Tommy Burns' excursion into English club management has not been a success.

The former Scottish international and Celtic manager moved south in the spring of 1998 to take over at Reading.

Despite spending more than £3 million on new players in his 18 months in charge, Reading have not only lost their First Division status but arrive at Valley Parade tonight in 23rd place in the Second Division with only four points from their first six matches.

Reading were in grave danger of relegation when Burns took over, but he could not stop them from finishing bottom of the table and last season they came11th in the Second Division.

Mid-table mediocrity in the Second Division is not what the club had in mind when they moved from their traditional home at Elm Park to their new 25,000 capacity stadium at Madejski Park.

Clearly, the pressure is on for the club to re-gain their First Division status quickly, but early signs are they will struggle to gain promotion this season.

The new stadium cries out for maximum use in one of the most prosperous towns in the country, but Premiership Rugby Union club Richmond - who shared facilities - have merged with London Scottish and London Irish to form a new club and will no longer be playing at Reading.

Man for man Reading should be among the Second Division promotion candidates this season.

One of Burns' close season signings was striker Nicky Forster from Birmingham. He first made his name at Brentford.

Last month Burns paid Fulham £100,000 for midfield player Neil Smith and signed former Celtic midfieldman Peter Grant on a free transfer from Norwich.

One player City fans need to look out for is 25-year-old former Spurs midfielder Darren Caskey.

The Royals will be without last season's leading scorer Martin Williams though. The former Luton player is suspended for two weeks.

City have a slightly better record in the League Cup than Reading having reached the fifth round three times while Reading have only reached that stage twice.

Last season, City reached the third round when they were knocked out 1-0 against Leeds United at Elland Road after beating Lincoln and Halifax over two legs in the earlier rounds.

Reading qualified for their clash with City by beating Peterborough 2-1 in a two legged first round tie, but it will be a major surprise if they get past this stage.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.