[RFC]

I'll give you the low down of my career as manager of Reading Town.

The second biggest club in Reading start the game in the Hellenic Premier Division, the 9th tier in England, and I have taken them all the way to the Premier League.

To start I'll give a brief summary of our rise through the non leagues. Unfortunately I've lost all my transfer history up to about 2022.

Reading Town
League: Hellenic Premier Division
Stadium: Scours Lane (2,000 capacity (140 seats))
Reputation: Obscure

2009/10 Season
Hellenic Premier Division: Pos 2nd, Won 19, Drawn 16, Lost 7, For 51, Against 21, Points 73
Play Offs: Beat Aylesbury FC 2-0 in Final
Top Scorer: Stanislav Janky (15 goals)
Player of the Year: Ronan Forde (Regen CB)
Average Attendance: 169

2010/11 Season
Southern League First Division: Pos 1st, Won 22, Drawn 13, Lost 7, For 48, Against 21, Points 79
Top Scorer: Stanislav Janky (17 goals)
Player of the Year: Greig McDonald (CB)
Average Attendance: 267

2011/12 Season
Southern League Premier Division: Pos 1st, Won 22, Drawn 17, Lost 3, For 73, Against 39, Points 83
Top Scorer: David Gilroy (23 goals)
Player of the Year: Greig McDonald (CB)
Average Attendance: 345

2012/13 Season
Blue Square South: Pos 2nd, Won 21, Drawn 14, Lost 7, For 77, Against 45, Points 77
Play Offs: Beat Eastbourne Boro 2-0 in Final
Top Scorer: Gavin Tomlin (22 goals)
Player of the Year: Jamie Chandler (CM)
Average Attendance: 485

2013/14 Season
Blue Square Premier: Pos 7th, Won 19, Drawn 14, Lost 13, For 75, Against 57, Points 71
Top Scorer: Gavin Tomlin (23 goals)
Player of the Year: Ross Davidson (CM)
Average Attendance: 580

2014/15 Season
Blue Square Premier: Pos 3rd, Won 23, Drawn 13, Lost 10, For 76, Against 54, Points 82
Play Offs: Beat Chesterfield 1-0 in Final
Top Scorer: Calvin Zola (14 goals)
Player of the Year: Jamie Chandler (CM)
Average Attendance: 777

[RFC]

Reading Town
League: Coca Cola League Two
Stadium: Scours Lane (2,000 capacity (140 seats))
Reputation: Local

2015/16 Season
Coca Cola League Two: Pos 4th, Won 23, Drawn 16, Lost 7, For 59, Against 31, Points 85
Play Offs: Beat Grimsby 4-2 in Final
FA Cup: 1st Round, Lost 2-0 to Cambridge Utd
League Cup: 1st Round, Lost 2-1 to Southampton
Johnstone's Paint Trophy: 2nd Round, Lost 3-2 to Bournemouth
Top Scorer: John Kelly (18 goals)
Player of the Year: Marco Motta (Regen CB)
Average Attendance: 1,931

2016/17 Season
Coca Cola League One: Pos 14th, Won 18, Drawn 9, Lost 19, For 67, Against 76, Points 63
FA Cup: 2nd Round, Lost 2-0 to Norwich
League Cup: 1st Round, Lost 2-1 to Coventry
Johnstone's Paint Trophy: 2nd Round, Lost 4-1 to Brighton
Top Scorer: Graham Leworthy (22 goals)
Player of the Year: Jamie Chandler (CM)
Average Attendance: 1,929

2017/18 Season
Coca Cola League One: Pos 6th, Won 21, Drawn 11, Lost 14, For 62, Against 49, Points 74
Play Offs: Beat Blackpool 3-1 in Final
FA Cup: 1st Round, Lost 3-2 to Leeds
League Cup: 1st Round, Lost 1-0 to MK Dons
Johnstone's Paint Trophy: Southern Final, lost on away goals 3-3 vs Watford
Top Scorer: John Kelly (17 goals)
Player of the Year: Eugene Henderson (Regen CM)
Average Attendance: 1,986

Move to the newly built 8,500 all seater Reading Town Stadium.

