READING - COME ON DOWN!
Sunday 6th July 2008
by Simon Skinner

Last season: Having done so well to stay in the Premier League after their romp through the Championship the previous season, the wheels came off for Coppell’s men. They had built their success on being tight at the back but last season that all changed. They shipped 66 goals, 19 more than the season before and compounded this by scoring fewer goals also. In the end they found themselves relegated on goal difference from Fulham after the men from south west London launched a stirring late season recovery.

Transfers: So far this close season the only bit of business has been the departure of Mr Punch look-a-like Glenn Little to Portsmouth incredibly! There is talk that Stephen Hunt and Kevin Doyle are targets for compulsive Irishman collector Roy Keane and West Ham still seem to be interested in England cap Nicky Shorey. Middlesbrough and Wigan are poking around James Harper and Fulham are chasing Dave Kitson but aside from a passing interest in Chelsea left back Ryan Bertrand, who has now signed for Norwich, there seems to be little doing in terms of players in. 

The Manager: Steve Coppell comes across as a very dour individual and you do often wonder how he gets the players fired up for games without any of them lapsing into a coma! But he must have something, the promotion season for Reading was a staggering achievement, as was the fact that they stayed up so comfortably following it. There was talk about him falling on his sword following relegation but he has stuck around for another tilt at promotion. The Reading board and fans will be hoping that he has another promotion in the tank as I am not sure he will hang about for much longer if they don’t bounce straight back. 

The Ground: I always think it says something about the ego of the person in charge of a club when they build a new ground and then name it after themselves! Who knows, we may be playing in the Flav Arena or the Bernie Inn in a couple of years but Reading have the Madejski Stadium. Plonked just off the M4 it is easy to get to by road and to be honest, it is one of the few new style stadia that I actually quite like. You get a sense of being close to the pitch and the away end is pretty steep so you get a good view even if some giant ends up in front of you. Nothing spectacular, but functional. 

Last Time We Met: It was the final day of the season, Reading were already promoted, every one of their outfield players bar Graeme Murty had scored and Rangers were on the end of a right stitch up! I had already said before the game that if Murty didn’t get one then there would be a penalty and lo and behold, six minutes to play, guess what happens! To be fair he took it well and Reading won the game 2-1, Rangers deserved something that afternoon though and did more than enough to get something by fair means. 

QPR Connections: There are a fair few players that have worn the Hoops of the R’s and the vertical stripes of The Royals. Tony Witter and Paul Barron both had loan spells at Reading and Jamie Cureton, Michael Meaker and Simon Osborn have turned out for both.