Wags raise £105,000

About a year ago I posted about the launch of the Royal Families charity.

The Wives and Girlfriends of the Reading Footballers got together under the banner of the Royal Families charity, which was set up by Amanda Hahnemann and Karen Murty (wives of goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann and captain Graeme Murty). They aimed to raise sixty thousand pounds throughout the season for local charities.

At the time this seemed like an extremely ambitious target but they smashed that target with some to spare.

Tonight they brought the 2006/07 season to a close and launched the fundraising for 2007/08.

In doing so they handed out £105,000 to local Berkshire charities. We hear so much negativity about footballers wives and girlfriends but these women are absolute stars and have set an example which Reading can be proud of and which many other clubs would do well to follow.

The story of 2 2-1's

The most important 2-1 was the win for Leeds to day at Elland Road. The first of what I feel are three must win home games until the end of the season. Peter Halmosi gave Plymouth the lead in the first half and David Healy levelled just before the break with Michalik scoring the winner when he headed in from Alan Thompson's free-kick.

Most importantly Leeds are out of the bottom three for the first time since November!!!

We are Leeds, We are Leeds
We are Leeds
We are Leeds, We are Leeds
We are Lee-eeds
We are Leeds, We are Leeds
We are Leeds
We are Lee-eeds
WE ARE LEEDS

Something from the Colchester game (preferably three points) would be nice.

Oh and Reading undeservedly lost to Liverpool. 1-1 would have been a fairer result.

Coppell signs

According to the Guardian this morning Steve Coppell has signed a new contract with Reading. He is unusual in the footballing world in that he will normally only sign a one year contract. The fact that he has this time around agreed to sign a two year contract is a testament to what Coppell has built at Reading (as their most successful manager ever) and I assume to the working relationship which he has with John Madejski. This guy is already a Reading legend and I expect to see more boring "feet on the ground" interviews over the next two seasons alongside the success that Reading fans have now become accustomed to.

People of Reading to boycott Daily Mirror

This follows an outrageous piece of journalism (not sure if this is a fair description) in Wednesdays edition of the Daily Mirror by a gentleman called Oliver Holt who describes himself as a Sports Journalist.

The piece he wrote was entitled Reading have put the Berks into Berkshire

He started off like this

"SO READING'S season is a fairy tale is it? Excuse me for a second while I decide whether to giggle or gag. Okay, that wasn't too hard. I'll gag. Because I don't see any fairy story at Reading. I don't see romance, either. I'll be honest. I don't like the club. I don't like what it stands for."

Not likely to go down too well with the punters in Berkshire for a start. However, I think it is fair to say that as far as most neutrals are concerned Reading have proved to be the surprise package in the Premiership this season despite being tipped to go back down straight away and probably in last place at that. Reading have never been in the top flight of English football, have been in existence since 1871 and are currently the oldest team in the Premiership but Mr Holt cannot see the romance in that despite them making it into the Premiership with a record number of points last season.

"That starts at the top with a self-satisfied poster boy of conspicuous consumption and Tory donor, chairman John Madejski. I don't think you should ever, ever trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle, or a bloke who is complicit in having a stadium named after him. What a joke that is."

His eyebrows don't meet in the middle and if John Madejski wants to name the stadium after himself having paid for it to be built he can. Most people in Reading think John Madejski should be Sir John Madejski and not be being vilified by somebody not worth to scrap the mud from his boots.

"No doubt the board begged and pleaded with him to allow them to recognise his outstanding contribution to Berkshire life. No doubt it was absolutely none of his doing. But I don't care how much money he's poured into the club"

I doubt it - he basically is the board with I believe one other director. You see Mr Holt he owns Reading Football Club and has built the club up carefully brick by brick. I realise that this is an alien concept to someone who supports Chelsea where the owner has been able to subsidise the Club to the tune of £500m. John Madejski's vision has always been of a club which is able to stand on its own two feet!

I don't care whether Reading finish sixth. You know what, even if they overtake Chelsea and Man United, romp the title and win the FA Cup as well, my abiding memory of their debut Premiership season will always be Stephen Hunt kneeing Petr Cech in the head.

