During the 1994–95 English football season,
Reading F.C. competed in the
Football League First Division
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
, following promotion from the Second Division the previous season.
Season summary
Mark McGhee left Reading in December to take over at
Leicester City. Players
Jimmy Quinn,
Mick Gooding,
Ady Williams
Adrian Williams (born 16 August 1971) is a former Wales international footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, Ameri ...
and
Jeff Hopkins
Jeffrey Hopkins (born 14 April 1964) is a former Welsh international football defender and current Melbourne Victory Women head coach, who most notably played club football for Fulham and Reading in the Football League.
Club career
Hopkin ...
acted as caretakers until January, when Quinn and Gooding were named as full-time player-managers. The inexperienced duo led Reading to second in the First Division. In any other season this would have been enough for promotion to the
Premier League, but due to restructuring of the league, only two teams would be awarded promotion, and therefore Reading entered the play-offs.
After beating
Tranmere Rovers 3–1 on aggregate (3–1 and 0–0 over two legs) they travelled to
Wembley to face
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
. Reading were 2–0 up within 12 minutes and appeared certain to be playing top-flight football for the first time in their history next season, but Bolton fought back to score twice in the last 15 minutes to take the game to extra time. Bolton scored twice more in extra time to lead 4–2. Although player-manager Quinn, on as a second-half substitute, pulled one back in the 119th minute, Bolton held on to win and sealed promotion to the Premier League at Reading's expense. Following the final defeat, it would be eleven years before Reading finally experienced top-flight football.
Squad
Left club during season
Transfers
In
Loans in
Released
Competitions
Division two
Results
League table
Play-offs
=Final
=
FA Cup
League Cup
Squad statistics
Appearances and goals
, -
, colspan="14", ''Players who appeared for Reading but left during the season:''
Goal Scorers
Team kit
Reading's kit for the 1994–95 was manufactured by
Pelada, and the main sponsor was
Auto Trader.
Notes
References
Soccerbase.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1994-95 Reading F.C. season
Reading F.C. seasons
Reading