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| Headlines | Current | Complete | Interactive | Guide | |
| General Information |
The normal disclaimer: although the title is Royals' Record, this site also covers the Biscuitmen era. This site has no connection with Reading FC, and the views expressed are entirely my own. If you are linking to this site or adding it to your Favourites, please use the fixed URL royalsrecord.co.uk which will always point to the current site location.
| Tables |
The abbreviations used in the league tables are as follows:
Total Home Away
Games played PL - -
Games won W HW AW
Games drawn D HD AD
Games lost L HL AL
Goals scored GF HF AF
Goals conceded GA HA AA
Points gained PTS - -
In the competition records, the teams are ranked by normalising the points to three per win and one per draw, rather than by the actual number of points gained, which might have been under either two or three points per win. This normalised value is denoted by P3.
In the game records, Reading's score is always given first, so that 2-1 denotes a win by two goals to one. Home matches are denoted by H, away matches by A, and games on neutral grounds by N. W indicates a Reading win, D a draw, and L a Reading loss. In two-legged matches the aggregate score is given in square brackets after the second leg score.
Teams are written in magenta to indicate that they were promoted, and in red to indicate that they were relegated. This is except for the Premier League, when magenta is used to indicate Champions' League qualification and green UEFA Cup qualification. Reading's record is always highlighted in yellow.
Towards the end of the current season, the maximum number of points each team can obtain is given by MAX. On this basis the highest and lowest possible positions are calculated and given as HI and LO. The algorithm used to calculate the highest and lowest possible positions is the simplest possible, based only on the current and maximum numbers of points. No account is taken of the remaining matches. When this is significant it is indicated by an explicit note. Teams are written in green to indicate that they have secured a play-off place and in teal to indicate that they can be neither promoted nor relegated.
| Scorers |
In the game records, (pen) denotes a goal scored from a penalty and (og) denotes an own goal. Multiple scorers are indicated by numbers. For example, Murray 3 (2 pens), Friday 2 indicates that Murray scored three goals, two of which were penalties, and Friday scored two.
In top scorer lists LG denotes the number of league goals, FA the number of FA Cup goals, LC the number of League Cup goals, and MI the number of other goals. The total number of goals is given in the ALL column. In some lists PEN is used to denote the number of penalties.
When ordering scorer lists, firstly the total number of goals is considered, then the league goals, then the FA Cup goals, and finally the League Cup goals.
| Ranking Criteria |
The criteria used to rank teams in league tables have changed over the years. The most obvious change has been from two points per win to three points per win in 1981, however the secondary ranking criterion (for when teams are equal on points) has also varied: goal average, goal difference and goals scored all having been used.
Seasons Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3
1894-1976 Points (2) Goal Avg [None]
1976-81 Points (2) Goal Diff Goals For
1981-92 Points (3) Goal Diff Goals For
1992-99 Points (3) Goals For Goal Diff
1999- Points (3) Goal Diff Goals For
For those too young to remember, goal average was calculated by dividing the goals scored by the goals conceded. It was phased out just as the introduction of pocket calculators made it feasible to calculate it.
If two teams are equal on all these ranks, then they are judged equal. For example, Portsmouth and QPR were equal 20th in Division 1 in 1997-98. Portsmouth are output first on alphabetical order.
| Opponent Names |
Opponents are listed in the season lists by the name they were known as at the time. In the competition summaries they are listed by their name at the time when Reading last played them. For example, Aldershot are listed as Aldershot even though they are now Aldershot Town. If Reading play Aldershot Town in the future then this will change. The only example where this policy might cause confusion is with South Shields, who are probably better known as Gateshead, but never played Reading under the latter name. I have treated MK Dons and Wimbledon as distinct clubs.
This table gives the previous names of the clubs appearing on this site:
Most Recent Previous
AFC Bournemouth Boscombe (to 1923), Bournemouth & BA (1923-71)
Arsenal Woolwich Arsenal (to 1913)
Birmingham C Small Heath (to 1905), Birmingham (1905-45)
Chesham Town Chesham (to 1899)
Chester City Chester (to 1983)
Gillingham New Brompton (to 1912)
Hartlepool Utd Hartlepools Utd (to 1968), Hartlepool (1968-77)
Kettering Town Kettering (to 1924)
Leicester City Leicester Fosse (to 1919)
Leyton Orient Clapton Orient (to 1946), Orient (1967-88)
Millwall Millwall Athletic (to 1903)
Peterborough U P'borough & FU (to 1934)
Sheffield Wed The Wednesday (to 1929)
Southampton Southampton St Mary's (to 1897)
Southport Southport Central (to 1918)
Stoke City Stoke (to 1925)
Swansea City Swansea Town (to 1970)
West Ham Utd Thames Ironworks (to 1900)
Yeovil Town Yeovil & PU (to 1946)
The following teams have more tenuous links - often little more than a name - and so have been classified as separate entities, although I could be convinced otherwise:
Aberdare Ath Aberdare (to 1914)
Brighton & HA Brighton Utd (to 1900)
Hendon II Hendon I (to 1888)
Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Town (to 1934)
Portsmouth Royal Artillery (to 1899)
A number of teams that appear on this site have subsequently merged with other teams, or combined to form a new team:
Bristol City Bristol City and Bedminster (1901)
Chesham Utd Chesham Town and Chesham Generals (1917)
Dagenham & Red Dagenham, Ilford et al (1992)
Gravesend & N Gravesend Utd and Northfleet Utd (1946)
Peterborough U Peterborough C and Fletton Utd (1923)
Rushden & Diam Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds (1992)
There are some more notes on team names in the section on non-league teams.
