Your worst 11 since supporting RFC?

[Snowflake Royal]

I shall continue my love in for The Meaks.

Loved his cheeks puffing away as he struggled up and down the wing in front of the South Bank. It was his cross Williams turned in as an OG against Wolves.

"Reading continued to win their fair share of corners before realising perhaps they should make more of their possession and try the more direct approach. Which they did through Meaker on the half hour. Meaker did a 'Crewe' and it made you wonder if the fat one had really done his homework after watching the Royals last Saturday. Meaker played with the full back, did a sexy little 1-2 with Carl Asaba inside the area, nipped past the defender, stode goalwards and drove a cross across the face of goal to Williams. Williams slide in to put the ball past the keeper into the net. Adrian Williams that is. "Adie, Adie, Adie!". 1-0 to the Royals. And no more than we deserved."

Particularly enjoyed Adie sheepishly acknowledging the South Bank with a smile and an index finger when we politely asked him what the score was.

Lovely stuff

That was the night Parky scored a belter and we won 4-2. League Cup I think.

Indeed it was. Not quite as satisfying a game as the 2-1 home win in the league the season before. And not quite as good a goal from Parky as Quinn's belter on McGhee's return to Elm Park the season before that.

The good old days vs Wolves.

[Zip]

I shall continue my love in for The Meaks.

Loved his cheeks puffing away as he struggled up and down the wing in front of the South Bank. It was his cross Williams turned in as an OG against Wolves.

"Reading continued to win their fair share of corners before realising perhaps they should make more of their possession and try the more direct approach. Which they did through Meaker on the half hour. Meaker did a 'Crewe' and it made you wonder if the fat one had really done his homework after watching the Royals last Saturday. Meaker played with the full back, did a sexy little 1-2 with Carl Asaba inside the area, nipped past the defender, stode goalwards and drove a cross across the face of goal to Williams. Williams slide in to put the ball past the keeper into the net. Adrian Williams that is. "Adie, Adie, Adie!". 1-0 to the Royals. And no more than we deserved."

Particularly enjoyed Adie sheepishly acknowledging the South Bank with a smile and an index finger when we politely asked him what the score was.

Lovely stuff

That was the night Parky scored a belter and we won 4-2. League Cup I think.

Indeed it was. Not quite as satisfying a game as the 2-1 home win in the league the season before. And not quite as good a goal from Parky as Quinn's belter on McGhee's return to Elm Park the season before that.

The good old days vs Wolves.

Yep went to the 4-2 and the Archie late show 2-1. Also the 2-2 when we didn’t quite manage to win 14 on the trot.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Wrong Meaker was far better than average.

He cost us supposedly £550,000 in 1995 which would maybe be something like £2 million today perhaps or more bearing in mind the escalation of transfer fees.

He scored all of 2 goals in 67 appearances and after 3 years went off to Plymouth for a short period and then to loads of non-league teams.

As I said earlier, his arrival was part of the deal taking my favourite ever Reading player to QPR, so I would never see the best in him, if indeed there was ever a best.

One of many poor signings by Quinn and Gooding....the latter talks on BBC Berks like he won the league with us rather than turning McGhee's play off team to relegation fodder in 9 months

whilst still having the burden of playing (and in Quinnys case, scoring our lions share)
Wash your mouth out

[karbota]

Michael Meaker has to be included, mainly because we didn't get the full fee from QPR for Super Simon Osborn but got palmed off with the weedy winger as part of the transfer deal.

Otherwise some good suggestions of players that we shouldn't have seen wearing the hoops and, because of the alleged fee, Aluko has to be right up there with the worst.

Wrong Meaker was far better than average.

He cost us supposedly £550,000 in 1995 which would maybe be something like £2 million today perhaps or more bearing in mind the escalation of transfer fees.

He scored all of 2 goals in 67 appearances and after 3 years went off to Plymouth for a short period and then to loads of non-league teams.

As I said earlier, his arrival was part of the deal taking my favourite ever Reading player to QPR, so I would never see the best in him, if indeed there was ever a best.

Fake news wrong again. Welsh International and former premier league star Michael Meaker left Reading to join Bristol Rovers and was a key player in the squad that thrashed us 0-6 at home, he then went on for a successful spell at Swindon Town, and then onto Plymouth Argyle. Meaker is now player-manager at Taunton Town.

