To the East Stand: please stop 'supporting' my club

[madreadingfan]

Is this thread a wind up ? .... lets all LOL @ 2 world wars, 1 world cup ... what a muppet

why do all reading fans think theyre so funny on here

[SLAMMED]

Mr. 2WW1WC, ALOL.

[Jackson Corner]

I thought the East was pretty good at the start best atmosphere for a while but when your losing and getting outplayed, you can't really blame anyone for getting on the teams back. I've been going for 30 years and I've always felt it's been that way with our fans we are not like Pompey who still sing even when there getting a hiding. And in the years since we have been at the Mad Stad it has got worse becouse over that ten year period in the main we have been used to seeing winning teams. In some ways we are a poor mans Man Utd we just sit there and expect the team to turn it on before we get behind them. When we went Bristol City we played them off the park and there fans were silent, today it was the other way round that's just fickle football fans for you.

[SLAMMED]

'greed.

I always believe our away support is better than our home.

[RFCBoy]

This is coming across angry because I think I've not taken today's defeat and dire performance well and I'll probably regret the tone later when I'm a bit calmer.

But I'm glad I'm angry enough to come out with what I've felt for many years:

TO THE EAST STAND

IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SING, CHANT, AND SUPPORT our club like we used to before we became infiltrated with plastic glory hunting pathetic excuses of Reading fans... then please kindly f*ck off and stop turning up.

It's games like this where the fans would've made all the difference and East Stand was SILENT the WHOLE GAME (except for when the ref made a howler). And in this game the usual stupid excuse of "the team has to give us something to chant for" is not applicable as we started off outplaying them but were still silent. And just a reminder: back in the pre-plastic days we still kept up the chanting even when we watching the likes of Gurney, Bodin, Brayson and on the verge of being relegated to Tier 4. Because we were Reading through and through. We were player 13, not silent spectators.

We'll never have the Southbank atmosphere but we sure as hell (when I used to be a chantstarter at least) used to support our boys game in game out at the Madstad in the past and there is no excuse not to now.

EAST STAND = DISGRACE

Some players let us down today, but not as much as you did.

WE DO NOT DESERVE TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR THE TOP OF THE TABLE WITH THE SUPPORT WE HAVE

Well said mate, totally agree. The drummer has lost it imo, not bothering to bang a huge thing like that throughout the game is a disgrace. Is he worried about disturbing the peace and quiet of the Mad Stad library?! We need to generate an atmosphere which will lift the players and that starts with maybe Y26 and moving it across with a lil bit of help from the drummer. I sit in the East Stand and we were completely outsung by City and everyone else who comes to us, we're at home ffs!
Generate a proper atmosphere please.

Urz!

[LoyalRoyalFan]

The Bristol City fans were very loud and outsang us all the game. I wish we could bounce around the stands like that. We haven't done that at Reading in a long time.

[Royal Lady]

LOL - that's because we're not allowed to by the stewards!

[BobKnows]

LOL - that's because we're not allowed to by the stewards!

TBF if EVERYBODY did it, can't see how they'd stop it...

[Royal Lady]

I'm too old to bounce around the stands, my hips would pop out.

[Arnie_Pie]

We need to go Japanese stylee it would be awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8NLSe68XSk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWSRhG9Kpxc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2gdS7awp48

[glass half full]

I used to yell and scream (much to my daughter's embarrassment!). I now tend to sit and soak everything up. Which is right? Which is the real me? Who knows? As long as people appreciate the football spectacle on show (assuming it is...), who really cares?

[Millsy]

I would love to flame back at everyone having a go at me but the fact is you're all fellow Reading fans on some level at least and although we have different viewpoints we're on the same side.

It just saddens me a lot that we have such "head in the sand" attitude regarding a VERY serious problem at RFC.

I'm sorry if you don't like it, if it doesn't fit in with your view of how much of a Reading fan you think you are, what you think is appropriate at football matches, how 'big' you think Reading FC is, how much you like to think we're fantastic supporters etc, how much you like to argue with fans of other clubs who take the p*ss out of our home support, how much pride you like to concoct for your team...

Sometimes you have to give a few home truths to your own even if it means being disliked and ridiculed by some. Better to come from friends than enemies. But I am informig you, I am sorry to say, that our home support is a disgrace.

[tomrfcurz]

I suggested that the club print the chants into the programmes and also have pages of masks that you can rip out of your favourite players but it looks like the powers to be decided that the current atmosphere is sufficient.