2018/19 Season
Coca Cola Championship: Pos 13th, Won 17, Drawn 12, Lost 17, For 59, Against 66, Points 63
FA Cup: 4th Round, Lost 4-0 to Man City
League Cup: 2nd Round, Lost 4-1 to Derby
Top Scorer: Graham Leworthy (24 goals)
Player of the Year: Graham Leworthy (Regen ST)
Average Attendance: 8,130

2019/20 Season
Coca Cola Championship: Pos 11th, Won 19, Drawn 13, Lost 14, For 76, Against 74, Points 70
FA Cup: Semi Final, Lost 1-0 to West Ham
League Cup: 3rd Round, Lost 5-3 to West Brom
Top Scorer: Graham Leworthy (23 goals)
Player of the Year: Graham Leworthy (Regen ST)
Average Attendance: 7,874

2020/21 Season
Coca Cola Championship: Pos 1st, Won 28, Drawn 11, Lost 7, For 71, Against 41, Points 95
FA Cup: 5th Round, Lost Replay 3-1 to Bristol City
League Cup: 4th Round, Lost 1-0 to Chelsea
Top Scorer: Chris White (18 goals)
Player of the Year: Luke Gordon (Regen DM)
Average Attendance: 11,948

2021/22 Season
Premier League: Pos 12th, Won 14, Drawn 6, Lost 18, For 40, Against 54, Points 48
FA Cup: 4th Round, Lost 2-1 to Middlesbrough
League Cup: 3rd Round, Lost 1-0 to West Brom
Top Scorer: Graham Leworthy (16 goals)
Player of the Year: Graham Leworthy (Regen ST)
Average Attendance: 14,589
Memorable Wins: 3-0 vs Spurs (home), 2-0 vs Arsenal (home), 4-2 vs Aston Villa (home)

2022/23 Season
Premier League: Pos 7th, Won 18, Drawn 8, Lost 12, For 42, Against 42, Points 62
FA Cup: Quarter Final, Lost 2-0 to Everton
League Cup: 3rd Round, Lost 2-1 to Wigan
Top Scorer: Graham Leworthy (15 goals)
Player of the Year: Thorvaldur Hakonarson (Regen ST)
Average Attendance: 17,980
Memorable Wins: 1-0 vs Chelsea (home), 2-1 vs Liverpool (home), 4-2 vs Reading (home)

[Johno]

Very impressive Is this the only game you've been playing since FM10 came out?

[KEZ7]

I've been watching this throughout in the off topic thread, great effort mate very well done. I wish I'd had the patience. You had a stadium or anything named after you? And were there any players you took quite far with you? i.e. someone from the start went to the football league

[RFC]

Johno, on 19 March 2010 - 02:43 PM, said:

Very impressive Is this the only game you've been playing since FM10 came out?

Pretty much. I've had a couple of games with Reading but then bottled it in the Premier League and I've become hopeless at managing big clubs. I'm best at building up a team from the bottom and taking them up.

KiKó, on 19 March 2010 - 03:06 PM, said:

I've been watching this throughout in the off topic thread, great effort mate very well done. I wish I'd had the patience. You had a stadium or anything named after you? And were there any players you took quite far with you? i.e. someone from the start went to the football league

Not quite yet no. Our current stadium is about 5 years old and that was inspiringly named Reading Town Stadium I'm not even in the clubs favoured personnel but we now have one legend in Graham Leworthy.


I think I'll introduce you to my squad in the next post. Cheers guys

[RFC]

Reading Town
League: Barclay's Premier League
Stadium: Reading Town Stadium (20,648 capacity)
Reputation: National

Season 2023/24 Squad

Goalkeepers
Vasil Iliev
Age: 24
Nationality: Bulgarian
Previous Club: FC Basel. Signed for £7.75M in 2023 (Club Record Signing)
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Clean Sheets: 0

My top scout recommended this guy saying he'd be one of the best keepers in the league so I decided to splash the cash on him. Got years ahead of him too.

