Reading Roars!

I’m not a Telegraph reader. I’m more of a Guardian man. But the still-not-very-compact paper’s Footballer’s Wines, written by the ubiqituous Adrian Chiles, is delicious.

Prior to a big game, Chiles writes about the two contesting teams as if they were wine products. Different, and funny. As you might have guessed, the clubs this week getting the vinicultural treatment are Reading and Newcastle.

Interestingly, both Reading FC and Newcastle Utd “wines” are Spanish. This isn’t explained by Chiles. Reading is a red wine (because of the name, we’re told), a Gran Coronas with 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Tempranillo.

Now for the analysis.

fermentation happens when the sugar from the grapes and yeast react to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. This gas escapes as quietly as the Royals’ pre-season doubters. Reading’s red grapes were destalked and lightly crushed (breaking the skins to release the juice) before being placed in the fermentation tank, skins and all.

The tank’s temperature is controlled to retain the wine’s aromas and flavours. The escaping carbon dioxide pushes the skins to the surface where they form what’s known as a cap. Just as Steve Coppell seeks to improve things on the pitch with his substitutions, the wine maker agitates or removes the cap to achieve the colour and tannin required in the finished wine.

Chiles helpfully informs us that a Gran Coronas can be bought from the Co-op for £8.99. Curiously, this is twice as expensive as the Newcastle wine, Vina Sol (£4.43). Is Chiles hinting at riches to come? The other interesting thing to note is that “Corona” is the Spanish word for crown!

Let’s hope that Reading return to wining ways against the Magpies (weak, I know).

Reading Football Club are certainly ambitious, there’s no doubt about that, but how about this for a goal (excuse the pun), suggested this week by the club’s chief exec Nigel Howe:

I would say [the club] has the potential to be bigger than Arsenal because its catchment area is hugely beneficial…If this club started winning some serious stuff and got into the Champions League that would hugely move the Reading brand along and move the crowd on. 

It’s a gradual progression and it would take a few years to do it, but that has to be anybody’s ambition running an organisation like this - to get into the Champions League.  That might make a lot of people smile, but anything is achieveable.

That very much made me smile.  It’s more than a goal.  It’s a 60-yard-lob-over-half-the-pitch-while-the-keeper-was-adjusting-his-laces type goal.  So Reading have had a good season.  Make that two good seasons.  The Champions League, however, is seriously ambitious stuff. 

The domestic Big 4, the league within the league, have been looking pretty dominant lately, mainly, I’d argue, because of cash (Chelsea, Man Utd and now Liverpool), tradition/prestige (drawing top managers), and I suppose continuinity (Fergie and Wenger have been at their clubs for years).  Reading is an exciting club, but not prestigious, and their project has only just begun.  Also, it’d take an awful lot of cash to compete with the big boys.

I think the UEFA Cup is a realistic target for Reading, therefore.  The Champions League (a tournament increasingly dominated by the super clubs in Europe) is a realm almost impossible to reach. 

BBC Berkshire is inviting readers to submit their magic moments from Reading FC’s sparkling first season in the Premiership (despite that the season isn’t over yet).

It’s a tricky one, but the “moment” I’d suggest has to be Reading’s recent comeback against Man United (who are excelling domestically and in Europe this season) at the Madejski. What a fight. Something that Roma were not able to achieve last night, in response to a similar onslaught.

Afterthought: it was an FA Cup, rather than league, game. Can we bend the rules a little?

I was eagerly looking forward to the Easter weekend clash beween Reading and Liverpool (less so the game with Charlton), who just a couple of days earlier had trounced a poor PSV in the Champions League. I admire the managerial minds of both Coppell and Benitez, both deeply immersed in the mechanics of the game and somewhat modest, too.

I dashed to The Turks, but alas they were broadcasting the rugby. I sped to the Three Guineas, past O’Neills, but again it was the oval, not round, ball that was on the big screen. I did catch the score, however, on a different monitor, and it was Rafa’s Reds, minus midfield maestro Xabi Alonso but with the magisterial Mascherano, who were ahead, through Spanish defender Alvaro Arbeloa.

