Episode 13 Late Kick Off South, South West and West

We have one title winner, one promotion, one relegation, two

survivors and a host of others battling to stay up. Oh, and a

member of the Royal Family. I'm James Richardson. This is our

Coming up, they are: Reading. The chairman mobbed, the fans delirious.

Mad scenes at the Mad Stad as the Royals take the Championship.

In the meantime, this calls for another round - the Hammers ensure

Saints' promotion push goes to the weekend.

Elsewhere, Bristol City celebrate not leaving the Championship, while

yes we Di Canio! Swindon are back in League One. But will their boss

still be with them? All that plus Portsmouth in the

third tier for the first time for 30 years. But the support,

undaunted. We will still be here, no matter

what division we are in. Hello, and thanks for joining us on

Late Kick Off. Graeme and Leroy will be along shortly, but first in

a very special show today we're joined by Noel Hunt of newly-

promoted Championship champions Reading.

How are you feeling? Ecstatic. Joyeux Noel in a very real sense,

fresh from celebrating what ranks as one of the most remarkable

promotion campaigns in a long while, acampaign that over the last seven

days has come to a happy conclusion. Midweek promotion party fever. Bits

is what the pitch looked like last Tuesday when the motion was one.

These begin it was business as were down to ten men. Jason Roberts

was sent off for use of the elbow. Undaunted in the second half, the

cue for the traditional fare well, but not the end of the day.

Attention turned to Middlesbrough, where Reading's closest rivals

had barely sat down to watch the Late Show. Right now the chances of

a defeat to can be title to the Royal its -- hand the title to the

Middlesbrough won the game up with through the second half. The final

whistle meant Southampton's promotion were still uncertain, and

the title had been handed to It is all about community. It is

all about fellowship. We are not brash. We do it our own way. We do

it the Reading way. Long may it continue.

Reading's route to the Championship did not promising last autumn as

Southampton and West Ham took command. But thanks to a brilliant

form, the Royals have become upwardly mobile. Now the trophy

We love it! My word, remarkable scenes. The

graphics told the story. Was there a moment when you thought wow, we

could do this? It was all about the run from after

Christmas. The West Ham game was the one where we could have done it.

When we beat them, we started to believe we could have got promotion.

Last season in it so bitterly. -- ended so bitterly. It was the worst

day of my life, horrible. A year later, we have turned it around. It

is the best feeling in the world. You mention that you have kept

going. This year has been different. 15 wins in 17? Were you shocked by

that within the team? Everyone was shocked. But we knew we were

capable of it. The manager never once said we could not do it. He is

the man. He has never got one wrong for me in two years. In him we

trust. Jason Roberts, that was quite

impressive. Does that take practice? Years of practice!

Jason Roberts was teat -- tweeting that he was in the dressing room

thinking this could be the nicest group of people I have ever worked

with. That is the Reading Wakeham is it?

It is the Reading way. People are honest, hard-working. Off the ball,

we proved that. Can that work in the Premier League? Yes, absolutely.

Norwich and Swansea have kept the same bunch of players. They have

done well. We asked how people felt about

Reading becoming champions. Helen said, I refuse to watch. Why was

too nervous. -- I was. I bet you can't wait for next season to

start? And no, this is it. We have got one

game left and we want to win it. Then it's the holidays and the hard

work. The first game will be special for us all.

Meanwhile the battle for the other automatic promotion will go to the

final weekend. Southampton have been there or thereabouts all

season, but West Ham's win at Leicester this evening means Saints

still need a point on Saturday to clinch second place. This is the

moment Saints' agony was prolonged. This one of West Ham's goals to

keep the Hammers within touching distance of Southampton. For Saints

fans across the south coast city, the nervy wait goes on. They need a

point at home to relegated Coventry on Saturday to seal second place.

But is that a consolation to the fans who watched West Ham win this

evening? Not very happy but I knew it was

going to go down to the end. I reckon Southampton have got the

talent to finish it off. It will be a good day on Saturday.

We are going to turn over Coventry and we will be up.

It is going to be hot enough staff. I'm nervous, I admit.

If we play to our best, we will walk it.

It is going to be really tight again.

Are they going to go up? Yeah, I think so. They have been fantastic

all season. They have been consistent. They are a good second.

What kind of opponents have they been?

They were the hardest. St Mary's is a hard place to go and get a result.

