1996–97 Reading F.C. season

During the 1996–97 English football season, Reading F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Reading

1996–97 season
Chairman	John Madejski
Manager	Mick Gooding and Jimmy Quinn (player-managers)
Stadium	Elm Park
First Division	18th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Trevor Morley (22) All: Trevor Morley (23)
Highest home attendance	14,853 (vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers, 12 April 1997)
Lowest home attendance	5,513 (vs. Tranmere Rovers, 3 December 1996)
Average home league attendance	9,160
Home colours

Season summary

The 1996–97 season was another struggle for Reading, but they managed to secure survival on 12 April 1997, after beating promotion-chasing Wolves 2-1 at Elm Park.

Squad

As of match played 3 May 1997

Name	Nationality	Position	Date of birth (Age[lower-alpha 1])	Signed from	Signed in	Contract ends	Apps.	Goals
Goalkeepers
Steve Mautone		GK	(1970-08-10)10 August 1970 (aged 26)	West Ham United	1997		15	0
Sal Bibbo		GK	(1974-08-24)24 August 1974 (aged 22)	Sheffield United	1996		6	0
Nick Hammond		GK	(1967-09-07)7 September 1967 (aged 29)	Plymouth Argyle	1996		7	0
Defenders
Andy Bernal		DF	(1973-02-21)21 February 1973 (aged 24)	Sydney Olympic	1994		129	2
Steve Blatherwick		DF	(1973-09-20)20 September 1973 (aged 23)	loan from Nottingham Forest	1997	1997	7	0
Martyn Booty		DF	(1971-05-30)30 May 1971 (aged 25)	Crewe Alexandra	1996		35	1
Keith McPherson		DF	(1963-09-11)11 September 1963 (aged 33)	Northampton Town	1990
Steve Swales		DF	(1973-12-26)26 December 1973 (aged 23)	Scarborough	1995		14	0
Michael Thorp		DF	(1975-12-05)5 December 1975 (aged 21)	Trainee	1995		5	0
Barry Hunter		DF	(1968-11-18)18 November 1968 (aged 28)	Wrexham	1996		29	2
Dariusz Wdowczyk		DF	(1962-09-25)25 September 1962 (aged 34)	Celtic	1994		96	0
Paul Bodin		DF	(1964-09-13)13 September 1964 (aged 32)	Swindon Town	1996		39	1
Jeff Hopkins		DF	(1964-04-14)14 April 1964 (aged 33)	Bristol Rovers	1992		155	3
Midfielders
David Bass		MF	(1974-11-29)29 November 1974 (aged 22)	Trainee	1992		11	0
Darren Caskey		MF	(1974-08-21)21 August 1974 (aged 22)	Tottenham Hotspur	1996		53	3
Andy Freeman		MF	(1977-09-08)8 September 1977 (aged 19)	Trainee	1995		1	0
Byron Glasgow		MF	(1979-02-18)18 February 1979 (aged 18)	Trainee	1996		5	0
Mick Gooding (Player-Manager)		MF	(1959-04-12)12 April 1959 (aged 38)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1989
Paul Holsgrove		MF	(1969-08-26)26 August 1969 (aged 27)	Millwall	1994		83	7
Jamie Lambert		MF	(1973-09-14)14 September 1973 (aged 23)	Trainee	1992		108	16
Phil Parkinson		MF	(1967-12-01)1 December 1967 (aged 29)	Bury	1992		208	10
Ben Smith		MF	(1978-11-23)23 November 1978 (aged 18)	Arsenal	1996		1	0
Derek Simpson		MF	(1978-12-23)23 December 1978 (aged 18)	Trainee	1994		0	0
Michael Meaker	[lower-alpha 2]	MF	(1971-08-18)18 August 1971 (aged 25)	Queens Park Rangers	1995		47	1
Forwards
Stuart Lovell		FW	(1972-01-09)9 January 1972 (aged 25)	Trainee	1990
Alan Carey		FW	(1975-08-21)21 August 1975 (aged 21)	Trainee	1994		3	0
Trevor Morley		FW	(1961-03-20)20 March 1961 (aged 36)	West Ham United	1995		61	29
Neville Roach		FW	(1978-09-29)29 September 1978 (aged 18)	Trainee	1996		3	1
Martin Williams		FW	(1973-07-12)12 July 1973 (aged 23)	Luton Town	1995		49	4
Jimmy Quinn (Player-Manager)		FW	(1959-12-07)7 December 1959 (aged 37)	Bournemouth	1992		216	94
Lee Nogan		FW	(1969-05-21)21 May 1969 (aged 27)	Watford	1995		102	29
Out on loan
Left during the season
Borislav Mikhailov		GK	(1963-02-12)12 February 1963 (aged 34)	Botev Plovdiv	1995		28	0
Tommy Wright		GK	(1963-08-29)29 August 1963 (aged 33)	loan from Nottingham Forest	1996	1996	17	0
Kenny Brown		DF	(1967-07-11)11 July 1967 (aged 29)	loan from West Ham United	1996	1996	20	1
Dylan Kerr		DF	(1967-01-14)14 January 1967 (aged 30)	Leeds United	1993		104	5
Michael Gilkes	[lower-alpha 3]	MF	(1965-07-20)20 July 1965 (aged 31)	Leicester City	1984
Jimmy Garrity			(1976-01-01)1 January 1976 (aged 21)	Newcastle United	1996		0	0

