The Royals - Reading FC

[leckuno]

March

Hull v Reading

Every so often Fosu produces pieces of absolute magic and he did it twice here with 2 fantastic goals which helps us leapfrog Hull in the league as we get our first win in 4 games

Reading v Sheffield Wednesday

What a performance in the middle of the park from van de Beek with 2 curling efforts which both find the back of the net and also taking the corner which Luizao scored from but most games should be a walk in the park in this league for him

Bristol City v Reading

Confidence breads confidence as we run absolute riot in the opening 20 minutes to put the game beyond doubt as we take the scalp of another team above us in the league

Reading v Coventry

A goal at both ends of the game here was we got a very lucky equaliser here to earn a very undeserved point.

Birmingham v Reading

We're finally brought back down after getting carried away but we were good value for a point here before a wayward back pass let Soonsup-Bell run round the keeper and score.

Reading v Stoke

A really poor game here as we just had no answer to Stoke in the opening half hour and we need to perform a lot better than this going forward

League

A good month and we've jumped up the table to be in the playoff sports by goal difference with 3 teams sitting on 61 points and we're only 3 points off automatic promotion now as well.

Youth Intake


By all accounts it looks like another decent youth intake with one stand out player who is in a position we have plenty of cover for but being homegrown gives him an edge

Joshua Hughes​

At 15 he already looks like a decent keeper so with training it looks like he could become the next Neville Southall and do great things for club and country

April

Our final 6 games of the season, can we do enough to stay in the playoff spots or go one further?​

 

[leckuno]

April

Ipswich v Reading

Our poor form continues as we're undone by two quick goals from Ipswich here.

Reading v Sunderland

Oh come on, we finally looked like we were going to break our streak here as we looked in control of the game and then threw it all away in the closing minutes to only walk away with a point. The good thing though is McBeam became the clubs youngest goal scorer with is first goal for the club.

Preston v Reading

Our first win in 5 games as we leave it very late to get the winner as Weir scores from the edge of the area and McBeam gets another goal as well.

Reading v West Brom

Back to back wins here as we have to rely on our midfielders to find a way and we can always rely on Weir with a long shot to get us a goal.

Southampton v Reading

What a win for us over Southampton here, taking an early lead gave us hope before we were pegged back right after half time but we got lucky with a poor challenge in the are to give us a penalty for a huge 3 points.

Reading v Middlesbrough

A really poor game here as Middlesbrough were just the far better team here to beat us in the final game of the season

League

Even with a loss on the final day of the season we still grab the final play off spot thanks to other results as its been extremely close all season but we will now face off against Middlesbrough in the play offs​

 

[leckuno]

The Playoffs

Reading v Middlesbrough

A horrific opening minute to the game but at least we equalised before we managed to keep them out for the rest of the game as Middlesbrough battered us.

Middlesbrough v Reading

Sadly its not back to back promotions for us as Middlesbrough were just a step up too much for us as we make it 4 games against them this season without a win

Middlesbrough went on to win promotion after they beat Plymouth in the final.

Budgets

Not the biggest budget to work with over the course of the summer so we will need to move players on to free up more cash or even just to build the balance up to allow us to make a proper go at it​

 

[leckuno]

Season 3

Transfers Out

We've been struggling to sell players over the course of the window so far with only 3 players leaving on a permanent basis as we look to try and raise some additional funds to increase the wage budget.

Transfers In

We've really struggled with bringing players in due to the small wage budget available to us so we've had to transfer the transfer funds to the wage budget as we've had a number of key players come to us looking for new deals that we've needed to pay up on to keep the squad happy. With this its meant we've had to work smart over the transfer window to strengthen the squad.

Matheus Pereira

We welcome Pereira back to English football after 4 years since he left West Brom and he can be a key player for us over the coming season as he joins on a free transfer

Alex Robertson

Another free transfer as Robertson was let go by Manchester City at the end of his contract as we bring in the young Australian to add depth to our midfield

Álvaro Fernández

We tried to sign Fernández in the last window but he wasn't willing to talk to us but how things come around as he was released by Manchester United so we snapped him up on a free transfer.

