Worst Reading Player

[AthleticoSpizz]

think that it was Ians’ attempt at humour tbf Old’un

[Ascotexgunner]

Paul Bodin…….purely on the fact he was useless, and he missed that penalty against Romania that would have taken us to USA 94......useless *wat.

[royals6719]

Has Robert Fleck been mentioned yet? . Words cannot describe his time at Reading. I known TB's seven have been collectively mentioned and some individually but cannot see his name yet?

[Broxroyal]

Couldn't disagree more. I know he made an arse of himself sometimes but he scored some good goals too. 40 goals in 86 league games says he was no way the worst ever Reading player.

As a callow youth in the mid 80's, without really seeing him play, I thought his goals per game ratio marked him out as a pretty decent player, but the general consensus of more knowledgeable fans was always that he was utter shite.

He was.

No way does Ollie Kearns qualify for a worst ever player accolade. Yes, his ball control was unbelievably bad; the ball would jump off his foot, he would fall over the ball, the crowd would laugh (when it wasn't groaning) but.... he scored goals, lots of them. Plenty of good goals too, along with tap ins. I remember one midweek game - a ball in from the left (Mark White, I think), a first time left footed half volley from well outside the box. Keeper couldn't even move before the ball hit the roof of the net. Stunned silence initially from everyone, in sheer disbelief, before the cheering started.
There are plenty of players with no redeeming features to choose from for the worst ever trophy. My vote goes to Malcolm Swain, shading out Martin James.

[Notts Royal]

Haha quite a few names from the 97-00 era...my life we signed some shockers!

Paul Bodin was dire
Neil Smith anyone?
Michael O’Neill had a poor loan spell
Mark Reilly was dire

Anyone remember Elroy Kromhear? Can’t even remember if he was any good

[Snowflake Royal]

Haha quite a few names from the 97-00 era...my life we signed some shockers!

Paul Bodin was dire
Neil Smith anyone?
Michael O’Neill had a poor loan spell
Mark Reilly was dire

Anyone remember Elroy Kromhear? Can’t even remember if he was any good

Kromheer and van der Kwaak - the sign pub players from Europe whilst on tour school of management. Can only assume Burns spent the entire tour pissed. Most of his tenure actually. It would explain the "magnificent" seven and performance on the pitch.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Haha quite a few names from the 97-00 era...my life we signed some shockers!

Paul Bodin was dire
Neil Smith anyone?
Michael O’Neill had a poor loan spell
Mark Reilly was dire

Anyone remember Elroy Kromhear? Can’t even remember if he was any good

nothing significantly wrong with Neil Smith

[Westwood52]

Haha quite a few names from the 97-00 era...my life we signed some shockers!

Paul Bodin was dire
Neil Smith anyone?
Michael O’Neill had a poor loan spell
Mark Reilly was dire

Anyone remember Elroy Kromhear? Can’t even remember if he was any good

nothing significantly wrong with Neil Smith

Not that impressed with Joey VDB.Remember Shaun Cummings away at West Brom ?TBF he did get better though.

[SCIAG]

After a couple of shaky early displays, Joey turned out to be absolute quality.

[Hendo]

Yep, JvdB was not a terrible player, some make him out to be. Certainly not a consideration for our worst player.

[One87One]

Special mentions go to:

Sean Evers (£500,000 back in the old Third Division, League One today). Big money at the time for that level. Of many Tommy Burns flops (RIP).

Keith Scott. A donkey of a carthorse that set us back around £250,000? Did one good thing against Bradford in a League Cup game IIRC, when we were Third Division and they were Premier League. He was puffing out of his backside after sprinting ten paces.

Ray Houghton, Rob Fleck, Stuart Gray... (when he ran, he still looked like he was walking).

[One87One]

Nicky Colgan!!!

Anyone who was at Oxford away the year we went down from Division One will remember just how bad a keeper this guy was. By far the worst in my time watching us, and that's going back to the early 90's. He was having such a sh*t game, he couldn't even take a goal kick and eventually collapsed in a heap with a full away end stood behind him and the 7ft fencing all berating him, faking injury. ISTR someone taking over goal kicks from that point. We were dreadful that night, but he epitomised dreadful.

[Sanguine]

Not our worst ever player by any means but for the sake of a different name, Rowan Liburd didn't look suited to league football at all in his three brief appearances for the club. Had all the physical attributes to be a Jason Roberts-type striker, but the balls just bounced off of him. He's now at Hereford, and has scored four international goals for St. Kitts and Nevis.

Reading a lot of players from the Burns era - something I realise with these (particularly Mark Reilly) is that for the most part they were so bad I've forgotten what is was like to watch them play.

Houghton was a funny one. Awful at Reading save for one match where we dicked Man City at Elm Park, and he ran the show like he used to for Liverpool.

[KDRF]

Amazed nobody has mentioned Andy Hughes, he was truely dreadful.

[Hendo]

Amazed nobody has mentioned Andy Hughes, he was truely dreadful.

The time he played behind Forster in 4-5-1 formation excludes him from this discussion.

[Sanguine]

Amazed nobody has mentioned Andy Hughes, he was truely dreadful.

The time he played behind Forster in 4-5-1 formation excludes him from this discussion.

Ah, the age old Andy Hughes debate.

In fact, football fans in general who get a chip on their shoulder about individual players. Hughes was no Pele, but he was a perfectly serviceable football league player, who had good games and bad games. And as you say, he was excellent behind Forster in that setup.

[One87One]

Hughes played with a lot of heart and would run all day, but was bang bang average. He was a modern day Karacan.

[Hendo]

Amazed nobody has mentioned Andy Hughes, he was truely dreadful.

The time he played behind Forster in 4-5-1 formation excludes him from this discussion.

Ah, the age old Andy Hughes debate.

In fact, football fans in general who get a chip on their shoulder about individual players. Hughes was no Pele, but he was a perfectly serviceable football league player, who had good games and bad games. And as you say, he was excellent behind Forster in that setup.

Agreed, although I do think that we managed to steal £500k for him

[Sanguine]

Hughes played with a lot of heart and would run all day, but was bang bang average. He was a modern day Karacan.

Again, someone who could in no way be described as a bad player. There's a lack of awareness, particularly in regard to younger players (like Karacan, or Hughes when he joined), is that if they aren't bang average, then they won't be staying long at Reading.

[karbota]

Has anybody mentioned Sean Goater, I know it was towards the end of his career but woeful at Reading..