Social media confirmed something we Royals fans have known all along.
thesackrace.com recently ran a cup competition on twitter to establish who is considered the greatest Championship gaffer of all time - and former Royals boss Steve Coppell worked his way through the competition to triumph in the social media poll.
He led #ReadingFC to the title in 2005/06, where they went 33-games unbeaten and won a record 106 points.
— The Sack Race (@thesackrace) April 10, 2020
And after 10,000 votes, you have crowned Steve Coppell as the Championship GOAT Gaffer 🐐👔 #GOATGaffers https://t.co/Y5YVSnUkOC pic.twitter.com/sumfBy3fjV
The result of the poll in the final ended with Sir Steve claiming 53% of the vote compared to Sean Dyche's 47% and it was greeted by a tweet from our former skipper Graeme Murty who replied 'Damn right!'
Coppell reached the final by knocking out Slaviša Jokanović with a convincing win in the semi-final. And his quarter-final produced arguably the biggest surprise of the poll - the former Manchester United winger winning through against an old foe in Neil Warnock.
On the other side of the draw, Mick McCarthy, Steve Bruce and Chris Hughton had all fallen by the wayside to leave Coppell, the man who led his team to the highest ever points tally in history in 2005-6, the stand out winner.
In the Championship, Coppell boasts a win ratio of 51% - a statistic which is considerably assisted by that miraculous 2005-6 campaign in which the Royals lost only twice all season.
And his reign began with three points, thanks to a 2-1 home win over Gillingham in October 2003. The scorers that day were Scott Murray and Steve Sidwell, both finding the net either side of a Marlon King finish that threatened to upstage the new Reading manager's arrival.
Understated. Modest. Calm and collected at all times. Steve Coppell, sat up in the Directors Box for the first half or leant against the side of the dugout for the second half, broke the mould.
And Coppell will always be remembered in Reading for his achievements in 2005-6 and the eighth placed finish he steered us to in our first ever top flight campaign.
106 points remains a record and yet often that squad's achievement goes unheralded. More than 10,000 votes were cast in the competition to find the GOAT gaffer, so it is encouraging to see that that magnificent season is still rightly recognised in football.