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  BUL Borislav Mikhailov — GK  NIR Tommy Wright (loan return to Nottingham Forest) — DF  ENG Kenny Brown (loan return to West Ham United)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  MLT Dylan Kerr (to Carlisle United) — MF  ENG Michael Gilkes (to Wolverhampton Wanderers) —  ENG Jimmy Garrity

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
11 July 1996	DF		Paul Bodin	Swindon Town	Free
12 July 1996	DF		Barry Hunter	Wrexham	£400,000
1 August 1996	GK		Sal Bibbo	Sheffield United	Free
1 August 1996	MF		Ben Smith	Arsenal	Free
27 March 1997	GK		Steve Mautone	West Ham United	£250,000

Loans In

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Date to	Ref.
9 September 1996	DF		Kenny Brown	West Ham United	5 October 1996
4 October 1996	GK		Tommy Wright	Nottingham Forest	28 December 1996
17 February 1997	GK		Steve Mautone	West Ham United	26 March 1997
27 March 1997	DF		Steve Blatherwick	Nottingham Forest	End of Season

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
3 July 1996	DF		Ady Williams	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£750,000
27 March 1997	MF		Michael Gilkes	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£50,000

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date to	Ref.
14 February 1997	FW		Lee Nogan	Notts County	15 March 1997

Released

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	Joined	Date
16 September 1996	DF		Dylan Kerr	Carlisle United	16 September 1996
December 1995[1]			Jimmy Garrity
6 March 1997[2]	GK		Borislav Mikhailov	Slavia Sofia	1 August 1997
9 May 1997	MF		Mick Gooding	Southend United	1 July 1998
9 May 1997	FW		Jimmy Quinn	Peterborough United	1 July 1997
30 June 1997	DF		Jeff Hopkins	Selangor
30 June 1997	MF		David Bass
30 June 1997	MF		Andy Freeman
30 June 1997	MF		Derek Simpson	Slough Town
30 June 1997	FW		Alan Carey

Competitions

First Division

Main article: 1996–97 Football League § First Division

Results

Reading v Sheffield United

17 August 1996 1	Reading	1–0	Sheffield United	Reading
	Bernal   80' Quinn  82' Parkinson	Report	Patterson	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 11,081

Ipswich Town v Reading

24 August 1996 2	Ipswich Town	5–2	Reading	Ipswich
	Vaughan  13', 69' Sedgley  45' (pen.) Taricco  72' Scowcroft  87' Stockwell	Report	Nogan  28' Mikhailov  45' Hunter  62' Gooding Quinn	Stadium: Portman Road Attendance: 9,767

Barnsley v Reading

28 August 1996 3	Barnsley	3–0	Reading	Barnsley
	Sheridan  24' Liddell  37', 82'	Report	Bernal  80'	Stadium: Oakwell Attendance: 7,523

