1995–96 Reading F.C. season

Reading
1995–96 season
Chairman	John Madejski
Manager	Mick Gooding and; Jimmy Quinn (player-managers)
Stadium	Elm Park
First Division	19th
FA Cup	Fourth round vs Manchester United
League Cup	Fifth round vs Leeds United
Top goalscorer	League: Lee Nogan/Jimmy Quinn (10); All: Jimmy Quinn (16)
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

During the 1995–96 English football season, Reading F.C. competed in the Football League First Division, following missing out on promotion to the Premier League the previous season.

Squad

As of match played 5 May 1996

Name	Nationality	Position	Date of birth (Age^[a])	Signed from	Signed in	Contract ends	Apps.	Goals
Goalkeepers
Borislav Mihaylov		GK	(1963-02-12)12 February 1963 (aged 33)	Botev Plovdiv	1995		17	0
Nick Hammond		GK	(1967-09-07)7 September 1967 (aged 28)	Plymouth Argyle	1996		6	0
Simon Sheppard		GK	(1973-08-07)7 August 1973 (aged 22)	Watford	1994		22	0
Steve Sutton		GK	(1961-04-16)16 April 1961 (aged 35)	loan from Derby County	1996	1996	2	0
Defenders
Andy Bernal		DF	(1973-02-21)21 February 1973 (aged 23)	Sydney Olympic	1994		85	2
Martyn Booty		DF	(1971-05-30)30 May 1971 (aged 24)	Crewe Alexandra	1996		17	1
Keith McPherson		DF	(1963-09-11)11 September 1963 (aged 32)	Northampton Town	1990
Steve Swales		DF	(1973-12-26)26 December 1973 (aged 22)	Scarborough	1995		11	0
Michael Thorp		DF	(1975-12-05)5 December 1975 (aged 20)	Trainee	1995		5	0
Dylan Kerr		DF	(1967-01-14)14 January 1967 (aged 29)	Leeds United	1993		104	5
Dariusz Wdowczyk		DF	(1962-09-25)25 September 1962 (aged 33)	Celtic	1994		86	0
Jeff Hopkins		DF	(1964-04-14)14 April 1964 (aged 32)	Bristol Rovers	1992		136	3
Ady Williams	^[b]	DF	(1971-09-16)16 September 1971 (aged 24)	Trainee	1989
Midfielders
David Bass		MF	(1974-11-29)29 November 1974 (aged 21)	Trainee	1992		9	0
Darren Caskey		MF	(1974-08-21)21 August 1974 (aged 21)	Tottenham Hotspur	1996		15	2
Andy Freeman		MF	(1977-09-08)8 September 1977 (aged 18)	Trainee	1995		1	0
Michael Gilkes	^[c]	MF	(1965-07-20)20 July 1965 (aged 30)	Leicester City	1984
Mick Gooding (Player-Manager)		MF	(1959-04-12)12 April 1959 (aged 37)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1989
Paul Holsgrove		MF	(1969-08-26)26 August 1969 (aged 26)	Millwall	1994		66	5
Tommy Jones		MF	(1964-10-07)7 October 1964 (aged 31)	Swindon Town	1992		92	2
Jamie Lambert		MF	(1973-09-14)14 September 1973 (aged 22)	Trainee	1992		75	10
Mick Murphy		MF	(1977-05-05)5 May 1977 (aged 18)	Trainee	1994		1	0
Phil Parkinson		MF	(1967-12-01)1 December 1967 (aged 28)	Bury	1992		182	9
Derek Simpson		MF	(1978-12-23)23 December 1978 (aged 17)	Trainee	1994		0	0
Michael Meaker	^[d]	MF	(1971-08-18)18 August 1971 (aged 24)	Queens Park Rangers	1995		22	0
Forwards
Stuart Lovell		FW	(1972-01-09)9 January 1972 (aged 24)	Trainee	1990
Alan Carey		FW	(1975-08-21)21 August 1975 (aged 20)	Trainee	1994		3	0
Trevor Morley		FW	(1961-03-20)20 March 1961 (aged 35)	West Ham United	1995		21	6
Jimmy Quinn (Player-Manager)		FW	(1959-12-07)7 December 1959 (aged 36)	Bournemouth	1992		190	90
Lee Nogan		FW	(1969-05-21)21 May 1969 (aged 26)	Watford	1995		68	23
Out on loan
Neville Gordon		MF	(1975-11-15)15 November 1975 (aged 20)	Millwall	1995		1	0
Martin Williams		FW	(1973-07-12)12 July 1973 (aged 22)	Luton Town	1995		16	1
Unknown
Jimmy Garrity			(1976-01-01)1 January 1976 (aged 20)	Newcastle United	1996		0	0
Left during the season
Eric Nixon		GK	(1962-10-04)4 October 1962 (aged 33)	loan from Tranmere Rovers	1996	1996	1	0
Chris Woods		GK	(1959-11-14)14 November 1959 (aged 36)	loan from Sheffield Wednesday	1995	1995	5	0
Kenny Brown		DF	(1967-07-11)11 July 1967 (aged 28)	loan from West Ham United	1995	1995	15	1
Robert Codner		FW	(1965-01-23)23 January 1965 (aged 31)	Brighton & Hove Albion	1995		5	0

