By Selby Armstrong, Assistant Kitman
My debut as the kitman in charge obviously came in unfortunate circumstances due to Ron Grant's fall over Christmas. It happened on the evening of Boxing Day, just after our 1-1 draw at West Ham United. To say I was thrown in at the deep end with the games over Christmas would be correct.

Around Christmas we had Tottenham on the 29th and then the Pompey home game on New Years Day. So we were in working almost every day over Christmas. And on Boxing Day it was a late finish after a busy day. West Ham was an early kick off so we were at work early and finished quite late as well. Ronnie rang me at around 10pm, I was sat down getting ready to watch Match of the Day. I answered and he said straight away, 'we've got a problem'. He didn't sound good, I asked him what was wrong and he said he was in an ambulance on his way to A&E.

I could tell straight away from the sound of his voice that it was serious and not just a minor scare. As soon as I came off the phone, and with the Spurs game just two games away, I started thinking away what to do. He had the boots in the back of his van, and we needed them cleaned so players can wear them in training, because some of them use the same ones in training as matches.

I swapped vans with Ron the next day and just ploughed on from there. I was thrown in at the deep end, but thankfully I didn't have any major issues.

I knew pretty much most of what needed to be done, but there were still a few things which I needed to learn quickly. For instance, the way we do teamsheets and passing on the notes for substitutions to fourth officials. That was the one thing that I'd never been involved in, Ron kept that to himself.

Every club is different, at some places the secretary or manager will fill in teamsheets. But the way we do it at Reading is that the kitman does all the subs cards and fills them in. So I write in the 16 players and six staff who are sat on the bench and then the manager signs it.

My first game on my own I was at Tottenham, the first time for 15 years that Ronnie hadn't filled it in. And for that game I had to do the whole process myself because the team were late, I had to sign it in places of Steve Coppell and hand it in to the referee! And that was the day we lost 6-4 at White Hart Lane, so it wasn't the happiest debut.

There are lots of little things which we need to be aware of and involved in on a matchday. And although they are little things, they are important for different reasons. Take the drinks bottles for example.

We have a contract with Lucozade which means that the more sightings of the bottles, the more money the club earns. These bottles are under our control, so it's down to the kitman to make sure they are in position. I remember the game against Manchester City two seasons ago when Ivar Ingimarsson got injured heading our goal. We had so many sightings on that day because it was a live game, and Jon Fearn was squirting Ivar in the face with the Lucozade bottle to bring him round. That was all in all the most sightings on any given occasion that we had of any player with Lucozade during our two seasons in the Premier League.

And there are other contractual issues we must be aware of. We're not allowed any logos on view other than the club shirt sponsor and kit manufacturer. So if a player has his own personal top, gloves or cycling shorts, the logos will need to be covered up or cut out - we had a lot of that with the Under Armour wear that some of our players like to wear. The buck stops with us if they are seen on tv or in the newspapers. And the Football Association are quite switched on over the issue - they will send a letter of warning if we miss something.

Home matchdays are busier for us than away ones due to the extra jobs we have to do at our stadium. Things like getting things ready for the referee and his assistants. We organise things like towels and drinks for the referee and his officials. They just turn up with his boots and kit really and we do everything else for him really.

We start our routine for home matchdays on a Thursday before a Saturday typically. After training on a Thursday we start putting the kit out in the home dressing room. There's an element of trying to guess what the team is going to be, which can help us to be ready. Our manager is quite good in those terms, but I don't envy the Liverpool kitman for example because a manager like Rafa Benitez makes so many changes to his team. I don't suppose the Liverpool kitman can have a clue what the team would be on a given weekend. As long as Steve Coppell has no injuries or suspension, you can almost guess it.

So I'll normally put 18 or so kits out - the 16 I think will be in the squad and the two that could most likely be a surprise. It's easier to do it that way around by putting kits out and then away again on matchday than being caught on the day looking for kit.

Most of the work is done on the Thursday or Friday. Friday is always a short day as the players don't do much training on a Friday before matchday. So on Friday we finish off bits and bobs and everything is done for Saturday morning. That way there is less rushing around on matchday.

The list of things to do on matchday is long with lots of little jobs. It's like a routine, filling up drinks bottles, putting out fruit and pumping up footballs. We leave the balls until matchdays so that they haven't deflated overnight at all.

On Saturday, once the manager has come in and written the names on the board, I have a look to see if there are any changes. If that's the case, I'll wait for the matchday hospitality tours finish off coming in and meeting players before going to get the other kit out. I always wait for them to leave just in case some team news is leaked - you never know who might see the shirts hanging up - a kitman can never be too careful!