We should really make a fanzine with those in. I'd be up for it

[Northern Git]

LOL - that's because we're not allowed to by the stewards!

TBF if EVERYBODY did it, can't see how they'd stop it...

Quite easy mate, you would get the 'letter' from the club suspending your season ticket. Dont forget they know who sits where - unlike the away supporters.

The guy who sat next to me received a letter warning him of his 'over exuberance' - (he used to stand up and shout). Needless to say he does not bother coming to games any more.

[zummerset]

probably right Joe, it might also mean that the safety gate could be removed, as the silent fans in the east would not be looking to confront the away fans, and the homers from the North would have the same distance to walk either way.

Why would you sit next to the away support and not 'confront' them? I will be on Sat and look forward to a good natured but boisterous game

[RoyalBlue]

LOL - that's because we're not allowed to by the stewards!

TBF if EVERYBODY did it, can't see how they'd stop it...

They wouldn't stop it at the time but after the event would use their big brother CCTV system to ban whoever they as judge and jury decide were the ringleaders. Little chance of a succesful appeal on the basis that everyone else was doing it or the fact that game after game they let away supporters do exactly as they like. Therefore you will find that people aren't prepared to risk it and sit there quietly obeying the rules.

[Cookie]

Y25 and Y26 went home early.

[madreadingfan]

looks like we should form the new kop behind the goal in the north stand next season

[Victor Meldrew]

Maybe I'm being cynical, but I don't think fans actually make that much of a difference to a team's performance. Yes the manager comes out and says things like: 'The support made all the difference' after a win but he also says things like: 'The fans were great today, and we feel like we've let them down' after a loss. Now, forgive me if you will, but he says that regardless of how noisy or passionate the team is. So why would he lie?

Well, here's an idea - clubs need to make money. Ticket income makes money. By telling fans that they made the difference to get a win, the fans are more likely to come back in future, giving the club another £25. Likewise, by saying that they feel they let the fans down, it makes us feel part of the 'club' (in a sociological sense, as opposed to 'football club' sense), and so makes us want to come back and help turn things around next time.

Singing/chanting/whatever at football has never, to me, seemed to be anything to do with creating reusults, that seems a fallacy to me - it just seems to stem from people wanting to get beered up and scream abuse at people, very cathartic, and a lot of fun: but I can't see how that has any tangible impact on the team.

I enjoy singing and shouting at football, so I do - but those around me that shush me, etc, have every right to do so - in the same way that I have every right to continue acting like a lunatic. These people pay HUNDREDS, if not thousands, of pounds a season to follow Reading - they owe absolutely NOTHING to the club. We are all consumers of a product: if we bought some ice cream, and it was particularly good, we remember to buy that same ice cream again, we don't start chanting that it's by far the greatest cream the world has ever seen. If people want to come with their families, watch the football, enjoy it or otherwise, but not scream and chant, for God's sake let them: they're not doing any damage at all, and they're not exactly depriving anyone else (who might sing and chant) from having a seat - looking around we're not exactly devoid of spaces, are we?!

And that't the crux of the matter, I think - I believe it would be more demoralising to see the attendances going down week on week, than to have things a bit quieter. Empty seats are easy to spot, especially in the vast swathes that we are developing - it's amazing how quickly they fill up again when we start doing well. In football, perhaps more than any other sport, people vote with their feet - not their lungs.

Well said Sebastian-have said much the same on here before and have always felt that crowds have a miniscule influence on what your team does on the pitch.
It makes the fans feel better and as you say every club pays lip-service to the idea that fans make a difference because that's what the fans want to hear.
World War-don't get so uptight about the fans and please carry on doing whatever you do but don't expect everybody else to do the same.

[andrew1957]

Normally I get a bit annoyed with the failure of the crowd to get behind the team but after about 30 minutes yesterday all I could do was to sit in embarrassed silence.

I felt humiliated that the team that I love to watch were so incapable of competing with a very average Bristol side that it was patently obvious that even if the referee's watch had stopped and he had let the game go on to midnight we would still not have scored.

To expect the fans to carry on cheering when served up with such drivel is stretching credibility. If things don't improve next week I will seriously consider staying at home rather than attending for the rest of the season as I don't think I can bear the stress.

I could even understand all those who flooded out with 10 minutes to go. Although I stayed until the bitter end I had lost any hope of any sort of fightback by then.