Archive for tag: Brian McDermott.

Newcastle United v Reading match banter!

January 19th, 2013 | 120 Comments |

Newcastle United v Reading.
Battle of the long balls II.
Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle.
Date: Sat 19th January, 2013.
Kick off: 3.00pm.
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Mids).
UK TV: None.

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s game between Newcastle United and Reading from St James’ Park.

This of course will be the Magpies’ second encounter with Reading, the last one being a 2-2 draw at their place, the Madejski Stadium, at the end of September. Back then it was a battle of the long balls between Alan Pardew and his Reading protégé (though they are both 51), Brian “long balls” McDermott, who was a chief scout for Pardew in his first managerial job. Newcastle and Reading are the two biggest long ball sides in the Premiership so far, but thankfully, Pardew’s Magpies seemed to be settling into a style which is slightly less reliant on “route one” tactics in recent games, though in their last game against Norwich, a 0-0 bore draw, Newcastle showed some signs of reverting to their previous long ball ways. (more…)


Will Toon roll the Royals? Reading v Newcastle United match banter!

April 13th, 2010 | 232 Comments |

Reading: A trickier proposition than last time?
Reading: A trickier proposition than last time?
After two games at home, the lads venture away from home today for a trip to see the ‘Royals’ of Berkshire, Reading FC.

With promotion already secured, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Magpies still have two targets to aim for: The Championship title, and along with that, what is arguably one of the two most historic trophies in world football. Secondly, just to show off, a final tally of 100 points or more is still up for grabs, with a potential maximum of 104 if we win our remaining few games, which would just be short of what Reading themselves achieved under Steve ‘laughing boy’ Coppell with their record busting 106 points in 2005/6. (more…)