He's M.U.R.T.Y!!!!
The heading says it all!!!! since tuesday's result against burnley meaning that we didnt end up in the playoff final on may 25th, alot has happened at the Mad Stad!!!
First Coppell resigns on tuesday night, then Downes and Dillon go on weds, followed by MURTY, MARCUS, DOOBS and LITA being released by the club (they were all out of contract in the summer and were told by nicky hammond that they werent going to be renewed) - only Gunnarsson got an extention. While i wasnt shocked at the others, I was with Murty!!! this guy has been so much more than a captain to the club!! he IS Reading FC!!! he has been at the club for ten years and while this season hasnt been his best because of injury, i can say on behalf on the reading fans, this is one player that we will miss around the club!! adn within the community!
the plus side is we will be able to get to say goodbye to him and thank him for everything he has done for the club on jul 21st!! as it was announced that his testimonial will go ahead. its going to be the current team v the championship winning team of 05/06!!! so not only is Murty going to be there, but Marcus, Coppell, etc will be back!! it will be interesting to see if they get Sidwell, Shorey, Oster, Convey back too!! but either way its going to be a great send off for all of them, but esp the man in question!!! MURTY IS A LEGEND AND ALWAYS WILL BE!!! another aspect that i will miss, is him and Karen Murty being on the radio the monday after a game! not many players would take the abuse he has over the radio from fans week in week out when the team hasnt preformed, and i doubt that none would come onto the radio the day after we get relegated and spend 2 and a half hours on teh radio answering calls from the fans!!! he's going to be ireplaceable in so many respects and i will wear my Number shirt 2 with pride and i hope that he does come back when he can!! (will be looking out for who he joins thats for sure, my money is Charlton with Parkinson!!!)
i have been lucky enough to mee Murty and Marcus on several occasions (from before the game at the players enterance to the book signing with Marucs in dec 07 and the BBC Sports award show a few years ago). On big occasions like the award show, both players took the time to come, meet and talk to me for a long time about a variety of things, including the football obv! :) this made the night even more special as i had won the tickets for voting for Murty to win sports personality of the year!
Two more mentions go to all the other departing members of the club! its an end of an era and its going to be interesting to see what happens next. the last few season have been some of the best in the clubs history and we will never forget whats happened!! Thanks to all that helped that happen. And the second mention goes to Karen Murty and Amanda Hahnemann, who have done so much work over the last few years within the community and raising money for serveal local charities! this has been majorly successful and they to will be a hard act to follow!!