Ian White
Age: 23
Nationality: English
Previous Club: QPR. Signed for Free in 2018.
Reading Town Appearances: 178
Reading Town Clean Sheets: 53

Signed as an 18 year old White has rarely let me down. Not the tallest but makes some incredible saves. Was my main goalkeeper throughout the Championship years but now is back up to Iliev.

Defenders
Alex Pearce
Age: 34
Nationality: Scottish
Previous Club: Atletico Madrid. Signed for Free in 2022.
Reading Town Appearances: 37
Reading Town Goals: 0

The ex Reading, Celtic and Atletico man brings vital experience to the back 3 and is a calming influence. Pearce is the Scotland captain and my vice captain.

Rene Hansen
Age: 23
Nationality: Danish
Previous Club: Olympiakos. Signed for £2.5M in 2023.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

Hansen is another new signing. With his good left foot he brings a balance to the defence, has decent pace and international experience with Denmark.

Steven Gardiner
Age: 25
Nationality: Northern Irish
Previous Club: West Brom. Signed for £2.8M in 2023.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

So far Gardiner has failed to get regular football at a number of clubs but I'm taking a chance on him. He has good qualities though so I'm expecting a lot from him.

Francois Da Costa
Age: 25
Nationality: French
Previous Club: Vitesse. Signed for £750K in Jan 2023.
Reading Town Appearances: 3
Reading Town Goals: 0

Da Costa was a deadline day signing last January as I was struggling with injuries and in desperate need of a defender. Will be a back up player but offers versatility.

Da Silva
Age: 24
Nationality: Brazilian
Previous Club: Torino. Signed for £525K in 2022.
Reading Town Appearances: 25
Reading Town Goals: 0

Another left sided player who played well for me last season. A broken leg cut his season short, which was a blow, but this season will face tough competition to get into the side.

Trevor Black
Age: 18
Nationality: American
Previous Club: New England Revolution. Signed for £925K in Jan 2023.
Reading Town Appearances: 9
Reading Town Goals: 0

Black is hotly tipped to become a big player and has already received 4 caps from the USA. I intend to ease him into first team action this season but his best years are undoubtedly ahead.

Midfielders
Luke Gordon (Captain)
Age: 27
Nationality: English
Previous Club: Burnley. Signed for Free in 2018.
Reading Town Appearances: 174
Reading Town Goals: 4

The holding midfielder played for the club back in League 2 when he came in on a loan deal. I brought him back to the club on a permanent basis when we went up to the Championship.

Richard Ettahouri
Age: 20
Nationality: Dutch
Previous Club: AZ Alkmaar. Signed for £2.6M in 2022.
Reading Town Appearances: 29
Reading Town Goals: 0

Ettahouri is starting to establish himself as a key player in our squad. Has put in some very assured performances already despite his young age.

Michal Hrivnak
Age: 28
Nationality: Slovakian
Previous Club: Schalke. Signed for £1.6M in 2021.
Reading Town Appearances: 50
Reading Town Goals: 1

A versatile player who is perfect for my system. Naturally drops into the right back position when defending but can produce dangerous crossing when going forward.

Harry Beckett
Age: 22
Nationality: English
Previous Club: Reading. Signed for £2.6M in 2020.
Reading Town Appearances: 146
Reading Town Goals: 31

Signed from cross town rivals Reading having previously spent 2 seasons on loan. Beckett has ability in abundance, he takes all our set pieces.

Carl Otten
Age: 21
Nationality: Welsh
Previous Club: Cardiff. Came as part of exchange deal in 2019.
Reading Town Appearances: 140
Reading Town Goals: 7

The rapid Welshman has been dubbed the next Ryan Giggs and has put in the performances to back that up. Always has the beating of his man and is becoming more and more consistent.

