Reading host newly promoted Sunderland tomorrow looking to make it five straight home wins in the Championship.
Here are six players who played for both in the last 20 years.
John Oster
A Football League stalwart, Wales international Oster cost the Mackems more than £1m in 1999 and he would go on to play almost 70 times in the next six years, being sent out on loan four times and playing rarely after an incident involving an air rifle.
However, Steve Coppell picked the winger up in 2005 and he played over 40 times as the Royals romped to the Championship title.
Another strong 31 appearances in the club’s debut top-flight campaign, another 18 followed as they were relegated, and he was released having made 90 appearances in total.
A regular for the likes of Crystal Palace and Doncaster Rovers after leaving Berkshire, retiring in 2015.
Paul McShane
A Manchester United Academy graduate, an impressive loan stint with Brighton and Hove Albion in 2005/06 prompted West Bromwich Albion to pick him up the following summer.
Just one season with the Baggies later, Sunderland paid £1.5m for the central defender. After 24 Premier League appearances in three years, the Republic of Ireland star joined Hull City where he enjoyed his best spell of his career.
Earning promotion with the Tigers in 2013, he was a key member of the team which reached the FA Cup Final in 2014 and captained the side on occasion. 136 appearances on Humberside, Reading picked him up on a free in 2015.
Becoming undroppable almost instantly, he was club captain from 2016 until 2018.
Released in 2019 after just five appearances in the season, he made a total of 103 starts for the club before going on to play for Rochdale and incredibly making a return to the Red Devils- assisting young players in the Under 21 side.
Anton Ferdinand
Famously the brother of Rio Ferdinand, one of the greatest central defenders this country has produced, younger brother Anton had a successful career in his own right.
After making more than 150 appearances for boyhood club West Ham United, Roy Keane signed him as Sunderland boss in 2008 where he enjoyed a fruitful three-year association.
85 starts on Wearside, a reported falling out with then-manager Steve Bruce limited his playing chances and a move back to the capital, with Queens Park Rangers, followed.
At the time, the Loftus Road outfit were not the well-run club they are now, and a team of high earners were relegated, along the Royals, in 2013.
Ferdinand was included in the fire sale, moving abroad, and featuring for two clubs in the Turkish Super Lig.
Signing for Reading in 2014, he was injury-struck from the start and did not make his debut for another three months.
It would be a sign of what was to come, playing just 21 times for the club across two seasons and he was released in 2016.
Back to playing regularly lower down the pyramid, he last played for St Mirren in 2019 after a two-year stint with Southend United.
Vito Mannone
A product of the Arsenal youth set-up, Mannone had worked his way through the pyramid before joining Sunderland permanently in 2013.
The Italian enjoyed a successful debut season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award as they went all the way to the final of the League Cup.
Playing less regularly as it went on, his final season of a four-year spell saw relegation from the Premier League under David Moyes.
Despite becoming a rotation player for the North-East outfit, Paul Clement forked out a reported £2m on the shot stopper, signing a three-year contract.
Hardly missing a game in his first season, as the club avoided relegation from the Championship on the final day, he played just six more times in two years after falling out of favour.
Loans to Minnesota United and Esbjerg took him to his contract expiration, before jumping to Ligue 1 with Monaco.
He is currently a free agent having been released by the French club over the summer.
John O’Shea
A universally respected figure in British football, O’Shea’s career spanned two decades and almost 120 Republic of Ireland caps.
A Manchester United Academy graduate, he spent 12 years in Lancashire as one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s most trusted defenders for crucial matches.
Winning five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and a Champions League, Steve Bruce signed him on a four-year deal in the summer of 2011.
After almost 400 appearances for the Red Devils, he made another 256 in six Premier League campaigns with the Black Cats, and another 40 appearances as the club were relegated back-to-back into League One- captaining the side for the majority of it.
Leaving the Stadium of Light in 2018 at 37 years of age, the Royals took the defender on a one-year deal.
Making nine appearances, O’Shea was given a guard of honour on the final day draw with Birmingham City after the centre-back had announced his retirement the previous month.
Staying in Berkshire, he became a popular figure on the coaching staff at the club, remaining until July 2021. He is now with Alex Neil at Championship rivals Stoke City.
Ovie Ejaria
The only current player for either side who is still playing for one of them, Ejaria is likely to be missing the game against Sunderland due to injury.
On loan in the North-East from Liverpool in 2018, the 24-year-old scored one in 11 appearances before being sent to Scottish giants Rangers following their relegation to League One.
14 appearances for the Ibrox club followed a half season stint on loan in Berkshire, helping keep the club in the Championship.
Impressing so much, he returned on loan for the following season, featuring 39 times, and made the move permanent in the summer of 2020 for a reported £3.5m.
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