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Morning everyone hope you enjoyed that good win against Cardiff on Saturday! Now, when everyone picks their best 11 players it's usually based on ability, however I have chosen a team based on totally personal and random reasons that sums up me as a fan.
GK: Adam Federici - Top bloke and top keeper. Always good to chat to on Twitter about all things Aussie - it helps cure my homesickness!
RB: Graeme Murty - He let me wear his Championship winners medal after the QPR game in 2006.
CB: Paul McShane - Took time to make a fuss of my little girl when she had a melt down as a mascot last month.
CB: Pierce Sweeney - Always managed to sort me tickets out for whenever I came over for a game - now need to find a replacement. Any takers Reading FC?!
LB: Gary Peters - Was the first ever Reading player that I got my picture with when I was four years old and I still haven't changed a bit!
RM: John Salako - On the day of the home play off match against Wolves in 2003 we met on way to the ground and I wished him good luck, to which he replied "the manager is going to be playing his better players today sulky git!"
CM: Darren Caskey - Once asked him to sign a picture as God! He refused sadly, but I still have the picture and he was a player I loved watching in a pretty awful team - even the squeaky voice!
CM: Anthony Rougier - Named my dog after him and when I told him before a match he said "wicked man never had a dog named after me", before sprinting as fast as he could to the safety of the changing rooms.
LM: Nathan Tyson - Shared a bus journey from the railway station to the Mad Stad on the day he made his debut as a substitute for us. Sadly I don't think we will ever see that happen again!!
ST: Trevor Senior - Served the great man a beer whilst I was a student nurse in Dorchester. My hands were as steady as Simon Sheppard on a bad day!
ST: Jamie Cureton - For THAT goal and one of the most memorable days of my life. Without it this club would not have developed so successfully.
Manager: Robin Friday & his socks - Great memories of my dad at his best. Hope you two are a having a beer or ten up there!
*****
Back to this season and the early days of Mr Stam's regime. Ok, there was one really bad performance against Wolves, but there is a lot of early promise, a good squad and team spirit and even talk of one of the world's highest paid players joining us! It really does feel the start of something special and great to see a number of players want to join to learn from the manager. There is a long way to go but I'm liking the Dutch revolution so far.
Enjoy the international break, I'm off to Ireland vs Oman on Wednesday to pay my respects to the great man Eamonn Dolan and also that cheating little git Robbie Keane who got Barry Hunter sent off all those years ago at Elm Park. Alex Pearce might even score his third international goal all against Oman!
Have a great week,
Hunty
Are their any Reading players that you have a soft spot for for interesting reasons? Leave your memories in the comments below!