David Jaka
Age: 27
Nationality: Spanish
Previous Club: Hamburg. Signed for £3.1M in 2023.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

Jaka is a journeyman winger who has plenty of experience of playing in England. Has been signed to add competition to Otten and has the pace to trouble full backs.

Sertac Aytekin
Age: 21
Nationality: Turkish
Previous Club: Eskisehirspor. Signed for £2.5M in 2021.
Reading Town Appearances: 55
Reading Town Goals: 1

Sertac is a dying breed of midfield player as he can fulfil both attacking and defensive roles. He's a valuable player to have but is yet to produce his best for the club.

Juan Carlos Franco
Age: 25
Nationality: Spanish
Previous Club: Sevilla. Signed for Free in 2020.
Reading Town Appearances: 108
Reading Town Goals: 8

Franco nearly always produces decent performances and has attracted the interest of Everton and Man Utd. Put in a transfer request at the end of last season but bids were not high enough for me. Will have to play bloody well to get back in my good books.

Dixon Menendez
Age: 21
Nationality: Equadorian
Previous Club: Paris St Germain. Signed on Loan until end of season.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

Menendez is a good loan acquisition from PSG and I hope he can live up to my high expectations of him.

Acassio
Age: 20
Nationality: Brazilian
Previous Club: Zenit. Signed for £3.1M in 2023.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

Acassio has had a few good seasons for Zenit as a midfield player and that's where I intend to employ him this season. Hopefully will chip in with the goals that I've lacked in midfield.

Strikers
Graham Leworthy
Age: 27
Nationality: English
Previous Club: Leeds. Signed for £40K in 2018.
Reading Town Appearances: 278
Reading Town Goals: 129

Record Appearance holder, Record Goalscorer, Club Legend. Leworthy has been at the club since 2015, our first season in the football league and has done the business at every level. There is not a better target man in England.

Thorvaldur Hakonarson
Age: 24
Nationality: Icelandic
Previous Club: Leeds. Signed for £6M in 2022.
Reading Town Appearances: 29
Reading Town Goals: 19

Hakonarson could possibly be the perfect partner for Leworthy after a great first season at the club. He scores all types of goals and can create chances for others too. If it wasn't for injury he would have taken us into Europe.

Tom Regan
Age: 24
Nationality: English
Previous Club: Man City. Signed for £4.6M in 2021.
Reading Town Appearances: 170
Reading Town Goals: 31

Regan had played for me in the Championship primarily as a striker but I have found him useful as an attacking midfielder making late runs into the box.

Mike Gayle
Age: 20
Nationality: English
Previous Club: Man Utd. Signed on Loan until end of season.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

Gayle will surely become a brilliant loan signing for the club. He has all the attributes to become a future England international and has the pace to cause havok, will hopefully score goals when called upon.

Richard Logan
Age: 18
Nationality: English
Previous Club: Liverpool. Signed on Loan until end of season.
Reading Town Appearances: 0
Reading Town Goals: 0

Logan is another player I'm grateful to have on loan. Will be the back up player in our squad but is a useful one at that.

[RFC]

August - November 2023

19th August 2023
Tottenham 1-1 Reading Town (Hakonarson 15)
We’ve never got any points from White Hart Lane in our previous two visits so this was a good result and a decent start to the season. It was disappointing to concede a late goal but a draw was a good result given 6 players were making their debuts. Leworthy and Hakonarson combined for our goal.

23rd August 2023
Man Utd 2-0 Reading Town
Comprehensive defeat on the Champions home patch. We gave them far too much space around the box and they punished us on two occaisions. We never really got going but I had one eye on Chelsea.

26th August 2023
Reading Town 2-0 Chelsea (Leworthy 52, Hakonarson 56)
Chelsea really hate playing at our stadium and Hakonarson gave them a torrid time, setting up Leworthy’s opener and then latching onto Harry Beckett’s pass to finish Ronald Koeman’s side in a devastating 4 minute spell.

