Six Of The Best: My Favourite Reading FC Moments – Olly

Six Of The Best: My Favourite Reading FC Moments – Olly

Olly looks back at more recent memories we’ve cherished as part of our Six of the Best series.

As a Reading supporter, I’ve been quite fortunate. I have witnessed three Premier League seasons, a Championship title win, and an FA Cup semi-final since I started cheering for the Royals in 2006. We’ll bypass both of the relegations.

I consider myself to be a part of the new era because I missed the historic 2005–06 season, which means that I am not familiar with the majority of the players, games, and goals from that amazing campaign. And, of course, before then, too. Despite the terrible performances of 2014–15, you will see that time has been kind to us Reading supporters and is maybe the finest in our history as I reflect on my first nine years as a fan.

Player

You shouldn’t anticipate many of those names to appear in this article because, as I mentioned, I don’t remember most of the 2005–06 season, even though I’ve heard a lot about it.

Having said that, Ivar Ingimarsson deserves recognition since, after scoring the game-winning goal in my very first match against Manchester City, he was perhaps the first player I truly “fell in love with.” He would have made my all-time Reading squad, including Royals before my time, because he was a reliable back. About once a season, he scored, but for some reason, I went crazy when he did. One such instance occurred during our second Premier League season versus Sunderland.

Moving up the field and further on in time, I come to another player from Iceland, Gylfi Sigurdsson, who is now gracing the Premier League with his talent, and understandably too. He provided so many happy memories for me as Reading fan, such as his exploits in the 2009-10 cup run and an incredible goal against Scunthorpe on the first day of the following season. That led to his inevitable sale, and I don’t think we’ve seen a better player at the Madejski Stadium since.

Manager

Brian McDermott, who rose quickly from scout to head coach, was the manager of the only championship-winning team I have ever watched play. However, I must follow the crowd and choose Steve Coppell. Even though the football we played in 2007–08 didn’t always produce results, it was nonetheless fun to watch over the three seasons I watched. I think it was unfortunate for us to lose that season.

He is the only manager in history to win the LMA Manager of the Year award twice in a row, and during his five full seasons with the club, we never finished worse than seventh in the second division. Then there is the season of 2005–06, which broke all previous records and requires no explanation.

Goal

It’s challenging to choose between goals that are extremely important and ambitions that blow your mind, which makes this one challenging. Garath McCleary’s Zidane-esque goal against Burnley on the last day of 2013–14 was amazing and at the time seemed to have guaranteed a play-off position, despite the day ending on a sad note.

You could choose any of Sigurdsson’s goals, but I will always have a special place in my heart for Adam Federici’s goal against Cardiff. Shane Long’s glancing header against Liverpool had me jumping up and down in the living room. The two at Wembley, Mikele Leigertwood and McCleary, are significant but tenacious.

Match

Once more, we’ve been fortunate to see some fantastic games over the past decade. Our second Premier League stint saw incredible comebacks against Chelsea and West Brom, while our FA Cup matches against Bradford and Arsenal this season were historic, as were our victories against Nottingham Forest in 2011–12 and Leicester in 2005–06.

But I’m going for a game in my first season as a supporter, a game that proved to me I was right to support Reading despite my friends cheering on Chelsea and Manchester United. It’s the 6-0 win over West Ham on New Years’ Day 2007. It came just two days after my eighth birthday, and I was already made up to meet Steve Sidwell before the game. But what followed meant that I didn’t stop talking the entire way home, and I still remember the match as if it was yesterday.

Kit

Despite the excitement that a new shirt always brings, I hate to say it again, but Reading’s kits have never really lived up to my expectations. I have not been pleased with the use of red in a Royals shirt. I would go with the 2006–08 effort if I had to pick. It was my first shirt, and because it was a block of blue—and a pretty good shade at that—you could actually read the letters and numbers on the back.

Away Ground

Since we’re close to London, you can visit a lot of places without breaking the bank on petrol. For the first time this season, I visited the charming old-fashioned ground known as Craven Cottage. Accordingly, I have also appreciated visits to Selhurst Park, The Valley, and Vicarage Road because of their historical significance. The Emirates is the largest stadium I’ve seen the Royals play at outside of Wembley, but we lost 4-1 when I visited in 2013.

In spite of all I’ve written about historic stadiums, I’m really referring to Cardiff’s brand-new stadium, which is appropriately called the Cardiff City Stadium. We haven’t lost in my three visits, and because of the small distance, there is always a positive vibe in the away end. Two of my favourite away games are the 2011 play-off semi-final and this season’s cup match. We Royals take advantage of the fact that the South Wales home crowd rarely sings, which makes it better. Although it may seem strange, I always enjoy the thought of seeing Reading play in a different nation (yes, I am aware that Wales is a part of the United Kingdom). It’s the closest thing we have to playing in Europe, I guess!

Bit of a strange note to end on.

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