Calendar Dates – Common Leeds and Reading professionals

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Common heroes and professionals linking Leeds and Reading - taken from my Calendar notes for "Royals Rendezvous" ...


2 January
Andrew Hughes – birthday
Andrew John Hughes (born 2 January 1978 in Manchester) is an English footballer, currently playing for Scunthorpe United. Known for his versatility, his main position is as a central midfielder, but he has also played regularly at fullback during his career. Hughes has played over 100 games for each of Notts County, Reading and Leeds United, and I believe his last league club was Scunthorpe.

Reading record: player from 2001 to 2005, making 168 appearances, and scoring 18 goals …



3 January
Les Goldberg (Gaunt) – anniversary

Les GAUNT (aka Les GOLDBERG) was a Reading FC player from 1946-1949, making 78 appearances and scoring 1 goal.

Goldberg is one of the few players to change his name, from Goldberg to Gaunt, by deed poll. He trained at Elland Road and won two England Schoolboy caps before joining the Leeds ground-staff in 1934, turning professional in May of the following year. He was at Right Back in two of the three games in the aborted 1939-40 season and he seemed set for a regular spot when the Second World War saw the Football League suspended with Goldberg having made twenty-one League appearances. During the war he guested for Arsenal, played a few games for United, Thirty in the War-time League and three in the War-time Cup, and saw service in India and then was stationed near Reading, in the role of Sergeant Instructor.
He left Leeds in March 1947 for Reading, where he changed his name to Gaunt in 1948. The name change did not bring him much luck as he lost his place through injury and then a broken leg at Norwich forced him to quit in 1950 after seventy-one League appearances and scoring one goal in seven F.A. Cup ties for Reading and he later managed Metropolitan League team Newbury Town. He later ran a menswear business and scouted for Reading and Oxford United. He returned to Reading in 1969 as an administrative and technical assistant to Jack Mansell.
One of his relatives has confirmed his death some 15-20 years ago …




14 January
Dylan Kerr - birthday
Dylan Kerr (born 14 January 1967 in Valletta) is a Maltese-born English former professional footballer. He played as a defender, specifically a left-back. In September 2009 he became an assistant manager with South African club Mpumalanga Black Aces.

Kerr began his career at Sheffield Wednesday in 1984. He didn't make any league appearances for the club in his four years at Hillsborough, and left to join South African club Arcadia Shepherds in 1988.

A year later, Kerr returned to England to join Leeds United. He only made thirteen league appearances in his four years at Elland Road. In 1993, Kerr moved to Mortimer Common and joined Reading, with whom he would make the most league appearances of his career: 89, including five goals. He was a member of the Royals' Division Two championship-winning side, and also when the club finished runners-up in the Division One the following season.

He had a further ten clubs as a player! After retiring, Kerr coached in the United States (specifically in Phoenix, Arizona) for a while. Unable to obtain a visa to extend his stay, he returned to Scotland, and worked as Argyll and Bute Council's Football Development Officer between 2005 and 2009. In September 2009, Kerr signed a contract as an assistant manager at South African club Mpumalanga Black Aces until June 2010 …

Reading record: player from 1993 to 1996, making 89 appearances, scoring 5 goals …


26 January
Ian Branfoot – birthday

Ian Grant Branfoot (born Gateshead, 26 January 1947) is an English former footballer and manager.
He played as a defender, and after starting at Gateshead joined Sheffield Wednesday, making his Football League debut in 1965. After 42 senior appearances for the club he left in 1969-70 for Doncaster Rovers. He made over 150 League appearances for Rovers, and after moving to Lincoln City in 1973-74, he went on to make over 150 league appearances for the Imps as well.
Branfoot was manager of Reading from 31 January 1984 to 23 October 1989, where he successfully managed the club to a record breaking start to the season of 13 straight wins in 1985, and led them to promotion to Division 2 as champions in 1986. The club maintained a 13th position the next season, but were relegated in 1988, but not before they won the Simod Cup on 27 March 1988.
He became manager of Southampton in June 1991, remaining in this position until January 1994. He then managed Fulham between 1994 and 1996. Branfoot was later had a spell at Sunderland A.F.C. as an academy director and at Leeds United as a scout.



31 January
RFC 1984
On today’s date in 1984, Ian Branfoot was made Reading FC manager. He has been one of Reading’s longest serving managers of all-time, stayimg 5 years and 265 days.

