Will / would we fill Wembley?

[Irvinchangeyaname]

Having grown up amongst crowds of 3-4000 in divisions 3 and 4, it was a big surprise to me that we managed to attract about 40,000 for the Simod Cup Final. We then went on to sell our full allocation against Bolton. I've always been confident that, should we get back to the Twin Towers, we'd sell out again. Up until recently.

Having now been in the Premier League it seems that it'll take something very special for the Reading public to get excited. A play-off final to most of us reading this would be such an event, but would it be enough for the masses? I'm really not convinced.

We may never know the answer but I'd be interested in what you guys think?

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

We won't fill it on our own, that's for sure.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Yes, of course we would.

/End of thread.

[Royalee]

With ease - we've got a massive catchment area and it annoys me when people hark back to 'little old Reading' in the 80's. The population of Reading and the surrounding area is unrecognisable from back then, we have better facilities and the game is more popular. We've probably got one of the largest catchment areas in the country - if you look at our gates in the Premiership, we sold out almost every week and if the stadium was to be extended I think we'd average about 30k in the Prem.

[NR_Royal]

Yep, I've even had requests to buy tickets for friends and family because they want to go to Wembley...

[Jerry St Clair]

Yes, of course we would.

/End of thread.

Are you so sure? We've already been to the promised land. I remember thinking in 1995 that this one our one and only ever opportunity to play in the top division. These days we expect to be at least challenging for the play-offs most seasons. There isn't that "now or never" feeling we used to have.

We got absolutely nowhere near fulfilling our last play-off final allocation in 2001.

Cost. Isn't the minimum ticket cost £50? With most being around £60. That's utterly extortionate and I would be out for that reason alone.

[Chaney]

if the rumours I here that the cheapest tickets are around 70 quid are true then I doubt it very much

[PlasticRoyale]

Would.WE.FCUK

[Royal Lady]

I didn't think we did "sell out almost every week" in the Premiership - but a play-off final and a trip to Wembley is different. I think we would sell our allocation if the price was right, but too many day-trippers will be priced out. And to be honest, I don't care how many we would take, as long as those that went were behind the team 100% and sung their hearts out.

[ZacNaloen]

I didn't think we did "sell out almost every week" in the Premiership - but a play-off final and a trip to Wembley is different. I think we would sell our allocation if the price was right, but too many day-trippers will be priced out. And to be honest, I don't care how many we would take, as long as those that went were behind the team 100% and sung their hearts out.

The ground was around 97% full every game in the prem.

Which basically means single seats left, which are notoriously difficult to fill as people want to go in groups.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

With ease - we've got a massive catchment area and it annoys me when people hark back to 'little old Reading' in the 80's. The population of Reading and the surrounding area is unrecognisable from back then, we have better facilities and the game is more popular. We've probably got one of the largest catchment areas in the country - if you look at our gates in the Premiership, we sold out almost every week and if the stadium was to be extended I think we'd average about 30k in the Prem.

Don't agree - we'd only get 30K for the big 6 and maybe a couple of others.

We wouldn't get much more than 20K for Wigan/Blackburn/Bolton etc. now.

I'm not convinced we'd sell more than 30K tickets for Wembley if we get there - we've been in the prem recently for one thing and a lot of people will be priced out of it with the recession.

[PEARCEY]

if the rumours I here that the cheapest tickets are around 70 quid are true then I doubt it very much

I planned to go to the final and take my kids but if thats the price I'm out. Ridiculous prices for second tier football.
From memory I think I paid £38 for the Walsall play-off at Cardiff 10 years ago.

[Jackson Corner]

Yes, of course we would.

/End of thread.

Are you so sure? We've already been to the promised land. I remember thinking in 1995 that this one our one and only ever opportunity to play in the top division. These days we expect to be at least challenging for the play-offs most seasons. There isn't that "now or never" feeling we used to have.

We got absolutely nowhere near fulfilling our last play-off final allocation in 2001.

Cost. Isn't the minimum ticket cost £50? With most being around £60. That's utterly extortionate and I would be out for that reason alone.

We were the best supported team at Cardiff that weekend we more than the two Championship teams.
If those are the prices they are talking about then no we wont.

[Royal Lady]

In 2007/2008 we had 9 home games where the attendance was less than 24,000. I don't think that's 97% but I'm not in the mood for arguing.

[Wimb]

Think the lowest prices 2 years ago were £34, I doubt we'd have any problem selling out, a bank holiday day out at Wembley is always a puller.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/sport ... l_tickets/

[Svlad Cjelli]

Yes - the number of hangers on who'd come out to experience a one-off occasion at the New Wembley on a Bank Holiday weekend would guarantee it.

Perhaps not many of them would have ever been to a Reading match before, but the hype and experience would ensure we'd sell the full allocation of about 37,000 that we'd get.

And considering that we sold virtually 20,000k for this semi-final and that was deemed a failure by many compared with what we could have sold, we only need two out of every three people who came on Friday to bring a mate nd we'd have sold it.

TBH I'm amazed the question is even being asked - the hype gets so massive that I don't think any Championship club has ever not sold their play-off final allocation allocation and wanted more.

[The Prisoner]

As "everybody's favourite second team" I will be bringing a Man City and Everton supporting friend to be plastics for the day.

Let's face it....if we were a band we would be The Beautiful South.

[Jerry St Clair]

TBH I'm amazed the question is even being asked - the hype gets so massive that I don't think any Championship club has ever not sold their play-off final allocation allocation and wanted more.

I know you said "Championship" but Bolton didn't sell their allocation in 1995. I distinctly remember that we asked to take up their slack after we sold out, but Wembley refused. The attendance was about 15,000 below capacity.

[Stranded]

TBH I'm amazed the question is even being asked - the hype gets so massive that I don't think any Championship club has ever not sold their play-off final allocation allocation and wanted more.

I know you said "Championship" but Bolton didn't sell their allocation in 1995. I distinctly remember that we asked to take up their slack after we sold out, but Wembley refused. The attendance was about 15,000 below capacity.

I think that was pretty much caused by the fact they'd made the LC final that season and some fans simply couldn't afford a second trip to Wembley,

[Millsy]

With ease - we've got a massive catchment area and it annoys me when people hark back to 'little old Reading' in the 80's. The population of Reading and the surrounding area is unrecognisable from back then, we have better facilities and the game is more popular. We've probably got one of the largest catchment areas in the country - if you look at our gates in the Premiership, we sold out almost every week and if the stadium was to be extended I think we'd average about 30k in the Prem.

Agree we'll sell loads.

Just for discussion, I'll also point out the obvious that this is somewhat different to 1995. Back then when we were Little Reading the possibility of promotion for the first time in our history was an enormous deal. Much like the prospect of winning the Simod Cup, but better. Now it's a case of us having been in the Prem recently, not that big a deal and perhaps an annoying obstacle to getting back to where some feel we belong. Some would be a little disillusioned at us being in this position where we have to scrape through the playoffs when had we invested differently we'd have been autopro certs or not even have come down in the first place.

Still this IS a big deal and we will see a good turnout.