Club legend.

[Brogue]

A phrase banded around too often imo.

Lots of people referring to Noel as a club legend on twitter. I wouldn’t put him in the bracket at all. A fairly average striker with a poor goals to games ratio.

So two questions really

1. Would you class Noel as a club legend
2. Who would you class a a club legend?

[Hendo]

Anyone who played a decent role in both Championship winning seasons go down as club legends, imo. Both those teams are cemented in immortality.

You'd then also be adding in your Shakas, Quinns, Lovells, Deaths, Fridays, etc...

[jd82]

1 - No
2 - Friday, Parkinson, Cureton, Coppell, SJM, Probably loads more you could make an argument for, but these were the first to come to mind.

[Brogue]

Anyone who played a decent role in both Championship winning seasons go down as club legends, imo. Both those teams are cemented in immortality.

You'd then also be adding in your Shakas, Quinns, Lovells, Deaths, Fridays, etc...

i politely disagree. shaun cumming played 36 times in the 11/12 season. he's not a club legend. nor is alex pearce 47 games simon church 33 games i could go on... Mathieu Manset, joseph mills.

if everyone is a legend then no-one is a legend. the word legend should be a differentiator. there can be no more than a few legends at a club or it becomes a meaningless phrase.

[JedMaxwell]

There's got to be loads behind the scenes that we don't really know about, who have been at the club for years and always been reliable.

Specific names don't really spring to mind, but I reckon anyone who was there at the start of Covid and still is now, is as much a legend as any player is. Those people must have been through hell so to get into a situation where the club looks to be on the up again must be great and I hope those people are recognised.

As far as players go, one of my favourites Ivar Ingimarsson. Such a good player and was always at least a seven out of 10, with the class as a person to match it. I think he played every minute in 05/06 then 06/07 and I can count on one hand the mistakes he made in that time.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

1. No. Hunt scored 7 goals in the championship season under Brian and only one which was crucial in the run in (at West Ham) so hardly played a key role. Roberts was the catalyst that season.

2. Legends are either players like Friday (someone iconic) or played the best part of their career at the club (Death, Hicks, Gilkes, Parky as examples in my time) or broke records (Senior). Probably also Cureton for that goal at Brentford.

[Esteban]

Anyone who played a decent role in both Championship winning seasons go down as club legends, imo. Both those teams are cemented in immortality.

You'd then also be adding in your Shakas, Quinns, Lovells, Deaths, Fridays, etc...

i politely disagree. shaun cumming played 36 times in the 11/12 season. he's not a club legend. nor is alex pearce 47 games simon church 33 games i could go on... Mathieu Manset, joseph mills.

if everyone is a legend then no-one is a legend. the word legend should be a differentiator. there can be no more than a few legends at a club or it becomes a meaningless phrase.

Are there any players who are legends from the McDermott title winning side? I wouldn't say so. Those players will always be viewed very fondly for their achievements, but not legends. Some legendary moments in that season for sure (Kebe's sockgate, McAnuff's 'Are we Up?', Leigertwood's goal against Forest, etc). I would say McDermott comes very close to legend status, given his history with the club and what he managed to do in his time as manager, but none of the players.

Ron Grant and Gordon Neate should probably feature. Roger Smee maybe does, given he saved us from oblivion and was a former player.

Is Olise in the conversation, given he's a former academy player and has just been nominated for the Balon D'or? Not sure.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Hunt fits the description for me. Not a great player, but got the club and gave everything, culminating in the 11/12 promotion.

He's then given a lot of his post playing career to the club during the dark days. He did a great job with the academy and got them into Europe, before taking on an impossible job when nobody else would after Selles left last year (and did a decent job too). When you talk nostalgically about the old "Reading Way", you're talking about characters like Hunt.

Doesn't mean he gets special treatment if he fails to turn it round on the pitch. Only make a club legend manager if you're willing to do the dirty if it doesn't work out.

[Mr Angry]

It's a completely subjective term; one man's "legend" is another man's "donkey".

If every Reading fan could only choose 5 people as "legends", then find out who the top five names were, those would be club legends.

And of course, those nominated would only be within the living lifetimes of current fans, so no Maurice Edelstone or indeed, very few for Maurice Evans.

My 5 (in no particular order):

Robin Friday
Trevor Senior
Jamie Cureton
Steve Coppell
Sir John Madjeski

[Snowflake Royal]

For Noel, he's getting there for me. Just being in the promotion squad under McDermott isn't enough in my book, though the better players like Kebe and McAnuff certainly get there. But since retiring, he's come back in, worked with the Academy players and then twice stepped in to manage the first team under pretty horrendous conditions. He did a great job keeping things on track after Selles left.

Hunt's been a key part as a player in only our second promotion to the Premier League, and at the nadir of the club as a coach and manager when we nearly went out of business entirely.

