1997–98 Reading F.C. season

Reading
	1997–98 season
Chairman	John Madejski
Manager	Terry Bullivant until 18 March 1998; Alan Pardew (caretaker-manager); Tommy Burns from 25 March 1998
Stadium	Elm Park
First Division	24th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Quarter-finals
← 1996–97	1998–99 →

During the 1997–98 English football season, Reading F.C. competed in the Football League First Division. It was their first season under new manager Terry Bullivant, but due to poor results, Bullivant was sacked in March 1998. Alan Pardew was caretaker-manager for seven days before the club appointed Tommy Burns.

Season summary

The 1997–98 season was another struggle for Reading, as they sucomed to relegation to the Second Division

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Jamie Ashdown
		GK	Sal Bibbo
		GK	Nick Hammond
		GK	Scott Howie
		GK	Steve Mautone
		GK	Nick Colgan (Loan from Chelsea)
		DF	Andy Bernal
		DF	Paul Bodin
		DF	Martyn Booty
		DF	Gareth Davies
		DF	Paddy Kelly (Loan from Newcastle United)
		DF	Andy Legg
		DF	Keith McPherson
		DF	Linvoy Primus
		DF	Steve Swales
		DF	Michael Thorp
		DF	Dariusz Wdowczyk
		DF	Barry Hunter
		MF	Darren Caskey

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Jimmy Crawford
		MF	Byron Glasgow
		MF	Stuart Gray
		MF	Lee Hodges
		MF	Ray Houghton
		MF	Michael Meaker
		MF	Stuart Lovell
		MF	Phil Parkinson
		MF	Michael O'Neill
		FW	Carl Asaba
		FW	Jason Bowen
		FW	Paul Brayson
		FW	Robert Fleck
		FW	Jamie Lambert
		FW	Jim McIntyre
		FW	Trevor Morley
		FW	Neville Roach
		FW	Martin Williams

Transfers^[1]

In

Date	Position	Name	From	Fee
15 July 1997	MF	Ray Houghton	Crystal Palace	Free
1 August 1997	DF	Linvoy Primus	Barnet	£250,000
1 August 1997	MF	Lee Hodges	Barnet	£250,000
7 August 1997	FW	Carl Asaba	Brentford	£800,000
23 September 1997	FW	David Whyte	Charlton Athletic	Non-contract
26 December 1997	FW	Jason Bowen	Birmingham City	£200,000
20 February 1998	DF	Andy Legg	Birmingham City	£75,000
26 March 1998	MF	Stuart Gray	Celtic	£100,000
26 March 1998	FW	Jim McIntyre	Kilmarnock	£440,000
26 March 1998	FW	Paul Brayson	Newcastle United	£100,000
26 March 1998	GK	Scott Howie	Motherwell	£30,000
26 March 1998	MF	Jimmy Crawford	Newcastle United	£50,000
26 March 1998	FW	Robert Fleck	Norwich City	£50,000

Loan in

Date	Position	Name	From	Until
29 August 1997	FW	Mark Robins	Leicester City	26 September 1997
5 September 1997	DF	Lee Sandford	Sheffield United	04 October1997
26 February 1998	GK	Nick Colgan	Chelsea	31 May 1998
1 March 1998	MF	Michael O'Neill	Coventry City	3 May 1998
26 March 1998	DF	Paddy Kelly	Newcastle United	31 May 1998

Out

Date	Position	Name	To	Fee
10 August 1995	FW	Lee Nogan	Grimsby Town	£170,000
10 August 1995	FW	David Whyte	Ipswich Town	Monthly
21 November 1997	MF	Paul Holsgrove	Crewe Alexandra	Non-contract
1 March 1998	MF	Ben Smith	Yeovil Town	Unknown

Released

Date	Position	Name
31 May 1998	DF	Steve Swales
31 May 1998	FW	Trevor Morley
31 May 1998	MF	Alan Pardew
31 May 1998		Andy Freeman
31 May 1998	MF	Michael Meaker
31 May 1998	DF	Dariusz Wdowczyk
31 May 1998		Michael Thorp
31 May 1998	DF	Paul Bodin
30 June 1998	GK	Sal Bibbo

