Michael Charles Gooding (born 12 April 1959 in
Newcastle upon Tyne,
England) is a former professional
football and football
manager.
In the twilight of a successful playing career, Gooding was appointed joint
player-manager of
Reading with
Jimmy Quinn when manager
Mark McGhee acrimoniously left to take the reins at
Leicester City. Under their guidance, Reading finished second in the
First Division, but were left to battle for a place in the
Premier League through the
playoff, as the Premier League was being reduced in size from 22 teams to 20. Reading were beaten 4-3 by
Bolton Wanderers in the playoff final at
Wembley.
Gooding and Quinn remained in charge at
Elm Park for two seasons afterwards, until they were replaced by
Terry Bullivant after failing to mount any further promotion challenges.
After Reading, Gooding had a short spell at
Southend United, before retiring from football. He remained at
Rootes Hall for a while as a coach.
He has since carved himself a career as a radio
commentary pundit, performing such roles as co-commentator for
BBC Radio Berkshire's coverage of Reading's Premier League matches, while also working as an
estate agent in
Mortimer.
Despite playing 701 league games in a career stretching 20 years, Gooding never played top division football - the closest he came to reaching the top flight was with Reading when they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League in 1995.
External links
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