please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur host Reading at White Hart Lane on New Year's Day, Tuesday 1st January 2013 (KO 15:00) in the 21st round of Premier League matches. Tottenham are currently in 4th place in the table on 36 points, while Reading are in 19th place with 13 points. This will be the 94th time the two clubs have met. Reading were founded in 1871, eleven years earlier than Spurs were, and were connected with the Huntley & Palmers bakery firm and became known as The Biscuitmen. When Berkshire became a Royal County, their nickname changed to The Royals. The first meeting came at Tottenham Marshes in January 1896 in a friendly which Spurs won 2-1. A second meeting came in April 1896 at Reading's new Elm Park ground which Spurs also won 3-2. The first competitive meeting between the two clubs came in the Southern League in December 1896 with Reading winning their home match 2-1 and the reverse fixture in March 1897 ending in a 4-4 draw. The clubs would compete together in the Southern League for a total of twelve seasons with Spurs winning 10 matches, Reading winning 7 and the remaining 7 games drawn. At the same time, both clubs also played in the Western League for seven seasons and the United League in 1888-89. Spurs won 8 of those games, Reading won 3 and the 5 other games were drawn. The clubs met for the first of their 7 encounters in the FA Cup in March 1901 at Elm Park in a drawn 1-1 game. Spurs won the replay later that month 3-0 and went on to win the competition as the first non-Football League club to lift the trophy. There was one meeting during World War One in September 1916 which Spurs won 4-2 in a London Combination fixture. The first Football League meeting came in the Second Division on Christmas Day 1928 with Reading drawing 2-2 at White Hart Lane and winning their Elm Park game 4-3 on Boxing Day. Reading took three points out of four off Spurs in the 1929-30 season but Spurs won the last of the six Division Two meetings in 1930-31 7-1 at home and 2-1 away. The clubs met 14 times in various competitions during the Second World War with Spurs winning 6, Reading winning once and 7 matches drawn. A series of eight friendlies were played after WW2 with Reading winning once in August 1988. The Royals won promotion to the Premier League for season 2006-07 and Reading won the first Top Flight League game against Spurs in November 2006 3-1 after Robbie Keane had put Spurs ahead with a 24th minute penalty. Nicky Shorey and Steve Sidwell scored to give Reading a 2-1 half-time lead and Kevin Doyle added a third late in the game. Tottenham won the reverse fixture at the Lane in April 2007 with another Robbie Keane penalty. The December 2007 match proved to be a ten-goal thriller with Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov scoring four for Spurs and Steed Malbranque and Jermain Defoe making it a half-dozen. Reading goals were scored by Kalifa Cisse, Ivar Ingimarsson and a brace from Dave Kitson. Robbie Keane scored the winner for Spurs at the Madejski Stadium in May 2008 and Reading were releagated at the end of the season. The clubs met in the 2007-08 FA Cup 3rd Round with Reading drawing 2-2 at White Hart Lane. Steven Hunt had put Reading ahead but two goals from Dimitar Berbatov looked like securing Spurs progess but Hunt struck again in the 78th minute to force a replay. Robbie Keane scored the only goal of the match at the Madejski. Reading were back in the Premier League for the 2012-13 season and Spurs won their first match of the season 3-1 in September at the Madejski Stadium. Jermain Defoe opened the scoring in the 18th minute and Gareth Bale scored Spurs second in the 71st minute. Defoe scored again three minutes later and Reading pulled a goal back through Hal Robson-Kanu in stoppage time. Overall, Tottenham Hotspur have won 45 of the 93 games played with Reading winning 19 matches and the remaining 29 games drawn. please log in to view this image Full Record of Tottenham Hotspur v Reading Matches 1896-2013 please log in to view this image They Played for Reading & Spurs... Steve Archibald John Barlow Stuart Beavon Mark Bowen Garry Brooke Charlie Brown David Brown Ivor Brown Chris Carrick Darren Caskey Sid Castle Allan Cockram Bobby Cook Ernie Coquet