What makes a team greater than "The Sum of the Parts"?

Ten years ago was a special time for Reading Football Club, a provincial team with a long but largely undistinguished history. Suddenly, all the pieces of the football jigsaw clicked into place to create what was virtually a perfect team - a team that won the Football League Championship in great style, amassing a record-breaking total of 106 points in the process. The next season, their first ever in the Premier League, they confounded pundits and opponents alike by finishing eighth and narrowly missing out on...