It’s going to be a tough afternoon for Swansea City if they turn up for the game as they did against Barnsley on Good Friday. Reading are a win away from really making any chance of relegation a very distant threat. They will most certainly go looking for that win on Bank Holiday Monday.
Here are a few facts about the royals.
The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985—86 Third Division campaign and also the record for the number of points gained in the professional league season with 106 points in the 2005—06 Football League Championship.
Reading Football Club was formed during the festive period of late 1871 by a group of young townsmen, most notably Joseph Edward Sydenham who met with his co-founders to form the club at the Bridge Street Rooms.
When Huntley and Palmer took over the Berkshire County Cricket ground opposite Elm Park, the old ground, Reading became known as The Biscuitmen or Biscuiteers. The Huntley & Palmer biscuit factory was the chief industry in the town. The nickname stuck until H&P left in 1974. Today the club are referred to as The Royals, denoting the connection with Royal Berkshire.
Reading’s first ever Football League meeting with what was then Swansea Town also happened to come on Easter Monday — that was a 3-1 home defeat at Elm Park, back in 1921.
Tilehurst is a pleasant suburb of Reading with a strong community, but how Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna lived there is a different story. But the incredibly talented Brazilian lived in a rented single-family home in Chelsea Close in the 1980s. It was in the early stages of his career and he was living on the streets with friends.
Reading have been at their ‘new ground’ since 1998, that’s twenty four years.
Reading’s win against Swansea in November was their first since 2008 and it has taken seventeen games.
More match day news and views in the morning.