He played professionally as a defender, and after starting at Gateshead joined Sheffield Wednesday, making his Football League debut in 1965. After 42 appearances for the club he left in 1969-70 for Doncaster Rovers. He made over 150 League appearances for Rovers, and after moving to Lincoln City in 1973-74, he went on to make over 150 league appearances for the Imps as well.

Branfoot was manager of Reading from 31 January 1984 to 23 October 1989, where he successfully managed the club to a record breaking start to the season of 13 straight wins in 1985, and led them to promotion to Division 2 as champions that season. The club maintained a 13th position the next season, but were relegated in 1988, but not before they won the Simod Cup at Wembley Stadium on 27 March 1988, beating Luton 4-1.

He became manager of Southampton in June 1991, remaining in this position until January 1994. He then managed Fulham between 1994 and 1996. Branfoot was later had a spell at Sunderland A.F.C. as an academy director and at Leeds United as a scout.

Also see the Royal Calendar for 26th January …







8 April
Brian McDermott – birthday

Happy Birthday Brian McDermott !

Brian James McDermott (born 8 April 1961) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Slough, Berkshire, to Irish parents. His father hails from Co. Sligo and his mother comes from Co. Clare.

He joined Arsenal as an apprentice in 1977 and went on to play for Fulham, IFK Norrköping, Oxford United, Huddersfield Town, Cardiff City, Exeter City and Yeovil Town in a 14-year playing career during the 1980s and 1990s. At IFK Norrköping he was named Sweden's Player of the Year in 1984.

After management positions at Slough Town and Woking, McDermott joined Reading as Chief Scout in September 2000, taking over from the late Maurice Evans. McDermott also became the under-19s and reserve team manager, before taking over as caretaker first team manager following the departure of Brendan Rodgers on 17 December 2009. The following month he became the permanent manager of Reading - on 27th January 2010 signing a 12-month rolling contract. After that he led the Royals on a four-match winning streak in the league and into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 83 years after a 3–2 win over West Bromwich Albion. McDermott was nominated for Manager of the Month for February and won it in March.

McDermott oversaw another exciting FA Cup run in 2010–11, with victories over Premier League clubs West Brom and Everton before narrowly losing to eventual FA Cup winners Manchester City. In the Championship, the Royals recovered from a poor start to finish in 5th and secure a place in the Play-Offs. After a goalless first leg at the Madejski Stadium, Irish striker Shane Long scored twice in a 3–0 win at Cardiff to give Reading a trip to Wembley for the Play-Off Final on 30 May 2011, where his team lost 4-2 to Swansea City, managed by his old colleague, Brendan Rodgers.

The following season, on 17 April 2012, McDermott guided Reading to Premier League promotion with a 1–0 win against Nottingham Forest after a superb run of 15 wins in 17 games. On 14 May 2012, McDermott was named as the League Managers Association Championship Manager of the Year at the League Managers Association Awards.

McDermott took charge of his first top flight match as Reading manager on 18 August 2012, drawing 1–1 at home to Stoke. On Tuesday 30 October 2012, Reading were involved in an extraordinary League Cup match against Arsenal at the Madejski Stadium. Reading were 4–0 up after 35 minutes, but lost the tie 7–5 after extra time. After the match McDermott said: "It was kamikaze football. It's the worst defeat of my career." McDermott led Reading to their first Premier League win of the 2012–13 season on 17 November 2012 at the eleventh attempt, defeating Everton 2–1 at home. On 6 February 2013, McDermott was named Premier League Manager of the Month for January after guiding his side to victories over West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United as well as a hard-fought draw with then third place Chelsea. On 11 March 2013, and despite his success in January, McDermott was sacked from his position at Reading by owner Anton Zingarevich after a run of four successive league defeats

Following the departure of Neil Warnock in April 2013, Brian McDermott took over as manager of Leeds United on 12 April 2013 on a 3-year contract, with assistant manager Nigel Gibbs joining him at the club. McDermott stated that he would have initially waited until Summer 2013 to resume his managerial career but due to the status and position of the club decided to take charge with 5 games left of the 2012–13 season. His first match in charge was against Sheffield Wednesday on 13 April 2013 which resulted in a 2–1 win for Leeds at Elland Road.

By coincidence, the head coach of the high profile local professional rugby league team, Leeds Rhinos is also called Brian McDermott! McDermott revealed that he was a supporter of Sligo Rovers and that one of his goals was to manage the Republic of Ireland national side one day.