Results

Football League First Division

Results

9 August 1997	Bury	1 - 1	Reading	Gigg Lane
	Armstrong 52'	[ Report]	Swales 13'

16 August 1997	Reading	0 - 1	Swindon Town	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Hay 18'

23 August 1997	Birmingham City	3 - 0	Reading	St Andrew's
	Devlin 38' Bruce 81' Ndlovu 88'	[ Report]	Bernal 68'

30 August 1997	Reading	0 - 3	Bradford City	Elm Park
	Lawrence 10' Pepper 17', 66'	[ Report]

2 September 1997	Reading	1 - 2	Queens Park Rangers	Elm Park
	Hodges 10'	[ Report]	Spencer 71' Swales 72' (o.g.)

7 September 1997	West Bromwich Albion	1 - 0	Reading	The Hawthorns
	Hunt 79'	[ Report]

13 September 1997	Reading	2 - 1	Oxford United	Elm Park
	Asaba 21' Hodges 61'	[ Report]	Jemson 2'

20 September 1997	Tranmere Rovers	6 - 0	Reading	Prenton Park
	Morrissey 4' Kelly 10', 41' L.Jones 20' G.Jones 38' Thompson 59'	[ Report]

27 September 1997	Portsmouth	0 - 2	Reading	Fratton Park
		[ Report]	Hodges 15' Williams 88'

4 October 1997	Reading	4 - 0	Sunderland	Elm Park
	Asaba 16', 26' Williams 60' Lambert 64'	[ Report]

11 October 1997	Reading	3 - 3	Crewe Alexandra	Elm Park
	Asaba 35', 60' Westwood 43' (o.g.)	[ Report]	Westwood 13' Little 20' Adebola 31'

18 October 1997	Manchester City	0 - 0	Reading	Maine Road
		[ Report]

21 October 1997	Norwich City	0 - 0	Reading	Carrow Road
		[ Report]

24 October 1997	Reading	3 - 3	Nottingham Forest	Elm Park
	Williams 57' (pen.) Lambert 73' Primus 78'	[ Report]	van Hooijdonk 3', 48' (pen.) Beasant 56' Campbell 65'

1 November 1997	Port Vale	0 - 0	Reading	Vale Park
		[ Report]

4 November 1997	Reading	0 - 1	Sheffield United	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Patterson 52'

8 November 1997	Reading	1 - 0	Stockport County	Elm Park
	Morely 42' (pen.)	[ Report]

15 November 1997	Huddersfield Town	1 - 0	Reading	Alfred McAlpine Stadium
	Dalton 73'	[ Report]

22 November 1997	Reading	0 - 4	Ipswich Town	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Holland 26' Johnson 30' Scowcroft 49' Naylor 87'

29 November 1997	Stoke City	1 - 2	Reading	Britannia Stadium
	Thorne 81'	[ Report]	Morley 32' (pen.), 59'

6 December 1997	Reading	2 - 0	Charlton Athletic	Elm Park
	Hodges 9' Morely 36' (pen.)	[ Report]

13 December 1997	Middlesbrough	4 - 0	Reading	Riverside Stadium
	Hignett 77', 90' Beck 79', 84'	[ Report]

20 December 1997	Reading	0 - 0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Elm Park
	Bodin 37'	[ Report]	Simpson 42'

