Madejski Stadium
Reading
Name:
Nickname: -
When Built: 1998
Capacity: 24,161
Record Attendance: 22,648 – March 18, 2007 – Reading vs London Wasps
Address: Bennett Road, Reading, RG2 0FL
Description: Madejski Stadium has 4 stands named after compass directions: North Stand is the Home end stand, South Stand is where away fans are allowed to say, the East Stand is opposite to the tunnel and director’s box. The West Stand is the biggest of them and it has a lower and a upper tier, but the upper ties doesn’t overhand the lower one.
Brief History: The stadium was opened in 1998 when Reading played agains Lutton Town. Madejski stadium is an all seater bowl stadium and it’s located close to the M4 motorway. The stadium is also used by London Irish, a rugby union club. The stadium cost more than £50 million and it was named after Reading’s owner, John Madejski. There were also a lot of concerts held on this stadium, and, because Reading managed to reach first time ever in the Premier League, the club announced their intention to extend the ground to 37-38,000 seats in the future. On 24th may 2007 the club got the permission to extend the stadium and it’s capacity would be 36,900 seats. The work will start in the summer of 2008.
Steve Coppell
Name: Stephen James Coppell
Age: 52
Nationality: Brittish
Current Club: Rerading
Brief Playing history: He was a promising young midfielder in Liverpool and even though there were a couple of big clubs that wanted him, he started professional football at Tranmere Rovers in English Lower Leagues because he wanted to study Economics there. Two years later, he had an offer that he couldn’t refuse from Manchester United, and he played for where he won the FA Cup twice. He had to retire in 1983 due to a knee injury that came back.
Brief Management history: He started coaching Crystal Palace in 1984 at the age of 28 and 10 month and he became the youngest coach ever in Football League. In total, he coached 15 years Crystal Palace, in 2 periods and he managed to gain promotion twice for them and in 1990 he got the team in the FA Cup finals. In 2001 he moved to Brentford and in 2003 he got a great offer from Reading and started coaching them until today. In 2006 they’ve won Football League Championship and gained promotion in Premier league where Reading is doing a great job. He won twice the LMA Manager of the year in 2006 and 2007.
Previous Clubs Played for:
1973-1975 – Tranmere Rovers
1975-1983 – Manchester United
Previous Clubs Managed:
1984-1996 – Crystal Palace
1996 – Manchester City
1997-2000 – Crystal Palace
2001-2002 – Brentford
2003 – Brighton & Hove Albion
2003-present - Reading
Reading
Reading Football Club
Nicknames: The Royals
Founded: 1871
Stadium: Madejski
Capacity: 24,161
Owner: John Madejski
Chairman: John Madejski
Manager: Steve Coppell
Reading gained promotion is Premier League on 25th march 2006, achieving promotion earlier in the season than any other team after second world war, and they also gained the highest number of points ever achivied in top4 professional football divisions from England. The team is based in Reading, Berkshire, and in their first season in Premier League they managed to finish in a great 8th position.
John Madejski, one of the top English businessman is probably the one that has made everything possible here at Reading. He became chairman in 1990 and after a couple years, in 1998 he moved the team to a new stadium, build from his money and named after him. In 2006, after 135 years from when the club was founded, he brought the team in English first tear for their first time. Now, after a pretty good first season for Reading, he is planning to upgrade the stadium’s capacity to 38,000 seats.
During the 2005-2006 promotion campaign, Reading settled a new record in English football, being the first team from the second tier to remain unbeat for 33 matches. In the same year, they made 106 points, breaking the previous points record for English Football by 1 point.
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