Reading FC History
1926 Postcard
Reading's popular captain from the the late 1920s Bert Eggo, who skippered the team to the Division Three (South) championship in 1925-26 and the FA Cup semi-final the following season.
Stuart Gray 1973-2024
Former Reading full-back Stuart Gray has sadly died at the age of just 50 after a battle against cancer. In 1998, Reading's new manager Tommy Burns brought in a record number of transfer deadline day signings in a bid to stave off relegation, which was ultimately unsuccessful. One of these was Stuart Gray, who arrived from Celtic, and he became part of the so-called 'Magnificent Seven'. Gray featured in the final league game at Elm Park and the first at the brand new Madejski Stadium, and played over 50 games scoring twice for the Royals. In 2009 Stuart appeared in the film 'The Damned United', where he portrayed his father, the great Leeds winger Eddie.
My Albums
I thought I'd give an idea of how I store my collection. I use archival A3 and A4 box-binders depending on the size of the items, which range from postcards, cigarette and trade cards, fixture lists, photos, newspaper and magazine supplements etc, which are kept in acid-free pages. For my collection of large team photos taken from the local papers, I have an A2 size art folio, which in my opinion looks great. A few examples of these albums can be seen by clicking the photo.
1983-84 Club Photo
I was kindly given the fantastic framed photo showing the Reading team of 40 years ago, who brushed off the disappointment of relegation from the Third Division and merger threat with Oxford to bounce back a the first attempt. The kit design harks back to the pre-war striped shirt days, though this lasted for just that season, as did the sponsorship deal with 'Radio 210'. This went against League regulations which barred numbers from appearing on shirt fronts.
1906-07 Postcard
A pretty non-descript season saw Reading dumped out of the FA Cup in the first round and finish just below halfway in the Southern League table. According to Alan Sedunary's excellent club history 'Heaven on Earth', several players appeared before the board for a variety of misdemeanours, with many of the 'offences' relating to the standard of play. One player, W. Hart (bottom left), was suspended for 'continued bad football', while concerns were expressed over goalkeeper Walter Whittaker's eyesight!
