Of course John Halls isn’t the only prodigy in the history of the game to be left scrapping for attention in less exalted climes - give it a year or two and Fernando Torres could be gracing Griffin Park. Still, he’s a player that has always fascinated me for his textbook personification of the “what might have been” scenario.Along with Steve Sidwell, Jerome Thomas and Jay Bothroyd, he was an FA Youth Cup Winner at the Arsenal eleven years ago; the Gunners defeating Coventry City in the Final. None of those players went on to create first team waves at Highbury so…
All posts tagged Reading
The Thursday Preview: Manchester City Vs Reading
Tony Book, The Kippax, King of the Kippax, Mike and Nicky Summerbee, Claremont Road, The Clarence, the Platt Lane End, Paul Lake’s Knee, those bananas, “and all the runs that Kinky makes are blinding”, 2-0 down with 5 minutes to go against Gillingham at Wembley, “Manchester…la la la”, Blue moon, red and black stripes, Górnik Zabrze, FIVE-ONE, the repartee of Peter Swales, Denis Law’s Old Trafford goal, Dennis Tueart’s overhead, Steve Daley, Bert Trautmann’s neck, “after all, you’re my Alan Ball”.They are gone now and in their place is a counterfeit Manchester City; ripped asunder from its Moss Side roots…
FA Cup heroes two years running?
Tonight, Reading bid to compete in the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the second year in a row. Their task will be tough as Premier League Everton block their path. At this link, you’ll find my thoughts in advance of the match at FreeBetsFreeTips.com.On the subject of moonlighting and completely off path from the football league, I also took advantage of a recent trip to Taiwan to pen this article for In Bed with Maradona. Back to Two Unfortunates work next.
The Monday Profile: Jamie Cureton
When Andy Gray, as was his wont, offered Norwich City’s then 19-year-old striker some sage advice about a young player having to get used to robust tackles if he was to make it in the Premier League, even the former Sky analyst’s famed levels of prescience probably didn’t foresee that Jamie Cureton would be enjoying his first and last season of top flight football while still only a teenager. Cureton had just been clattered by the Ipswich Town goalkeeper, Craig Forrest, in the run-up to a goal scored by Darren Eadie that capped a 3-0 win for the Canaries at…
Which of QPR’s players will step up?
A favourite sport of fans of Champions-elect teams is to speculate on which players will carve the mustard after ascension to more lofty climes. Back in 2006, as Reading were waltzing to the Championship title, it became a daily activity, but once that first Premier League began, our expectations were often roundly disproved. Yes, Kevin Doyle was always going to make it but Graeme Murty, Brynjar Gunnarsson and James Harper? Never, we thought - how wrong we were…for a season at least.Now, Queen’s Park Rangers devotees will be asking themselves the same questions. Given the rumoured existence of a pot of money as…
P Squires: Interesting read, but '...which by train is comfortably further from L...
Lloyd: An enjoyable, snappy piece of writing Will.
Going through Worcester...
Frank Heaven: LR - yes, that's right, with Albion and Wolves being in Staffordshire....
Lanterne Rouge: Great piece Will. Of course country boundary changes do tend to confus...
Eoghan Darbyshire: Quality player, could see he was head and shoulders above the rest of...