Reading v Stoke City

31 August 1996 4	Reading	2–2	Stoke City	Reading
	Morley  7' (pen.) Holsgrove  79'	Report	Sheron  25' Forsyth  79' Dreyer	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,414

Reading v Oxford United

8 September 1996 5	Reading	2–0	Oxford United	Reading
	Williams  14' Morley  83'	Report	Elliott Massey	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,497

West Bromwich Albion v Reading

10 September 1996 6	West Bromwich Albion	3–2	Reading	West Bromwich
	Hunt  35', 45', 66'	Report	Morley  4' (pen.) Parkinson  75'	Stadium: The Hawthorns Attendance: 13,096

Charlton Athletic v Reading

14 September 1996 7	Charlton Athletic	1–0	Reading	Charlton
	Leaburn  6' Mortimer	Report	Brown McPherson	Stadium: The Valley Attendance: 10,831

Reading v Crystal Palace

21 September 1996 8	Reading	1–6	Crystal Palace	Reading
	Hunter   55' Morley  69' (pen.) Brown Gilkes Lambert	Report	Tuttle  27' Freedman  37' Muscat  50' Dyer  56' (pen.) Veart  58' Roberts  60' Ndah  77' Houghton	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 9,675

Huddersfield Town v Reading

28 September 1996 9	Huddersfield Town	1–0	Reading	Huddersfield
	Payton  34'	Report	Bernal Morley	Stadium: Alfred McAlpine Stadium Attendance: 10,330

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Reading

5 October 1996 10	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–1	Reading	Wolverhampton
		Report	Lambert  69'	Stadium: Molineux Attendance: 23,193

Reading v Grimsby Town

12 October 1996 11	Reading	1–1	Grimsby Town	Reading
	Morley  57' (pen.)	Report	Wrack  83' Pearcey	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 6,656

Reading v Manchester City

15 October 1996 12	Reading	2–0	Manchester City	Reading
	Nogan  35', 67' Hopkins Gooding	Report	Lomas   82' Symons Wassall Kinkladze	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 11,724

Oldham Athletic v Reading

19 October 1996 13	Oldham Athletic	1–1	Reading	Oldham
	Orlygsson  65' (pen.)	Report	Quinn  75' (pen.) Bodin	Stadium: Boundary Park Attendance: 7,171

Reading v Swindon Town

26 October 1996 14	Reading	2–0	Swindon Town	Reading
	Morley  51' (pen.), 60'	Report	Talia Culverhouse Robinson	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 11,018

Bolton Wanderers v Reading

29 October 1996 15	Bolton Wanderers	2–1	Reading	Bolton
	Sellars  40' McGinlay  58' Branagan  63'  Thompson	Report	Lambert  51' Hunter McPherson Nogan	Stadium: Burnden Park Attendance: 12,677

Southend United v Reading

2 November 1996 16	Southend United	2–1	Reading	Southend-on-Sea
	Nielsen  63' Marsh  70' (pen.) Harris	Report	Nogan  50' Gooding Lambert	Stadium: Roots Hall Attendance: 5,002

Norwich City v Reading

16 November 1996 17	Norwich City	1–1	Reading	Norwich
	Scott  79' O'Neill Milligan Fleck	Report	Morley  56' Gooding   69' Wright Hunter McPherson Parkinson Williams	Stadium: Carrow Road Attendance: 14,412

Reading v Queens Park Rangers

23 November 1996 18	Reading	2–1	Queens Park Rangers	Reading
	Morley  73' Nogan  80' Hunter Meaker	Report	Spencer  49' McDonald Barker	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 12,847

Reading v Birmingham City

26 November 1996 19	Reading	0–0	Birmingham City	Reading
	Hunter	Report	Holland	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,407

Swindon Town v Reading

30 November 1996 20	Swindon Town	3–1	Reading	Swindon
	Horlock  5' Allison  25' Walters  87' Leitch	Report	Morley  13' Meaker	Stadium: The County Ground Attendance: 10,874

Reading v Tranmere Rovers

3 December 1996 21	Reading	2–0	Tranmere Rovers	Reading
	Lambert  10' Morley  33'	Report	Mahon Brannan	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 5,513

