Yorsay information on Reading, Berkshire
Madejski Stadium, Reading FC (Royals)
The Madejski Stadium is the home of Reading FC and was opened on 22 August 1998 when Luton Town FC were beaten 3-0 with Grant Brebner having the honour of scoring the first goal at the stadium. The Rugby Union club, London Irish, also play their home games there as tenants. It also provides the finish for the Reading Half Marathon.
The stadium is an all-seater bowl stadium with a capacity of 24,250 and is located close to the M4 Motorway. It was built on the site of a former household waste dump and the stadium is surrounded by Methane vents. The stadium cost more than £50m to build and the pitch incorporates a system of synthetic fibres interwoven with natural grass, installed at a cost of more than £250,000.
Madejski Stadium has also held various music concerts, including the Summer XS festival series. Performers at the Madejski Stadium have included the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blue (boy band), Busted, Craig David, Girls Aloud, Rachel Stevens, McFly to Lulu and Elton John!
The stadium is named after Reading F.C.'s chairman John Madejski but it is owned by the football club.
For the first time in their history, Reading Football Club are participating in the elite Premier League football season. As a result of the sell-out crowds for their first few fixtures of the season, the club announced their intention, in October 2006, to make a planning application to extend the ground to between 37,000 to 38,000 seats. The application was made on 24 January 2007, proposing initially the extension of the East Stand with a further 6,000 seats (raising capacity to around 30,000) and subsequently extension of the North and South Stands to to reach the full proposed capacity.
When Reading gained promotion to the Premier League, on March 25 2006, they achieved promotion to the top flight earlier in the season than any other post-war side, and also gained the highest points tally ever attained in any of England's four professional divisions. It was also the first time Reading had reached the top division in their history.
They are nicknamed the Royals, due to Reading's location in the Royal county of Berkshire. Reading's mascot is a lion called Kingsley Royal.
Reading supporters are represented by STAR, the Supporters Trust at Reading
Reading were formed in 1871. They were originally nicknamed the The Biscuitmen after one of the main trades in the town, Huntley & Palmers biscuits, but changed to the Royals in the 1970s. The club played at Reading
Recreation Ground until 1878, before moving on to Reading Cricket Ground (1878–1882), Coley Park (1882–1889) and Caversham Cricket Ground (1889–1896). The switch to professionalism in 1895 resulted in the need for a bigger ground and, to this end, the club moved again, to the purpose-built Elm Park on September 5th 1896.
Reading were elected to the third division of the Football League in 1920, and have spent the majority of the time since then in the third tier of the league, with occasional flirtations with the second and fourth tiers.
Reading's best performance in the FA Cup came in 1926-27 when they lost to eventual winners Cardiff City FC in the semi-final. The side's moment of cup glory came in 1988 when they won the Simod Cup, beating a number of top flight sides en-route to their Wembley win over Luton Town FC.
lasted just 18 months before further failures cost him his job. The appointment of Mark McGhee as player-manager in June 1991 saw Reading move forward.
They were crowned champions of the new Division Two in 1994 and, when McGhee moved to Leicester City FC halfway through the following season, Reading still appeared in with a chance of a second straight promotion. 35-year-old striker Jimmy Quinn was put in charge of the first team alongside midfielder Mick Gooding and guided Reading to runners-up in the final Division One table — only to be denied automatic promotion because of the streamlining of the Premier League, from 22 teams to 20. Reading had eased past Tranmere Rovers FC in the playoff semi-finals and looked to have booked their place in the Premiership after building up a 2-0 lead over Bolton Wanderers by half time in the final. Two late goals from Bolton forced extra time and the match ended 4-3 to Bolton. Quinn and Gooding's contracts were not renewed two years later after Reading had slid into the bottom half of Division One.
Their successor, Terry Bullivant, lasted less than one season before being sacked in March 1998. The Royals finished that season bottom of Division One and slipped into Division Two. Former Celtic FC boss, Tommy Burns lasted just 18 months before being replaced by Alan Pardew who had previously been reserve team manager before being released. 1998 also saw Reading move into the new 24,200-seat Madejski Stadium — named after chairman John Madejski — in the Smallmead area of the town.
Reading made it back to Division One in 2002 after finishing runners-up in Division Two. Good form the following season saw them finish fourth in Division One and qualify for the playoff. Their promotion hopes were ended by a defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in the semi-finals, Reading's third unsuccessful attempt to gain promotion via play-offs. Pardew moved to West Ham the following October and was replaced at Reading by Steve Coppell.
In 2004-05, Reading finished seventh in the League championships and just missed out in the playoffs.
On March 25 2006, Reading won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history. A 1-1 draw away at Leicester, coupled with Watford’s defeat against Millwall, and Leeds only drawing with Stoke City, secured Reading one of the top two automatic promotion places in the Premiership.
The 2006-07 season saw Reading make their first ever appearance in the top flight of English football. In the club's first Premiership game, Reading found themselves down 2-0 inside the first twenty minutes to Middlesborough, but in a stunning turnaround the Royals netted home their first Premiership goals and won 3-2. Striker Dave Kitson became the first player to score for Reading in the top flight of football. While it is commonplace for teams who get promoted to the Premiership to experience a one-and-done season before being relegated, Reading have distanced themselves from that curse thus far - proving themselves more than worthy opposition for any team in the division.
Reading notched up some impressive results during the early stages of the season, including a draw against Manchester United and a narrow defeat to defending champions Chelsea, leading many commentators to change their opinion of the Premiership's newest member.
At yorsay, we’re looking forward to watching Reading compete in their second premiership season – and to many more to come.