

[reading_fan]

I also remember being behind the goal vs Forest when Steve Stone missed from 2 yards out - anyone else there that night?

you're being harsh, it was 12 yards. Mind you it was an empty goal and my dog could have scored

Ha yeah it was about 12 yards, was the only moment of that game I can remember!

That was an epic game! Live on Sky too, I've still got it on video somewhere. How can you not remember Jamie Lambert looking like Pele as he waltzed through 3 players before scoring?

One of my favourite games at Elm Park.

[stickywhisky]

I also remember being behind the goal vs Forest when Steve Stone missed from 2 yards out - anyone else there that night?

Ha yeah it was about 12 yards, was the only moment of that game I can remember!

That was an epic game! Live on Sky too, I've still got it on video somewhere. How can you not remember Jamie Lambert looking like Pele as he waltzed through 3 players before scoring?

One of my favourite games at Elm Park.

I was only 9 I think, maybe younger so I guess I didn't take it all in!!
I've seen it back since, god knows what I was doing back then - eating sweets probably!

[melonhead]

you're being harsh, it was 12 yards. Mind you it was an empty goal and my dog could have scored

Ha yeah it was about 12 yards, was the only moment of that game I can remember!

That was an epic game! Live on Sky too, I've still got it on video somewhere. How can you not remember Jamie Lambert looking like Pele as he waltzed through 3 players before scoring?

One of my favourite games at Elm Park.

only elm park goal i can still see in my minds eye

so it must have been good

[Victor Meldrew]

Boxing Day 68 or 69 Reading 3 Shrewsbury 1

That was 69 and I remember it. A brilliant performance and Jack Mansell's fantastic passing team were beginning to really get it together.

How can we convey to the young 'uns on here the excitement of the Mansell team?
Despite everything that has happened in the 40+ years since for me that was the most scintillating football to watch.
Is it because for so many years what we have watched has been dross or is it just (as to a lesser extent the second season under McGhee was) that we played a brave passing game with so much emphasis on attack which nobody at our level did?

[floyd__streete]

Don't get the Mansell fixation with you old-timers. Didn't he get us relegated? Guess you had to be there.

FTR, Reading 1-0 Derby County 26/4/86. I was 6 and hated it. I am now 32 and still hate it.

[Jackson Corner]

Someone can probably nail the date but it was in the early to mid-nineties. Played Chelsea at Elm Park. Think it was a cup game. Think we lost 3-1 / 3-0 / 4/1?

Zola played and so did Ray Houghton for us. It was really hot, I was exceptionally drunk and got very sunburned in the Tilehurst end.

Sounds like a friendly in 97?

We lost 2-1 after taking the lead it was a friendly. And yes it was a baking hot day.

[bobby m's syrup]

Don't get the Mansell fixation with you old-timers. Didn't he get us relegated? Guess you had to be there.

Rightly or wrongly, he is credited with the return of the hoops. So far so good. His style was also a welcome change from Roy Bently's hoofball. Nevertheless, I have a feeling that his squad were not ready for the kind of football he wanted them to play. We did however score the most Div 3 goals 1969-70 and were rewarded with entry into the Watney Cup and a home tie with Man Utd in Aug 1970. I remember the TV cameras on scaffolding under the clock and the announcer trying to get us to sing "Roll Out Red Barrel. Good old days my ar$e.

[Ark Royal]

Don't get the Mansell fixation with you old-timers. Didn't he get us relegated? Guess you had to be there.

FTR, Reading 1-0 Derby County 26/4/86. I was 6 and hated it. I am now 32 and still hate it.

You are correct, Floyd. Yes, he did get us relegated, but when he joined he instigated a revolution and completely changed the way that the team played - a bit like a certain Brendan Rodgers. He changed things behind the scenes as well: his own office, new floodlights, reverting back to the old blue and white hoops so loved by the fans and a training regime that was based entirely around the passing game and push-and-run. It was a brave philosophy in the blunt, hoofing world of Division Three.

Unlike Rodgers, he bought and brought in players that he knew would fit the system and the push-and-run style of play that he stood by: Les Chappell, the Wagstaff brothers, Bobby Williams and a certain Tommy Jenkins. Also, unlike Rodgers, he was given time to bed the system in and after a shaky start, including a 2-6 away defeat at Southport followed immediately by a 5-1 win at Tranmere, the team really clicked. Even the sale of the wonderful Jenkins did not hold them back as able replacements in Gordon Cumming and Terry Bell were bought.

Critics at the time stated that Reading were the best footballing team outside of the First Division and the crowds flooded back to Elm Park. They scored - and conceded - for fun (they scored 87 that season; but conceded 77) and an unbeaten run after Christmas sent them top - and the away point at Plymouth earned them a highlight spot on Match of the Day. Heady days!

Unfortunately, it all went Pete Tong in a deluge at Elm Park in March against Luton when Malcolm MacDonald did for us in the dying minutes after skinning Fred Sharpe. Included in hefty wins against Barrow (6-3) and Barnsley (6-2) were thrashings by Fulham (0-4) and MacDonald's Luton again (0-5) and a desperately unlucky defeat against Brighton in front of over 32,000 at the Goldstone; and despite a huge 8-0 win against Southport and a place sealed in the following season's Watney Cup, we petered out to eighth.