26 December 1997	Reading	2 - 1	West Bromwich Albion	Elm Park
	McDermott 1' (o.g.) Williams 27)'	[ Report]	Kilbane 77'

28 December 1997	Queens Park Rangers	1 - 1	Reading	Loftus Road
	Spencer 15' Maddix 78'	[ Report]	Morely 64' Asaba 78'

10 January 1998	Reading	1 - 1	Bury	Elm Park
	Lucketti 29' (o.g.)	[ Report]	Jepson 76' Gray 87'

17 January 1998	Swindon Town	0 - 2	Reading	The County Ground
		[ Report]	Lovell 9' Lambert 14'

27 January 1998	Bradford City	4 - 1	Reading	Valley Parade
	Lawrence 24' Edinho 32', 68' Blake 62'	[ Report]	Asaba 2'

31 January 1998	Reading	2 - 0	Birmingham City	Elm Park
	Hodges 74' Asaba 83'	[ Report]	Furlong 66' Marsden 69'

7 February 1998	Reading	1 - 3	Tranmere Rovers	Elm Park
	Williams 75'	[ Report]	Irons 10' Kelly 65' Branch 72'

17 February 1998	Sunderland	4 - 1	Reading	Stadium of Light
	Quinn 21' Rae 22' Phillips 46', 61'	[ Report]	Bowen 53'

21 February 1998	Reading	0 - 1	Portsmouth	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Whitbread 83'

24 February 1998	Reading	3 - 0	Manchester City	Elm Park
	Hodges 8' Houghton 29' Asaba 89'	[ Report]

28 February 1998	Crewe Alexandra	1 - 0	Reading	Gresty Road
	Rivers 11'	[ Report]

3 March 1998	Stockport County	5 - 1	Reading	Edgeley Park
	Byrne 10', 32' Angell 11', 70' Grant 23'	[ Report]	Williams 80' (pen.)

7 March 1998	Reading	0 - 3	Port Vale	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Mills 7' Talbot 19' Jansson 82'

14 March 1998	Sheffield United	4 - 0	Reading	Bramall Lane
	Stuart 44' Marcelo 46' Taylor 54' Quinn 90'	[ Report]

17 March 1998	Oxford United	3 - 0	Reading	Manor Ground
	Beauchamp 44', 70' Gray 77'	[ Report]

21 March 1998	Reading	0 - 2	Huddersfield Town	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Stewart 73', 88'

28 March 1998	Ipswich Town	1 - 0	Reading	Portman Road
	Scowcroft 39'	[ Report]	Legg 45' Bernal 68'

4 April 1998	Reading	2 - 0	Stoke City	Elm Park
	O'Neill 32' Meaker 48'	[ Report]

10 April 1998	Charlton Athletic	3 - 0	Reading	The Valley
	Mendonca 6' Mortimer 44' Bright 79'	[ Report]

13 April 1998	Reading	0 - 1	Middlesbrough	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Branca 8' Hignett 90'

18 April 1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3 - 1	Reading	Molineux
	Muscat 9' Goodman 69', 90'	[ Report]	Brayson 44'

26 April 1998	Nottingham Forest	1 - 0	Reading	City Ground
	Bart-Williams 87'	[ Report]

3 May 1998	Reading	0 - 1	Norwich City	Elm Park
		[ Report]	Bellamy 57'

League Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	46	18	2	3	52	20	10	8	5	30	22	82	42	+ 40	94
2	Middlesbrough	46	17	4	2	51	12	10	6	7	26	29	77	41	+ 36	91
3	Sunderland	46	14	7	2	49	22	12	5	6	37	28	86	50	+ 36	90
4	Charlton Athletic	46	17	5	1	48	17	9	5	9	32	32	80	49	+ 31	88
5	Ipswich Town	46	14	5	4	47	20	9	9	5	30	23	77	43	+ 34	83
6	Sheffield United	46	16	5	2	44	20	3	12	8	25	34	69	54	+ 15	74
7	Birmingham City	46	10	8	5	27	15	9	9	5	33	20	60	35	+ 25	74
8	Stockport County	46	14	6	3	46	21	5	2	16	25	48	71	69	+ 2	65
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	13	6	4	42	25	5	5	13	15	28	57	53	+ 4	65
10	West Bromwich Albion	46	9	8	6	27	26	7	5	11	23	30	50	56	– 6	61
11	Crewe Alexandra	46	10	2	11	30	34	8	3	12	28	31	58	65	– 7	59
12	Oxford United	46	12	6	5	36	20	4	4	15	24	44	60	64	– 4	58
13	Bradford City	46	10	9	4	26	23	4	6	13	20	36	46	59	– 13	57
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	9	8	6	34	26	5	6	12	20	31	54	57	– 3	56
15	Norwich City	46	9	8	6	32	27	5	5	13	20	42	52	69	– 17	55
16	Huddersfield Town	46	9	5	9	28	28	5	6	12	22	44	50	72	– 22	53
17	Bury	46	7	10	6	22	22	4	9	10	20	36	42	58	– 16	52
18	Swindon Town	46	9	6	8	28	25	5	4	14	14	48	42	73	– 31	52
19	Port Vale	46	7	6	10	25	24	6	4	13	31	42	56	66	– 10	49
20	Portsmouth	46	8	6	9	28	30	5	4	14	23	33	51	63	– 12	49
21	Queens Park Rangers	46	8	9	6	28	21	2	10	11	23	42	51	63	– 12	49
22	Manchester City	46	6	6	11	28	26	6	6	11	28	31	56	57	– 3	48
23	Stoke City	46	8	5	10	30	40	3	8	12	14	34	44	74	– 30	46
24	Reading	46	8	4	11	27	31	3	5	15	12	47	39	78	– 39	42

