Two former Reading FC legends had nothing but love for Sir John Madejski after his rousing reception at Saturday’s legends match.

Madejski, owner of the club from 1990-2012 and now a self-dubbed ‘honorary patron’, gave the two sides his traditional speak in the changing room ahead of kick-off and rallied the supporters on the pitch, greeted to a rapturous applause and cries of ‘there’s only one John Madejski’.

Simon Cox and Ibrahima Sonko, both on Steve Coppell’s team for an 8-5 defeat to Brian McDermott’s team, described how special it was to have the 81-year-old AutoTrader founder in their company again.

Speaking on the 1871 podcast, striker Cox said: “To have Sir John back in the dressing room before the game was legendary. He put the foundations down. I was a fan when we left Elm Park and was at the first game at the Madejski Stadium, so he deserves a lot of credit for what Reading Football Club used to be.

 

Reading Chronicle:

 

“If he had the money, if he was a billionaire, then he would probably still be involved in the club, and it would be run in a different way. Unfortunately, times change and sometimes you have to sell a club for the better of the club and its then down to whoever owns it to run it how they see fit.

“For him to be back in front of the crowd again and them singing his name it was just really nice to see.”

 

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41-year-old Sonko, otherwise known as ‘Superman’, went one stronger and called Madejski “the biggest Reading legend there is.”

“Without him there would be no us. It was the complete picture to have him in the dressing room”, he concluded.