Berks and Bucks Cup

[Royalist]

Why dont Reading enter their reserve/youth team into the cup? Wycombe and MK Dons do and i guess there players must learn something about the game by doing it otherwise they wouldnt bother.

[Row Z Royal]

Because it would be a joke.

[Sun Tzu]

We used to put the reserves in.

It was a waste of time (and we didn't win it very often).

I'm not sure what our reserves would learn from playing against Windsor and Eton or Chalfont St Giles....

On the other hand it is a shame that the biggest club in the area doesn't support the premier competition of their local FA.

[Royalist]

You'd learn alot more playing us, Windsor and Eton, than a kids vs kids game!

[Sun Tzu]

You'd learn alot more playing us, Windsor and Eton, than a kids vs kids game!

I'm not sure how much of a demand there would be to watch Paul Holsgrove, Keith Scott and Martin Williams though ! I used to quite enjoy the B&B Cup games and I suspect for a lot of local clubs a game against our reserves would actually be an attractive fixture. You'd hope even if we put out a very young side we'd do well in it.

[Royalist]

You'd say that but wycombe and MK dons have been knocked out by Marlow and Bracknell Town respectivly. And in Pre-Season Windsor gave a QPR XI a tough game.

Your telling me you wouldnt like to go to a game where you can have a beer on the terraces watch a game and still have change from a £10!! I used to watch Reading but to be honest the whole sit down here and stay here, you cant drink whilst watching the game and dont go near the other sides fans rules made the whole thing dull and as plastic as a lot of Reading fans who came along when the good times in the premiership where around but seemed to of gone missing now.

I'm sure there are plenty of Reading fans who prefered Elm Park to Madejski Stadium too.

[BigSCOT]

Berks & Bucks County Cup Finals for U12s to U16s are a great hunting ground for scouts !!

RFC are watching a few prospects in the U15 Final this seaon !!

Isnt there some sort of rule that prevents contracted players playing against non contacted players ???

BigScot

[Kevin Doyles Right Foot]

because wycombe and mk dons are fcuking dreaful, my team beat the team that knocked out mk dons.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

We should be in this, i miss it.

Whats wrong with a Tuesday night at Abingdon, £8 to get in and just your pint to keep you warm on the terraces?

If entering the B&B is pointless, then so is the Carling and FA Cup.

[Barry the bird boggler]

I think another consideration for Reading has been risk to players through poor pitches and over zealous opposition.

For the record I can still recall Reading losing 2-0 to Aylesbury in the Final back in 2000 and the Reading side that day contained 10 Tommy Burns' signings!

[Sun Tzu]

Your telling me you wouldnt like to go to a game where you can have a beer on the terraces watch a game and still have change from a £10!!

Well I can walk 100 yards to my local park, watch a game for nothing, in fact watch two games for nothing if I stand in the right place, and have as many beers as I want ! But as a Reading fan I'm kind of more interested in watching my team play !

I used to watch Reading but to be honest the whole sit down here and stay here, you cant drink whilst watching the game and dont go near the other sides fans rules made the whole thing dull and as plastic as a lot of Reading fans who came along when the good times in the premiership where around but seemed to of gone missing now.

Each to their own, not sure why you think people have gone missing though - 20k gates isn't too bad !!

I'm sure there are plenty of Reading fans who prefered Elm Park to Madejski Stadium too.

Some, although you couldn't get a beer and couldn't mix with the away fans so you may not have liked it !
EP had it's plus points, but I doubt many people would chose to go back there.

[RobRoyal]

I'm sure there are plenty of Reading fans who prefered Elm Park to Madejski Stadium too.

Elm Park is not Stag Meadow.

HTH.

[The Cube]

Although it would be nice to think that we were taking revenge after being thrown out of the competition in 1895, it's actually due to the on-field behaviour of a couple of non-league pub-standard sides (Aldershot and Maidenhead) who we played against in pre-season some years ago. Our then clueless manager, one Alan Pardew, said that there would be no more such games against local opposition, and that included not entering the Berks and Bucks Senior cup.

In recent years, though, we have played against Didcot in most pre-seasons, as well as Basingstoke this season, so perhaps the logic is no longer there. I'd certainly like to see us back in the competition.

[Jerry St Clair]

EP had it's plus points, but I doubt many people would chose to go back there.

I would

[Rawlie19]

EP had it's plus points, but I doubt many people would chose to go back there.

I would

I reminisce about the mini I had as a first car sometimes too. Its top speed was 75, it had a nasty squeak and a hole in the floor. I think about it fondly but I wouldn't want it back thanks.

As for the B&B, I think it's disrespectful not to be in it. We have plenty of players to warrant putting a team in it, and so what if we got knocked out by some pub team. It's all good experience. They youngsters have to get used to losing somewhere.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I'm not sure what our reserves would learn from playing against Windsor and Eton or Chalfont St Giles....

On the other hand it is a shame that the biggest club in the area doesn't support the premier competition of their local FA.

they would learn the habit of winning silverware.


Not to mention the revenue that they would help bring to our local teams

[The whole year inn]

On the other hand it is a shame that the biggest club in the area doesn't support the premier competition of their local FA.

This is what I always struggle to understand.. Wouldn't hurt to put in a mix of reserves/youth surely?

I think another consideration for Reading has been risk to players through poor pitches and over zealous opposition.

Pre-season friendlies at Didcot amongst countless others from the local area seem to pass off OK..(friendlies at Aldershot don't count) Use it for trialists..?

For the record I can still recall Reading losing 2-0 to Aylesbury in the Final back in 2000 and the Reading side that day contained 10 Tommy Burns' signings!

LOL

[Ian Herring]

You'd learn alot more playing us, Windsor and Eton, than a kids vs kids game!

Hi Royalist. Unrelated really but I recall back in the eighties going to a series of league games between Windsor and Wokingham Town (both sides had teams of good footballing quality for that standard at that time) that drew in good crowds. Isthmian Premier, I think? These were quite vicious, highly-contested affairs that were kind of east-Berks 'bragging rights' at that time. Early eighties if I recall. Maybe not far from the time Cardiff visited Finchampstead Road in the F.A. Cup. (Quite an eventful day). I'm in agreement. Drinking in front of the pitch. Cheap. Beautiful. Something visceral and 'real' about it.

Elm Park had that quality about it. As a rule of thumb these days I say if you can't see trees and houses from the football ground you're in then generally the club it's homing has, in one sense or another, 'left' the real world outside, both figuratively, and for real.

[Irvinchangeyaname]

I think another consideration for Reading has been risk to players through poor pitches

Something we do every game at the Mad Stad.

[Jerry St Clair]

When was the last time we won it? We won it at Adams Park in 1995 (the game is featured on the Record Breaking Royals video, though they're more interested in the news filtering through to the crowd about Barnsley losing at home). I think we played a full strength side in the that game.

Have we won it since?