Out on loan

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Neville Gordon (at Woking)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	ENG	Martin Williams (at Bangor)

Left club during season

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ENG	Eric Nixon (loan return to Tranmere Rovers)
—	GK	ENG	Chris Woods (loan return to Sheffield Wednesday)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	ENG	Kenny Brown (loan return to West Ham United)
—	FW	ENG	Robert Codner (to Peterborough United)

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Name	From	Fee
Summer 1995	GK	Borislav Mihaylov	Botev Plovdiv
Summer 1995	DF	Steve Swales	Scarborough
11 August 1995	MF	Neville Gordon	Millwall	Free
Summer 1995	MF	Michael Meaker	Queens Park Rangers
Summer 1995	FW	Robert Codner	Brighton & Hove Albion
Summer 1995	FW	Trevor Morley	West Ham United
Summer 1995	FW	Martin Williams	Luton Town	Free
Winter 1996	DF	Martyn Booty	Crewe Alexandra
January 1996		Jimmy Garrity	Newcastle United
13 February 1996	GK	Nick Hammond	Plymouth Argyle	£40,000
28 February 1996	MF	Darren Caskey	Tottenham Hotspur	£700,000

Loans in

Date from	Position	Name	From	Date to
Summer 1995	DF	Kenny Brown	West Ham United	Winter 1996
1 October 1995	GK	Chris Woods	Sheffield Wednesday	31 December 1995
9 January 1996	GK	Eric Nixon	Tranmere Rovers	4 February 1996
19 January 1996	GK	Steve Sutton	Derby County	31 May 1996

Out

Date	Position	Name	To	Fee
Summer 1995	GK	Shaka Hislop	Newcastle United	£1,580,000
Summer 1995	MF	Simon Osborn	Queens Park Rangers	£1,100,000
Summer 1995	MF	Scott Taylor	Leicester City
Summer 1995	FW	Lea Barkus	Fulham	£20,000

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date to	Ref.
22 December 1995	FW		Martin Williams	Bangor	End of Season
1 February 1996	MF		Neville Gordon	Woking	End of Season

Released

Date	Position	Name	Joined
31 December 1995	MF	Robert Codner	Peterborough United
30 June 1996	GK	Simon Sheppard	Boreham Wood
30 June 1996	MF	Tommy Jones	Woking
30 June 1996	MF	Mick Murphy	Slough Town
30 June 1996	MF	Neville Gordon

