New Kit - Rate the kit POLL ADDED

[who are ya?]

Waitrose had enough then have they?

[Jim Leighton]

I bought a shirt of both me and the missus (hers is still in the packet btw).. as I thought a tenner was a bargain, even if we do have a new strip next season.
Anyway, when I phoned and ordered, I said obviously we're changing next season, and the bloke said there's no plans for a new kit yet and the only reason they are so cheap is coz they are a tenner on the High Street and RFC needs to compete..
Still, bound to be a new kit next season - he's hardly gonna admit to selling me 2 shirts that will be out of date in 3 months time!

[TBM]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

[(.)Boobies(.)]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

Oh no you haven't.

[Harry Carry]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

Blue shorts/white socks for the 09/10 season too.

[Dirk Gently]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

Blue shorts/white socks for the 09/10 season too.

Harry's really puishing the limits of a WUM here - as if Reading FC would ever be so organised to have decided a kit over a year in advance!

[TFF]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

Blue shorts/white socks for the 09/10 season too.

Harry's really puishing the limits of a WUM here - as if Reading FC would ever be so organised to have decided a kit over a year in advance!

[Deathy]

Maybe STAR are actually a year behind.

[Rawlie19]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

Blue shorts/white socks for the 09/10 season too.

Harry's really puishing the limits of a WUM here - as if Reading FC would ever be so organised to have decided a kit over a year in advance!

Is that a whooosh catcher? What year is this?

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Could this be the return of Mirk GentLOLy?

[Deathy]

Dirk Mentily.

[Forbury Lion]

I've changed my view, I now think it's brilliant that the club are introducing new kits each year to take money off those with cash to spare rather than upping ticket prices to get the revenue from all fans.

I've got 4 homeshirts, the last one being 5 years ago and it doesn't make me any less of a fan, in fact wearing an old kit makes you less plastic.

[RoyalBlue]

I've changed my view, I now think it's brilliant that the club are introducing new kits each year to take money off those with cash to spare rather than upping ticket prices to get the revenue from all fans.

In the past they've done both and I am sure they will continue to try to maximise revenue from all sources where they think they can get away with it. However, the time will come, as it does with most clubs, when they get it wrong and supporters vote with their wallets kept firmly in their pockets.

[North Somerset Royal]

I've changed my view, I now think it's brilliant that the club are introducing new kits each year to take money off those with cash to spare rather than upping ticket prices to get the revenue from all fans.

I've got 4 homeshirts, the last one being 5 years ago and it doesn't make me any less of a fan, in fact wearing an old kit makes you less plastic.

Surely there are not degrees of plasticity. Either you are plastic or not. An interesting comment on the plastic nature of our fans appeared recently in the Bristol Evening Post

So, Reading are without a manager. To me, their fan base is very much the late in the day, plastic, post euro '96 jester hat wearing, replica kit, car sticker brigade after what I witnessed at the Madejski earlier this season. There was never 20,000 at Elm Park!
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolcity/news/

[rabidbee]

I've changed my view, I now think it's brilliant that the club are introducing new kits each year to take money off those with cash to spare rather than upping ticket prices to get the revenue from all fans.

In the past they've done both and I am sure they will continue to try to maximise revenue from all sources where they think they can get away with it. However, the time will come, as it does with most clubs, when they get it wrong and supporters vote with their wallets kept firmly in their pockets.

And they will approach that event like any other business, one expects. Seems fair enough to me. Fans expect the club to throw money around like we're rolling in it, but complain when the club tries to raise it revenues. Especially now we are out of the Prem, the fans are very much the main source of revenue for the club. As has been pointed out already, no is under any obligation to buy any merchandising (or, indeed, a match ticket). You chose, as a consumer whether or not you want to spend your money on their product. What the club sells, and how they price their produce, will be determined by the extent to which the fans, as consumers, are willing to buy it.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Surely there are not degrees of plasticity. Either you are plastic or not. An interesting comment on the plastic nature of our fans appeared recently in the Bristol Evening Post

So, Reading are without a manager. To me, their fan base is very much the late in the day, plastic, post euro '96 jester hat wearing, replica kit, car sticker brigade after what I witnessed at the Madejski earlier this season. There was never 20,000 at Elm Park!
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolcity/news/

and no hint at all that he's bitter about a previously smaller club overtaking his, or being spanked 4-0 at home earlier this season by us. Shades of "Yes, they may have more fans than Bristol City now, but City are better supported really if I stamp my feet hard enough and pretend"

[RoyalBlue]

I've changed my view, I now think it's brilliant that the club are introducing new kits each year to take money off those with cash to spare rather than upping ticket prices to get the revenue from all fans.

In the past they've done both and I am sure they will continue to try to maximise revenue from all sources where they think they can get away with it. However, the time will come, as it does with most clubs, when they get it wrong and supporters vote with their wallets kept firmly in their pockets.

And they will approach that event like any other business, one expects. Seems fair enough to me. Fans expect the club to throw money around like we're rolling in it, but complain when the club tries to raise it revenues. Especially now we are out of the Prem, the fans are very much the main source of revenue for the club. As has been pointed out already, no is under any obligation to buy any merchandising (or, indeed, a match ticket). You chose, as a consumer whether or not you want to spend your money on their product. What the club sells, and how they price their produce, will be determined by the extent to which the fans, as consumers, are willing to buy it.

And that hard nosed business approach is fine provided then they don't try to get the best of both worlds by implying or, as has happened in the past, even telling supporters that they have a duty to put their hands in their pockets, shell out for tickets etc. regardless of price. If football clubs want to be treated a bit differently from other businesses, then they have to behave a bit differently.

[rabidbee]

It cuts both ways. The club _has_ to operate as a business, but plays on the emotional link that fans have with their clubs; football fans do not act like the average consumer. But, on the other hand, whilst fans still want their club to be one of those great old social institutions that used to be the mainstays of working class society, they still expect them to splash around millions of pounds every summer.

Both sides are equally guilty. Besides which, the hard-nosed fact is that you _can_ chose not to go to games, and many fans _have_ chosen not to go to games anymore, once they feel that they no longer have that emotional connection with their club, or when they feel they have been priced-out. Clubs the size of Reading, clubs that still rely very much more on their core fanbase for revenue, rather than tv monies or international merchandising, are in a tricky position: they have to maximize their profits from that fanbase without alienating it.

[TBM]

I've seen the new kit - cant say too much but expect thinner hoops this season!

Blue shorts/white socks for the 09/10 season too.

Harry's really puishing the limits of a WUM here - as if Reading FC would ever be so organised to have decided a kit over a year in advance!

I dont get it????

[I was there at Elm Park]

Been confirmed:

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... ng_fc_kits

Reading will unveil their new kits in the next few weeks.

The shirts will again carry the club’s sponsors Waitrose on the front.

The home jersey will be blue and white hoops, but the away kit is likely to be green.

Royals will use their current orange shirts as a third-team shirt.