Never mind that this was an accidental collision, never mind the pure and utter rubbish spouted by the Chelsea manager after the event and which continued even when the facts that were produced by the Berkshire Ambulance Service contradicted the line he wanted to take. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story or a shoddy and cheap piece of "journalism"

Then there's Whispering Steve Coppell, another soul bursting with romance.
That's why he blew the chance to get his side into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday when he played his second team at Old Trafford. There's more joie de vivre in a door mat at a funeral home than there is in the laughing boy in charge of Reading.

You know Mr Holt you may have a point about the public face which Steve Coppell presents to the media. However, I don't know a single Reading fan who has a problem with this. Do you know why Mr Holt? Because it works!! Steve Coppell is the most successful manager in Readings history. As for the changes to the side for the game against Manchester United why is that a problem. The so called big boys make loads of changes but that is ok because it is called squad rotation. Reading make changes and they are accused of putting out their reserves. Oh and come to think of it how many teams have got anything out of a game at Old Trafford this season?

Please Mr Holt do your job properly in future. As far as most Reading fans are concerned they do not want to see you or your newspaper in Reading again.

Reading surprise again

Reading went to Old Trafford yesterday with their reserve team and I guess most people would assume that their FA Cup adventure would come to a halt at that point. But no Reading battled and fought as they always do despite going 1-0 down and being a little fortunate to not concede further goals and instead got an equaliser themselves through a fantastic header from Brynjar Gunnarsson. I was slightly disappointed to see Manchester United officials complaining about the need for a replay in amongst their busy schedule. Two answers to that one (and to Arsene Wenger who made the same complaint): a)win the game first time and b) don't insult other clubs by making such comments when your playing and financial resources are much greater.

Coppell is top

The League Managers Association has published its Managers Performance Table for the 3rd quarter of the season up to the 12th February and Steve Coppell is top! Not surprising given the performance of Reading this season and the lions share of credit has to go to him for the way in which he has built a team out of players who by and large did not cost much and have not achieved much prior to their time at Reading.

Leeds player stitches Leeds up

According to Dennis Wise he found out at 1pm yesterday that one of the Leeds United players had given details of the team selection to Crystal Palace. On the various fan sites the rumours on the message boards would tend to indicate that the front runners are Thompson, Derry and Sullivan.

I sure hope it is not Thompson who has been playing well and seems unlikely to have a motive for such a thing having not long ago arrived at the club. Apparently he picked up a late injury and hence did not play today.

Sullivan is rumoured to be upset at being dropped to the bench. But if it was him then I cannot believe that he would have been on the bench yesterday afternoon.

Derry apparently has links to Palace having played for them and may have been upset at not being in the team.

Other names in the frame include Carole, Crainey, Elliot, Stack and even Gary Kelly. I hope for the sake of all the innocent parties getting dragged into this that Leeds United name the player and soon.

It is possible that Crystal Palace may come out of this with some credit as rumour is that it was Taylor who tipped Wise off about what had happened. Having said that knowing the team line up the day before did not help as Palace lost 2-1 thanks to goals from Matt Heath and Robbie Blake. More importantly the bottom of the table is now tightening up and it looks like three from six to go down with just three points separating the bottom six.

Meanwhile Reading march on with a place in Europe starting to look a possibility as Reading beat Villa 2-0 and move onto 43 points. They are the form team in the Premiership with 16 points from the last 6 games.

40 points - chance would be a fine thing

Reading reached the magic mark of forty points yesterday after beating Manchester City 2-0 with two goals from Leroy Lita and he would have had a hatrick if a perfectly good goal had not been disallowed. What Leeds would give for forty points at this stage in the season. Yesterday they got beaten 2-1 by Norwich having at one stage been 1-0 up. It is not looking good although as they say "it is not over until the fat lady sings". My worry is that she seems to be warming up her vocal chords.

Coppell signs Duberry!