Not many teams have done it. Many congratulations and thank you

for joining us on the show. Have you got a view on Reading's

rise? Let us know on Twitter. Still to come on Late Kick Off,

Paolo Di Canio. He's coming up, so are Swindon, not necessarily to the

same place, though. And heading the other way but with heads high,

Portsmouth. All that to come plus Leroy and

Murts too. Right now, though, let's turn our attention to Leroy's old

club, Bristol City. All season long the Robins have been flirting with

relegation only to stand her up at the last and send her home with

just a peck on the cheek. While she finds another, City will definitely

be playing in the Championship next season. Here are the sights and

sounds of a precious win over Nervous times, I think. Today is a

big game for us. Absolutely massive. Very, very nerve-racking. It has

Bristol City are looking for the goal. It will get their survival

finds it! It does not get any better than that. A local boys

scoring a goal which could go a long way to securing their place in

ensures a second goal and steers Bristol City towards the

Into the final markings for Bristol City. And the referee blows the

whistle. We are staying up, they say.

Absolutely phenomenal, mate. Loving it, mate. Another season in the

Championship. Things are a bit more muted. Hello,

by the way! Just saying, things are more muted inside the brittle city

locker-room. They said they should not even have got it in that

position. He has only signed a couple of

players family. He has done it with nine players. It is a fantastic

achievement. -- with unknown players.

Is he going to have a good budget? They are not going to be left short.

They don't want this to happen again. It is not going to be one of

the best budgets in the division, but it will be something they can

be competitive with. They are not going to be in the

relegation but missed it has no I Graeme, you have put on your

coaching cap. What am I working Third man. That takes hours of

repetition and knowledge of where to go up. It just so happens that

to go up. It just so happens that such as the Fletch and I went and

put on a draw for the kids. Basma This is explaining the term Third

man running. It happens everywhere on the pitch. It allows a third

receiver to have an impact on the game. What we are going to do is we

are playing to the centre forward. The defender goes tight, drops off.

The wide man is going to come in. Lay it off. This centre forward is

going to pull out. This player will go tight, open this bathe for the

This is the third man money. -- You have got to have players who

are willing to get forward. Indeed it sent a midfielder, someone who

is going to sit. -- a centre midfielder. As much as everybody

wants to come forward, you have got to have somebody prepared to sit

back and be disciplined. So many times you see midfielder's getting

in over the top. You get a late How often doesn't it come off?

Defensive tactics are such that it would come off very often but when

it does, it looks so fluid and wonderful. It's an example of

fantastic football. I am sure it is. All right, well, Bristol City safe

then, but they weren't the only ones battling the drop this weekend.

Portsmouth, are down to the third tier, for the first time in 30

years. For others though, the fight is not over.

Robbie Williams's excellent free- kick... Whether they go up from

lead to is still to be decided. They dropped out of the play-off

positions after this. Well done to Walsall were in front at half-time.

The Exeter defence opened up far too easily. The Gracias a year that

anything less than a win would see them relegated. The prospect of a

return to lead to was again on the cards when Walsall has restored

their advantage to 2-1. Or sold then had a player sent off. Exeter

had over 20 minutes left to find a winner over 10 men. This they did,

thanks in no small part to this equaliser. Exton need to win both

their remaining matches and hope the other results go their way if

they are to stay up. They scored nine of goals in their last three

matches. But there is a chance that Exeter can't believe they will do

it. -- Exeter cannot believe. not a lot Wickham could do about

Charlton's opener. Charlton became League One champions. Wycombe have

to difficult league games to come. It is not looking good. Portsmouth

chances were not very good. There were extinguished at full-time.

Pompey came about strong in the second half. Varney equalise for

Portsmouth but the odds were always stacked against them keeping their

status. There was a penalty scored by Steve Davis. Portsmouth will

Get some decent players in and we will be out of League One at the

end of next season. For Pompey fans of the world's best. That is for

certain. That is the situation at the bottom

of League One. Wycombe at Exeter need to win if they are both --

both their remaining games. That was someway go! What about

Wickham? Can they stay up? I think they can, it is still possible.

There is a possibility of them do it. He it doesn't look good for

Exeter but at least they are prepared. They are prepared. They

have been prepared to go down and the finances are in place. There

are sticking to budget. Exeter almost went out of existence very

recently. Face similar story to Portsmouth, there will be happy to

be illegal. They are not happy to be going down that they are happy

that as a club, the funds are involved. They are making sure that

they live within their means. That is important.