Competitions

First Division

Results

12 August 1995 1	Stoke City	1–1	Reading	Stoke-on-Trent
	Wallace	Report	Williams	Stadium: Victoria Ground

19 August 1995 2	Reading	3–2	Derby County	Reading
	Morley Lovell Nogan	Report	Preece Sturridge	Stadium: Elm Park

26 August 1995 3	Portsmouth	0–0	Reading	Portsmouth
		Report		Stadium: Fratton Park

29 August 1995 4	Reading	1–2	Millwall	Reading
	Gooding	Report	Rae Dixon	Stadium: Elm Park

1 September 1995 5	Southend United	0–0	Reading	Southend-on-Sea
		Report		Stadium: Roots Hall

9 September 1995 6	Reading	3–1	Luton Town	Reading
	Nogan Lovell (pen.)	Report	Marshall	Stadium: Elm Park

12 September 1995 7	Reading	0–2	Grimsby Town	Reading
		Report	Woods	Stadium: Elm Park

16 September 1995 8	Leicester City	1–1	Reading	Leicester
	Roberts	Report	Bernal	Stadium: Filbert Street

23 September 1995 9	Reading	2–2	Port Vale	Reading
	Lambert	Report	Glover Mills	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 7,819

30 September 1995 10	Sunderland	2–2	Reading	Sunderland
	Kelly Melville	Report	Kerr Lovell	Stadium: Roker Park

7 October 1995 11	West Bromwich Albion	2–0	Reading	West Bromwich
	Gilbert Taylor	Report		Stadium: The Hawthorns

14 October 1995 12	Reading	3–1	Huddersfield Town	Reading
	Lambert 15', 79' Williams 70'	Report	Booth	Stadium: Elm Park

21 October 1995 13	Oldham Athletic	2–1	Reading	Oldham
	Richardson (pen.) Creaney	Report	Lovell	Stadium: Boundary Park

28 October 1995 14	Reading	1–4	Ipswich Town	Reading
	Lovell	Report	Uhlenbeek Mathie Williams Mason	Stadium: Elm Park

4 November 1995 15	Crystal Palace	0–2	Reading	Selhurst
		Report	Shaw (o.g.) Nogan	Stadium: Selhurst Park

11 November 1995 16	Reading	0–1	Birmingham City	Reading
		Report	Charlery	Stadium: Elm Park

18 November 1995 17	Reading	0–0	Barnsley	Reading
		Report		Stadium: Elm Park

21 November 1995 18	Charlton Athletic	2–1	Reading	Charlton
	Chapple Robinson	Report	Brown	Stadium: The Valley

25 November 1995 19	Sheffield United	0–0	Reading	Sheffield
		Report		Stadium: Bramall Lane

2 December 1995 20	Reading	3–1	West Bromwich Albion	Reading
	Morley Holsgrove Nogan	Report	Ashcroft	Stadium: Elm Park

9 December 1995 21	Port Vale	3–2	Reading	Stoke-on-Trent
	Guppy Foyle Porter (pen.)	Report	Quinn (pen.) Morley	Stadium: Vale Park

16 December 1995 22	Reading	1–1	Sunderland	Reading
	Quinn	Report	Smith	Stadium: Elm Park

30 December 1995 23	Norwich City	3–3	Reading	Norwich
	Ward Johnson Fleck	Report	Kerr Lambert Nogan	Stadium: Carrow Road

1 January 1996 24	Reading	1–0	Tranmere Rovers	Reading
	Morley	Report		Stadium: Elm Park

13 January 1996 25	Derby County	3–0	Reading	Derby
	Sturridge Flynn	Report		Stadium: Pride Park

20 January 1996 26	Reading	1–0	Stoke City	Reading
	Gooding	Report		Stadium: Elm Park

4 February 1996 27	Reading	0–1	Portsmouth	Reading
		Report	McLoughlin	Stadium: Elm Park

10 February 1996 28	Millwall	1–1	Reading	Bermondsey
	Newman	Report	Bowry (o.g.)	Stadium: The Den

17 February 1996 29	Grimsby Town	0–0	Reading	Cleethorpes
		Report		Stadium: Blundell Park

24 February 1996 30	Reading	1–1	Leicester City	Reading
	Lovell (pen.)	Report	Lewis	Stadium: Elm Park

27 February 1996 31	Luton Town	1–2	Reading	Luton
	Guentchev (pen.)	Report	Booty Lovell	Stadium: Kenilworth Road

2 March 1996 32	Reading	0–0	Watford	Reading
		Report		Stadium: Elm Park

9 March 1996 33	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1	Reading	Wolverhampton
	Atkins	Report	Gooding	Stadium: Molineux