Rory Wilson

We were on the lookout for a new striker to come in and help and with money issues we needed to look at the loan market as we bring Wilson in on loan from Villa for the season and hope the young Scottish player can live up to expectations.

Filip Stevanović

Another loan deal here as Stevanović had a good season on loan at Coventry last season and even scored against us as he comes in as our new LW

Tommy Doyle

A deal we were trying to do all summer and it only happened hours before the first game of the season but we snap up Doyle on a free transfer after his contract at Manchester City expired.

Friendlies

A very mixed preseason here as we struggled against the bigger teams but they were more for brining in some case but we at least for a few wins to build confidence and build more team cohesion

Expectations

After exceeding all expectations last season with reaching the playoffs the board expect us a top half finish which should be enough with the squad we have at our disposal and at least we only need to be competitive in the cups again but hopefully we can get a cup run this time with some favourable draws.

Season Preview

With the board expecting a top half finish the press actually expect us to finish in the same spot as last season in 6th but its going to be tough and as expected the 3 teams relegated are expected to finish in the top 3 as well

August

A very busy first month for us here as we have very big games to start us off with having to face Luton, Leeds and Norwich this season.​

 

[leckuno]

August

Luton v Reading

What a start as Mueanta picks up from last season with 2 goals from the RW to get us on our way.

Carabao Cup 1st Round
Reading v West Brom

What a debut for Rory Wilson as he gets an excellent brace along with Stevanovic announcing himself to the fans as well with 2 huge goals to get us into the 2nd round

Reading v Leeds

I was worried about this game going into it and even more so after falling 1 behind but we got very lucky with 2 penalties in 10 minutes which Doyle was able to convert for a huge 3 points.

Rotherham v Reading

van de Beek is on fire just now with 2 goals here after his goal against Leeds as again he is far too good for this league.

Reading v Blackburn

We are on a role as we notch up another win here against Blackburn who we beat ion goal difference last season in the league and it was a very comfortable game for us.

Reading v Portsmouth

A nervy start against the newly promoted team as Serginho walked through our defence to get the lead before Stevanovic got us back into the game but it was 2 goals right before half time that were what everybody was talking about with van De Beek scoring a curling free kick before setting up Mueanta 3 minutes later

Carabao Cup 2nd Run
Ipswich v Reading

We rotated a few players here to give them a run out to see what they could do and Robertson had a dream debut with finding the back of the net. Stevanovic came on at half time to try and get us back into the game and he did it excellently in the space of 7 minutes with 2 goals

Norwich v Reading

Our 2nd game against a newly relegated team and we somehow came away with a huge win against Norwich here thanks to a goal from Mueanta as he seems to be making the RW his own at the moment.

League

Its been a much better month than expected as we've already opened up a 5 point gap at the top of the table

Transfers Out

We continue to clear out players who are looking for new deals but don't deserve them with Fosu and Craig leaving for big profits to ensure we can reinvest the cash in the club for the future.

Transfers In

Ronnie Edwards

We needed another defender to come in and make up the numbers for us and we missed out on a number of players so settled on Ronnie Smith on loan for the season.

Scott Twine

With Fosu leaving we needed another LW to come in and provide cover and Twine was transfer listed by Burnley for only £225,000 so he is hopefully going to be a steal for us.

Arvin Appiah

Another winger in to provide more cover and he's very versatile but he does cost us £2.7million from Almeria but he is another English player in through the door

Ryan Andrews

We were lacking cover with a natural RB for us so again we had to look to the transfer list and splashed out £1.8million here for Andrews from Watford as he will be our No.2 there but will get plenty of game time over the season.

September

A quieter month but as we learnt last season there are no easy months and this is a reminder of it with each game being difficult​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Great showing in your first season in the Championship and with the additional signings and a good start to season 2, fingers crossed you can get automatic promotion this season and avoid the dreaded playoffs!

 

[leckuno]

Great showing in your first season in the Championship and with the additional signings and a good start to season 2, fingers crossed you can get automatic promotion this season and avoid the dreaded playoffs!

Fingers crossed. Its been brutal in the transfer market with having to try and find people who can make us better and actually want to join

 

[leckuno]

Well after 2 and a half seasons things went horribly wrong and I was ultimately sacked in the December