| Colour Coding of Divisions |
When different colours are used to convey division information, the following scheme is used:
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Football League I |
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Football League II |
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Football League III (National) |
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Football League III (Regional) |
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Football League IV |
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Southern League I |
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Southern League II |
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Other |
Note the use of Roman numerals to indicate absolute division levels. For example, Football League II has been known as Division 2, Division 1 and the Championship at different times, but it has always been the second level of English football.
| Opponent Divisions |
In cup games the division that the opponent was in at the time is given by a superscript after the team name. These are given as follows:
Div Seasons Level Division
P 1992- I Premier League
C 2004- II Football League Championship
1 1888-1992 I Division 1
1992-2004 II Division 1
2004- III Football League One
2 1892-1992 II Division 2
1992-2004 III Division 2
2004- IV Football League Two
3 1920-21 III Division 3
1921-58 III Division 3 South
1958-92 III Division 3
1992-2004 IV Division 3
4 1921-58 III Division 3 North
1958-92 IV Division 4
A 1979-86 V Alliance Premier League
1986-2004 V Conference
2004- V Conference National
S 1894-1920 III Southern League Division 1
1920-23 IV Southern League (England/Wales)
1923-36 IV Southern League (East/West)
1936-39 IV Southern League
1939-40 IV Southern League (East/West)
1945-58 IV Southern League
1958-59 V Southern League (South East/North West)
1959-79 V Southern League Premier Division
1979-82 VI Southern League (South/Midlands)
1982-2004 VI Southern League Premier Division
2004- VII Southern League Premier Division
N - - Other non-league
| Cup Rounds |
In cup matches the round is abbreviated as follows:
Abbrev Description
PR Preliminary Round
Qn Qualifying Round n (n = 1,2,3,...)
IR Intermediate Round
Rn Round n (n = 1,2,3,...)
SF Semi-Final
F Final
In two-legged matches, (1) denotes the first leg and (2) denotes the second leg. (R) denotes a replay, (2R) a second replay, and so on. In mini-leagues the games are denoted (A), (B) and so on. In the summary of seasons, W is used to denote cup winners, and F beaten finalists.
| Adjustments |
The results and tables in this site are kept in a single database (actually an XML document) from which the content is generated. This ensures that the data is kept consistent and up to date. The generation process applies various sanity checks to the data - for example, in a given league table the total number of wins should equal the total number of defeats and the total number of goals scored should equal the total number of goals conceded. Unfortunately some of the tables in the sources contain errors or misprints and so do not satisfy these constraints. On occasions I have been able to correct these errors through more detailed research, but otherwise to keep the software happy I arbitrarily adjust a value to balance the table. This is marked as an adjustment in the table.
For example, in 1910-11, the total goals scored is four more than the total number of goals conceded, so I have adjusted Chesham's goals against from 93 to 97. This is arbitrary, but the table was wrong anyway.
I have also noted places where The Definitive Reading FC (DRFC), Heaven on Earth (HOE), and other sources contain misprints, errors or contradictions. Generally, the Football League and major cup competitions present few difficulties, but there are a few issues for the Wartime and the Southern League eras. Also see here for a more detailed errata.
| Note The occasional more detailed technical note appears in a box of this form. |
| The History of Royals' Record |
The pre-history of Royals' Record dates back to 1974 in the lists of results I kept from my earliest games. My first attempt to combine my two loves of football and computers was a ZX Spectrum program called div3 written in 1985. The first Web-based version was on my company Intranet site, and can be precisely dated to 6th February 1995, the Monday after Reading won at Middlesbrough and I started to take our promotion chances seriously for the first time. The oldest part of the site is the summary of seasons. The first Internet version dates from 1998, which was when I first made a concerted effort to get my records into a digital form.
Since then the site has been expanded as and when I have had a few spare days. My professional work has involved an evaluation of new technologies, such as Java and XML, and I have used this site to expand my personal experience of these technologies. In a way, the results are only the raw material the site is built on. It is the analysis and presentation of these results that I consider the innovative content of the site.
Most of the information on this site is in the public domain, indeed I have deliberately excluded certain information from the published version so as not to infringe other people's copyright.