FA Cup

13 January 1998 Third Round	Cheltenham Town	1 - 1	Reading	Whaddon Road
	Watkins 22' (pen.)	[ Report]	Morley 71'

20 January 1998 Third Round Reply	Reading	2 - 1	Cheltenham Town	Elm Park
	Morley 38' Booty 72'	[ Report]	Walker 51'

24 January 1998 Fourth Round	Cardiff City	1 - 1	Reading	Ninian Park
	Nugent 47'	[ Report]	Asaba 56'

3 February 1998 Fourth Round Reply	Reading	1 - 1 (4 – 3 p)	Cardiff City	Elm Park
	Morley 56'	[ Report]	Dale 40'

13 February 1998 Fifth Round	Sheffield United	1 - 0	Reading	Bramall Lane
	Sandford 87'	[ Report]

League Cup

12 September 1998 First Round 1st Leg	Reading	2 – 0	Swansea City	Elm Park
	Lambert 58' Roach 75'

26 August 1998 First Round 2nd Leg	Swansea City	1 – 1 (1 – 3 agg.)	Reading	Vetch Field
	Coates 49' Edwards 78'		Asaba 54'

16 September 1998 Second Round 1st Leg	Reading	0 – 0	Peterborough United	Elm Park

14 October 1998 Second Round 2nd Leg	Peterborough United	0 – 2 (0 – 2 agg.)	Reading	London Road
	Payne 1'		Asaba 51' Williams 70'

14 October 1998 Third Round	Reading	4 – 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Elm Park
	Williams 33' (o.g.) Parkinson 34' Meaker 46' McPherson 54'		Bull 44', 57'

18 November 1998 Fourth Round	Leeds United	2 – 3	Reading	Elland Road
19:45	Wetherall 16' Bowyer 54'		Asaba 9' Williams 66' Morley 85'	Attendance: 15,069 Referee: Graham Barber

6 January 1998 Quarter-finals	Reading	0 – 1	Middlesbrough	Elm Park
19:45			Hignett 89'	Attendance: 13,072 Referee: George Cain

