24th September 1999
24th September 1999 BEN FUTCHER is the surprise inclusion in Athletic's squad for tomorrow's second division basement battle at Reading.
The giant central defender — he stands at 6ft 5in — is rewarded following some excellent displays in the reserves. Futcher, the son of former Athletic player Paul, is a first-year professional and still only 18 years of age. "Ben has played very well in the reserves and gets his call on merit, not because of our injury problems at the back," explained Andy Ritchie. Futcher, who is unlikely to make the starting line-up, is joined by Richard Graham and Craig Dudley in winning first-team calls. Graham, who came through a reserve-team test on Wednesday, is making good progress following his return after a lengthy lay-off and there is every chance he could make the starting line-up.
That would probably be in the defence, though he can also play in midfield. Athletic will again be without Shaun Garnett with an abdominal strain. A scan has shown no serious damage but Ritchie declared: "You have to weigh up the risks and I would rather have him out for two weeks than two months." Dudley, back after a loan spell at Chesterfield, provides more forward options as Steve Whitehall is ruled out by an ankle injury. Ritchie does not think the knock is serious and is confident Whitehall will be back next weekend. Ryan Sugden, who was not originally down to travel, comes back into the squad.
STRUGGLING
Ritchie has a choice of Matthew Tipton, who has been playing midfield, Dudley or Sugden as a strike partner for Mark Allott. The Athletic manager says it is important they take something from tomorrow's game, especially as managerless Reading are also struggling.
Ritchie says he took some positive pointers from the 3—2 defeat at high-flying Bristol Rovers, saying the penalty miss, which could have put Athletic 2-0 ahead, had a huge bearing on the outcome of the game. ATHLETIC (from): Kelly, Miskelly, Graham, S McNiven, Thom, Rickers, Holt, Innes, Dudley, Hotte, Futcher, Sugden, Adams, Sheridan, Duxbury, Tipton, Allott. Reading will have to make a change in defence with Barry Hunter suspended.
His
place will probably go to Linvoy Primus or John Polston. READING (from):
Howey, Gurney, Gray, Casper, Bernal, Polston, Primus, Grant, Smith, Parkinson,
Caskey, Crawford, Williams, Forster, Scott, McIntyre, Hodges, Brayson,
van der Kwaak.
Duo
aiming to seize chance
ATHLETIC’S
match at the £37million Madejski Stadium tomorrow could be another
step on the road to full-time management for Reading’s caretaker coaches,
Alan Pardew and John Gorman. Both
members of the partnership, which was formed last week after the sacking
of Tommy Burns, have already made clear their ambitions to take over permanently
and know that on-field points could bring off-field prizes. Pardew,
the former Charlton and Crystal Palace midfield man, left the Royals at
the end of last season. His coaching
role disappeared along with the club’s reserve team — scrapped to save
money — but the call came when a stand-in was needed to take over from
Burns. Pardew was soon joined by
Gorman, who is best known as right-hand man to Glenn Hoddle during the
God-fearing one’s reign as England manager.
Gorman
and Hoddle were first together at Swindon, with the Scot taking over the
hot seat when Hoddle went off to start the Chelsea revolution. He
joined him on the international scene three years later, immediately after
Euro ‘96, and was a vital cog in the England machine until Hoddle made
his infamous comments about the disabled and their previous lives. It
was easy to feel sympathy for Gorman, who was out of a job through no fault
of his own only seven months after the World Cup penalty shoot-out defeat
by Argentina. He was tossed to one side and found himself coaching at first
division Ipswich. There followed
a non-contract agreement with West Brom, and it was from there that he
came when Reading chairman John Madejski needed an experienced head to
help out Pardew. While Pardew already
had strong links with the club, neither was Gorman a complete stranger. He
lives close to the ground and, adding an interesting twist, his son is
one of the community officers. On
the day Burns was sacked, speculation had it that Hoddle was favourite
to take over the reins. And the arrival of Gorman added further fire to
those rumours. But Hoddle has since
ruled himself out of the running, as has Wimbledon player Robbie Earle. Instead,
Reading have advertised the post and, in the meantime, are seeing whether
Pardew and Gorman can hit it off with each other and their expensively-assembled
squad.
Burns,
a former boss at Glasgow Celtic, was given control 18 months ago when the
club was already facing relegation from the first division. A
closing run of 12 defeats in 13 games — during which they scored four goals
and conceded 28 — emphatically sealed their fate. Last
season was supposed to launch the great revival, but it instead became
a case of drifting along in mid-table with little danger of heading in
either direction. This meant that,
in the eyes of the strong-willed chairman, Reading’s bad start to the new
campaign made the manager’s position — and also that of his assistant,
the former Eire goalkeeper Pat Bonner — untenable. The
duo were dismissed after only six games and paid the price for a lack of
return on the club’s many extravagant investments. The
latest came during the summer when Nick Forster, the former Brentford striker,
was signed for £650,000 from Birmingham. Other
summer signings were Fulham midfielder Neil Smith (£100,000) and
Peter Grant, a former Celtic team-mate of Burns and Bonner, who arrived
on a free transfer from Norwich. Also
on Reading’s books are four-goal top scorer Darren Caskey (£700,000),
ex-Manchester United defender Chris Casper (£200,000) and attacking
midfielder Jim McIntyre (£425,000). Athletic
have fond memories of their last meeting with Reading as it was on the
closing day of last season and brought the victory which completed the
most recent Great Escape. Reading,
it is fair to say, didn’t look completely fired up for that particular
challenge. With Pardew and Gorman
setting their sights on new jobs, that is unlikely to be the case tomorrow.