Spread the love

 

Still crying over Jamie Cureton’s 77th minute equaliser in the last game of the season in 2002 that resigned Brentford to the playoffs once again and saw Reading promoted to The Championship, BillytheBee catches up with Rob Langham (@roblangham) co-founder and editor of The Two Unfortunates (@twounfortunates). The site mainly covers the Football League and has been running since 2009 and, along with Beesotted, was nominated in the 2013 Football Supporters Federation Football Writing Awards. You can also catch him on the “We Are Going Up” Football League podcast from time to time.

What was your favourite game ever ?

Probably the 3-2 win against Middlesbrough in Reading’s first ever Premier League match. 2-0 down, Dave Kitson and ex-Bee Steve Sidwell brought the club level before half time and then Leroy Lita pounced for the winner. Unforgettable.

The two teams you would have really liked to have got a result against to test your mettle against the top boys –  Derby and Forest, you lost to both. Happy with your start to the season? 

Before hostilities commenced, I was pessimistic as the potential takeover of the club was still in abeyance and the squad looked very thin due to a lack of new signings and injuries. Since then, the squad has been strengthened by the arrival of the likes of Glenn Murray and Oliver Norwood but I still think tenth is a good start given how many youngsters have been blooded.

It’s been heart warming to see Aaron Kuhl, Michael Hector and others thrown in and the mood in the camp seems ebullient.

What teams have you played so far that actually looks half decent?

Bizarrely, Huddersfield looked good despite failing to impress in nearly all their matches until the shock win over Wolves on Wednesday. I didn’t make it to Forest but a 4-0 defeat tells its own story while derby remain my favourites.

We can’t chat any further without mentioning Jamie Bloody Cureton and that 77th minute goal back in the final game of the season in 2002 which sealed your promotion to The Championship and saw us resigned to yet another playoff tragedy. Talk us through that horrible HORRIBLE day?

I didn’t manage to secure a ticket although my dad left his at home resulting in a mad dash back along the M4 to get it. I watched the game on a big screen at the Madejski Stadium and it made a change to be allowed to enjoy a pint. The coverage conked out with Brentford leading 1-0 as well so it was a very nervous occasion, thankfully topped by the arrival of the players back at the stadium to a rapturous reception.

There was quite a strong Brentford link with Reading … and in the mid noughties you took a load of our better players and management staff  including Steve Coppell .. Wally Downes .. Sam Sodje … Steve Sidwell .. Lloyd Owusu .. Ingamarrson … Stephen Hunt … Jay Tabb. We had the backbone of a great side back then. Were those the good olde days for you? Technically if we had won that game, we could have kicked onto the Premier League in your place …. maybe??

I’m glad you mentioned Downes because he deserves enormous credit as defensive coach while Coppell is an out and out genius and a gentleman to boot. Yes – it was a terrific Brentford team and most of those players went on to make a significant contribution to Reading (more so than Carl Asaba who disappointed after making the switch in the late nineties).

Ingimarsson and Sidwell were outstanding but the latter left at the end of the first Premier League season and performances and spririt dropped thereafter. Hunt is perhaps the most surprising case – he featured mainly from the bench in the promotion year but then became a mainstay in the top flight.

Teams all aim to be in the Premier League. I’ve heard some fans from ‘less glamorous’ teams who have scaled the ladder moan about it though saying they prefer the Championship. You’ve been there and done it. Is it really all that? 

I have a mixed response to that question as the 2006-7 season was one of our best but on returning to the Prem in 2012, the club looked woefully out of its depth from the word go. One problem is that you have to break the wage structure to attract decent players (Fulham did this) and even then, the very best don’t want to come to smaller clubs.

The standard of the football is phenomenal and I would sum it up by saying that the first time is always the best, especially if you haven’t experienced it before.

Wally Downes … he’s a boy. He’s got some proper olde skool rugby club style training techniques apparently. I wouldn’t go as far as he would make the last man over the finish line drink a can of p!ss .. but his punishments weren’t far from that type of approach. You guys obviously benefitted from his style in the fact that you went from strength to strength. Was he one of your better coaching additions do you reckon?

As I mentioned before – unquestionably – right down to his touchline arguments with Neil Warnock. Maybe Wally is a bit of a dinosaur but he knows how to organise a back line.

Some folk are old enough to remember Reading from the Elm Park days. Im not being bullish here .. but Reading were much lower profile than the Bees in those days  – struggling with crowds of 2000. How did Madjeski coming in change everything about for Reading … enabling you to jettison past us to your glory days?

A good question. The transformation of the club has been phenomenal. Madejski’s money was useful from the word go but was always spent more on infrastructure than new players – so we had tangible, long-term assets to build the club with. The revival started well before the move to the new stadium with an excellent managerial appointment in Mark McGhee and promotion was almost secured in 1995.