16 March 1996 34	Reading	0–3	Norwich City	Reading
		Report	Prior Eadie O'Neill	Stadium: Elm Park

19 March 1996 35	Reading	3–3	Southend United	Reading
	Nogan	Report	Rammell Willis	Stadium: Elm Park

23 March 1996 36	Tranmere Rovers	2–1	Reading	Birkenhead
	Aldridge Hopkins ?' (o.g.)	Report	Caskey	Stadium: Prenton Park

30 March 1996 37	Reading	2–0	Oldham Athletic	Reading
	Quinn	Report		Stadium: Elm Park

2 April 1996 38	Huddersfield Town	3–1	Reading	Huddersfield
	Edwards Booth	Report	A. Williams	Stadium: Alfred McAlpine Stadium

6 April 1996 39	Ipswich Town	1–2	Reading	Ipswich
	Mathie	Report	Bernal Quinn	Stadium: Portman Road

8 April 1996 40	Reading	0–2	Crystal Palace	Reading
		Report	Freedman Houghton	Stadium: Elm Park

13 April 1996 41	Barnsley	0–1	Reading	Barnsley
		Report	Quinn ?' (pen.)	Stadium: Oakwell

16 April 1996 42	Watford	4–2	Reading	Watford
	White Connolly Ramage	Report	Quinn Caskey	Stadium: Vicarage Road

20 April 1996 43	Reading	0–0	Charlton Athletic	Reading
		Report		Stadium: Elm Park

27 April 1996 44	Reading	0–3	Sheffield United	Reading
		Report	Walker Whitehouse	Stadium: Elm Park

30 April 1996 45	Reading	3–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Reading
	M. Williams Quinn	Report		Stadium: Elm Park

5 May 1996 46	Birmingham City	1–2	Reading	Birmingham
	Barnes	Report	Nogan Quinn	Stadium: St Andrew's

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17	Grimsby Town	46	14	14	18	55	69	−14	56
18	Oldham Athletic	46	14	14	18	54	50	+4	56
19	Reading	46	13	17	16	54	63	−9	56
20	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	13	16	17	56	62	−6	55
21	Portsmouth	46	13	13	20	61	69	−8	52

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference

FA Cup

6 January 1996 Third Round	Reading	3–1	Gillingham	Reading
15:00 GMT (UTC)	Morley Quinn	Report	Martin	Stadium: Elm Park

27 January 1996 Fourth Round	Reading	0–3	Manchester United	Reading
15:00 GMT (UTC)		Report	Giggs 36' Parker 56' Cantona 89'	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 14,780

League Cup

20 September 1995 Second round 1st leg	Reading	1–1	West Bromwich Albion	Reading
19:45 BST (UTC+1)	Lovell	Report	Burgess	Stadium: Elm Park

3 October 1995 Second round 2nd leg	West Bromwich Albion	2–4 (3–5 agg.)	Reading	West Bromwich
19:45 BST (UTC+1)	Donovan Burgess	Report	Lovell Lambert Quinn (pen.)	Stadium: The Hawthorns

8 November 1995 Third Round	Reading	2–1	Bury	Reading
19:45 GMT (UTC)	Quinn Lucketti (o.g.)	Report	Rigby	Stadium: Elm Park

28 November 1995 Fourth Round	Reading	2–1	Southampton	Reading
19:45 GMT (UTC)	Nogan Morley	Report	Monkou	Stadium: Elm Park

10 January 1996 Fifth Round	Leeds United	2–1	Reading	Leeds
20:00 GMT (UTC)	Masinga Speed	Report	Quinn	Stadium: Elland Road

Squad statistics

As of match played 5 May 1996^[1]

