Steve Coppell, You Will Be Missed

Some things are simply too hard to bare, Steve Coppell has left Reading after six years, giving us the best stint of our history. It was on the back of bad form and bad results that what was hard to take. I always thought he would call his time with
Reading on a good note so he can ride off into the sunset and look back knowing he has done well.

Instead, he looks back now at a squad that will be obliterated; it will not be his legacy no more.

Premier League has been and gone and it is Championship football again for another season at least. Ten years ago, even five, I would have bitten Sir John’s hand off for a fourth place finish in the second tier, now to many fans that is not deemed good enough and what fair-weather fans they are. Remember the 6-0 home loss to Bristol Rovers – we could have still been there.

End of an era indeed and an era that, in the future, my grandchildren will get quickly bored of the stories about Stephen’s Hunt winner against Everton, James Harper scarpering through against Liverpool, Glen Little’s chip at Plymouth, I easily go on all day. Coppell was the messiah and the composer of all what was good about Reading, he deserves all the praise he gets, if not more.

What Bill Shankley was to Liverpool, Coppell was to Reading. What Bill Nicholson was to Spurs, Coppell was to Reading. What Sir Matt Busby was to Manchester United, Steve Coppell was to Reading.

Coppell will not be able to boost the trophies the three great men have but his impact was very similar.

He may have only added a Championship Title to our embarrassingly small trophy cabinet but that small token means so much. It speaks volumes. It put us on the map. It made Chelsea hate us. It made Oliver Holt hate us even more. We won plaudits, and more importantly, we proved Mark Lawrenson wrong (insult added to injury, we salute you Robin Friday).

There should be a statue erected outside the stadium, at least; it would give us some much needed football culture, it gave us a history. The Coppell Stadium may be a bit too much. Renaming a stand? Possibly but his work should never be underestimated or forgotten.

I will be forever Coppell and no new man will ever be able to fill his shoes in the slightest. He would be the man that made my dreams come true, made old friends see top flight football for the very first time. Whoever this new man will be, he will have an incredibly hard act to follow.

And good luck to him. Just don’t spoil what has been done.

Urzzzz