30th August 2023
League Cup 2nd Round
Tranmere 0-4 Reading Town (Logan 1,22, Franco 25, Hakonarson 69)
I made 10 changes to the side that beat Chelsea and they didn’t let me down. Liverpool loanee Richard Logan was in the right place to score the fastest goal in the clubs history on 17 seconds. This was an easy victory where Juan Franco ran the show.

16th September 2023
Leicester 1-5 Reading Town (Hakonarson 6,38, Regan 28, Leworthy 45, Gayle 87)
We went to Premier League new boys Leicester with hopes of winning but we absolutely demolished them! Hakonarson, Regan and Leworthy simply made a mockery of the Leicester defence to put the game out of reach by the break and Gayle scored his first goal for the club late on. Our biggest away win in the Premier League too!

20th September 2023
Reading Town 3-1 Birmingham (Hakonarson 6, Menendez 55, Leworthy 86)
This really was as easy as it sounds. Hakonarson put us ahead early on and we never looked in danger from that moment. It was good to see Dixon Menendez’s first goal for Town and it was a belter too, a 30 yard dipping shot. That result put us 2nd in the league, happy days!

23rd September 2023
Reading Town 0-0 Sunderland
Boring. Rare dropped points at home.

26th September 2023
League Cup 3rd Round
Reading Town 2-0 Man Utd (Gordon 7, Leworthy 57)
Nine changes made for this one and we still managed to topple a full strength Man Utd! In his second start of the season our club captain fired us into the lead and ten minutes into the second half Graham Leworthy scored a phenomenal solo effort to extend the lead. Vasil Iliev was inspired in goal for us, made save after save. This result underlines our dominance at home. Derby await in the next round.

30th September 2023
Bristol City 1-1 Reading Town (Menendez 7)
We’ve been thumped at Ashton Gate for the last two seasons so a point was much welcomed. We were poor in truth but I suppose that’s a good sign that we can play badly away and pick up points.

18th October 2023
Reading Town 2-0 Burnley (Regan 6, Beckett pen 26)
This performance pleased me a lot because we had key personnel away on international duty and I employed an unusual formation. Two of our longest serving players did the business in this one but it really was a team performance.

21st October 2023
Man City 0-2 Reading Town (Regan 50, Leworthy 87)
Our best result in the Premier League comes against money bags City. I was confident we were going to win at half time because they didn’t trouble us at all, then just after half time my confidence is confirmed by Tom Regan who scores one of the goals of the season, curling in from 35 yards. The legend that is Graham Leworthy nodded one in late in the game to seal a memorable three points.

29th October 2023
Aston Villa 1-1 Reading Town (Hakonarson 78)
Gutted about this result. 30 seconds from another great win and the grand old man Fabian Delph puts a free kick into the bottom corner.

League Position on 1st November: 3rd

[Shedender]

You’ve done really well at Reading Town. I have been following your career throughout in the on topic/off topic thread.

[RFC]

November 2023 - February 2024

1st November 2023
League Cup 4th Round
Reading Town 2-0 Derby (Gayle 2,33)
Through to the Quarter Finals of the League Cup thanks to two great strikes by Mike Gayle. Was a very easy game and was able to give my 4-4-2 diamond that triumphed over Burnley another run out.

4th November 2023
Reading Town 0-0 Everton
Third versus Second here and it failed to live up to expectation with both sides cancelling each other out.

8th November 2023
Reading Town 3-2 Fulham (Otten 5, Beckett pen 37, Hakonarson 51)
This game was easier than it sounded. We were lethal in the first half, completely dominating the play. Both of Fulham’s goals came in the last ten minutes but they were no more than consolations.

18th November 2023
Arsenal 1-1 Reading Town (Leworthy 26)
Another valuable away points keeps our unbeaten run going and we took the lead through Graham Leworthy. The Arsenal equaliser came shortly after and we could have won the game but all in all I was delighted to leave with a point.