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	BUL	Borislav Mihaylov	17	0	16	0	1	0	0	0
	GK	ENG	Nick Hammond	6	0	5	0	1	0	0	0
	GK	ENG	Simon Sheppard	22	0	18	0	0	0	4	0
	GK	ENG	Steve Sutton	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	AUS	Andy Bernal	45	2	34+6	2	1	0	4	0
	DF	ENG	Martyn Booty	17	1	17	1	0	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Keith McPherson	19	0	16	0	0	0	3	0
	DF	ENG	Steve Swales	11	0	4+5	0	1	0	0+1	0
	DF	ENG	Michael Thorp	5	0	2	0	1	0	2	0
	DF	MLT	Dylan Kerr	9	2	4+4	2	0	0	0+1	0
	DF	POL	Dariusz Wdowczyk	42	0	39+1	0	0	0	2	0
	DF	WAL	Jeff Hopkins	14	0	14	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	WAL	Ady Williams	35	3	31	3	2	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Darren Caskey	15	2	15	2	0	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Andy Freeman	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Michael Gilkes	50	0	36+8	0	1	0	3+2	0
	MF	ENG	Mick Gooding	46	3	37+3	3	2	0	4	0
	MF	ENG	Paul Holsgrove	37	1	27+3	1	2	0	5	0
	MF	ENG	Tommy Jones	26	0	13+8	0	2	0	3	0
	MF	ENG	Jamie Lambert	21	6	10+5	5	0+2	0	2+2	1
	MF	ENG	Phil Parkinson	49	0	36+6	0	2	0	5	0
	MF	WAL	Michael Meaker	22	0	15+6	0	0+1	0	0	0
	FW	AUS	Stuart Lovell	40	9	28+7	7	0+2	0	3	2
	FW	ENG	Trevor Morley	21	6	14+3	4	2	1	2	1
	FW	NIR	Jimmy Quinn	42	16	20+15	10	2	2	2+3	4
	FW	WAL	Lee Nogan	45	11	32+7	10	2	0	4	1
Players away on loan:
	MF	ENG	Neville Gordon	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Martin Williams	16	1	11+4	1	0	0	0+1	0
Players who appeared for Reading but left during the season:
	GK	ENG	Eric Nixon	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	GK	ENG	Chris Woods	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Kenny Brown	15	1	12	1	0	0	3	0
	FW	ENG	Robert Codner	5	0	3+1	0	0	0	1	0

Goal Scorers

Place	Position	Name	First Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	FW	Jimmy Quinn	10	2	4	16
2	FW	Lee Nogan	10	0	1	11
3	FW	Stuart Lovell	7	0	2	9
4	FW	Trevor Morley	4	1	1	6
5	MF	Jamie Lambert	5	0	1	6
6	DF	Ady Williams	3	0	0	3
	MF	Mick Gooding	3	0	0	3
		Own goal	2	0	1	3
9	DF	Dylan Kerr	2	0	0	2
	DF	Andy Bernal	2	0	0	2
	MF	Darren Caskey	2	0	0	2
12	DF	Kenny Brown	1	0	0	1
	DF	Martyn Booty	1	0	0	1
	MF	Paul Holsgrove	1	0	0	1
	FW	Martin Williams	1	0	0	1
		TOTALS	54	3	10	67

Team kit

Reading's kit for the 1995–96 was manufactured by Pelada, and the main sponsor was Auto Trader.

1995–96 home colours

1995–96 away colours

Notes

^ Age as of the end of the season
^ Ady Williams was born in Reading, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his father, and would make his international debut for Wales on 23 May 1994.
^ Michael Gilkes was born in Hackney, England, but also qualified to represent Barbados internationally and would make his international debut for Barbados in 2000.
^ Michael Meaker was born in Greenford, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally, representing Wales U21 and Wales B.

References

^ "Season 1995-96". royalsrecord. Retrieved 29 May 2020.

Soccerbase.com

[1] Age as of the end of the season

[WilliamsNat-2] Ady Williams was born in Reading, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally through his father, and would make his international debut for Wales on 23 May 1994.

[GilkesNat-3] Michael Gilkes was born in Hackney, England, but also qualified to represent Barbados internationally and would make his international debut for Barbados in 2000.

[MeakerNat-4] Michael Meaker was born in Greenford, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally, representing Wales U21 and Wales B.

[Season_1995–96_Stats-5] "Season 1995-96". royalsrecord. Retrieved 29 May 2020.

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

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