100 Years On: The Belfast Boy who propelled Reading to the league title

While Steve Clarke’s team of 2014/15 arguably went further by taking Arsenal to extra-time in the Wembley semi-final, Angus Wylie’s side remain the only Reading team to have reached the last four having begun their run in the first round.

The highlights of that run – the club record attendance set against Brentford, victory over Manchester United in a second replay and ultimately losing to the only non-English winners in the semi-final at Molineux – can be reeled off by many a Reading fan, young and old.

Those who are not au fait with this chapter of The Biscuitmen’s history can take a trip to Reading Museum, where an exhibit has recently opened entitled “Road to Glory: 100 Years On” which showcases many wonderful pieces of memorabilia from the cup run.

However, the exhibit also highlights a season in Reading’s history that is often overshadowed by the FA Cup heroics. The run to the semi-final against Cardiff City seems less of an anomaly when one considers Reading came into it as an all-conquering side – 100 summers ago, Reading were still basking in the glow of winning the 1925/26 Division Three South title, the first Football League triumph in its history.

Previously stalwarts of the Southern League, Reading were one of many clubs to benefit from the Football League’s expansion in 1920. After a single season, the new Third Division was split into North and South sections, and down south, Reading were making a modest start to Football League life, never finishing higher than 13th in their first half-decade, in which time they went through four managers. In comparison, from 1902 to 1920, they had just one.

Fortunes changed in the summer of 1925, when Wylie was appointed manager. Little is known of the teetotal Scotsman, including how he would have picked the Reading team, because the eleven for each game was still chosen by a board of selectors at that time. What we do know is that his arrival heralded a great upturn in fortunes, as Reading rose from 14th in the 1924/25 season to league champions in Wylie’s debut season.

Reading won 23 and lost just eight of their 42 matches, pipping a free-scoring Plymouth Argyle to first place by a single point and never losing successive matches. Many of the next season’s cup heroes – including goalkeeper Joe Duckworth, captain Bert Eggo and legendary centre-half Alf Messer – were all well-established in Wylie’s side by this stage, but it was the impact of a new forward that turned The Biscuitmen into title contenders.

In the market for a new goal-scorer (nothing much changes, does it?) Reading signed 27-year-old Hugh Davey from Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in 1925, during the 1924/25 season. Born in Belfast, Davey played for Glentoran before moving to England to join Blackburn Rovers in 1922, where he stayed for a season before heading to the south coast.

As the old saying goes: start as you mean to go on, and that’s exactly what Reading and Davey did when the 1925/26 season kicked-off at Exeter City, as the Belfast man scored two in a 3-2 win. He scored again in a 2-1 success away at QPR in the next match, and after six games, he had taken his personal tally to six. To highlight the significance of those goals, Reading were still unbeaten after six games, and none of their four wins had come by more than a single goal.

The Biscuitmen’s great start finally ended in game eight – a 4-1 defeat at Gillingham in which Davey grabbed the consolation – but he and the Berkshire side proved they were a force to be reckoned with in their very next match, a 3-0 victory over Luton, in which Davey scored all three.

His form could no longer be ignored by those back home, and in October 1925 was called-up to play for Northern Ireland. Governed by the Irish Football Association as it is today, the team was still generally referred to as “Ireland”, despite the recognition of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (and the formation of the Football Association of Ireland in Dublin) a few years earlier. Anyway, Davey made his “Ireland” debut in a 0-0 draw against England at Windsor Park.

Almost 20,000 packed into Elm Park for a meeting with title-rivals Plymouth, and yet again it was the Northern Irishman who made the difference, as his 12th of the season in as many games earned a 1-1 draw against the men from Devon. Reading lost just three times in their first 20 games, the last of which saw Davey add another brace in a 2-0 win over Swindon Town, likely to have been played close to Christmas.

It was around this time that Davey most likely picked up an injury. We know that he played 24 of the 42 league matches that season, and it certainly wasn’t form that kept him out of the side. What we do know is that the next 12 matches did not feature a Davey goal, as Wylie’s team saw their number of defeats double.

By the time Davey returned and added his 19th of the season against Norwich, Reading had made the move to sign Frank Richardson from Swindon, another forward with First Division experience from his time at West Ham United and Stoke City. Richardson was an instant hit, scoring 12 times in the last 13 matches of the season, notching doubles against Bristol Rovers and Northampton Town, to help take Reading over the finish line.

Davey and Richardson personify Reading’s 1925/26 and 1926/27 seasons almost too well, with the heroics of the latter – mixed with some First Division stardust – overshadowing the achievements of the former. A 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace meant, ahead of the final day, Reading needed to beat Brentford and hope Gillingham did them a favour by beating Plymouth. The Gills did just that, winning 2-1 as Reading thrashed the West Londoners 7-1 to secure promotion to the Second Division. With a second hat-trick of the season to finish nine goals clear in the club’s scoring charts, Davey should have been the hero, the only problem was, Richardson scored the other four.

Richardson would go on to be Reading’s main man up top in their first season in the Second Division, top-scoring with 19, and scoring nine times in 10 matches during the FA Cup run, scoring four in the three games against Manchester United and the only goal in front of the jam-packed Elm Park against Brentford.

Davey, meanwhile, would never again be used so regularly as he was in the 1925/26 season, after which, he played just 38 more times over two seasons. Often second fiddle to Richardson in an era when substitutes were still decades away, when he was given a chance, he almost always took it. For example, he scored 12 times in 10 appearances in the 1927/28 campaign, and when he did move on in 1928, he moved upwards, to First Division Portsmouth.

He also earned five Northern Ireland caps in total, scoring once, in a 3-3 draw against England at Anfield. In fact, three of his five appearances came against England, and he remained unbeaten against them.

After leaving Pompey, he returned home to Northern Ireland, playing for Belfast Celtic then retiring to run a pub and grocery business. He passed away in 1982 at the age of 85, meaning he was not alive to see Reading lift the Third Division title again in 1986, 60 years after he had done so. Somewhat ironically, it was Richardson who was the guest of honour to present the 1985/86 trophy to Ian Branfoot’s side, receiving the adulation of the Elm Park crowd one last time.

Both strikers should be remembered as greats of Reading’s pre-war history, but it should not be forgotten that it was Davey’s 23 goals in 24 league games – 12 of which came in one-goal wins or draws – and 26 in 28 in all competitions, that ultimately made the difference as The Biscuitmen won the title by a point and built the foundations for success in the Second Division and FA Cup the following year.

Reading Museum's "Road to Glory: 100 Years On" exhibit is open and free of charge until early 2027.