Disappointed, I returned home and slumped in front of the computer, to follow the game online.
I was, naturally, delighted when Reading bounced back early in the second half, with Brynjar Gunnarsson whipping the ball into the goal from the right.

Unfortunately, Dirk Kuyt rose high in the 86th minute to score and restore Liverpool’s lead, all the way to the final whistle.

A pity, but still not a bad result for Reading against the 2005 European Champions.

As for goal footage, thank goodness for YouTube (despite the foreign commentary).

The Sun has published a journal of a loyal England football follower (who has missed just 2 games in 7 years) based in Reading, care worker Simon Copson. The diary spans 6 days, commencing on Thursday 22 March, and presents Simon’s thoughts as a travelling fan.

Simon describes following England as a “drug addiction” (addicted to our national side? Yikes) and concludes, following the riveting Andorra game, that he’d:

love to see Steve Coppell doing the job but he’s far too intelligent to take it.

Quite. As was Scolari.

Robbie Keane scored from the spot to condemn Reading FC to a 1-0 defeat at White Hart Lane on Sunday afternoon.

The penalty followed a harshly-judged handball incident in the box, with the ball unluckily striking new signing Greg Halford’s arm as it rebounded off Keane’s knee. Technically a penalty, but it was an involuntary action and really should have been waived by referee Alan Wiley.

Spurs climbed to 6th in the Premiership table and UEFA Cup territory. The Royals, disrespectfully described by The Mirror’s Mike Walters as the “M4 riff-raff“, are left looking still for their first win in two months.

Reading FC visited one of the “Big Four” on Saturday - poetic Arsenal - and fortunately I was there, thanks to my friend, and lifelong Arsenal follower, John McGarvey. Cheers John!

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have been one of the most exhilarating teams to watch in recent years, from The Invincibles to the reinvented and exuberant side of the present, characterised by youth. They’d played Reading already in the season and gave them an absolute thumping. I wasn’t expecting such a decisive defeat this time.

The first thing that struck me when I took my seat close to the pitch at the hugely impressive Emirates was the size of the crowd. A little more than 60,000 had turned up to see the Gunners take on Reading (still one of the smaller teams in the league). Respect.

The contingent of Reading fans, a swathe of blue and white, was pretty small, but highly vocal when they needed to be (they were also much more vocal outside the ground). When they did pipe up, their chanting was met with the derision of Arsenal fans.

While Reading players were the main attraction for me, I was excited to see the red-and-white shirts of Arsenal exiting the tunnel. Thierry Henry, the star draw, wasn’t playing, but teen Catalan sensation Cesc Fábregas was there, as were Brazilian internationals Julio Baptista and Gilberto Silva.

The first half was dominated by Arsenal. However, while they teased and prodded, Reading remained resilient and the 45 minutes passed drearily.

The second half told a different story. There was much more zip and intent to Arsenal’s play.

In one breathtaking moment, Baptista released the ball to Fábregas, who had a glorious chance to put the Gunners ahead. But he fumbled the opportunity and Reading were safe. Moments later, Cesc’s miss was forgotten, with Gilberto converting a penalty after Andre Bikey brought down Gael Clichy.

Arsenal, and Fábregas in particular, were now ruling the midfield and a second goal came from the foot of a darting Baptista, who was fed by yet another Brazilian, young Denilson.

Reading made changes and once again showed grit in the closing minutes of the game, prompting some excited comments from jittery Arsenal fans behind me. I thought it amazing that they should criticise Baptista, a forward who, while not scintillating, had cemented Arsenal’s lead.

Fábregas, so influential during the game, ironically presented the Royals with an 87th minute goal, as he accidentally knocked the ball into the net from a John Oster corner. Confident Reading continued to push forward and Steve Sidwell nearly brought the score level (but for a Lehmann save). The game thus ended a respectable 2-1.