READING'S ULTIMATE LEGEND

[Maguire]

That's okay mate. My conjecture is that he wouldn't get a kick if you stuck him in today's team.

But then it's all about opinions and I suppose being good at football means different things to different people.

[Para Handy]

And the "probably" was just me being kind. We've absolutely definitely had way way way better footballers at RFC than Robin Friday.

No Mags, we haven't. I think I'm in a better position to judge that than you. We might have had technically fitter, faster, stronger players with the modern age of football. We haven't had better footballers than Robin imho.

Err, being fit, fast, and strong is a massive part of being good at football

Yes, nowadays it's required. Robin was from a different era though. Doesn't make him any less of a good footballer. He was of his time. By your logic Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney et al were shit. They certainly wouldn't match up to any of the journeymen of today.

William "Fatty" Foulkes played for England in goal and he was rumoured to be anything between 18 and 20 stone.

I accept you never saw him play and probably don't get what us "old duffers" enthuse about. For me, Robin was a rock star playing for us. I was quite young in the those days. He was our answer to George Best. He was bloody brilliant in my mind. Not only that, I don't recognise the churlish remarks of some that he was nasty. Quite the opposite. He had problems but he was essentially a nice guy. I know Maurice Evans spoke fondly of him. My memories of him are of a lovable rogue.

[Maguire]

I'm not trying to tell you that you're wrong Para, no doubt I may have thought the same had I been around then.

My point was that the club's moved on and don't understand people who started following RFC after the Friday era would enthuse about him so much.

Put it this way, in 20 years time i'll probably (well i hope not but you know what i mean) be on here singing Jimmy Quinn's praises when the younger generation will all be like "yeah yeah, that was the old Div 2, what about Umberto Hernandez who scored a hatrick for us in the 2024 EuroMegaCup final"

[AthleticoSpizz]

^ likewise...a loveable rogue

However, that was an opinion formed by us mostly after he died.

Like you, I saw him play, and he was always exciting, unpredictable and scruffy but he wasn't a one man miracle....the team as a whole were pretty sh1t in a sh1t league playing on a sh1t pitch.

Can't say whether I was there when he scored THAT goal or not...the likelihood is, I was....asa youngster I went to most games then

Stood in the Tilehurst Road End as I mostly was, it would've looked like any long range shot from the mud patch in the middle....however Percy Freemans 40 yarder from a pool of mud viewed from the SouthBank one (Sunday?) afternoon has always been my "GOAL"

Robin must be our legend, so many young, old and still-to-come supporters know so much about him (and hopefully in years to come, still will).

[Avon Royal]

I know Lux, it's a great comeback isn't it? Almost Oscar Wilde like as a withering repost........

I think the word you might be groping for is riposte. Idiot.

Yep, that will teach me to post from an Iphone to be fair.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

100% Gilkes for me!

Can't really pass comment on Friday. No doubt he was gifted & the various stories are certainly stuff of legends......but I think a true legend for a club ought to be someone who plays for a decent spell of time.

Just my opinion of course...

[Para Handy]

^ likewise...a loveable rogue

However, that was an opinion formed by us mostly after he died.

Like you, I saw him play, and he was always exciting, unpredictable and scruffy but he wasn't a one man miracle....the team as a whole were pretty sh1t in a sh1t league playing on a sh1t pitch.

Can't say whether I was there when he scored THAT goal or not...the likelihood is, I was....asa youngster I went to most games then

Stood in the Tilehurst Road End as I mostly was, it would've looked like any long range shot from the mud patch in the middle....however Percy Freemans 40 yarder from a pool of mud viewed from the SouthBank one (Sunday?) afternoon has always been my "GOAL"

Robin must be our legend, so many young, old and still-to-come supporters know so much about him (and hopefully in years to come, still will).

I haven't changed my opinion of Robin since he died. I always liked him.

Sorry Spizz, I disagree. The team weren't shit. We won promotion in 1975/76 for the first time in 50 years.

Robin was a big part of that as was Charlie Hurley. I've fond memories of Cambridge away and a 2-2 draw to clinch promotion. Robin stripped to his underpants in the stand. That's entertainment. For me, those were the days when you could relate to the team. They were still stars to me but they weren't earning that much more than I was.

