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Tabb feels Saturday was a nice goodbye to Reading – Reading Official Site
Jay Tabb has nothing but fond words to say about his time at Reading. He describes it as the highlight of his career and jokes that it was nice to get a goal to show the Reading fans he can score! He continues by saying Reading are moving in a different direction now, as is he playing in his favoured position at a new club. Tabb says he was delighted with the reception he got whilst warming up and during the game and, after not getting a proper chance to say goodbye to the fans, he believes the match was a fantastic way to do this, finishing by saying we’ll have a good season.
Jay Tabb couldn’t control himself after finally grabbing a goal at the Mad Stad – Get Reading
Throughout his 4 and a half year stay at Reading, fans favourite Jay Tabb never got on the scoresheet for the Royals and when he finally managed to get the ball over the white line at the Mad Stad, it was for Ipswich. The popular midfielder says he couldn’t keep his emotions in check when he saw the ball hit the back of the net on Saturday and then remembered who he was playing against so stopped celebrating. Tabb continues by describing the role he is being asked to play at Ipswich, one that involves playing on the wing, as he did for Brentford and Coventry and also under Steve Coppell at Reading. He then moved to a defensive midfield position for the rest of his Reading career and this hindered his chances of scoring. With Tabb describing scoring as "the best thing in the world", we can cut him a bit of slack for celebrating!
Adkins delighted at ending our first day hoodoo – Get Reading
Saturday’s win was the first time in seven years that Reading have won on the opening day of the season. Nigel Adkins says it was very pleasing to finally have ousted this disappointing statistic by beating Ipswich and he was greatly encouraged by our second half performance.
Zingarevich on transfers – Reading Official Site
Our owner is keen to point out that we already have a strong squad and that there is still plenty of time to make some transfers before the window shuts on 2nd September. Zingarevich emphasises how the transfers of Royston Drenthe, Danny Williams and Wayne Bridge all bring international experience to Reading, and he discusses what each of them add to the team. He also notes the significance of re-signing Alex Pearce and Hal Robson-Kanu and continues by mentioning the possibility of players leaving the club and also the wealth of time we have to bring in new faces.
Guthrie believes keeping our squad together is the key to promotion – Reading Chronicle
Danny Guthrie was relegated with Newcastle in 2009 and bounced back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. He explains how keeping the "nucleus" of Newcastle's squad together, as Reading have managed to do so far, was crucial to Newcastle’s success. Guthrie also explains how re-signing Alex Pearce and resigning Hal Robson-Kanu are "like new signings" and whatever personal agendas these two players may have had, everyone is pulling in the right direction now. Guthrie concludes by stating that he feels the team showed "flashes" of what we were capable of against Ipswich but we were far from our best.
Morrison says we will get better – Get Reading
Stand-in captain Sean Morrison admits that in the first half against Ipswich, we "didn’t really click". He says it will take a few more games before we reach our best but says our "abundance" of Championship experience in the squad will really help this. Morrison also says that captaining the side is his "biggest achievement in football" to date.
Morrison proud to be captain – Get Reading
Sean Morrison again emphasises how being named captain is his "biggest achievement in football" and discusses how he reacted to finding out about his big new role when informed about it by Nigel Adkins the day before the Ipswich match. Morrison shares the words Adkins had with him when he was taken to one side at training to be told why he was given the responsibility. Morrison is thankful for the chance but comments on how he had a difficult night’s sleep before the game and how this made him tire towards the end of the match. However, he concludes that he knows now that he overthought everything and puts it down to natural emotion.
Royals promote Kit Aid initiative – Reading Official Site
As part of the Sky Sports 92 club showcase, the Sky cameras came to Hogwood Park last Thursday and we used this as an opportunity to promote Kit Aid. This initiative involves sending unwanted kit to children and adults in 40 countries across the world. Nigel Adkins, Jobi McAnuff, Danny Guthrie, Jem Karacan, Nick Blackman and Danny Williams helped to fill a van with kit donations to send to Gambia. Adkins says, "It's great that we can go and support charity. Instead of being thrown away, the kit is put to good use."
Guthrie gives an honest reflection on his time at Reading – Reading Official Site
Saturday’s match-winner and man of the match spoke to the Official Site about his career at Reading and was honest in admitting there have been highs and lows for him so far. He describes last season as a "difficult" time for him, and admits he "made a mistake" and "paid for it", along with making himself "a few enemies midway through the season". Importantly, the midfielder says he has learnt from last season, and now has a stronger character and a wiser head. He also feels he has developed his understanding of what is expected from him in his central midfield position under Nigel Adkins, and feels he is now at the peak of his career. Guthrie seems to believe this season is his year to stand up and be counted, and perhaps make up for his misdemeanours last year. He says he wants to help guide the younger players through, and feels he has to be a leading part of the squad when we win, and also take responsibility when we lose. Like most of the Reading squad, he also comments that there is no "hangover" from last season and only positivity and excitement exists about the new season.
We haven’t seen anything from Drenthe yet says Adkins – Vital Football
It is fair to say that we saw glimpses of what Royston Drenthe is capable of on Saturday. Nigel Adkins thinks the same. The boss says getting Drenthe’s fitness up to scratch with the rest of the squad is important to maximising his potential, even though he is already showing he can do "magical things" and "be a massive threat to the opposition".