31 August
Ian Harte – birthday

Ian Patrick Harte (born 31 August 1977, in Drogheda, Republic of Ireland) is an Irish footballer who plays as a defender and is currently playing for Bournemouth following his release from Reading. He is best known for his spell at Leeds United and also his ability to score goals from long range, including being a free kick specialist. He also had contracts at Levante (2004-2007), Sunderland (2007-2008), Blackpool (2008-2009), Carlisle Uniterd (2009-2010), and Reading (2010-2013). . In the 1999–2000 season he helped Leeds reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, playing twelve games, scoring one goal. He then helped them reach the same stage of the UEFA Champions League in the 2000–01 season, playing 17 games and scoring three goals in the competition.

He has earned 63 international caps for the Republic of Ireland and has scored 12 goals.

On 31 August 2010, Harte signed for Championship club Reading on a two-year deal for £100,000. After his move to Reading, Carlisle manager Greg Abbott said his disappointment at losing Harte was tempered by the money received for team strengthening. Harte thanked manager Abbott, saying
"The move really came from nowhere but I have to be honest and say that it is nice to see a club at that level showing an interest. They are a big club who were in the Premier League just a few years ago. They are in the Championship and the chance to go and play at that level again was one I didn't want to miss. The difficult part was that I have really enjoyed my time at Carlisle. Greg Abbott has really looked after me and he was willing to give me a chance to get myself back into the game at a point when I didn't have a club. I can't thank him enough for that."
Harte scored on his debut from the penalty spot against Crystal Palace and then in his fourth appearance with a stunning free kick against Barnsley. He continued his fine scoring record (for a defender), which helped Reading maintain their challenge for the play-offs for the Premier League. On 9 April, Harte scored the opening goal in a 4–3 away win at promotion-chasing Nottingham Forest. In April, he was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year, following his appearance in the corresponding list for League One a year earlier. Harte also scored a superb free kick against Middlesbrough in a 5–2 win for Reading, and perhaps his best of the season away to Ipswich Town in a 3-1 win on 8 March. Harte was named as the n-power championship player of the month in March 2011. Harte also scored from the penalty spot away to Scunthorpe United on 12 April as Shane Long was unavailable; the game finished 2–0 to Reading.
Harte was part of a defence that shut out his old team Leeds United in 0-0 draws at both Elland Road and the Madejski. Harte was applauded throughout by the home fans (Leeds United). Harte played in a 3–2 defeat to Sheffield United at the Madejski Stadium on 25 April 2011. The game also involved a tribute for former Reading and Sheffield United player Chris Armstrong. Reading lost the game 3–2, the first defeat for Reading since the 4 February 2011 to QPR. Harte was named in the PFA team of the year for the second year running, after scoring 10 goals and helping to keep 14 clean sheets, though mainly for his set piece ability, having scored 6 free kicks, sharing corner duties with Jobi McAnuff and Brian Howard as well as being second in line to take penalties after Shane Long, scoring three. Harte also showed his aerial ability, with great power and accuracy in all of his headers.
In the 2011/12 season, Harte was one of the five key players who helped get Reading back to the Premier League along with Adam Federici, Jem Karacan, Kaspars Gorkšs and Jason Roberts. Once again, Harte was chosen for the PFA Team of the Year, becoming the only representative for Reading.
On 23 May 2012, it was announced that Harte had signed a new 1 year deal keeping him at the Madejski Stadium until 2013 after being offered a new deal. Before signing a new deal with Reading, Harte has revealed he rejected the chance of a return to former club Leeds when he got a phone call about 10 days ago saying Leeds were interested but he insists he is happy to stay at Reading. On 15 May 2013 Harte announced on Twitter that he would be leaving Reading at the end of the season with the club confirming his release nine days later. On 27 June 2013, Bournemouth announced that they had signed Harte on a one-year contract.

Reading record: Ian Harte was a Reading FC player from 2010 to 2013, making a total of 88 appearances, scoring 15 goals.



Jeff Gulliver - anniversary
Welshman Joffre "Jeff" GULLIVER played for Reading from 1946 to 1950, coming from the youth books at Leeds Utd – and played some 170 games for us but no 0 goals. The 1951-52 season he was playing at Swindon town, but only made 13 appearances there. At one point he represented the Welsh National team.
He died in 1999.










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