Charlie Hurley led Reading FC to glory during the 1975-76 season, the club embarked on an impressive league campaign, resulting in a 3rd position finish in the forth division, in turn promoting the club to the third tier of English football. The Royals also finished the season off in the third round of the FA Cup. The 1976-77 campaign proved to be a debacle for the Royals their re appearance in the third division proved to be short lived as they could not fit in the division, they finished the campaign off in 21st position, in turn relegating the club to the forth division. This prompted the exit of Charlie Hurley as their manager, resulting in former player, Maurice Evans to be appointed as the new manager. The 77-78 season saw Reading get off to a slow start, however they gradually improved as the season progressed and finished off strongly in eighth position, the club were however embarrassed out of the FA cup in the second round suffering a defeat to non league club, Wealdstone, losing the tie 2-1. They also crashed out of the league cup in the first round, suffering a 5-0 thrashing against Watford. The 1978-79 season proved to be a huge success for Evans and Reading FC, they were emphatic during their league campaign, finishing the season off as Forth division champions, in turn resulting in promotion back to the third division. The club also embarked on a fine run in the league cup, which saw them reach the forth round of the competition, losing out to first division club, Southampton 2-0. They missed out on a place in the forth round of the FA Cup, losing 4-2 against Notts County in the third round. Martin Hicks made his debut for the Royals during the 1978-79 season and he went on to spend 13 years at the club, recording over 600 appearances. Their first year back in the third tier of English football proved to be a decent one for the Royals, they embarked on a fine league campaign, which narrowly saw them miss out on the play offs, finishing the campaign off in seventh position. They had a splendid run in the FA Cup, finishing off in the forth round, suffering a 4-1 defeat against Swansea City.