Gone are the days when Geoff Barker found it more financially remunerative to give up football to go back on the building site, but I digress.

[LightwaterRoyal]

Reading FC legends, take your pick from the below:

Sir John Madejski
Brian McDermott
Steve Coppell
Brynjar Gunnarsson
Ivar Ingimarsson

Thinking about adding Nicky Shorey.

[AthleticoSpizz]

^ (PH) those days are all a bit grey to me now

No arguement from me, but, yes, we won promotion in 75/76 (last game at home,a televised 3-1 win on Southern TV? Crewe?)apart from that...most things Reading in the early 1970's were bleak droll affairs (Sunday kick-offs, power cuts, Charlie Hurley sacking 7 players, Fred Neate putting weedkiller all over the pitch instead of fertiliser etc etc).

Although I was there for the majority of it, I am having problems remembering at which parts Robin was part of......remember him getting sent off against a non league team tho' (Wealdstone with George Duck????)

[Focher]

you couldn't beat a Terry Hurlock 2 footer.

[Para Handy]

you couldn't beat a Terry Hurlock 2 footer.

TBF you could. Ken Price, allegedly burnt down the progamme shop in the Tilehurst End after being dropped.

That's a joke btw.

[Ian Herring]

you couldn't beat a Terry Hurlock 2 footer.

Hurlock's time at Reading, while short, was intensely, satisfyingly and totally brutal.

(Edit: I saw this gypsy fairground dodgems hopper decimate Wokingham Town's entire strike force for fun in a pre-season friendly with Brentford at Finchampstead Road in the big hair days of the early 1980s #prominentwhippetstadiaIhaveknown)

[Royal91]

I'm too young to have witnessed R. Friday play and people say he is the 'greatest player you never saw'.

Could someone make a comparison to a modern day player in both style and level of ability.

[Handsome Man]

I'm too young to have witnessed R. Friday play and people say he is the 'greatest player you never saw'.

Could someone make a comparison to a modern day player in both style and level of ability.

Imagine if Andy Carroll was as good as everybody at Newcastle thought he might be.

[LUX]

I'm not trying to tell you that you're wrong Para, no doubt I may have thought the same had I been around then.

My point was that the club's moved on and don't understand people who started following RFC after the Friday era would enthuse about him so much.

Put it this way, in 20 years time i'll probably (well i hope not but you know what i mean) be on here singing Jimmy Quinn's praises when the younger generation will all be like "yeah yeah, that was the old Div 2, what about Umberto Hernandez who scored a hatrick for us in the 2024 EuroMegaCup final"

ok, fair enough summary.

additional reasons for him to be a legend:
-there is (non-football, essentially) book about him "The greatest Player you never saw " (or similar), written by people with no connection to RFC or even Cardiff. People with connections with Oasis iirc. The message of the book is that Friday was, er , a legend.
-someone mentioned there is a film in the offing(?)
-he is on the cover of a record (Super Furry Animals?), flicking the V at the goalkeeper he has just rounded.

Sir John Madjeski cannot claim any of these afaik.

[Maguire]

He's on the cover of the single The Man Don't Give A Fukk by the SFA, albeit whilst playing for Cardiff

[Hampshire Royal]

I've been a Reading fan since 1967 and saw Robin when he was with us (I was one of the 100,000 who saw the Tranmere game and THAT goal). He was the one player who I would go and see no matter what the game. Most of my memories of him are a bit blurred. I do remember him playing with a degree of flair that was unusual in the old Div 4. He took so much flack from opposition defenders that it was a miracle he wasn't seriously injured.
Most of the football in those days was unbearably dire, but Robin shone like a beacon amongst it all. OK, he was a womanising, drug-taking, heavy-drinking pikey, but he was OUR womanising, drug-taking, heavy-drinking pikey. My time being a fan was beautifully enhanced by being able to say that Robin was our player. He is the one player that, if he could be brought back for a game now, but when he was at his best, I would swim oceans, cross deserts and climb mountains to watch him.
Truly a legend!!!

[Royal Lady]

Well I'd vote for Senior or Parky personally.

[Green]

Robin Friday for me, albeit before my time.

[Royal Biscuitman]

Mark Reily.