Add to this the fact that Reading’s rise (unlike that of Oxford, Luton or Swindon) coincided with football’s boom and the adoption of marketing and business techniques (much as I hate to say it) and it’s been a very well run club – until the shambles of the Anton Zingarevich era that is).

Shaka Hislop was a great goalkeeper I thought. I saw him play twice at the Germany World Cup for Trinidad – his first game against Sweden was tremendous – a 0-0 draw .. great atmosphere. I also saw him play against England in the 2-0 Peter Crouch hair pulling game. Who is your all-time Reading top boy???

Shaka would be very close – simply love the man. Other candidates would be Dave Kitson (although his Secret Footballer persona has slightly soiled this) and Michael Gilkes – a flying winger who played in two promotion teams eight years apart.

So who should we be looking out for today? Cox apparently played for Brentford in the 8 or 9 years ago but I have to remember I can’t remember him.Will you be singing the ‘We’ve got little Cox’ song on Saturday?

I dare say we won’t – but it’s the young players who are likely to catch the eye even if most are still very inexperienced. Jordan Obita at left back is shaping up the club’s number one asset while Aaron Kuhl with his Sideshow Bob hair has had a good start to the season.

Do you think Reading have enough in their tank to stake a claim on one of those playoff spots??? 

Probably not – but a mid-table season and young players coming through will be highly satisfying.

I bet you are delighted with the way Oxford have started their campaign .. or are they too low down the leagues to worry about any more? We’ve been singing about F*lham pretty much every week since the last time we played them 15 years ago. 

I actually live in Oxford and Reading are in the embarrassing position of being hated less by Swindon and Oxford then the two hate each other.

There is a smidgeon of residual hatred for Aldershot Town but the one game in recent times which rises above all others for infamy was the 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea in 2006 – the Stephen Hunt/Petr Cech game and the stage for appalling behaviour from Jose Mourinho. Obviously Chelsea don’t care a jot about us though.

OK here comes the “They Were Made in Reading” Corner ….

Chris Tarrant or Jeremy Kyle?

Both appalling but Kyle would be less preferable if compared to Pol Pot so it has to be Tarrant

Ricky Gervais or Kate Winslet?

Winslet. I loved the office but Gervais is an embarrassment these days and it’s only so far that one can accept ‘irony’ as an excuse.

Oxford or SwineDon

Narrowly Oxford as a resident of the town

Reading’s twin towns of Dusseldorf … or Speightstown, Barbados … randomly …

Of those, I’ve actually been to Speightstown – it’s pronounced ‘Spikestown’ and Reading has one of the largest Bajan populations outside Barbados.

Stephen Hunt or Steve Sidwell

Sidders – a great player who sadly chased the dollar for a few years, ending up with no more than a middling career. Hunt hogging free kicks and set pieces in our dark days turned me against him.

Head to head, Reading are steaming ahead winning 34 games to the Bees’ 27 with 23 games drawn. Do you think you can keep the run going?

Not sure. This is the best Brentford team for a long time and a tough proposition away from home. The loss of Adam Forshaw was a major blow so -I’d hope Reading can avoid defeat at least.

Give us a score prediction

1-1 with ex-Royal and notorious waster Royston Drenthe spotted runnin a play station competition in the Griffin pub after the game

We would like to thank Rob for taking time out to give us the lowdown on Reading. You can check out The Two Unfortunates by clicking here.

BillytheBee

You can also check out The Reading pre-match guide by clicking here.

You can also check out the pre-match podcast below between The Tilehurst End and Beesotted fanzines ….

Drinking – there four pubs around the ground. The Griffin is closest to the away end and is very popular with away fans – but also very busy. The New Inn is on the other side is also popular with away fans. The Princess Royal and The Royal Oak (normally home fans only) are the other two options.

Other pubs slightly further afield for the more creative amongst you include (and this is by no means a definitive list) the … The Globe (Windmill Rd) & The Lord Nelson (Enfield Rd) – both incredibly friendly and cozy away-frienly pubs .. frequented by away fans in the know – and The Plough (Northfields Ave) in Northfields is a decent stop-off if you are coming by tube to Northfields before making your way down to the ground (normally stopping off at The Globe and Lord Nelson en route).

There is also a pub right by Brentford station always referred to as … the Pub by Brentford station.

For ale head to the Magpie and Stump real ale pub on Brentford High Street. The Royal Horseguardsman can probably hold 15 of you at a push. The Brewery Tap is a cosy boozer by the river. There are loads more too.

A quick google search and you’ll find them all. There are many many more too if you have an early start (or all evening) …