Some players arrive from around 11.30am for their pre-match meals, but there's only a few who do that now - most have their own routines, such as Marcus, who likes his hot-tub at home before he comes in. Some like to be early but some like to be here as late as possible, which is 1.40pm.

After the game the clean-up operation begins in the tunnel once the players leave. The dressing rooms all need sweeping out and tidying up. We have duty boys who I organise to do that, our academy scholars who are on a rota system from game to game. They all have their own duties, and some are more enthusiastic than others. You don't tend to get too many moans from them when they're on duty for the likes of Liverpool or Arsenal though - it gives them a chance to get a few autographs after the game.

I'm often asked about superstitions and every team has some players who have them. Some can be really superstitious. Some have a brand new pair of socks every game, whereas others don't give a monkeys.

Some players like to wear a second shirt in the second half, in fact that seems to be the in thing these days. I watched Portugal on television the other night, and every single player had a new shirt on at half-time. I suppose that's me now, I spot things like that all the time.

You can understand why players want fresh shirts at half-time. They run around for 45 minutes and then sit down for 10 minutes at half-time - most take their shirts off then. They don't want to put the sweaty one back on after 10 minutes, so a lot take the second one.

Each player is different in terms of what they wear out on the pitch. Some wear cycling shirts and Under Armour wear. To be honest, there's only three or four lads now who literally have the basics of socks, slips, shorts, shirt and boots. At the moment the list of who wants what isn't written down anywhere, it's all in my head. I suppose I should write it down to be honest. Ron and I know what players want and what some players don't want.

Some will never wear long sleeves, like Nicky Shorey for instance, whereas some always wear long sleeves, such as Michael Duberry. Marcus Hahnemann cuts his sleeves off his goalkeeper top, but no-one else should ever touch that for him, it's like a ritual and he has to do it himself. I would never dream of doing it unless he was really pushed for time and asked me to.

All of this has implications for what we call blood shirts - which are shirts without names or numbers that we keep in case a player gets a blood injury and the referee orders him to change it. For that we need a wide range of sizes. If we just had one large blood shirt it would be too small for Doobs, who has XXL, or too big for Bobby Convey, who prefers a small. So we need a selection that will make everyone comfortable.

At the end of the game there is a whole host of shirt swapping that goes on between the two teams players, especially in the Premier League. That's become a part of our job as well, helping our players organise their swaps. For some games it's obviously a big thing and a lot get swapped. You can guess which fixtures this is likely to happen in and have an idea of how many new shirts we'll need afterwards.

We always keep two shirts for every player, but it's good to have an idea in advance and go and see the staff in our club shop so that they are prepared for us coming in with a big shopping list on a Monday after a Manchester United game for example. Also when there is an international weekend coming up, some of the foreign lads will always want to take one with them to either swap with their international team-mates or give to their friends or family back at home. So it's good to be pre-armed.

Our laundry room is located just off the player's tunnel. So we don't have to take the dirty kit far after a game. It goes in the wash straight away, and sometimes it's dry, folded and on the shelves of the kitroom for 6.30pm. We need it quickly turned around, especially if we've got a midweek game after a Saturday. That will be the case more often this season with the extra Championship fixtures.

For away games the routine is different. On occasion Ron and I will travel separately to the team and get things ready on the morning of a game. We do that when we're close-by, visiting a team who aren't far away. We did it for the West London teams last year and this season we'll probably do it for the likes of Bristol City, QPR, Watford, Palace and Southampton. But any further than that and we won't risk it with traffic - we travel with the squad and stay overnight before taking the coach down to the ground early to get things sorted. The coach then travels back to the hotel while we're laying kit out to pick the players and coaching staff up.

Some of the away dressing rooms, even in the Premier League, are pretty pokey. At places like Arsenal you've got loads of space, but at the likes of Portsmouth and Fulham - although they are nicely furnished and presented, they are in old stadiums and they are tiny. In those circumstances, the manager wants the lads to arrive later than normal - he knows it's a nightmare getting a lot of people changed at the same time when there's not a lot of room. I remember at Pompey there is a big stanchion which supports part of the stand. It's a huge post in the corner of the dressing room and because it's small you have to hang someone's kit behind it. When they're sat there they literally can't see anything apart from this. So we put James Harper there - he wasn't happy! And then we lost 7-4 so it was a good idea to stay out of Harps' way afterwards.