2nd December 2023
Reading Town 1-0 Stoke (Hakonarson 16)
Stoke gave us a tough time in this game despite us leading for the majority. The brilliant Hakonarson planted a Leworthy-esque header in early on to win the game for us.

6th December 2023
League Cup Quarter Final
West Brom 0-1 Reading Town (Franco 38)
I stuck to my policy of giving some of the squad more of a run in the cup and it paid off yet again when one of those players coming in produced the winning moment. Juan Franco buried a superb free kick from 30 yards to send us into the clubs first League Cup Semi Final where we play Man City.

9th December 2023
Peterborough 1-1 Reading Town (Hakonarson 54)
We were shocking in the first half and rightly trailed thanks to an unlucky own goal coming off our keeper. I got stuck into the team at half time and luckily it paid off pretty quickly as we grabbed an equaliser. We should have won this game but after our first half display I will take a point.

19th December 2023
Reading Town 2-0 Portsmouth (Regan 63, Gayle 90)
After a frustrating first half we took the lead in stunning circumstances as Tom Regan volleyed in from outside the box. We finally managed to double our lead to secure another three points at home in injury time.

23rd December 2023
Reading Town 2-1 West Ham (Hakonarson 24, 76)
Another brilliant win against tough opponents and after West Ham took the lead I knew it was going to take some magic to beat them. Luckily that man Hakonarson proved why he is one of the best strikers in the country, delivering two expert finishes to complete our comeback late on.

26th December 2023
West Brom 1-1 Reading Town (Hakonarson 85)
Back for the second time in the month and for me this was the more important game. Clearly it was for West Brom who deservedly led until late on when former Baggie Hakonarson breached the offside trap and finished emphatically to keep our excellent run going.

28th December 2023
Reading Town 1-0 Liverpool (Hakonarson 45)
For me this was always the most significant game of the month and I was absolutely chuffed we came away with the three points against a technically gifted Liverpool. A fantastic pass from Mike Gayle set up Hakonarson for what is a bread and butter finish by his standards and we kept them at bay in the second half to win another game.

1st January 2024
Chelsea 2-3 Reading Town (Hakonarson 37, 67, Menendez 73)
My favourite game of the season by far. We went behind early on and the signs didn’t look good for us but typically we responded through Hakonarson just before the break, a goal that changed my attitude completely. They retook the lead shortly after half time but I was confident we could come away with a win. Hakonarson rounded the keeper to put us back on level terms and then Dixon Menendez scored a goal that will never be forgotten by me, curling in a rocket shot from 35 yards to send me potty. Does the Champions League beckon?

6th January 2024
FA Cup 3rd Round
Reading Town 7-0 Bristol Rovers (Logan 7,31,70, Gayle 13,19,56, Regan 82)
The non league outfit never stood a chance as the pace of our attacks proved too much for them. The young loanee duo will have to cut the match ball in half after two outstanding performances. I took the chance to rotate the squad again with the Semi Final coming up in midweek.

10th January 2024
League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg
Reading Town 3-0 Man City (Hakonarson 9, Leworthy 36, Gayle 76)
Man City have sunk since the summer and just don’t look the same side they were a year ago and I love it! We destroyed them at home, surely putting the tie out of reach. Hakonarson produced a moment of magic, one of the goals of the season, spinning past three players in the centre circle before running towards goal and finishing emphatically. It was also good to see Leworthy back on the score sheet after a drought by his standards.

13th January 2024
Reading Town 0-1 Tottenham
Oh dear, we have finally lost! That brings an end to our 24 match unbeaten run in all competitions too. We really were dreadful and I will take the blame for being too lacklustre in my approach and underestimating our opponents. We played against 10 men for the majority of the game but offered little and we were punished by a phenomenal goal midway through the second half. Hopefully this is only a minor blip.

20th January 2024
Birmingham 2-1 Reading Town (Leworthy 67)
Are the wheels starting to come off? Put to the sword by lowly Birmingham, who attacked us from the off and caught us out by scoring two great goals. I had to fire the players up for the second half and it worked as we grabbed a goal back, however the Birmingham defence was just superb and stopped pretty much everything we through at them.

