Here's a run-down on famed footballer and manager Steve Coppell - but totally from a Reading viewpoint I'm sorry to say (at least for going as posting on here). Quite a few will know me by now, A Royals fan in peace. I'd love to have some memories by yourselves to add to my Reading forum "Royals Rendezvous" - he is remembered big-time on there ... and I'm sure with you guys too.

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Stephen James "Steve" Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English former footballer and manager.
As a player, he was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed and work rate. He won domestic honours with Manchester United and represented England at the World Cup. An injury (to the knee) made it hard for his career to continue, so he went into managing instead.
He has managed Bristol City, Crystal Palace (four times), Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford, as well as guiding Reading to the Premier League for the first time in 2006.

Reading (2003–2009)
On 9 October 2003, Coppell was appointed manager of Reading, succeeding West Ham bound Alan Pardew (who had played under Coppell at Palace, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and had scored 'that' goal against Liverpool, in the FA Cup Semi-final). His first season in charge, 2003–04, was somewhat hampered by the season's transfer budget already having been spent by his predecessor. His second season in charge began well, and Reading raced to second place in the Championship but a run of eleven matches without a win between Boxing Day 2004 and the 3–1 home victory over Pardew's West Ham United on 12 March 2005 helped end their hopes of promotion as they finished seventh, narrowly missing out on a playoff place.
Reading dominated the Championship in the 2005–06 season, setting a new league record of 33 league games unbeaten between the opening day defeat by Plymouth Argyle and the loss at Luton Town in February; these were the only league defeats the team would suffer that season. On 25 March 2006 they clinched promotion to the top flight for the first time in their 135-year history thanks to a 1–1 draw away to Leicester City. Coppell's team secured the league title in the following week, with a 5–0 drubbing of Derby County, and they would go on to set a new English league record for the number of points won in a season, with 106. Following such an outstanding season in charge of Reading, Coppell was voted League Managers Association's Manager of the Year for both the Championship and the entire league,[10] and he also topped the Tissot League For Managers' Performance.
On 26 March 2007, Coppell broke with his usual tradition and signed a new two-year contract to keep him as Reading's manager until the end of the 2008–09 season. Coppell is well known for not voicing controversial opinions, but he broke with this habit on 9 April 2007, when he accused Charlton's Talal El Karkouri of cheating and faking a "death roll" to get Leroy Lita sent off after Lita appeared to headbutt him. Lita received a 3 match ban for the incident.
Reading finished their first season in the English top flight in eighth place, just one point short of UEFA Cup qualification. In recognition of this performance, Coppell won the Manager of the Year award for the second season in succession. Speaking earlier in the season, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said of Coppell: "I think it's totally deserved. It's a marvellous contribution he's made. And what's encouraging for the Premiership is that it's mostly British-based players in his side, with some Irish players thrown in. I think that says a lot for the way he has gathered his team together".
Reading's second season was not as good as their first season and it ended in relegation back to the championship. Coppell said he would consider his future as Reading manager. However, at a press conference on 20 May 2008 he cited the fans as an important factor in committing his future to the club for the 2008–09 season. Unusually for a club just relegated, Reading fans were so concerned that Coppell may feel honour-bound to resign that they launched a successful protest to convince Coppell to stay at the club.
Their initial form was promising, with Reading playing the free flowing football that got them promoted in record-breaking fashion in 2005–06. Reading equalled their highest win under Coppell with a 6–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday. They also beat the then league leaders Wolves 3–0 at Molineux. The latter half of the season was less impressive however, particularly at home where they failed to win a single match after January. Eventually they finished the league in 4th place after failing to secure a win against Birmingham that would have seen them promoted automatically. In Coppell's final game in charge, Reading lost their playoff semi-final against Burnley. He resigned as manager immediately after the game.

On 22 April 2010 Coppell was named as the new manager of Bristol City, with former caretaker manager Keith Millen staying on as his assistant. He began a 12-month rolling contract with the club on 11 May 2010 but, on 11 August 2010 after only four months in charge, Coppell resigned as Bristol City manager, saying that he would retire from football management altogether citing a lack of passion for the job.

In April 2012 he took over as director of football at Crawley Town. However, it should be pointed out that although the appointment was made days after previous manager Steve Evans left to manage Rotherham United, Steve Coppell is not the manager, leaving former assistant Craig Brewster in caretaker charge and later Richie Barker.

Royals Rendezvous - a specialist and friendly Reading FC fan forum opening its arms out to fans of all clubs ...

Sir Steve is ,and always will be, a legend at Selhurst.

" I hate those f@cking northern monkeys " The late Lenny Mclean.

Most of thats copied from wikipedia. Would you like me to copy and paste the palace sections for you?

Edited by Prin_cpfc (09 Jul 2013 9.13am)

Ah well

I haven' got time for everything that man has done for our club. As a few people on here have mentioned, legend is a word that is bandied around very easily, Sir Steve is a legend at this club imo.

In admin and the last game at SP for the season, he chucked his jacket into the crowd and quipped 'I couldn't believe it, I saw te guy go straight to the pockets and check for a wallet'. Again in admin at Fairfield halls for the trust meeting, he walked on stage and got a five minute standing ovation, fvcking hero to this club.It was him who, almost single handed, kept the club going through the first admin.

He gave us the best years in the club's history.

Legend.....he even managed our arch rivals, and we still think he is a legend. Say's it all really

Theres someone in my head ... But its not me

X/Box game Tag bazcpfc1961, clan (HMS)

and these here:

[Link]

Edited by daib0 (09 Jul 2013 11.23am)

Royals Rendezvous - a specialist and friendly Reading FC fan forum opening its arms out to fans of all clubs ...