John Pratt played just 29 first team games as Reading’s goalkeeper, though one of them was the most devastating in the club’s history.  He enjoyed a distinguished career in non-league football, combining a teaching career with playing for top amateur sides Hayes and Wycombe Wanderers, and even turning out as an emergency goalie for Reading in the charity-based Wycombe Hospital Cup against his own club.  Reading manager Jack Mansell saw enough of Pratt in that game to invite him to join Reading on a part-time basis as understudy to the popular Steve Death, and Pratt did so, making his first-team debut at the relatively advanced age of 26 in a 1-1 home draw against Tranmere Rovers on 8 April 1970.

John’s progress in league football was hampered by a broken leg sustained in training, as well as the consistency of Death, but he did enjoy  a couple of extended runs in the first team during the 1970-71 campaign.  Unfortunately, the last game of that season, a 2-1 defeat away to Aston Villa, courtesy of an own goal scored by Player of the Season Terry Bell, was enough to see Reading relegated to Division Four, on goal average, for the first time in the club’s history.  Pratt was blameless, but a change of manager meant fewer opportunities for part-timers  at first team level and his final league appearance came in a 5-2 defeat at Southport on 4 May 1972.

A reliable if unspectacular keeper, John signed for Bath City in the Southern League after being released by Reading, but he found it a difficult to continue playing at senior non-league standard with full time teaching.  But as a fully qualified FA coach, he continued to work on coaching courses, particularly at Bisham Abbey, close to where he had once appeared for Wycombe Wanderers, and where he had trained pre-season with Reading.

I last spoke to John on Steve Death’s funeral in 2003.  With typical generosity he spoke movingly of the player who had kept him out of first team football for so long. John Pratt, goalkeeper, schoolteacher, perfect gentleman, died on 2 July 2024, aged 81.

David Downs