Attendances

[Hound]

I kind of agree - which is why I mentioned about the trek up to the stadium. If you could have a couple of decent pubs on the way or something to make it more of a 'day out' it would be helpful. The lack of anything to do up that part of Reading is a big issue I think.

[Hound]

I'd expect the attendances in northern places where there are no jobs to be well down if that was solely the case. But then I suppose there is nothing else to do there bar watching the football.

drinking in run down looking working mens clubs
beating their wives
being racist
talking about old times a lot

good points. You did miss 'being bitter about how entitled southerners are' though

[Nameless]

£10 a ticket would have a tiny almost unnoticeable result.

If the club did a day where it was free entry for anyone I still don't think it would make tons more people come.

People come because they want to. It's a good time, they enjoy it, it's a nice way to spend a day off or evening etc...

We all come regardless out of habit. Existing fans are not price sensitive. But new fans will be extremely price sensitive. The money I pay to watch Reading, I would not pay to watch any other club.

And as Elm Park Kid rightly pointed out, the whole experience is awful. There is not enough passion at RFC.

A Safe Standing terrace, cheap entry, no member card requirements, pay on the gate a couple of extra pubs around and alot of the problems will be solved. Then RFC could start to grow again.

We don't have any member card requirements.
Millenials would surely be much more comfortable using the online ticketing option rather than joining a queue to handover old fashioned cash to an old block in a turnstile
the extra pubs bit is being sorted

interestingly none of the above seemed to be an issue in the previous seasons when we were selling games out regularly ...

[Top Flight]

I kind of agree - which is why I mentioned about the trek up to the stadium. If you could have a couple of decent pubs on the way or something to make it more of a 'day out' it would be helpful. The lack of anything to do up that part of Reading is a big issue I think.

Yeah, it's definitely part of it and Royal Elm Park will hopefully solve some of those problems. The only thing is, whilst it will solve that problem it will also create a new problem. Which will be parking. And if people can't get in or out easily they will just think sod it. It's not worth it at the prices that football clubs charge their fans. I'm talking about new fans here.

[Top Flight]

£10 a ticket would have a tiny almost unnoticeable result.

If the club did a day where it was free entry for anyone I still don't think it would make tons more people come.

People come because they want to. It's a good time, they enjoy it, it's a nice way to spend a day off or evening etc...

We all come regardless out of habit. Existing fans are not price sensitive. But new fans will be extremely price sensitive. The money I pay to watch Reading, I would not pay to watch any other club.

And as Elm Park Kid rightly pointed out, the whole experience is awful. There is not enough passion at RFC.

A Safe Standing terrace, cheap entry, no member card requirements, pay on the gate a couple of extra pubs around and alot of the problems will be solved. Then RFC could start to grow again.

We don't have any member card requirements.
Millenials would surely be much more comfortable using the online ticketing option rather than joining a queue to handover old fashioned cash to an old block in a turnstile
the extra pubs bit is being sorted

interestingly none of the above seemed to be an issue in the previous seasons when we were selling games out regularly ...

We were selling out games when going to the Prem and being in the Prem was a novelty. That is no longer a novelty any more and promotion to the Prem is not as exciting as it was the first time around.

But we do charge more to people who pay on the day. That is a penalty basically for paying on the day and it is a factor that puts people off. They will be penalised for making a late decision. I don't like feeling like I'm being penalised or paying more just because I made a late decision. It gives a bad feeling.

Re-open all those ticket windows outside the stands and let people in for a tenner. Simple.

I think we do need the terrace though. We need a real atmosphere going again. That is what got me hooked on football in the first place. The passion, the noise.... A Safe standing terrace would massively revitalise the football club. Look what it has done for Orlando City.

[Silver Fox]

I'm not sure the idea that it's a ballache getting to the stadium* and there's nothing in the surrounding area work when you look at Brighton's attendances**

*it's really not
**sure they're having a good season but they've had pretty decent crowds since they moved in***
***but then they are the Barcelona of the south etc

[bobby1413]

I think people that moan about parking issues at the stadium are just being lazy kn0bs. Who the hell drives to a game where 20'000+ people are going to be... and who the hell is surprised when a) it's expensive and 2) there's delays

[Nameless]

None the less the reasons don,t really stack up. One of them simply doesn't exist (membership), one is a low tech version of what is easily available in another form (cash at turnstile vs online purchase), one is unlikely to be on the radar of casual fans (safe standing), one is at best contentious (cheap entry, we are already one of the cheapest places to watch Championship football)

[Whore Jackie]

To be the fair to the club the new East Stand outside drinking area with West Berks and Heineken, and Royals Fun Zone for the kids, is a huge improvement on the early days. But it's not cheap and if the weather is poor you're not going to attract many fair weathers. Pubs and restaurants at REP will definitely increase the desirability to that sector, but you've got to balance in the reduced car parking and the hassle that is getting a bus from central town. Always surprised that so many people think the new station at Green Park will really help mitigate that.