And he's a bloody lovely, hugely likeable and enthusiastic bloke.

So yes, Noel is in my club Legend pantheon.

[Snowflake Royal]

Anyone who played a decent role in both Championship winning seasons go down as club legends, imo. Both those teams are cemented in immortality.

You'd then also be adding in your Shakas, Quinns, Lovells, Deaths, Fridays, etc...

i politely disagree. shaun cumming played 36 times in the 11/12 season. he's not a club legend. nor is alex pearce 47 games simon church 33 games i could go on... Mathieu Manset, joseph mills.

if everyone is a legend then no-one is a legend. the word legend should be a differentiator. there can be no more than a few legends at a club or it becomes a meaningless phrase.

Pearce is a legend for being a player who went all the way through the Academy, into the first team, winning promotion to the PL for only our second time, and doing the slowest step over in history at Doncaster.

[Snowflake Royal]

It's a completely subjective term; one man's "legend" is another man's "donkey".

If every Reading fan could only choose 5 people as "legends", then find out who the top five names were, those would be club legends.

And of course, those nominated would only be within the living lifetimes of current fans, so no Maurice Edelstone or indeed, very few for Maurice Evans.

My 5 (in no particular order):

Robin Friday
Trevor Senior
Jamie Cureton
Steve Coppell
Sir John Madjeski

oxf*rd, 5 is HARD.

Coppell
Friday
Death
Madejski
Parkinson

And two of those I never saw for us.

[West F]

Noel is nowhere near legendary status. Legendary status means that your legacy stands up against and then beyond others. On the playing side of things, names such as Ronnie Blackman were spoken about by my Father, who scored 158 goals in 218 games for Reading. In more modern terms, players such as Robin Friday and Martin Hicks. Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty. Trevor Senior and Jimmy Quinn, all deserve differing levels of legendary status.

Off the pitch, the names that immediately spring to mind are, Roy Tranter and Roger Smee, who were instrumental in preserving the club and preventing it being lost to us forever. Trants was also a real gentleman and a pleasure to know. Also Frank Orton, who was club president, who even in his late eighties could outpace supporters in his enthusiasm to get to away games. From a management, coaching and administration point of view, I would say that the most important names are: Alan Pardew, Steve Coppell, Brian McDermott, John Stephenson, Nick Hammond, Brendan Rodgers, and of course Sir John Madejski. They took what Roy Tranter and Roger Smee saved, and built it into something we love enough to defend, hammer keyboards about, laugh and cry about. But very much part of us.

[Sutekh]

Noel is nowhere near legendary status. Legendary status means that your legacy stands up against and then beyond others. On the playing side of things, names such as Ronnie Blackman were spoken about by my Father, who scored 158 goals in 218 games for Reading. In more modern terms, players such as Robin Friday and Martin Hicks. Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty. Trevor Senior and Jimmy Quinn, all deserve differing levels of legendary status.

Off the pitch, the names that immediately spring to mind are, Roy Tranter and Roger Smee, who were instrumental in preserving the club and preventing it being lost to us forever. Trants was also a real gentleman and a pleasure to know. Also Frank Orton, who was club president, who even in his late eighties could outpace supporters in his enthusiasm to get to away games. From a management, coaching and administration point of view, I would say that the most important names are: Alan Pardew, Steve Coppell, Brian McDermott, John Stephenson, Nick Hammond, Brendan Rodgers, and of course Sir John Madejski. They took what Roy Tranter and Roger Smee saved, and built it into something we love enough to defend, hammer keyboards about, laugh and cry about. But very much part of us.

Plus I'd include Mick Gooding, Maurice Evans and Eamon Dolan.

[themwasthedays]

Personally I think a legend should be a one-off, any more and the meaning is diluted. As well as his footballing attributes It has to be someone with charisma, who will live in the memory down the generations. They will become almost an enigma, who had a certain 'je ne sais quoix'. I've seen many good & great players since my first match in 1965, but there is only one that will be remembered forever, for good (and sometimes not so good), because he had something that was so very, very special. That was Robin Friday.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Noel is nowhere near legendary status. Legendary status means that your legacy stands up against and then beyond others. On the playing side of things, names such as Ronnie Blackman were spoken about by my Father, who scored 158 goals in 218 games for Reading. In more modern terms, players such as Robin Friday and Martin Hicks. Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty. Trevor Senior and Jimmy Quinn, all deserve differing levels of legendary status.