[Gandalf Presley]

Going to attempt an XI of those yet to be mentioned:

GK - Gary Phillips
RB - Paul Franklin
LB - Steve Swales
CB - Mark Whitlock
CB - Irvin Gernon
RW - Mark Bowen
CM - Chris Seymour
CM - Jimmy Crawford
LW - Mark Reilly
FWD - Mike Conroy

[AthleticoSpizz]

Going to attempt an XI of those yet to be mentioned:

GK - Gary Phillips
RB - Paul Franklin
LB - Steve Swales
CB - Mark Whitlock
CB - Irvin Gernon
RW - Mark Bowen
CM - Chris Seymour
CM - Jimmy Crawford
LW - Mark Reilly
FWD - Mike Conroy

that’s a bit more realistic. (Didn’t we have a player ‘Dave Goodenough’ too?..who evidently wasn’t)

Good to see you still around Gandalf!

[Zip]

Going to attempt an XI of those yet to be mentioned:

GK - Gary Phillips
RB - Paul Franklin
LB - Steve Swales
CB - Mark Whitlock
CB - Irvin Gernon
RW - Mark Bowen
CM - Chris Seymour
CM - Jimmy Crawford
LW - Mark Reilly
FWD - Mike Conroy

Good list that.

[Sanguine]

Bowen, Polston, Fleck, Houghton, Bodin. We did a decent trade in top division players well past their best.

And to those first three you can add Jamie Cureton and Keith Scott to somewhat of a 1990s Norwich connection.

[Snowflake Royal]

Going to attempt an XI of those yet to be mentioned:

GK - Gary Phillips
RB - Paul Franklin
LB - Steve Swales
CB - Mark Whitlock
CB - Irvin Gernon
RW - Mark Bowen
CM - Chris Seymour
CM - Jimmy Crawford
LW - Mark Reilly
FWD - Mike Conroy

Good list that.

Peeved I got Crawford and Reilly's positions the wrong way round.

[Dirk Gently]

Unless I've missed it, no-one has yet nominated Bas "Bambi on Ice" Savage. Unbelieveable!

let's also give a nod to Nick Colgan, on loan in goal from Chelsea in '98. Played 5, lost 5, Scored 1, conceded 16.

[Snowflake Royal]

Bowen, Polston, Fleck, Houghton, Bodin. We did a decent trade in top division players well past their best.

And to those first three you can add Jamie Cureton and Keith Scott to somewhat of a 1990s Norwich connection.

I remember the naive excitement at Houghton... former top flight player, scored THAT goal for Ireland... against Italy wasn't it?

Absolutely shit. Would have been perfectly at home in Stam's second season dithering on the ball at a glacial pace and only passing backwards or sideways.

[6ft Kerplunk]

" Meaker played with the full back, did a sexy little 1-2 with Carl Asaba inside the area, "

I'd almost wiped Asaba from my memory. Although not an awful player we paid way over the odds for him. He was over 6ft unless going for a header when he appeared to shrink to about 5ft 6.

[Dirk Gently]

Bowen, Polston, Fleck, Houghton, Bodin. We did a decent trade in top division players well past their best.

And to those first three you can add Jamie Cureton and Keith Scott to somewhat of a 1990s Norwich connection.

I remember the naive excitement at Houghton... former top flight player, scored THAT goal for Ireland... against Italy wasn't it?

Absolutely shit. Would have been perfectly at home in Stam's second season dithering on the ball at a glacial pace and only passing backwards or sideways.

Yep - file with Keogh and Ferdinand. Best days behind them, just looking to coast at the end of their careers.

Exactly what I thougth Quinn was going to do when he arrived - boy, was I wrong there!

[Dirk Gently]

" Meaker played with the full back, did a sexy little 1-2 with Carl Asaba inside the area, "

I'd almost wiped Asaba from my memory. Although not an awful player we paid way over the odds for him. He was over 6ft unless going for a header when he appeared to shrink to about 5ft 6.

He was a perfectly competent fast attacking wide-player. But the fans of the day saw he was over 6ft and assumed we were buying a big'un centre-forward and never accepted him - because that's something he never was. Similar to Jim McIntyre - much more effective out wide but supporters wanted him to be a target-man.

[South Coast Royal]

Wrong Meaker was far better than average.

He cost us supposedly £550,000 in 1995 which would maybe be something like £2 million today perhaps or more bearing in mind the escalation of transfer fees.

He scored all of 2 goals in 67 appearances and after 3 years went off to Plymouth for a short period and then to loads of non-league teams.

As I said earlier, his arrival was part of the deal taking my favourite ever Reading player to QPR, so I would never see the best in him, if indeed there was ever a best.

Fake news wrong again. Welsh International and former premier league star Michael Meaker left Reading to join Bristol Rovers and was a key player in the squad that thrashed us 0-6 at home, he then went on for a successful spell at Swindon Town, and then onto Plymouth Argyle. Meaker is now player-manager at Taunton Town.

