Bring in the new era

[paddy20]

Perhaps its time we all took stock of the Reading situation and football in general:
Lets look at some of the facts;

1. Reading will never be a big club. We don't have the fan base or the ground size to ever develop into one.
2. To exist (i.e stay above relegation) in the premiership you have to spend at least £25 - 30m with a large wage bill to do that. To fund that you need billionaires that don't mid losing lots of money.
3. There are very few billionaires like that around
4.From now on we should accept being a mid-table championship club with the occasional flirtation with the play-offs as success
5. We should start to be proud of our young players and having players of the Gooding and Parkinsons type who want to play for us instead of the money grabbing mercenaries who want maximum reward for minimum effort
6.Be proud that we did at least make it into the premiership but realise the premiership is now all about money and greed
7. Lower our expectations and start to enjoy watching again.

Lets face it football and the obscene amount of money being pumped into it at premiership level cannot last. In the long run better to be on the outside looking in that be part of the disaster waiting to happen.

What do others think?

[Norfolk Royal]

[Arnie_Pie]

Most pointless thread ever. Most sensible fans think this anyway and always have done.

And what is this 'new era' you speak of?

[RoyalBlue]

1. That can we worked on and changed. By no means impossible to do something about fan base and stadium size.
2. Don't disagree
3. But they are out there and on the right terms (and seller) might well be interested
4. Disagree
5. Agree about the pride. Not so sure about the next bit. I loved Gooding and Parkinson but suspect that at least one of them might acknowledge that they weren't really good enough to ever become money grabbing mercenaries!
6. Hard to argue
7. Strongly disagree with the first part. To be successful in anything you need ambition which also spawns drive. Start lowering expectations and it's a slippery slope, which can soon pick up momentum.

As for disaster waiting to happen; we've all been saying and hoping for it to happen for some time. Yet it still doesn't seem imminent and I'm beginning to think it will never happen. Just as in society in general. the truly rich never end up poor and the PL is truly rich. Likewise, the truly rich and powerful always ensure they stay rich and powerful and care not that it is usually at the expense of others. In the case of football in this country, the PL continues to grow rich at the expense of lower level & grass roots football.

[SPARTA]

Perhaps its time we all took stock of the Reading situation and football in general:
Lets look at some of the facts;

1. Reading will never be a big club. We don't have the fan base or the ground size to ever develop into one.

You can't say facts and then provide a personal opinion. Are you aware of Chelsea's fan base in the early 90's? Stadiums can be expanded (ours to 38k before knocking stands down)

Let me tell you something, as I assume you're a young'un. When I first started watching the club, it was early 90's. I went with my father and his brothers. They all said we'd never see this club in a state of the art new stadium, we'd never see top flight football, we'd never have a current Reading player play for England, and so on...

Well we've achieved all of that and more!

Nowadays it's "we'll never play in europe, we'll never see a stadium expansion, we'll never..."

Yes we will!

[Elm Park Pasty]

I just think you have to be realistic. Whilst there is a chance of any club winning the Premier League, it is probably more up there odds wise with the UK winning Eurovision or England winning the World Cup (I did think about putting holding, but hope springs eternal!).

It is very unlikely now that any club outside the quintet of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool will ever win the PL. This is not being negative, it is fact. The levels of investment required to bring any mid table club up to the consistent performance levels of these teams is spectacular. Just look how much money United have spent to trying to catch up on those around them in this window? And you could even say they've only bought one defensive player.

Where our club like ours needs to strive to get to is into that middle eight to ten teams in the PL who never have quite enough to kick on, but always have just enough to not be mentioned in the relegation mix at the end of the season. I don't accept that we shouldn't be ambitious enough to think we could get to the PL and stay there, I just think we have to accept that currently there are limitations on where we could get to. I wouldn't even be that surprised to find that even Europe becomes out of reach some point soon. The PL really is beoming more a group of mini leagues rather than just one. The top 5 teams shoot out for the European places, with probably only Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd having the consistent firepower to win the PL. The next eight or ten teams are those that will consistently be there, with Tottenham and Everton scrapping for possibly 5th or the last reminaing Euro place. Finally, you will have teams such as those that got promoted who will flirt with relegation. You may occasionally get a team like QPR that have the potential to break into the middle group.