Reading v Port Vale

7 December 1996 22	Reading	0–1	Port Vale	Reading
	Bernal Swales	Report	Talbot  73' Tankard McCarthy Jansson	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 6,445

Bradford City v Reading

17 December 1996 23	Bradford City	0–0	Reading	Bradford
		Report		Stadium: Valley Parade Attendance: 10,077

Reading v Portsmouth

21 December 1996 24	Reading	0–0	Portsmouth	Reading
	Hunter   79'	Report	Svensson  79'	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,520

Reading v West Bromwich Albion

26 December 1996 25	Reading	2–2	West Bromwich Albion	Reading
	Nogan  8' Quinn  73' Bernal   77'	Report	Peschisolido  3' Groves  39' Burgess Holmes	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 10,583

Oxford United v Reading

28 December 1996 26	Oxford United	2–1	Reading	Oxford
	Beauchamp  7' Murphy  81'	Report	Morley  89'	Stadium: Manor Ground Attendance: 9,223

Reading v Charlton Athletic

11 January 1997 27	Reading	2–2	Charlton Athletic	Reading
	Williams  26' Lambert  74'	Report	Lisbie  68' Whyte  81' Newton	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 7,614

Birmingham City v Reading

18 January 1997 28	Birmingham City	4–1	Reading	Birmingham
	Furlong  33' Devlin  56' (pen.), 75' Gilkes  89' (o.g.) Bruce	Report	Holsgrove  51'	Stadium: St Andrew's Attendance: 15,363

Reading v Huddersfield Town

28 January 1997 29	Reading	4–1	Huddersfield Town	Reading
	Morley  13' McPherson  15' Hunter  30' Lovell  82' Gooding	Report	Payton  9' Jenkins Dyson Bullock Dalton Crosby	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 5,710

Tranmere Rovers v Reading

1 February 1997 30	Tranmere Rovers	2–2	Reading	Birkenhead
	Branch  14' Thomas-Moore  72' Cook Thorn	Report	Morley  21', 42' Bodin Quinn	Stadium: Prenton Park Attendance: 6,019

Reading v Bolton Wanderers

8 February 1997 31	Reading	3–2	Bolton Wanderers	Reading
	Morley  56', 62' (pen.), 70'	Report	Thompson  61' McGinlay  64' Bergsson Frandsen	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 10,739

Reading v Southend United

22 February 1997 32	Reading	3–2	Southend United	Reading
	McPherson  33' Gilkes  60' Morley  76' Meaker	Report	Boere  54', 71' McNally Gridelet Marsh	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 7,683

Port Vale v Reading

1 March 1997 33	Port Vale	1–0	Reading	Stoke-on-Trent
	Guppy Foyle Porter  (pen.) Aspin Talbot	Report	Hunter Parkinson	Stadium: Vale Park Attendance: 6,057

Reading v Norwich City

4 March 1997 34	Reading	2–1	Norwich City	Reading
	Morley  20' Adams  86' (o.g.) Gooding Meaker	Report	Adams  27' (pen.) Crook	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,174

Queens Park Rangers v Reading

12 March 1997 35	Queens Park Rangers	0–2	Reading	White City
	Ready   55'	Report	Morley  2' Maddix  76' (o.g.) Hunter	Stadium: Loftus Road Attendance: 10,316

Reading v Bradford City

15 March 1997 36	Reading	0–0	Bradford City	Reading
	Parkinson	Report		Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,435

Reading v Ipswich Town

22 March 1997 37	Reading	1–0	Ipswich Town	Reading
	Lovell  90' Hopkins	Report	Taricco Vaughan	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 10,058

Portsmouth v Reading

25 March 1997 38	Portsmouth	1–0	Reading	Portsmouth
	Hall  84' Perrett	Report	Bernal Hopkins Gooding	Stadium: Fratton Park Attendance: 9,248

Sheffield United v Reading

29 March 1997 39	Sheffield United	2–0	Reading	Sheffield
	Bodin  11' (o.g.) Walker  49' Ebbrell	Report	Parkinson Morley	Stadium: Bramall Lane Attendance: 15,153