Back to the flip side of the whole teams going down business; teams,

coming up - and next, Swindon! Where Paolo Di Canio has greeted

promotion is his usual quiet, uncontroversial manner. All right,

no, he hasn't! Paolo, in fact, telling the BBC, he was ready to

walk out of the club a few weeks ago. And having a real go at some

of his squad's attitude too. Swindon at a Gillingham and the

Croat was awash with red after the game. The Robins bounced straight

back into League One at the first time of asking. 45 days ago, he had

threatened to resign. There was a secret. It didn't say why a was

I gave my word to the fans and the board and my players. I thought if

I go now, they will not go up. If they go to the play-off, they will

lose. He has been caught by both personal and club crisis in the

last few days. The death of his mother, and then a public

embarrassment for the club, after players were involved in a drinking

binge. Result? Age changes for this game. Four players dropped for

their involvement in last week's night out. They were stupid. You

can celebrate with one, two or three glasses of red wine or

champagne. But why get drunk? I do not see why. I prefer to stay cool.

A much time and Gillingham went I did a fantastic job. I can tell

you now. I did a fantastic job. And maintained the attention of them

all. We can lose easily to any solid but the job we did today is

special. A special a fantastic. -- special and a fantastic. He has

done a fantastic job but saying that he was going to resign, is

that that right time to be carried out with that? It is a call to say,

come and get me because I might be available. And to the board at

Swindon, if I don't get what I want, will be off. It is a double-sided

threat. I don't like to hear that because they've done fantastically

well with the players have have worked extremely hard. It's not the

right time. The was also say he didn't want to celebrate -- he was

also say he doesn't want to be celebrating or for long. He is a

winner but he wants it. We just had a champion sat here and the

championship of your league is the thing to have. He is right to

wanted. He is passionate. He doesn't feel that his parents --

players wanted at the same intensity that he does.

Now, behind Swindon, three more sides from our region are hoping to

bust out of League Two. Let's see how they fared this weekend,

starting with Crawley. Last week we showed you how these

players did the twist like this! It is now 13 league games unbeaten for

Crawley. A brilliant equaliser from a bigger move. Alexander Neelie won

Both of Wimbledon's goals came late. Come on, Torquay! Be it is a big

game because Crewe beat Cheltenham, who have now failed to score in

seven of their last nine league games. They should still get into

The you were talking about momentum. None of the sides there have got it

right now. You could add at Crawley to that as well. They seem to have

lost their way. They need to get there were at it over the line. If

it doesn't matter how it comes, they just need a 1-0, and care how

it goes, but get three points and get them automatic promotion or in

the play-offs. He was looking best for the play-offs? Flip a coin. It

is about who performs on the day. Get in there first and before the

day. There are some teams that a

wraparound centimes that Vendome. Then there are teams that are

neither up nor down and it is to those size that we turn next. How

ready are they for next season? It is seven without a win it now

seagulls are now, probably. Brighton are definitely a team to

tip for a top-six finish this time next year. Look for intelligent

play from Thomas. He knows he is in an offside position so he doesn't

move. He remains inactive. Thomas just fails to make contact at the

end of this cross. Colchester have equalised late on. Gary Johnson was

thrilled with the way his team performed to guarantee their place

in League One and so he should be. They were heading for a third

defeat but they came back strongly to a point. Andy Williams made it

2-1 and then another player got a stoppage time equaliser. Other

results went Yeovil's way and they can now look forward to next season.

Gary will no doubt have plenty of plans in mind as he plots a way

when you hear him speak, he now knows he is going and where he is

taking Aldershot. This player got their third and 4th goals and was

an excellent signing. Keeping him a fit and firing it could be a

pointer as to how they will do. mentioned last week how Rovers are

building well under Mark McGhee but this was a poor day. There was a

red card for this awful challenge. What is it like at the end of the

season? If it would be easy to turn off and to lose your focus. That is

what the managers are looking out for. He is secure for those who can

trust next year. If you are a player, don't switch off because

the managers are looking for those players he can trust to build his

own squad. There is only three-and- a-half months until the new season

begins. The it is going to be the longest pre-season for some of

those players. So many clubs have to learn lessons from this time

around. Anyone in particular you want to pick out? How I think you

Oval did fantastically well. They have done well to stay in League

One and they will need to get players in more permanently.

For thanks very much, Leroy, and thank you, Graham. Next week,