Apparently Reading manager Steve Coppell has signed Michael Duberry from Stoke. Having already signed two defenders Greg Halford from Colchester (for a club record fee) and Alan Bennett from Cork I had rather hoped that he would sign a striker. But why has he opted for Duberry? As a Leeds fan I can truly say that this guy was a disaster. However, rumour has it that he has been much improved at Stoke this season and given Coppells record in the transfer market I wouldn't bet against him turning out to be a bargain.

Two great wins

Leeds won their must win game against Hull last night 2-1. Heath scored the first for Leeds from a Thompson set piece before Hull equalised through Nicky Forster (coincidentally an ex Reading player). Thompson then struck the winner early in the second half with a brilliant free-kick. Strangely this result left Leeds propping up the division in 24th place due to Southends unexpected 3-1 victory over Birmingham. However Leeds are now only 4 points off safety as opposed to the 7 before kick off so at least there is some good news. If the message boards can be believed then this was the performance of the season so far and apparently it was evident that all 11 players were giving everything for the cause.

Meanwhile Reading took on Wigan who are on an appalling run of seven straight defeats and promptly made it eight running out 3-2 winners. Frankly having gone 1-0 down after three minutes Reading were lucky to still be in the game after 30 minutes when Ingimarsson scored the equaliser. Reading could easily have been 2-0 or even 3-0 down by that point but clung on and slowly started to improve. Steve Coppell must have been delighted to go in 1-1 at half time. Second half Reading were much better and added two goals through long and Lita before Wigan pulled one consolation back in the very last minute. Apparently Jewell felt that the last Reading goal was offside but having not seen a replay I cannot comment. Reading are now in seventh place on 37 points - three short of the magic 40.

Hats off to Ulises de la Cruz

The usual impression of Premiership footballers is overpaid overspending fancy dans who do a couple of hours work a week and spend most of their time working out what the latest essential luxury is that they need to spend their over inflated salary on.

But according to the BBC Ulises de la Cruz, who plays at Reading and was born in the Afro-Ecuadorian village of Piquiucho is spending his high salary not on fast cars and big houses, but on rebuilding an entire community where he grew up. I had my doubts about De la Cruz as a footballer although recent performances have improved and have included a wonder goal against Sheffield United.

Apparently Ulises de la Cruz has provided a fresh water supply by financing the 18km of water pipes and a treatment system. In addition he has financed a new sports and community centre which are currently being built. He has also provided hundreds of books, a new roof for the school and a playground. Each day 100 primary school children receive breakfast and lunch at school courtesy of the Ulises De la Cruz Foundation. He has built a medical centre and has been sending money to pay for a doctor, a dentist and a nurse at the clinic.

The brighter side of all that Premiership wealth.

Reading cruise into last 16

Reading breezed into the last 16 of the FA Cup yesterday by beating Birmingham 3-2. From what I could see this looked to be a fair reflection of the game although Steve Bruce certainly tried to imply that Reading were somewhat lucky to score two goals with their first two attempts. On the other hand Reading did field a pretty much all changed team with at least six players who recently would be classed as second string and two who were returning from injury. Reading do not have much history in this competition with the highlight being one visit to the semi final back in 1927 when they lost 3-0 to Cardiff. Given their performance in the Premiership so far this season maybe they could emulate West Ham and reach the final!

Leeds crash and Reading march on

A good start for new signing Tore Andre Flo as he headed Leeds in front after only three minutes. But from then on it all went downhill as West Brom equalised after in the seventh minute and them promptly went on to lead 3-1. One consolation was that another new signing Alan Thompson got one back to make it 3-2 but the result effectively leaves Leeds at least seven points adrift of safety. Dennis Wise was also sent to the stands after pushing West Brom striker Diomansy Kamara.

Meanwhile Reading marched on at the Madejski Stadium with a 3-1 win over Sheffield United taking them up into seventh place in the Premiership on 34 points. It was a well deserved win despite being without Kitson (who injured himself in the warm up), Doyle and Shorey. Shane Long scored his first ever goal in the Premiership and De La Cruz (who I have previously had a very poor opinion of) worked a great second.