Squad Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		First Division		FA Cup		League Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Jamie Ashdown	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	GK		Sal Bibbo	3	0	2+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
	GK		Nick Hammond	24	0	18+0	0	4+0	0	2+0	0
	GK		Scott Howie	7	0	7+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	GK		Steve Mautone	19	0	14+0	0	0+0	0	5+0	0
	DF		Andy Bernal	45	0	34+0	0	5+0	0	6+0	0
	DF		Paul Bodin	6	0	3+1	0	1+0	0	1+0	0
	DF		Martyn Booty	35	2	24+1	1	5+0	1	4+1	0
	DF		Gareth Davies	22	0	17+1	0	3+0	0	1+0	0
	DF		Andy Legg	10	0	10+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	DF		Keith McPherson	30	2	24+0	1	0+0	0	6+0	1
	DF		Linvoy Primus	42	1	36+0	1	1+0	0	5+0	0
	DF		Steve Swales	42	1	26+5	1	5+0	0	6+0	0
	DF		Michael Thorp	4	0	0+3	0	0+1	0	0+0	0
	DF		Dariusz Wdowczyk	7	0	3+2	0	0+0	0	1+1	0
	MF		Darren Caskey	26	0	19+4	0	0+1	0	1+1	0
	MF		Jimmy Crawford	6	0	5+1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	MF		Byron Glasgow	2	0	1+1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	MF		Stuart Gray	7	0	7+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	MF		Lee Hodges	36	7	20+4	7	4+1	0	6+1	0
	MF		Ray Houghton	35	1	20+5	1	2+2	0	5+1	0
	MF		Stuart Lovell	18	1	8+7	1	2+1	0	0+0	0
	MF		Michael Meaker	26	2	16+5	1	0+2	0	3+0	1
	MF		Michael O'Neill	9	0	9+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	MF		Phil Parkinson	47	1	36+1	0	5+0	0	5+0	1
	FW		Carl Asaba	42	12	31+1	8	3+0	1	7+0	3
	FW		Jason Bowen	20	1	11+3	1	5+0	0	0+1	0
	FW		Paul Brayson	6	1	2+4	1	0+0	0	0+0	0
	FW		Robert Fleck	5	0	3+2	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	FW		Jamie Lambert	43	4	33+1	3	3+0	0	6+0	1
	FW		Jim McIntyre	6	0	6+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	FW		Trevor Morley	30	8	17+6	4	5+0	3	2+0	1
	FW		Neville Roach	13	1	0+8	0	0+0	0	4+1	1
	FW		Martin Williams	36	7	25+4	6	1+1	0	3+2	1
Players who appeared for Reading who left during the season:
	GK		Nick Colgan	11	0	5+0	0	4+0	0	2+0	0
	DF		Paddy Kelly	3	0	3+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	DF		Lee Sandford	5	0	5+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
	MF		Paul Holsgrove	3	0	1+1	0	0+0	0	0+1	0
	FW		Mark Robins	5	0	5+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0

Top Scorers

Place	Position	Name	First Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	FW	Carl Asaba	8	1	3	12
2	FW	Trevor Morley	4	3	1	8
3	FW	Martin Williams	6	0	1	7
3	MF	Lee Hodges	7	0	0	7
5	FW	Jamie Lambert	3	0	1	4
5		Own goal	3	0	1	4
7	MF	Michael Meaker	1	0	1	2
8	DF	Linvoy Primus	1	0	0	1
	DF	Steve Swales	1	0	0	1
	MF	Ray Houghton	1	0	0	1
	MF	Stuart Lovell	1	0	0	1
	FW	Jason Bowen	1	0	0	1
	MF	Michael O'Neill	1	0	0	1
	FW	Paul Brayson	1	0	0	1
15	DF	Martyn Booty	0	1	0	1
	DF	Keith McPherson	0	0	1	1
	MF	Phil Parkinson	0	0	1	1
	FW	Neville Roach	0	0	1	1
		TOTALS	39	5	11	55

Disciplinary Record

Number	Nation	Position	Name
Number	Nation	Position	Name	First Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		DF	Andy Bernal	3	2	1	0	0	0	4	2
		DF	Martyn Booty	3	0	1	0	2	0	6	0
		DF	Gareth Davies	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
		DF	Andy Legg	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
		DF	Keith McPherson	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
		DF	Linvoy Primus	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
		DF	Steve Swales	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
		DF	Dariusz Wdowczyk	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
		MF	Michael Meaker	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
		MF	Ray Houghton	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
		MF	Lee Hodges	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
		MF	Phil Parkinson	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
		MF	Darren Caskey	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
		MF	Stuart Lovell	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
		FW	Carl Asaba	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
		FW	Jason Bowen	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
		FW	Robert Fleck	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
		FW	Jim McIntyre	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
		FW	Jamie Lambert	7	0	2	0	1	0	10	0
		FW	Trevor Morley	4	0	1	0	2	0	7	0
		FW	Martin Williams	4	0	0	0	1	0	5	0
			TOTALS	65	4	6	0	7	0	78	4

References

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Soccerbase.com

↑ http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=2125&teamTabs=transfers&season_id=127

[1] ttp://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=2125&teamTabs=transfers&season_id=127

[1]

1997–98 Reading F.C. season

Contents

Season summary