Excerpts from the Chairman's programme notes...
- On the FA Cup....
“The FA Cup is eagerly awaited by teams at all levels outside of the Premier League and it gains more importance the further down the football pyramid one goes.
“To a League Two club like ourselves, it is always the possibility of playing a top Premier League side on TV and to a club like Reading, it is about progressing as far as they can.
“Everyone always talks about the potential income from the FA Cup to small clubs like ourselves and indeed, our cup run in 2012 allowed us to upgrade the West Stand, extend the car park and build a new training facility at Bragbury, so we have a lot to be thankful for.
“However, it is the pure excitement of these games that make it great for me.
“Taking on teams above your level to see if you can cause an upset. We have had our fair share of success doing that before and today under Darren, if anything, we will be even more determined.
“The FA Cup doesn’t come around often at The Lamex so let’s hear you Boro fans get behind our lads as they seek to give you everything they have got to reach the next round.”
- On the New North Stand…
“This weekend is the last time you will see the old North Stand.
"It is well past its sell by date and we will begin the demolition on Monday, paving way for a brand new 1500 seat stand that will set the stadium off nicely from the inside. But, most importantly, it will show an upmarket image to everyone passing our stadium.
“I am told that is 22,000 cars a day, so the advertising potential from LED screens and sponsorship in the new stand is significant.”
- On the Transfer Window…
“January is also the month when we can sign players again. Personally, I hate the January window if the squad isn’t quite right.
“The options available are a fraction of those in the Summer and you can do some really poor business if you’re not disciplined about what you need and what you can afford.
“We have cleared quite a lot of fringe players from the playing budget to bring a few new lads in, both to provide competition for places and in key areas where we know we are short.
“Incoming, we would expect to see a keeper, a central midfielder, a striker and a wide man that can add strength and competition for places to our squad.
“We have new young lads of our own coming through in the second half of the season, too.
“We feel that in Ben Wilmot we have an U18 defender that will play at the highest level and in Andonicos Georgio an exciting U18 striker that is attracting attention after scoring six goals in the last three FA Youth cup games.
“Introducing these talents and making sure that we surround them with experienced men they can learn from, is crucial to their development and our success.”
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Read the Chairman's full programme notes in Saturday's Stevenage v Reading programme, available around the ground for just £3.
Tickets for home fans are available both in-advance or on the turnstiles.