Then came a five minute session of complete and utter madness. Gillespie who had just been brought on smashed Hunt in the face and after a fair amount of pushing and shoving and following a consultation between Halsey and the linesman he was shown a red card. As he was walking off he went to punch Hunt again - I hope the FA take action for what would also have been a straight red if such a thing was allowed. It then all kicks off between the benches as Warnock provokes Wally Downes and both are sent to the stands.

After that the rest of the game seemed mild by comparison. Reading added a third through Hunt and Sheffield pulled one back to make it 3-1 and there was no doubt that the better team had sealed all three points.

Two games six points

What a start to the New Year. Lets hope that the rest of the year carries on like this.

First of all Leeds managed to kick the year off with a 2-1 win over Coventry - well deserved as far as I can see from the highlights and they managed to hit the crossbar twice as well. Rumour in the transfer market is that Robbie Elliott and Matt Heath are to sign until the end of the season.

Meanwhile Reading absolutely crushed West Ham 6-0 at the Madejski Stadium. There is a report from the BBC here which I felt did not do full justice to the huge chasm between the two teams yesterday. The one from the Guardian here is much better. Two quotes below sum up the situation perfectly.

• Reading were excellent, ending a six-match run without a win, but if they stay in the Premiership for the next century they will never have as easy a game as this. West Ham were pathetic, four goals down by half-time and lucky not to take an even bigger pasting.
• Curbishley said today, Reading had everything we didn't: enthusiasm, pace, shape, aggression and, above all, hunger. They want to be in the Premiership, they want to drive a Bentley.

Doom and gloom

Doom and gloom all round at Elland Road as Leeds lost 2-0 away at Sunderland and now find themselves five points adrift of safety. Added to which Gus Poyet the assistant manager got sent off.

Dennis Wise was quoted on Radio Leeds as saying that he was not concerned and hope to bring in a couple of new faces during the transfer window. Rumours are that his transfer kitty may be as big as four million but I wonder whether he will have to let a couple of players go as well. Healy and Kilgallon seem the most likely to achieve a significant transfer fee. Whatever happens with regard to players leaving it is absolutely essential that Wise is a able to bring a few new quality players in as soon as the transfer window opens. If we can get them bedded in during January so much the better.

Other matters also appear to be distracting attention from the urgent business of attempting to stay in the Championship. Rumours have been circulating that Elland Road has been sold to new owners. The ground was originally sold to sold to Manchester businessman Jacob Adler in November, 2004, for around £8.5m with a 25-year lease for Leeds, with an option of being able to rent the stadium for an additional quarter of a century, and a buy-back provision for the club. The real identity of the new owners is not known although the club have now announced that the sale took place in March 2005 to Teak Trading Corporation, a company based in the British Virgin Islands. Allegedlyy this may be a front for a certain gentleman not unconnected with Leeds United to own the ground and take the rent from the club

Meanwhile Reading twice came from behind to record a historic away draw at Chelsea. I watched the game on Sky and I can honestly say that a draw was probably a fair result. Jose Mourinho even thought that it was a fair result so perhaps Reading deserved to nick all three points!

Two games no points

Reading went down 2-1 at home to Blackburn and leeds lost 1-0 away at Ipswich

The Sporting Life report on the Reading Game can be found here and they pretty much have the game spot on. Both teams were not brilliant in the first half but Reading definitely had the better of it and deserved to go in at half time 1-0 up. In the second half Blackburn were a different team. Whatever they had in their half time certainly worked whereas Reading must have had sleeping tablets in theirs. They were absolutely awful. This is probably the worst I have seen them play for a long time and they can have no complaints that Blackburn ran out eventual winners. They were on the back foot from the off and continued to gift chances and miss passes left right and centre for the rest of the half. All not helped by a spat between Doyle and Sidwell at the end of the first half and a further one between Murty and Little in the second half. However, everyone can have a bad day at the office now and then and it is important not to forget how far this team has come and just how good they are.

And so to the Leeds game. The Sporting Life report can be found here. I was not there (obviously) but leeds current predicament can be summed up by picking out three short sentences from that article

• Ipswich dominated first-half possession.
• Leeds had to wait until the 38th minute for their first shot.
• Nicholls let his frustration get the better of him in the 84th minute when he received a second yellow card and was sent off.