Ronnie Dix Kerry Dixon Matt Edwards Matt Forster James Fulwood Jack Gibbons Chris Gunter Lee Hodges Sid Helliwell Bill Lane Colin Lee (Spurs player, Reading youth development) David Leworthy David McDonald Tom Meads Fred Milnes Billy Minter Tom Pangbourne John Polston Jimmy Reid Jock Robertson Martin Robinson Harry Robshaw Mark Robson John Sainty Max Seeburg Fred Sharpe Peter Shreeves (Reading player, Spurs manager) Gylfi Sigurðsson Neil Smith Brian Statham Archie Turner Dennis Uphill Pat van den Hauwe Fred Wilkes please log in to view this image Reading Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 2006-2013 Tottenham Hotspur Premier League Squad Numbers 1992-2013 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Fantastic presentation, much appreciated!! Best opposition fan contribution I've seen all season ... Here's a bit from Royals Rendezvous to whet appetites ... from our member xxkristofxx F.A. CUP 1901 "As you are all aware, domestic cups have never been our cup of tea. However, it could have been oh so different in 1901. Don't know to much about 1901 other then that was the year Queen victoria died and Reading had been playing at Elm park for only 5 years!!. 1901 proved to be one of reading's most successful FA cup runs beating Bristol City, Bristol Rovers, and Bolton Wanderers. it also includes our highest ever FA cup win against the Chesham Generals with the score being 11-0. The quater-final tie saw us being drawn at home against Tottenham Hotspurs. In them days, it appeared you could bribe teams to switch venue. Spurs offered us £500 to switch the game to White Hart Lane!!! Of course, we said no and the chairman then offered to give each of the players an incentive, by awarding £5 to each team player if we successfully defeat Spurs. If memory serves me right, back then, £3,000 is equivalent to £1 million, so: 1000000/3000 = £333 is equivalent to a pound then. times this by 5, each player would have received £1,665. times it by 500 shows the club turned down £166,500 to switch venue (quote me if i am wrong with my sums and/or value). The match took place on March 23rd 1901 in front of a then record crowd of 15,000 which generated £1,180 in gate receipts (you do the maths for the equivalent, lol). After just 15 minutes Reading took the lead with a goal by a player named Dick Evans. After the break the then prolific scorer Sandy Brown equalised for Tottenham (amazingly, no one knows what happen to him because no one knows when or if he died!). Here comes the heart aching part, 6 minutes from time a fierce reading shot was deflected by their keeper and was spinning towards the net. it seemed it was Reading's destiny to reach the semi's and perhaps win the cup!!! However the Spurs left back named Sandy Tait stretched out and PUNCHED the ball over the goal. Everyone in the stadium saw this blatent act of cheating.....other then the referee who amazingly gave a GOAL KICK!!!. The score finished 1-1 and the reply was played at White Hart Lane where Spurs beat us 3-0 where the reports suggested that the score line flatter us!!!. Spurs went on to beat Sheffield United in the FA cup final by 2-1 (the link is below if you want to watch the cup final clip at old crystal palace). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrwI1AVrSa4 1901 could have been the catalyst for why spurs are a powerhouse team today as the fa cup is kinda like the world cup back then (and hope this is still the case now!!). But it makes you wonder, if the referee had caught the act of cheating by Sandy Tait, where would Spurs be now?, would we be Spurs now?.....what could have been. Spurs are and the only non-league team to win the fa cup, it could have been us....................................................................................................."
Thanks! It should be remembered that back in the day, the Southern League clubs were more than a match with the Football League clubs. In fact, Southampton reached FA Cup Finals the seasons immediately before and after Spurs won the trophy. The two Leagues were fierce rivals but by the 1910's, most of the larger London clubs had switched to the Football League. The clubs that remained in the Southern League formed the Third Division of the Football League in 1920-21.