24th January 2024
League Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg
Man City (0) 0-0 (3) Reading Town
A resolute defensive display saw this one out. We’re going to Wembley! Fulham await in the Final.

27th January 2024
FA Cup 4th Round
Blackburn 0-2 Reading Town (Franco 22, Gayle 45)
I was wary about this game against Championship opposition and was desperate to get back to winning ways so I picked a strong side. Two players that aren’t regulars did the damage for us with two expert finishes to seal our place in the fifth round before half time.

30th January 2024
Reading Town 3-2 Leicester (Hakonarson 28, Leworthy 61, Franco 78)
That was meant to be one of the easiest games of our season and a certain three points against rock bottom Leicester but like our previous two league games we just didn’t start and found ourselves 2-0 down after 20 minutes. Knowing they’d sit back I made some tactical changes and from that moment we looked a different side. Our key man came up trumps to get us back in the game and after half time there was only going to be one winner as we bombed men on. Franco off the bench to win it with a rare headed goal. 4 points clear of 5th place and a cup final place booked. All in all not a bad month.

League Position on 1st February: 4th

Transfers In:
Hector Acosta
Age: 18
Nationality: Argentinian
Previous Club: Independiente. Signed for £1.1M

This player has finally joined after an agreement was put in place over a year ago. Found by a scout who tips him to become a world class centre back. Looked promising in his two appearances.

[KEZ7]

That Hector Acosta looks a right talent. How much game time have you put into this? By that I mean time in real life spent on it. It must have taking some effort!

[RFC]

KiKó, on 21 March 2010 - 05:54 PM, said:

That Hector Acosta looks a right talent. How much game time have you put into this? By that I mean time in real life spent on it. It must have taking some effort!

Too much mate! My uni course is a piece of piss and with barely any hours a week I have plenty of free time. I reckon I've done about 10 days.

[RFC]

February 2024-End of Season

5th February 2024
Reading Town 3-0 Bristol City (Leworthy 37, Gardiner 45, Gayle 67)
A much welcomed comfortable win. I don’t think City even had a shot and we cruised through the game after two late first half goals.

9th February 2024
Sunderland 2-1 Reading Town (Leworthy 40)
At half time it looked like we were going to gain a valuable three points but Sunderland turned on the style in the second half. Vasil Iliev pulled off a great penalty save but they kept coming and two brilliant strikes, including one from Daniel Sturridge won the game for the Europe chasing Mackems.

17th February 2024
FA Cup 5th Round
Aston Villa 3-0 Reading Town
Everything that has been good about our play this season went out the window and Villa Park as we were blown away by the hosts. Starting to get a bit worried now as the defeats are stacking up.

25th February 2024
Everton 0-2 Reading Town (Gayle 28,58)
A brilliant way to get back to winning ways and against Champions League contenders Everton. I decided to bring Mike Gayle into the attack for a run out and he didn’t disappoint as he bagged a clinical brace. Only a point behind 4th placed Everton now but with two games in hand.

28th February 2024
Burnley 1-1 Reading Town (Leworthy 56)
I’ve got to be happy with a point against in form Burnley. The major downside is that Thorvaldur Hakonarson picked up an injury that means he misses the League Cup Final on Sunday. His replacement in this game, Graham Leworthy, came off the bench to do what he does best and in doing so earned us a point.

3rd March 2024
League Cup Final
Reading Town 1-0 Fulham (Gayle 27)
I’m rightly delighted at winning the clubs first major trophy even though the match itself was hugely disappointing. However I’ll take a boring 1-0 win. Mike Gayle was the hero as he headed in a good cross from Michal Hrivnak in the 6 yard box.

13th March 2024
Reading Town 1-1 Man City (Leworthy 44)
City have improved greatly since we beat them away and they showed that here. We took the lead on the stroke of half time but we were cruelly denied a win in stoppage time when the ball took a wicked deflection off Alex Pearce and flew past Iliev to salvage a point for the visitors.