Reading v Barnsley

31 March 1997 40	Reading	1–2	Barnsley	Reading
	Morley  27' (pen.) Bernal McPherson Blatherwick Parkinson Williams	Report	Holsgrove  2' (o.g.) Liddell  16' de Zeeuw Sheridan Redfearn	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 10,244

Stoke City v Reading

5 April 1997 41	Stoke City	1–1	Reading	Stoke-on-Trent
	Forsyth  65' Wallace	Report	Lambert  1'	Stadium: Victoria Ground Attendance: 9,961

Reading v Wolverhampton Wanderers

12 April 1997 42	Reading	2–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Reading
	Lovell  89', 90' Hopkins Parkinson	Report	Atkins  75' Law Roberts	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 14,853

Grimsby Town v Reading

19 April 1997 43	Grimsby Town	2–0	Reading	Cleethorpes
	Southall  15' Widdrington  71'	Report		Stadium: Blundell Park Attendance: 4,392

Crystal Palace v Reading

23 April 1997 44	Crystal Palace	3–2	Reading	Selhurst
	Linighan  13' Hopkin  49' Shipperley  69' Muscat	Report	Bodin  57' Williams  82' Hopkins Caskey	Stadium: Selhurst Park Attendance: 12,552

Reading v Oldham Athletic

26 April 1997 45	Reading	2–0	Oldham Athletic	Reading
	Roach  28' Lovell  81' Bernal Williams	Report	Reid McCarthy	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 8,301

Manchester City v Reading

3 May 1997 46	Manchester City	3–2	Reading	Manchester
	Dickov  34' Rosler  66' Heaney  78'	Report	Meaker  2' Symons  33' (o.g.) Blatherwick	Stadium: Maine Road Attendance: 27,260

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
16	West Bromwich Albion	46	14	15	17	68	72	−4	57
17	Oxford United	46	16	9	21	64	68	−4	57
18	Reading	46	15	12	19	58	67	−9	57
19	Swindon Town	46	15	9	22	52	71	−19	54
20	Huddersfield Town	46	13	15	18	48	61	−13	54

Source:
Rules for classification: In the Football League goals scored (GF) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Reading v Southampton

4 January 1997 Third Round	Reading	3–1	Southampton	Reading
19:45 GMT (UTC)	Lambert  19' Caskey  55' Morley  76' (pen.) Holsgrove	Report	Ostenstad  49' Benali  75'  Slater  90'  Le Tissier van Gobbel	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 11,537

Portsmouth v Reading

25 January 1997 Fourth Round	Portsmouth	3–0	Reading	Portsmouth
19:45 GMT (UTC)	Hall  68' Bradbury  76' Hillier  86' Pethick Perrett Svensson	Report	Lambert	Stadium: Fratton Park Attendance: 15,003

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Reading v Wycombe Wanderers

20 August 1996 First Round 1st leg	Reading	1–1	Wycombe Wanderers	Reading
BST (UTC+1)	Quinn  57'	Report	Williams  64' Brown	Stadium: Elm Park Attendance: 6,210

Wycombe Wanderers v Reading

3 September 1996 First Round 2nd leg	Wycombe Wanderers	2–0 (3–1 agg.)	Reading	High Wycombe
BST (UTC+1)	Evans  57' Williams  75' de Souza	Report		Stadium: Adams Park Attendance: 5,069

Squad statistics

As of match played 3 May 1997[3]