Things need to get a bit better and soon or we are headed to Division 1. Wise has improved things a lot and shipped out some of the dead wood already which just shows how far we had fallen from last season. We need to pick up some points in the next couple of weeks and some handy trading in the transfer window in January will also be required.

Joint third!!

Reading are joint third on the same number of points as Arsenal, Liverpool and Portsmouth! Ok they are actually sixth. But sixth is still absolutely bloody amazing. Virtually all of the pundits predicted that this team would get relegated and most of them had Reading down for 20th spot. To be fair most Reading fans would have probably gone for a bottom five finish and settled for seventeenth. Now they are mostly wandering round with dumbstruck grins wondering how long this can go on for.

25 points after 15 games is incredible. Yesterday Bolton succumbed 1-0 yesterday as Kevin Doyle struck again and Reading deservedly took all three points with their fourth win in a row.

Renditions of "we are all going on a European tour" to the tune of Yellow Submarine were also heard on a couple of occasions as life at the Madejski Stadium gets more and more surreal

Added to which the Barclays Premiership top scorers list which read as follows :

• Doyle Reading 8
• Drogba Chelsea 8
• Kanu Portsmouth 8
• Rooney Man Utd 7
• Saha Man Utd 7
• Barry Aston Villa 6
• Bent Charlton 6
• Henry Arsenal 6
• Johnson Everton 6
• Kuyt Liverpool 6

Hard to believe that this is the same club that just under eight years ago got beaten 6-0 at home by Bristol Rovers

Life beyond the relegation zone

In the case of Reading well beyond the relegation zone as Reading find themselves pushing for Europe in seventh place with twenty two points and twelve clear of the relegation. This follows a run of three straight wins, the latest of which was a 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday. Reading were everybodys favourites for relegation at the beginning of the season but are proving that prediction wrong big time.

Meanwhile signs of a small revival at Leeds continue following Saturdays 2-1 away win at Plymouth. Leeds climb out of the relegation zone at last. The midweek visit to Burnley will be very tricky and next saturdays game against Barnsley already has the look of a six pointer.

WAGS

The Wives and Girlfriends of footballers are pretty famous for living it up and flashing the cash. During the World Cup this year there were almost as many stories about the WAGS and their behaviour and spending habits as there were about the fitness of various England players.

So it is really nice to see a group of WAGS raising the cash instead of splashing the cash. The Wives and Girlfriends of the Reading Footballers have got together under the banner of the Royal Families charity, which was set up by Amanda Hahnemann and Karen Murty (wives of goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann and captain Graeme Murty). They aim to raise sixty thousand pounds throughout the season for local charities.

We went to the launch event last night at the Madejski Stadium. The Champagne tasting night was the first of six fundraising events organised by the WAGs so far and raised over Thirty Two Thousand Pounds!

At least nine first team players were at the event (a fact which delighted my Reading fanatic son who came with us) and they took part in the event with great enthusiasm. At least two Reading players won the bidding for some of the auction items. Ibrahima Sonko walked away with a weekend break in Iceland and Steve Sidwell was seen leaving the event dwarfed by the two giant cuddly dogs he had bought in the auction.

Hats off to the Royal Families for a really positive initiative.

Reading win and Leeds slump

Reading easily dismissed Charlton 2-0 yesterday afternoon. Reading played well within themselves and had they been more ruthless should easily have been 2-0 up at half time and could have run out winners by 4 or more. Charlton fought hard but without ever really threatening the Reading goal. Reading played well but lacked a certain amount of quality in the final third. Still, 13 games played and 8th in the table with 19 points - nearly halfway to the much talked about survival target of 40.

Match report from The Observer here.

Meanwhile Leeds got thrashed 3-0 by Southampton at home and it sounds as if both Healy and Crainey had poor games. Dennis Wise was quoted fairly bluntly after the game as saying "I will bring players in and players will go. It's best to keep it at that." Seems fair enough to me - there have to be changes!