Reading Roars!

Reading FC have issued a statement in support of Stephen Hunt who controversially clashed with Chelsea keeper Petr Cech during the Premiership clubs’ famous encounter last Saturday. Here it is in full:

Reading Football Club has strongly defended Stephen Hunt following allegations that he deliberately injured Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech during Saturday’s game at Madejski Stadium.

We reiterate Steve Coppell and Stephen Hunt’s post-match comments that there was absolutely no intent to injure Petr. We firmly believe that the collision was an unavoidable accident, a view which is supported virtually without exception by independent media observers.

(more…)

I Love Vodka, screams Revolution in its latest campaign. Well of course it does. That’s how it makes its money. Hardly revolutionary.

Still, at least it reads well. The videolar hizli kuryeReading web page of the Revolution website has this to say:

Welcome Home. Home is home brings vodka to the comfort of your own home, well nearly.

I think their web editor had too much vodka…

I never thought I’d see my two favourite football clubs, Reading and Barcelona, mentioned in the same sentence together. The link, of course, is Chelsea, whom Reading narrowly lost to (1-0) on Saturday. Chelsea will be playing the Catalan club on Wednesday.

Reading once again proved just how good they are and that the Premiership doesn’t faze them. Mourinho was at his whinging best. Referring to Cech’s concussion:

The Cech one, the challenge is a disgrace. He is lucky to still be alive.

Right. If you say so. About the second concussion the Special One said:

Carlo I think was knocked out as a consequence of the way he hit the ground, but a knee coming at Petr like that, at such speed - the boy was even laughing afterwards.

It’s not nice to see injuries on the pitch, but this does mean that Chelsea will be fielding their third-choice keeper against Barcelona this week.

Read the BBC report.

Spotted: Chelsea players at the Renaissance Hotel in Reading. So much for Anna Pickard of The Guardian’s summary of The videolar hizli kuryeForbury Hotel:

Next autumn, thanks to the local football club’s promotion, the city will be playing host to Premiership players from glamour clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal - turns out it’s already got a premier destination to satisfy the expensive tastes of footballers’ wives, too.

The Reading Chronicle is publishing a Polish-language edition - named Kronika Reading - tomorrow to target the town’s Polish population. Six news section pages are to be translated. The project was explained by editor Simon Jones as the first of its kind:

It’s a Reading paper for Polish people, not a Polish paper for Polish people. We want them to get them engaged with the local community.

He added that Reading is one of the top 10 Polish population centres in the UK and that if the initiative is successful, the Polish edition will go out monthly.

This is pioneering stuff. Media interest has been, understandably, overwhelming. I really can’t wait to see what happens.

Would this also mean a Polish-language Reading Chronicle website too, I wonder? If not, maybe I can jump in (though at present the only words I know are Czesc, Na zdrowie, Solidarnosc and, er, vodka). And would this also mean future editions in Romanian and Bulgarian languages?

Read Simon Jones’ thoughts on the launch in his blog.

Read the story on Media Guardian (registration required).

You may recall that I was recently called to talk about my blog on Reading 107 FM. My conversation with Joff Hopkins is now available to download. Click below to listen to the recording.

videolar hizli kuryeReading Roars! on Reading 107 FM [4.61MB]

I’d just spent several wonderful days in Turkey, visiting many cultural treasures, to find upon my return to Reading that we are to lose a jewel of our own.

I am, of course, referring to WOMAD, which is to leave Reading after 17 years (interestingly, the Reading Chronicle reveals that the deal to move WOMAD to Reading in 1988 was brokered at Sweeney & Todd pie restaurant) because it has become too big for the Rivermead site. Instead, the festival is to be move to Wiltshire. WOMAD explains:

Audience feedback we received after WOMAD Rivermead in 2005 included strong criticism of the site as a whole, and a feeling of overcrowding in particular. In order to alleviate these problems, WOMAD implemented substantial changes to the festival site in 2006. However, despite these improvements, a perception of overcrowding remains.

This news stunned me. But there is hope. According to the Evening Post, Reading West MP Martin Salter has persuaded Feargal Sharkey to join forces with Reading Borough Council, the Evening Post and promoters, in an effort to get a new festival going. Feargal was the lead singer of The Undertones and is now Chairman of the UK government task force ‘Live Music Forum’.

Let’s make this happen. We have a great opportunity to do something different, I feel. The show must go on.

Walking up a steep hill the other day in Istanbul, towards Galata tower, I was drawn to a window display at an electronics store.  A widescreen set was showing the latest Premiership results.  And lo and behold, Reading had beaten West Ham by a goal to nil!

I punched the air with excitement.  No one noticed (or cared).  True, in this noisy football-passionate city,  a “yeah!” exclamation and fist-clenching will turn no heads.  But no matter.  As I scanned Istanbul’s breathtaking skyline from the top of Galata tower, I knew that our football club were revelling in a similarly lofty position - and smiled.  And who knows, maybe, just maybe, Reading will one day be making a visit of their own to this glorious city, by playing in Europe.