Off the pitch, the names that immediately spring to mind are, Roy Tranter and Roger Smee, who were instrumental in preserving the club and preventing it being lost to us forever. Trants was also a real gentleman and a pleasure to know. Also Frank Orton, who was club president, who even in his late eighties could outpace supporters in his enthusiasm to get to away games. From a management, coaching and administration point of view, I would say that the most important names are: Alan Pardew, Steve Coppell, Brian McDermott, John Stephenson, Nick Hammond, Brendan Rodgers, and of course Sir John Madejski. They took what Roy Tranter and Roger Smee saved, and built it into something we love enough to defend, hammer keyboards about, laugh and cry about. But very much part of us.

Plus I'd include Mick Gooding, Maurice Evans and Eamon Dolan.

I'm afraid Maurice Evans, IMO, lost legendary status for me when he sat on the fence during the Oxford merger fiasco.

[MR. CYNICAL]

Noel is nowhere near legendary status. Legendary status means that your legacy stands up against and then beyond others. On the playing side of things, names such as Ronnie Blackman were spoken about by my Father, who scored 158 goals in 218 games for Reading. In more modern terms, players such as Robin Friday and Martin Hicks. Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty. Trevor Senior and Jimmy Quinn, all deserve differing levels of legendary status.

Off the pitch, the names that immediately spring to mind are, Roy Tranter and Roger Smee, who were instrumental in preserving the club and preventing it being lost to us forever. Trants was also a real gentleman and a pleasure to know. Also Frank Orton, who was club president, who even in his late eighties could outpace supporters in his enthusiasm to get to away games. From a management, coaching and administration point of view, I would say that the most important names are: Alan Pardew, Steve Coppell, Brian McDermott, John Stephenson, Nick Hammond, Brendan Rodgers, and of course Sir John Madejski. They took what Roy Tranter and Roger Smee saved, and built it into something we love enough to defend, hammer keyboards about, laugh and cry about. But very much part of us.

Plus I'd include Mick Gooding, Maurice Evans and Eamon Dolan.

I'm afraid Maurice Evans, IMO, lost legendary status for me when he sat on the fence during the Oxford merger fiasco.

[rabidbee]

<shrug>

We live in a world of constant, vacuous hyperbole, in which everything is so exaggerated it becomes meaningless. You can't simply be pleased or happy about something, you must now be "beyond delighted". Every single match on Sky must be marketed as the most exciting match up since the beginning of football. Obviously, it leaves no adequate adjectives or superlatives to describe things that are genuinely exciting or extraordinary, so it all just gets lost in the noise.

[72 bus]

Noel is nowhere near legendary status. Legendary status means that your legacy stands up against and then beyond others. On the playing side of things, names such as Ronnie Blackman were spoken about by my Father, who scored 158 goals in 218 games for Reading. In more modern terms, players such as Robin Friday and Martin Hicks. Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty. Trevor Senior and Jimmy Quinn, all deserve differing levels of legendary status.

Off the pitch, the names that immediately spring to mind are, Roy Tranter and Roger Smee, who were instrumental in preserving the club and preventing it being lost to us forever. Trants was also a real gentleman and a pleasure to know. Also Frank Orton, who was club president, who even in his late eighties could outpace supporters in his enthusiasm to get to away games. From a management, coaching and administration point of view, I would say that the most important names are: Alan Pardew, Steve Coppell, Brian McDermott, John Stephenson, Nick Hammond, Brendan Rodgers, and of course Sir John Madejski. They took what Roy Tranter and Roger Smee saved, and built it into something we love enough to defend, hammer keyboards about, laugh and cry about. But very much part of us.

Brendan Rodgers ?

[rightroyalkneesup2]

Noel is nowhere near legendary status. Legendary status means that your legacy stands up against and then beyond others. On the playing side of things, names such as Ronnie Blackman were spoken about by my Father, who scored 158 goals in 218 games for Reading. In more modern terms, players such as Robin Friday and Martin Hicks. Phil Parkinson and Graeme Murty. Trevor Senior and Jimmy Quinn, all deserve differing levels of legendary status.

Off the pitch, the names that immediately spring to mind are, Roy Tranter and Roger Smee, who were instrumental in preserving the club and preventing it being lost to us forever. Trants was also a real gentleman and a pleasure to know. Also Frank Orton, who was club president, who even in his late eighties could outpace supporters in his enthusiasm to get to away games. From a management, coaching and administration point of view, I would say that the most important names are: Alan Pardew, Steve Coppell, Brian McDermott, John Stephenson, Nick Hammond, Brendan Rodgers, and of course Sir John Madejski. They took what Roy Tranter and Roger Smee saved, and built it into something we love enough to defend, hammer keyboards about, laugh and cry about. But very much part of us.

Plus I'd include Mick Gooding, Maurice Evans and Eamon Dolan.

I'm afraid Maurice Evans, IMO, lost legendary status for me when he sat on the fence during the Oxford merger fiasco.

Bit harsh on Mo, especially as eye brows could've been his potential boss.