One of the biggest wastes of money in the club's history-£550,000 and we lost possibly our best ever player in getting him.
Remind me what we got for him when he left after doing so little for our club.
What he went on to do as a manager, a bin man or an opera singer is irrelevant.

[South Coast Royal]

He cost us supposedly £550,000 in 1995 which would maybe be something like £2 million today perhaps or more bearing in mind the escalation of transfer fees.

He scored all of 2 goals in 67 appearances and after 3 years went off to Plymouth for a short period and then to loads of non-league teams.

As I said earlier, his arrival was part of the deal taking my favourite ever Reading player to QPR, so I would never see the best in him, if indeed there was ever a best.

Fake news wrong again. Welsh International and former premier league star Michael Meaker left Reading to join Bristol Rovers and was a key player in the squad that thrashed us 0-6 at home, he then went on for a successful spell at Swindon Town, and then onto Plymouth Argyle. Meaker is now player-manager at Taunton Town.

One of the biggest wastes of money in the club's history-£550,000 and we lost possibly our best ever player in getting him.
Remind me what we got for him when he left after doing so little for our club.

His "key" role at Bristol Rovers entailed 27 games over 3 years and the "successful" spell at Swindon was over a grand total of 6 games.

What he went on to do as a manager, a bin man or an opera singer is irrelevant.

[Mr Angry]

" Meaker played with the full back, did a sexy little 1-2 with Carl Asaba inside the area, "

I'd almost wiped Asaba from my memory. Although not an awful player we paid way over the odds for him. He was over 6ft unless going for a header when he appeared to shrink to about 5ft 6.

He was a perfectly competent fast attacking wide-player. But the fans of the day saw he was over 6ft and assumed we were buying a big'un centre-forward and never accepted him - because that's something he never was. Similar to Jim McIntyre - much more effective out wide but supporters wanted him to be a target-man.

I remember Asaba having a great game at EP v. Sunderland (just checked; Oct 1997) where he scored a couple at least and dominated their defence. I popped into the Rendevous for a couple of cheeky pints afterwards, and when I came out, saw Asaba waiting for a bus with his boots around his neck; I thought I had stepped back to 1935 or spmething!

[South Coast Royal]

I'd almost wiped Asaba from my memory. Although not an awful player we paid way over the odds for him. He was over 6ft unless going for a header when he appeared to shrink to about 5ft 6.

He was a perfectly competent fast attacking wide-player. But the fans of the day saw he was over 6ft and assumed we were buying a big'un centre-forward and never accepted him - because that's something he never was. Similar to Jim McIntyre - much more effective out wide but supporters wanted him to be a target-man.

I remember Asaba having a great game at EP v. Sunderland (just checked; Oct 1997) where he scored a couple at least and dominated their defence. I popped into the Rendevous for a couple of cheeky pints afterwards, and when I came out, saw Asaba waiting for a bus with his boots around his neck; I thought I had stepped back to 1935 or spmething!

I remember that game well and we thought that we had seen the real Asaba.
Unfortunately such performances were few and far between.

[Snowflake Royal]

He was a perfectly competent fast attacking wide-player. But the fans of the day saw he was over 6ft and assumed we were buying a big'un centre-forward and never accepted him - because that's something he never was. Similar to Jim McIntyre - much more effective out wide but supporters wanted him to be a target-man.

I remember Asaba having a great game at EP v. Sunderland (just checked; Oct 1997) where he scored a couple at least and dominated their defence. I popped into the Rendevous for a couple of cheeky pints afterwards, and when I came out, saw Asaba waiting for a bus with his boots around his neck; I thought I had stepped back to 1935 or spmething!

I remember that game well and we thought that we had seen the real Asaba.
Unfortunately such performances were few and far between.

That was a great match. Sunderland were right up there and we smashed them.

[Dirk Gently]

I remember Asaba having a great game at EP v. Sunderland (just checked; Oct 1997) where he scored a couple at least and dominated their defence. I popped into the Rendevous for a couple of cheeky pints afterwards, and when I came out, saw Asaba waiting for a bus with his boots around his neck; I thought I had stepped back to 1935 or spmething!

I remember that game well and we thought that we had seen the real Asaba.
Unfortunately such performances were few and far between.

That was a great match. Sunderland were right up there and we smashed them.

I loved that season. Started so promisingly with games like that, and a great League Cup run (*that* 4-2 against Wolves then a 3-2 win at Elland Road). At the start of January we were mid table, still in both cups and playing for the League Cup semi-final, and then George Cain intervened. That loss to Boro' seemed to turn the whole season around, and with a massive run of injuries after January we lost 14 out of 16 games, only winning against the two teams that went down with us.