Wales fancied it, no doubt. Young players coming through nicely. England aside, a relatively 'easy' qualifying group. A real chance of the play-offs surely, and a local derby against the big neighbours...and then...who knows? Optimism had returned after six years of rebuilding that garnered some pretty poor results.

It was inevitable. The only surprise might be the timing and the destination, but the Royal's gifted Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson is off to Hofenheim to play in the Bundesliga. Cue mass hysteria from a sizable portion of fans, but once again it's time for a reality check for many Loyal Royals.

There can't have been many England fans watching Argentina getting dismantled by the wonderful German side of World Cup 2010 thinking "I admire them, but I wouldn't want anything they've got". But there was certainly one very high profile former England player who expressed precisely those sentiments.

I remember when it started.
One of my earliest sporting memories was watching rugby on the TV with my father. I guess it must have been about 1975, and that legendary Wales team were beating absolutely everyone in sight. I liked football, but didn't really watch it much at that age. Hard to imagine for some now, but it wasn't really on the telly much back then.

He's the Renaissance Man for sure, and now you can wear it with pride! Click here to visit the site.

It was a damp, chilly April lunchtime in North London two years ago. A struggling Royals side is being toyed with by an Arsenal team bristling with stars such as Van Persie, Walcott and Adebayor. Things don't look good as the home side capitalise on an error by Ibrahima Sonko and Adebayor finishes with a cool, clinical touch.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario: in the heat of the battle one army is taking an almighty hammering and appears to be encircled, taking losses from all sides. The beleaguered soldiers are in the main young and inexperienced but have a firm belief in their young, charismatic commander who is leading from the front.

On December 19th I wrote the Reading Post fan verdict for the match against Bristol City. Here's the full version before editing.
Brian McDermott took over the reins from the ousted Brendan Rodgers, and saw his side earn a thoroughly deserved point against Bristol City.

If you tuned in to BBC Radio Berkshire after yesterday's football match at London Road, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that Reading Football Club had been sold for a fiver to a demented Oxford-supporting billionaire, who'd then decided to immediately change the name to the 'Thames Valley Arse Drovers', insist we play in yellow and green stripes and formulate a dastardly plan to erase the good name of RFC from the history books.

A couple of weeks ago you'd be forgiven for thinking that, five games in to a new season under a new management team, Reading FC was a club in some kind of irreversible plummet towards League One. What a difference an away win can make, not only to the league table, but to the overall mood surrounding the club and its supporters.

It's very early days, but the Championship table shows the Royals languishing in the bottom three after a drubbing at St. James' Park. An impressive crowd of 36,000 saw Brendan Rodgers' young side start impressively enough but fall behind to a Shola Ameobi header ten minutes before half time.

'Rich Man, Poor Man' is currently being trailed on the BBC. Looks like a fascinating 'warts and all' profile of The Chairman. He's a complex and interesting character for sure, so it'll be essential viewing, not least for Royals fans. Not sure when it's going out yet but it will be on BBC4.

The Royals thumped Burton Albion last night by 5 goals to 1. Five thousand people saw a team of youngsters (hang on, ain't that the first team!?) dish out a hammering to the league new boys. Five Royals made their full debut, and Nicholas Bignall bagged a brace. Whatever you say about the opposition this is a fantastic result, and Brendan Rodgers seems to be working some magic already.

As the curtain falls on Stephen Hunt's Reading FC career it brings to a close one of the most protracted transfer stories in the club's recent history. One thing is for sure nobody has divided opinion and provoked the ire of fans quite like the tousle-haired Irish winger. Certainly he has made an impact far beyond anything we could have expected when he signed on a permanent basis from Brentford FC in 2005.

It's a song. About Graeme Murty. A haunting, melancholic paean to a lost legend, a soulful ballad that tugs at the....um, no it's not, it's a noisy cod-ska rabble-chant - and perfectly acceptable for all that.