LATEST NEWS ON 'The Royals'
June 2002
Click here for directory of archived news items.

  • 13th June 2002 - Fixtures 2002/03

    • The Royals will kick off the new season with an AWAY game against Derby County on August 10th. Their first visitors to the MadStad will be Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday August 17th followed by Coventry on the Saturday 17th. The Xmas programme sees the Royals taking on Coventry AWAY on Boxing Day and Derby at HOME on 28th December. They will see in the New Year with a fixture against Leicester at HOME. The final run in to what we all hope will be a successful season will include HOME games against Brighton, Nottm Forest and Grimsby, and away trips to Watford, Portsmouth and Stoke in the final game.

    The full fixture list is as follows:

    DATE

    OPPOSITION

    10 Aug 02

    Derby (A)

    13 Aug 02

    SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (H)

    17 Aug 02

    COVENTRY (H)

    24 Aug 02

    Leicester (A)

    26 Aug 02

    BURNLEY (H)

    31 Aug 02

    Walsall (A)

    7 Sep 02

    Rotherham (A)

    14 Sep 02

    WIMBLEDON (H)

    17 Sep 02

    NORWICH (H)

    21 Sep 02

    Wolves (A)

    28 Sep 02

    STOKE CITY (H)

    5 Oct 02

    Grimsby (A)

    12 Oct 02

    Crystal Palace (A)

    19 Oct 02

    IPSWICH TOWN (H)

    26 Oct 02

    Preston (A)

    29 Oct 02

    BRADFORD (H)

    2 Nov 02

    MILLWALL (H)

    9 Nov 02

    Gillingham (A)

    16 Nov 02

    Sheffield United (A)

    23 Nov 02

    WATFORD (H)

    30 Nov 02

    Brighton (A)

    7 Dec 02

    PORTSMOUTH (H)

    14 Dec 02

    SHEFFIELD UNTIED (H)

    21 Dec 02

    Nottingham Forest (A)

    26 Dec 02

    Coventry (A)

    28 Dec 02

    DERBY (H)

    1 Jan 03

    LEICESTER (H)

    11 Jan 03

    Sheffied Wednesday (A)

    18 Jan 03

    WALSALL (H)

    1 Feb 03

    Burnley (A)

    8 Feb 03

    GILLINGHAM (H)

    15 Feb 03

    Millwall (A)

    22 Feb 03

    ROTHERHAM (H)

    1 Mar 03

    Wimbledon (A)

    4 Mar 03

    Norwich (A)

    8 Mar 03

    WOLVES (H)

    15 Mar 03

    CRYSTAL PALACE (H)

    18 Mar 03

    Ipswich (A)

    22 Mar 03

    Bradford (A)

    29 Mar 03

    PRESTON (H)

    5 Apr 03

    BRIGHTON (H)

    12 Apr 03

    Watford (A)

    19 Apr 03

    NOTTM FOREST (H)

    21 Apr 03

    Portsmouth (A)

    26 Apr 03

    GRIMSBY (H)

    4 May 03

    Stoke City (A)


  • 11th June 2002 - 5-Live Nationwide

    • BBC Radio Five Live, the home of live news and sport, has secured a deal with the Football League for the next two seasons, 2002/3 and 2003/4.

    The contract gives Five Live commentary rights to matches in the Football League, the League play-offs and the Worthington Cup. There will be additional coverage on the digital service Five Live Sports Extra, and all commentaries will also be available on the Five Live website, www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive.

    Mike Lewis, the BBC's Controller of Radio Sports Rights, said of the deal "This is a great deal for the League and for Five Live - the station's 6.44 million listeners can get free access to every level of football with the very best teams in production and presentation providing all the action. The Football League is a vital part of Five Live's football portfolio and we're delighted to be supporting them once again."

    Richard Masters, Commercial Director of The Football League said "The BBC has been a highly valued partner of The Football League for many years now and we are delighted that such a successful relationship will continue. No-one else comes close to offering the same quality of coverage or size of audience, and fans of clubs throughout the League will welcome this news."

    The new deal complements Five Live's exclusive contract with the Premier League, which also runs until the end of the 2003/4 season.

  • 10th June 2002 - Fixtures Out This Week

    • The league fixtures for Royals' Division One campaign will be released at 10:00am on Thursday.

  • 10th June 2002 - Change in Kick-off Times

    • Reading have announced that evening matches at the Madstad will kick-off at the later time of 8pm next season, so as to allow a little more time for fans to get to the stadium.

    Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have announced that Reading's fixture at Millwall will be classed as a Category 'B' fixture. This means that the game will be all-ticket and, under new measures following several occasions of violent disturbances at The Den last season, the game will have an earlier kick-off such that there will be at least 1 hour of daylight after the end of the match. I don't think this will necessarily make it any safer for Royals fans, just that they will be able to see who is kicking their head in.

  • 8th June 2002 - Rule Changes

    • Major changes to the loan system were voted through at The Football League's AGM at the weekend.

    Previously Football League regulations stated that clubs could take up to eight players on short term loan during a season, but no more than two players were allowed at the club at any one time and no more than two could be taken from one club. .

    In addition clubs were allowed two players on long-term loans during the season. .

    But the new rules voted in by the 72 member clubs will see those figures double in a move aimed at helping clubs share the burden of escalating player costs and increasing the scope for player development. .

    The main changes are as follows: .

  • Clubs are still entitled to take eight players on short-term loan during the season, but the limit at any one time increases to FOUR; .

  • The figure for long-term loans during a season increases to FOUR; .

  • Clubs will now be allowed to take a maximum of FOUR players on loan (short-term or long-term) from one club; .

  • Clubs will be able to name a maximum of FIVE loan players (short term or long term) in the 16 players listed on a team sheet on match day.

  • 7th June 2002 - De Zeeuw Snubs Royals

    • Arjan de Zeeuw, who has been a long time target of the Royals, has decided to join Division One rivals Portsmouth. The classy defender decided to finally leave Wigan and feels that he has a better chance of honours with the South Coast club. We shall just have to prove him wrong.

  • 7th June 2002 - Chairman Could Quit

    • Royals chairman, John Madeski, has revealed his disgust at the way Bradford City have made 19 players redundant after going in to administration. He believes that Bradford should not be allowed to simply re-form and retain their place in the Football League. His feelings are so strong on the matter that he revealed at a meeting of club chairman that he would resign if this was allowed to happen. He believes, rightly in my opinion, that it would be totally unethical and is no way for any business to be run. As such, he does not feel that he would be able to continue in football. Let us all hope that it doesn't come to that.