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		First Division		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Steve Mautone	15	0	15	0	0	0	0	0
	GK		Sal Bibbo	6	0	5	0	1	0	0	0
	GK		Nick Hammond	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Andy Bernal	44	0	41	0	2	0	1	0
	DF		Steve Blatherwick	7	0	6+1	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Martyn Booty	18	0	14	0	2	0	2	0
	DF		Keith McPherson	40	2	39	2	1	0	0	0
	DF		Steve Swales	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Barry Hunter	29	2	26+1	2	1	0	1	0
	DF		Dariusz Wdowczyk	10	0	8	0	0	0	2	0
	DF		Paul Bodin	39	1	37	1	0	0	2	0
	DF		Jeff Hopkins	19	0	17+1	0	0	0	1	0
	MF		David Bass	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
	MF		Darren Caskey	38	1	26+9	0	2	1	1	0
	MF		Byron Glasgow	5	0	2+2	0	0+1	0	0	0
	MF		Mick Gooding	47	0	40+3	0	2	0	2	0
	MF		Paul Holsgrove	17	2	12+2	2	2	0	1	0
	MF		Jamie Lambert	33	6	20+11	5	2	1	0	0
	MF		Phil Parkinson	26	1	15+9	1	0	0	1+1	0
	MF		Ben Smith	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
	MF		Michael Meaker	25	1	15+10	1	0	0	0	0
	FW		Stuart Lovell	28	5	17+9	5	0+1	0	1	0
	FW		Trevor Morley	40	23	36+1	22	2	1	1	0
	FW		Neville Roach	3	1	2+1	1	0	0	0	0
	FW		Martin Williams	33	3	21+8	3	2	0	2	0
	FW		Jimmy Quinn	26	4	10+14	3	0	0	1+1	1
	FW		Lee Nogan	34	6	21+11	6	0	0	1+1	0
Players away on loan:
Players who appeared for Reading but left during the season:
	GK		Borislav Mikhailov	11	0	8	0	1	0	2	0
	GK		Tommy Wright	17	0	17	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Kenny Brown	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
	MF		Michael Gilkes	35	1	27+5	1	2	0	0+1	0

Goal Scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	First Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	FW		Trevor Morley	22	1	0	23
2	FW		Lee Nogan	6	0	0	6
	MF		Jamie Lambert	5	1	0	6
4	FW		Stuart Lovell	5	0	0	5
5	FW		Jimmy Quinn	3	0	1	4
6	FW		Martin Williams	3	0	0	3
			Own goal	3	0	0	3
8	MF		Paul Holsgrove	2	0	0	2
	DF		Barry Hunter	2	0	0	2
	DF		Keith McPherson	2	0	0	2
11	DF		Paul Bodin	1	0	0	1
	MF		Michael Gilkes	1	0	0	1
	MF		Michael Meaker	1	0	0	1
	FW		Neville Roach	1	0	0	1
	MF		Darren Caskey	0	1	0	1
			TOTALS	58	3	1	62

Clean sheets

Place	Position	Nation	Name	First Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	GK		Tommy Wright	7	0	0	7
2	GK		Steve Mautone	4	0	0	4
3	GK		Borislav Mikhailov	1	0	0	1
	GK		Sal Bibbo	1	0	0	1
TOTALS				13	0	0	13

Disciplinary record

Position	Nation	Name	First Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
DF		Andy Bernal	9	3	0	0	0	0	9	3
DF		Steve Blatherwick	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
DF		Keith McPherson	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
DF		Steve Swales	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF		Barry Hunter	11	2	0	0	0	0	11	2
DF		Paul Bodin	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
DF		Jeff Hopkins	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
MF		Darren Caskey	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF		Mick Gooding	8	1	0	0	0	0	8	1
MF		Paul Holsgrove	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
MF		Jamie Lambert	3	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
MF		Phil Parkinson	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
MF		Michael Meaker	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
FW		Trevor Morley	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
FW		Neville Roach	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW		Martin Williams	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
FW		Jimmy Quinn	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
FW		Lee Nogan	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Players away on loan:
Players who left Reading during the season:
GK		Borislav Mikhailov	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
GK		Tommy Wright	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF		Kenny Brown	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
MF		Michael Gilkes	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Total			0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0

Notes

1. Age as of the end of the season
2. Michael Meaker was born in Greenford, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally, representing Wales U21 and Wales B.
3. Michael Gilkes was born in Hackney, England, but also qualified to represent Barbados internationally and would make his international debut for Barbados in 2000.

References

1. "James Garrity MSc". uk.linkedin.com/. Linkedin. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
2. "Преди 12 години - Рединг взе Боби за 800 000 паунда". topsport.bg/ (in Bulgarian). Top Sport. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
3. "Season 1996-97". royalsrecord. Retrieved 31 May 2020.

• Soccerbase.com