Reading FC confirmed that club legend Steve Coppell will be in attendance for Saturday’s match at the Select Car Leasing Stadium when the Royals host Barnsley.
The stakes are high going into the final game of the regular season with the final play-off spot still up for grabs.
Reading will either need to beat Barnsley and hope that Leyton Orient drop points at Huddersfield, or claim a draw in the hope that Orient are beaten as both sides go into the final day level on points, but Orient boasting the stronger goal difference.
With a bumper crowd expected at the SCL which is likely to be the highest of the campaign, fans were given another boost with the announcement that Coppell will be in attendance.
Coppell was in charge at Reading from 2003-2009 and led the club in its most successful period.
Coppell’s team won promotion from the Championship to the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history in the 2005/06 season with a record breaking 106 points.
They then went on to a remarkable 8th placed finish in their first ever season in the top flight in 2006/07.
Current manager Noel Hunt was signed as a player by Coppell back in the summer of 2008 as he was purchased from Dundee United for around £600,000.
Hunt spent five seasons with Reading, including a Championship winning season under Brian McDermott in 2011/12 before he returned to the club as under 21s manager and then took the hot seat as first-team boss when Ruben Selles departed in December 2024.
