Football Season Review

In the end it was an FA Cup semi-final appearance that rescued Reading's season and the Royals indeed had a great chance to get to the final when Adam Federici made a rare howler. Their league season was very little to write home about and they suffered a brief flirtation with the drop thanks largely to their cup exploits. Nigel Adkins was perhaps harshly sacked midway through the season and replacement Steve Clarke has done a well enough job in his place. Reading do not appear to have much money and have already sold several players over the summer so it promises to be a difficult couple of months for Clarke with rebuilding necessary. However Reading do have a large amount of success stories in terms of their youth setup. The players have all been given opportunities to impress this term and that is likely to be the policy for Clarke next term too. Simon Cox was top scorer with just eight so Clarke knows he needs to find a prolific striker to start banging in the goals.

Player of the Season: Adam Federici