27 January 2017
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading returned to winning ways on Tuesday night as they played out a 1-0 win in the re-arranged game against Fulham. After three straight defeats, fans were expecting the worst. However, the fog stayed away until full time this time around, and Reading won the fixture despite starting without a recognised striker on the pitch. It was a game of two penalties - with Reading scoring theirs from the rebound thanks to Roy Beerens and Al Habsi taking all the credit with a last minute penalty save to secure the full three points. The win was just about a fair reflection of an entertaining game, and saw Reading briefly return to third place. Cardiff City are the visitors to the Madejski Stadium this weekend, where a victory for Reading would lift back to third and close the gap on Brighton and Newcastle who are both in FA Cup action on Saturday.
Cardiff City turn up at the Madejski Stadium under the charge of our favourite manager Neil Warnock. Colin has guided Cardiff to 16th place in the Championship after his arrival and the Bluebirds are in decent form, despite their recent defeat to table toppers Brighton on Tuesday night. Cardiff were always unlikely to get any points from their trip to the South coast - but before that they picked up a maximum of 9 from 9 with victories over Aston Villa, Bristol City and Burton Albion. Despite Reading turning the corner with their win on Tuesday night, Warnock will be hoping, perhaps expecting, to leave Reading with some points.
Reading manager Jaap Stam is likely to shake things around again for Cardiff's visit. He may choose to include a striker in the starting eleven this time out, with Yann Kermorgant hoping to be back in the side. Meanwhile, Jordan Obita is likely to make a return after Tyler Blackett struggled to cope on Tuesday night and found himself substituted. Obita was suspended on Tuesday night but is available again after serving his one match ban.
Off the pitch, the proposed Chinese takeover still continues to simmer away without confirmation in either direction if they will eventually take control of the club. The takeover continues to wait with the Premier League unhappy with the history of the Chinese, leading to them keeping the brakes on the deal. The Thai's have made it clear they want out of the football side of the club and are desperate for the take over to complete.
After splitting the club into two, to enable them to redevelop the area surrounding the Madejski Stadium via their own separate entity company, they allowed a large percentage of the property development company to be used as security on a loan provided by the Chinese two weeks ago. The 10.4 million pound loan, the details of which were released on Monday this week, came into the Football Club before the Ilori deal completed. This was essentially the Chinese funding the transfer via a loan ahead of their takeover.
Jaap Stam is still likely to get a remainder of that loaned cash before the transfer window shuts next week, and will hope to add at least one player to continue an unlikely promotion push. Stam may include winger Adrian Popa in his incoming transfers if Romanian media is to be believed. Reports suggest after a 500K Euro bid was turned down, the club upped it to 600,000 Euros, and that bid has now been accepted by Steaua Bucharest. Popa is a Romanian international and Steaua are reported to be set to cash in with the player's contract up in the summer. The same reports suggest Popa will sign a three and a half year contract with the Royals. True or not, it is likely to be one of many rumours over the next week.
| DATE | COMPETITION | OPPOSITION | SCORE | REPORT |
| 27 August 2016 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | W: 1-0 | Read report... |
| 19 March 2016 | Championship | Cardiff (HOME) | D: 1-1 | Read report... |
| 07 November 2015 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | L: 0-2 | Read report... |
| 04 April 2015 | Championship | Cardiff (HOME) | D: 1-1 | Read report... |
| 24 January 2015 | FA Cup | Cardiff (Away) | W: 2-1 | Read report... |
| 21 November 2014 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
| 02 January 2012 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | L: 1-3 | Read report... |
| 19 November 2011 | Championship | Cardiff (HOME) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
| 17 May 2011 | Championship Play-Off | Cardiff (Away) | W: 3-0 | Read report... |
| 13 May 2011 | Championship Play-Off | Cardiff (HOME) | D: 0-0 | Read report... |
| 01 February 2011 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | D: 2-2 | Read report... |
| 10 November 2010 | Championship | Cardiff (HOME) | D: 1-1 | Read report... |
| 10 April 2010 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | D: 0-0 | Read report... |
| 16 September 2009 | Championship | Cardiff (HOME) | L: 0-1 | Read report... |
| 03 January 2009 | FA Cup | Cardiff (Away) | L: 0-2 | Read report... |
| 26 December 2008 | Championship | Cardiff (HOME) | D: 1-1 | Read report... |
| 25 November 2008 | Championship | Cardiff (Away) | D: 2-2 | Read report... |
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