Unfortunately, the habit of shipping goals left, right and centre carried on into the following season. Despite being the bookies' favourites, the goals dried up, the injuries mounted and it ended in relegation, but as an earlier poster alluded to, for a year or so, Reading crowds were treated to a style of football that they had never seen before preached by a bright, young coach, and it was wonderful to behold while it lasted.

That 69/70 Mansell team will always be one of my favourite Reading teams.

[MSV Duisburg]

1996 FA Cup 3rd round, Reading 3 Gillingham 1. I'd only become a Reading fan a couple of years beforehand, and living in Maidstone hadn't got to any games. I watched the 3rd round draw on TV with my sister. Before it started she said as a joke that if Reading were drawn against Gillingham (our local team after the demise of Maidstone United) she'd take me to the game! She kept her word, and as far as I remember Gillingham had 2 players sent off and their manager (Tony Pulis) sent to the stands... Great day out! We lost to Man Utd in the next round...

[grey_squirrel]

You are correct, Floyd. Yes, he did get us relegated, but when he joined he instigated a revolution and completely changed the way that the team played - a bit like a certain Brendan Rodgers. He changed things behind the scenes as well: his own office, new floodlights, reverting back to the old blue and white hoops so loved by the fans and a training regime that was based entirely around the passing game and push and run. It was a brave philosophy in the blunt, hoofing world of Division Three.

Unlike Rodgers, he bought and brought in players that he knew would fit the system and the push-and-run style of play that he stood by: Les Chappell, the Wagstaff brothers, Bobby Williams and a certain Tommy Jenkins. Also, unlike Rodgers, he was given time to bed the system in and after a shaky start, including a 2-6 away defeat at Southport followed immediately by a 5-1 win at Tranmere, the team really clicked. Even the sale of the wonderful Jenkins did not hold them back as able replacements in Gordon Cumming and Terry Bell were bought.

Critics at the time stated that Reading were the best footballing team outside of the First Division and the crowds flooded back to Elm Park. They scored - and conceded - for fun (they scored 87 that season; but conceded 77) and an unbeaten run after Christmas sent them top - and the away point at Plymouth earned them a highlight spot on Match of the Day. Heady days!

Unfortunately, it all went Pete Tong in a deluge at Elm Park in March against Luton when Malcolm MacDonald did for us in the dying minutes after skinning Fred Sharpe. Included in hefty wins against Barrow (6-3) and Barnsley (6-2) were thrashings by Fulham (0-4) and MacDonald's Luton again (0-5) and a desperately unlucky defeat against Brighton in front of over 32,000 at the Goldstone; and despite a huge 8-0 win against Southport and a place sealed in the following season's Watney Cup, we petered out to eighth.

Unfortunately, the habit of shipping goals left, right and centre carried on into the following season. Despite being the bookies' favourites, the goals dried up, the injuries mounted and it ended in relegation, but as an earlier poster alluded to, for a year or so, Reading crowds were treated to a style of football that they had never seen before preached by a bright, young coach, and it was wonderful to behold while it lasted.

That 69/70 Mansell team will always be one of my favourite Reading teams.

Good post and thanks for the nostalgia! I expect we can probably see a lot of similar scorelines this year with McD's philosophy!

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Preston Home, April 1971 - behind the Tilehurst End goal at Elm Park. We got relagated that season to div 4 for the first time but actually won that game 1-0 against a side which got promoted that season.

Must be loads of fans on here who can beat that though.

Can't beat that BUT ... 1st game was Reading 7 Barnsley 0 29th December 1979. And for saddo stattos out there, its been down hill all the way since then ... we haven't had a better score line since in a competitive match

remember that game well - still remember Ollie Kearns header from corner behind Tilehurst End goal for the 7th.

Allan Clarke the old Leeds & England striker was their manager - and he send them down a coal mine to show them what real work was like

[floyd__streete]

Thanks for an excellent post, Ark. My dad still speaks fondly of the 8-0 Southport game.

[Old Biscuitman]

1947, October I think. Beat Exeter 4-0. I recall that Tony McPhee scored a brace. He was Ronnie Blackman's predecessor.

From the last time this question came up, I seem to remember that there are (perhaps were!) one or two on here who go back further.

[Arnie_Pie]

Someone can probably nail the date but it was in the early to mid-nineties. Played Chelsea at Elm Park. Think it was a cup game. Think we lost 3-1 / 3-0 / 4/1?

Zola played and so did Ray Houghton for us. It was really hot, I was exceptionally drunk and got very sunburned in the Tilehurst end.

Sounds like a friendly in 97?

We lost 2-1 after taking the lead it was a friendly. And yes it was a baking hot day.

Well there you go. I am a newbie fan. Enjoyed it immensely though. Been a fan ever since.

The nineties were such a mess for me.

Anyway, to add to my post, my mates brother was the physio for Reading at the time, so I got to go into the players lounge (dump that it was) and I met Zola, his wife and his two kids after the game. Very friendly chap he was.