Alan Bennett still chasing history and final shot at glory with Cork City

Alan Bennett is enjoying a “bit of a touristy day” in London, and en route to the Natural History Museum, when he takes the journalist’s call.

“I actually had a bit of flashback there when I was walking past a hotel in Kensington,” he says. “I was like, ‘I remember that place’. I stayed there with Reading about 10 years ago. I remember it so well because we were on our way to a game and there was a Reading fan waiting outside for autographs. He came over to me and I went to sign his book but he just said ‘nah, nah, not you’.

“Doyler (Kevin Doyle) was right behind me and that’s who he was going for. That was a slap in the face if ever there was one. I’ve never presumed anything since and always wait until I’m asked to sign something now — not that it happens too often.”