The history of Reading Football Club covers almost 150 years of both success and failure of the football club from Reading, England. The club was established in 1871, making it one of the oldest professional teams in England. Reading joined the Football League in 1920. The Royals competed at the top flight of English football for the first time in the 2006–07 season.
Early years (1871–1941) Reading Football Club was formed on 25 December 1871 by founder Joseph Edward Sydenham. They were originally nicknamed The Biscuitmen after one of the main trades in the town, Huntley & Palmers biscuits, but changed to the Royals in the 1970s, when the company closed their factory. This history is reflected in the name of the club's unofficial fanzine, Hob Nob Anyone?, named after a popular British biscuit.
The switch to professionalism in 1895 resulted in the need for a bigger ground and, to this end, the club moved again, to the purpose-built Elm Park on 5 September 1896.
In 1913, Reading toured Italy and beat Genoa 4–2 and A.C. Milan 5–0, narrowly lost 2–1 to Casale, before beating Italian champions Pro Vercelli 6–0 and the full Italy national team 2–0, prompting the leading sports newspaper Corriere della Sera to write "without doubt, Reading FC are the finest foreign team seen in Italy." Reading were invited back for another tour the following year, but there is no evidence it took place. It is possible it was cancelled due to the imminence of World War I, which claimed the lives of many Reading F.C. players, including Alan Foster, who put a hat-trick past Milan. Other players lost included amateurs Charles West and Heber Slatter. Attilio Fresia moved to Reading as a result of the tour, becoming the first Italian to play in English football.
Reading were elected to the Third Division of the Football League in 1920, as the league absorbed the first division club of the Southern Football League. The club have spent the majority of the time since then in the third and fourth tiers of the league, with occasional flirtations with the second tier.
Reading's best performance in the FA Cup came in 1926–27 when they lost to eventual winners Cardiff City at Molineux in Wolverhampton in the semi-final. The attendance at the 1–0 victory over Brentford in the fifth round set a new attendance record for Elm Park, at 33,042 people. This remains the highest attendance at a Reading home match.
Reading were promoted to the Second Division, following a Third Division South title win in 1926; the Royals were relegated back to the third tier in May 1931. The club defeated Bristol City to win the Southern Section Cup in 1938, and won the London War Cup in 1941 by defeating Brentford 3–2 in the final at Stamford Bridge.
Post-war years (1945–1990)
The club remained in Division Three after the war, but finished in second place in their division in 1948–49 and 1951–52. Their 10–2 win over Crystal Palace in September 1946 remains the club's scoring record.
Reading were relegated to the fourth tier of English football for the first time in the 1971–72 season. A return to the Third Division was achieved, following a third-placed finish in 1975–76, but the club suffered immediate relegation. The 1978–79 season saw Reading win the Fourth Division to win promotion back to the Third Division.
Relegation was suffered in 1982–83. Towards the end of that season, Oxford United chairman Robert Maxwell announced that he had completed a deal to merge Oxford and Reading into a single club – Thames Valley Royals. Maxwell claimed that both clubs were on the verge of bankruptcy and having a united team was required for the Thames Valley region to retain a Football League club. The proposed amalgamation was prevented by the actions of Roy Tranter, a Reading director, and Roger Smee, a former Reading player. Smee disputed the legitimacy of the controlling interest in Reading held by the three board members that supported the merger plan. Tranter launched a legal challenge to the sale of certain shares on 22 April 1983. The supporters of the plan allies resigned under pressure from the rest of the Reading board in May 1983. At an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in July, Smee took over the club to end the amalgamation plans.