FORMER Premier League striker Leroy Lita has revealed that ex-Reading owner John Madejski didn’t know who he was when he joined the club.
Lita, now 38, joined the Royals from Bristol City in 2005.
PA:Press AssociationLeroy Lita has recalled the awkward moment he met the owner of Reading[/caption]
PA:Empics SportLita revealed John Madejski didn’t know what he looked like[/caption]
Then-owner Madejski spent £1million of his own money in order to sign him, but he didn’t even know what the striker looked like.
Discussing his move to Reading on the Under the Cosh podcast, Lita said: “I walked into the Madejski Stadium, when he paid £1million. Not out of the budget, it was out of his own pocket.
“So I’ve walked into the Madejski Stadium to do my medical and stuff like that, I’ve gone into the restaurant with my agent, walked past him and he didn’t have a clue who I was.
“Didn’t even know what I looked like, swear down.
“I could have been anyone. He was like ‘oh, good morning guys’. He was with Cilla Black at the time. He was having dinner or lunch with Cilla Black.
“My agent had to go ‘John Madejski, this is Leroy by the way’. He was like ‘oh, how are you’.
“I was like, he didn’t even know who I was! He just paid a million pound out of his back pocket for me. What’s going on!”
Lita spent four years with Reading before moving to Middlesbrough in 2009.
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The striker has played for 21 different clubs so far in his career, including Swansea, Brighton, Birmingham, Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich.
He is now playing for Nuneaton Borough in the Isthmian Premier League North.
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