17th March 2024
Reading Town 1-1 Arsenal (Hakonarson 36)
This was our third consecutive draw this time coming against a side on the up. We made the break through when Hakonarson wriggled past a couple of tackles and finishing well to end his 7 game goal drought but they equalised on the hour mark and the game petered out.

27th March 2024
Reading Town 1-0 Man Utd (Hakonarson 48)
A superb win over the league leaders here and it was due to an excellent goalkeeping display from Iliev and a goal of the season contender from Thorvaldur Hakonarson. The Icelandic made a tackle deep in our own half and then broke forward, outsprinting the defence and then powering in from 25 yards.

30th March 2024
Fulham 0-0 Reading Town
Nothing to say it was an appalling game.

3rd April 2024
Stoke 1-1 Reading Town (Hakonarson 23)
I think we’re starting to rely too heavily on Hakonarson’s goals after this latest result. We had enough chances to bury Stoke but could only put one away. Need a response in the next few games.

6th April 2024
Reading Town 1-1 Peterborough (Leworthy 83)
Defeat would have been a disaster against a struggling side so I have to be thankful we took a point from it. They scored a late goal and it looked like they were going to hold on but Leworthy got on the end of Hakonarson’s cross to score. Phew!

13th April 2024
Portsmouth 1-5 Reading Town (Gardiner 11, Gayle 43,80, Acosta 60, 68)
This was an emphatic away performance against a dreadful Pompey side who were relegated here. They couldn’t cope with us at set pieces, allowing centre backs Gardiner and Acosta chances to score their first goals for the club. Mike Gayle also showed why he is in the running for Young Player of the Year by scoring two good goals on the counter attack.

17th April 2024
Reading Town 3-0 Aston Villa (Leworthy 38,47, Gayle 60)
I thought we needed to be bold and attack Villa from the off so I threw three up front from the off. It worked with devastating effect, the three linked up well for each of the goals. Our goal difference has been boosted by the last two score lines which could prove vital by the end of the season.

27th April 2024
West Ham 1-0 Reading Town
A disappointing way to lose only our fifth game of the season as West Ham scored a stunning goal late in the game when a valuable point was in our grasp. Hakonarson worryingly went off injured too, I’m just praying he’s not out for too long. We stay 4th though.

4th May 2024
Reading Town 2-1 West Brom (Beckett pen 77, pen 88)
We were completely on top in this must win game against lowly West Brom and without our key man we just couldn’t break the deadlock. It was the visitors who took the lead completely against the run of play and I was beginning to worry about our Champions League prospects. Thankfully we turned it on late in the day and Graham Leworthy won two penalties that Beckett dispatched to keep us in 4th going into the final day.

12th May 2024
Liverpool 0-4 Reading Town (Menendez 11, Leworthy 14, Hakonarson 35,90)
What an incredible way to qualify for the Champions League! We destroyed Liverpool at Anfield and that is virtually unheard of! We counter attacked our way to victory and it was set up to be a good day for us when Dixon Menendez tucked away the rebound of Leworthy’s shot before the man himself did all the hard work to score himself just 3 minutes later. When Hakonarson scored his 20th league goal of the season before half time it was all over and he put the seal on a memorable away day by going solo and firing into the top corner in the last minute of the game. A great way to round off a special season, we finish 3rd!

2023/24 Season Summary
Premier League: Pos 3rd, Won 19, Drawn 14, Lost 5, For 62, Against 30, Points 71
FA Cup: 5th Round, Lost 3-0 to Aston Villa
League Cup: Winners, Beat Fulham 1-0
Top Scorer: Thorvaldur Hakonarson (23 goals)
Player of the Year: Thorvaldur Hakonarson (Regen ST)
Average Attendance: 20,611
Memorable Wins: 2-0 vs Man City (away), 1-0 Man Utd (home), 4-0 vs Liverpool (away)

[bezza]

How do u manage a team lower than blue square north/south ?