[Top Flight]

I think people that moan about parking issues at the stadium are just being lazy kn0bs. Who the hell drives to a game where 20'000+ people are going to be... and who the hell is surprised when a) it's expensive and 2) there's delays

Driving to the game is the best solution for a lot of Reading fans. I live in Ruislip. Public transport is a poor option for me. I would have to get the tube into Central London (45 mins) Then a train from Paddington (30 mins) then a bus from Reading Station (20 mins) And all the waiting time in between and all the travel costs. Its much better for me to drive. And I don't complain about the cost of the parking as its considerably cheaper than the public transport options.

[Top Flight]

None the less the reasons don,t really stack up. One of them simply doesn't exist (membership), one is a low tech version of what is easily available in another form (cash at turnstile vs online purchase), one is unlikely to be on the radar of casual fans (safe standing), one is at best contentious (cheap entry, we are already one of the cheapest places to watch Championship football)

Make it easy. Online purchase isn't so easy from a small smartphone if you are in town and make a late decision to go.
Let people pay by cash or contactless or apple pay or whatever they want to use. Make it cheap and easy to do on the day without any penalties for deciding to go to the game on the day of the game.

If we can't have safe standing any time soon at least make a stand unreserved seating.

[bobby1413]

I think people that moan about parking issues at the stadium are just being lazy kn0bs. Who the hell drives to a game where 20'000+ people are going to be... and who the hell is surprised when a) it's expensive and 2) there's delays

Driving to the game is the best solution for a lot of Reading fans. I live in Ruislip. Public transport is a poor option for me. I would have to get the tube into Central London (45 mins) Then a train from Paddington (30 mins) then a bus from Reading Station (20 mins) And all the waiting time in between and all the travel costs. Its much better for me to drive. And I don't complain about the cost of the parking as its considerably cheaper than the public transport options.

I drive every game but just don't park at the ground. I never have parked there on a matchday. I always park in Whitley, and I know others that park in Shinfield or Mereoak and get the park and ride in.

[Nameless]

I think people that moan about parking issues at the stadium are just being lazy kn0bs. Who the hell drives to a game where 20'000+ people are going to be... and who the hell is surprised when a) it's expensive and 2) there's delays

Driving to the game is the best solution for a lot of Reading fans. I live in Ruislip. Public transport is a poor option for me. I would have to get the tube into Central London (45 mins) Then a train from Paddington (30 mins) then a bus from Reading Station (20 mins) And all the waiting time in between and all the travel costs. Its much better for me to drive. And I don't complain about the cost of the parking as its considerably cheaper than the public transport options.

So the ideal solution for you is a park and ride right by the motorway with a quick bus trip to the stadium. Which exists, although probably needs fine tuning. Put in more such facilities in conjunction with the council and you have a part of the solution.
As I understand it much of the delay with REP has been down to the club having to do more work on the transport options and they must ensure people have reasonable ways of getting to and from the ground (and other events that REP stage). They would be crazy to spend 500 million and not have a properly thought through transport plan (wouldn't they?)

[Top Flight]

I think people that moan about parking issues at the stadium are just being lazy kn0bs. Who the hell drives to a game where 20'000+ people are going to be... and who the hell is surprised when a) it's expensive and 2) there's delays

Driving to the game is the best solution for a lot of Reading fans. I live in Ruislip. Public transport is a poor option for me. I would have to get the tube into Central London (45 mins) Then a train from Paddington (30 mins) then a bus from Reading Station (20 mins) And all the waiting time in between and all the travel costs. Its much better for me to drive. And I don't complain about the cost of the parking as its considerably cheaper than the public transport options.

I drive every game but just don't park at the ground. I never have parked there on a matchday. I always park in Whitley, and I know others that park in Shinfield or Mereoak and get the park and ride in.

Well we all have to park somewhere. I park at the Speedway. It won't help if 2000 parking spaces are lost.

[Nameless]

None the less the reasons don,t really stack up. One of them simply doesn't exist (membership), one is a low tech version of what is easily available in another form (cash at turnstile vs online purchase), one is unlikely to be on the radar of casual fans (safe standing), one is at best contentious (cheap entry, we are already one of the cheapest places to watch Championship football)

Make it easy. Online purchase isn't so easy from a small smartphone if you are in town and make a late decision to go.
Let people pay by cash or contactless or apple pay or whatever they want to use. Make it cheap and easy to do on the day without any penalties for deciding to go to the game on the day of the game.

If we can't have safe standing any time soon at least make a stand unreserved seating.

If you have an unusually small smartphone then use it to ring the TO and buy your ticket.... you seem to want to make this much more complex than it needs to be by adding more things to suit a market that almost certainly barely exists.
Your supposed 'penalties' for making a last minute decision apply to a very small window, does it discourage people ? I doubt many people would think @oh, it's going to cost me a couple of quid more than it would have done if I had planned ahead'
Not sure what unreserved seating would do, except limit how many people could go to games as you cannot sell all the seats in an unreserved stand. Pandering to casual fans for no apparant reason rather than allowing regular fans to know where their seat is and sit together looks the wrong way round to me.

[Winston Smith]

Online purchase isn't so easy from a small smartphone

sounds like someone has one of them 'beat the boss' mobiles you can buy on Amazon which are designed to be stuffed into your anus when in prison.