clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Tilehurst End Advent Calendar: December 14

Come on, who else would it be?

Northampton Town v Reading - Pre-Season Friendly Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images

Jimmy Boubou Kebe

Position: Winger

Nationality: Malian/French

Total Reading FC appearances: 175

Total Reading FC goals: 29

Memorable Moment

Let’s get this straight. I love Jimmy Kebe. I want that on my permanent record, I want it on my tax return, and I want all my lovers past, present and future (should they decide to exist) to know that I’ll always love Jimmy Kebe.

Why? One might ask. It could be how he almost scored a worldie en debut away to Everton with a mazy run that forced a smart stop, a goal that would have kept us up in 2007/08. It could be how he trolled the Geordies, claiming ‘Oops I thought if you're French and play football you just pop in to Newcastle and sign a contract’. It could be how his mazy dribbles either ended in a defender snapping his cartilage and detaching his retinas or, more often, the man himself running five yards without realising the ball had jumped ship a few yards back. It could be how he went to Leeds and was crap. It could be how he has disappeared off the face of the planet.

But, no, it is in fact how he played a part in one of the most entertaining Reading sides ever to grace the Berkshire turf. And how he made Jack Collison (and Steve Claridge) look like the biggest mug on the planet.

Yeah, it’s mainly that last one.