The PL has basically become a league like La Liga, where only a few teams can win it, and the rest are there to make up the numbers.

[paddy20]

Perhaps its time we all took stock of the Reading situation and football in general:
Lets look at some of the facts;

1. Reading will never be a big club. We don't have the fan base or the ground size to ever develop into one.

You can't say facts and then provide a personal opinion. Are you aware of Chelsea's fan base in the early 90's? Stadiums can be expanded (ours to 38k before knocking stands down)

Let me tell you something, as I assume you're a young'un. When I first started watching the club, it was early 90's. I went with my father and his brothers. They all said we'd never see this club in a state of the art new stadium, we'd never see top flight football, we'd never have a current Reading player play for England, and so on...

Well we've achieved all of that and more!

Nowadays it's "we'll never play in europe, we'll never see a stadium expansion, we'll never..."

Yes we will!

I love your optimism and good for you. Sadly football has changed massively - not just from long ago but in the last 5 years since the TV rights have become astronomical. What was possible just a few years ago, no longer is. Clubs like ours can no longer attract the top foreign players that are needed to stay in the premiership. English players are becoming second class with little opportunity to flourish as all the Tv money is going towards the massive salaries of the influx of the best players from around the world. How can anyone justify £200k pw? A lot of English International players can no longer get into
their own first teams.
Reading made it into the premiership but were unable to stay there. I think the first time they had the opportunity to invest and stabilise. You could buy decent players for £3-4m then. When we came back down we could only afford to keep our best players for one season. The last time we went up we had an average squad which would have cost a fortune to upgrade. Players that would have cost £3-4m were now £8-10m. Instead we got players that cost little apart from high salaries. Even with that approach we nearly ended up bankrupt. Now teams are expected to spend £30-m plus to even have a chance of survival.
Also, sadly, I'm not a young un. I was at Elm park in the early sixties and have barely missed a game since then. I'm just trying to bring in a bit of realty to the situation. I agree that we should not abandon hope but perhaps treat it more as a miracle than an expectation

[P!ssed Off]

Lets look at some of the facts;
.......

[Ian Royal]

I'm getting more convinced that paddy is a bored troll. Therefore, I'm out of explaining why the OP is pointless and full of fallacy.

[melonhead]

3. But they are out there and on the right terms (and seller) might well be interested

??????????!!!!!!!!!!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

we sold it for a quid.
would you have preferred to offer the club to potential buyers with a bonus cash payment of a few million too?

4. Disagree

yeah, this kind of makes his point for him

[thirtyyarder]

Is this 'new era' a rumour or just gossip?

[strap]

A long long time ago, in the summer of 1970, my dear old mum took me for lunch at The Rendevous Restaurant along the Oxford Road, can't even remember the occasion. Long gone now, it was somewhere near Wantage Road I think.

I had started going to matches in March of that year, aged about 10 or 11, and had been totally transfixed by Jack Mansell's brand of football, tippy tappy football long before Barcelona allegedly invented it.

Anyway, at the next table was a group of RFC players, and after whispering this fact to my dear old Mum, (who knew shag all about football so I thought), she went over to them and started talking about the upcoming Watney Cup game against Manchester United. Well I was amazed that she knew anything as momentous as this was happening to RFC! Being brazen, she asked them if they had a spare ticket for me. Sadly none of them did, but promised to sort something out for me and gave her a number at the club to ring to get things moving.

Well walking back to the bus stop after the meal, she asked me why I supported a small team like RFC. For some weird reason, I said that they were small now, but that I would see them win a Wembley Cup Final AND one day play in the First Division. She looked at me with that sad resigned look of a parent not wishing to burst a youngsters dreams, but knowing full well that's that all they were - just dreams. Of course 18 years later my first prediction came true, and 18 years after that, so did my second!

For anyone still reading this inebriated drivel, the moral of the story is that the most outrageously wild expectations really can come true. Who knows, in another 18 years we could be ruling the roost in the PL, or indeed Europe. It sounds absolutely ludicrous at present, but then so did my assertions back in 1970.

Sadly I didn't mention anything about RFC winning a Eurpoean competition all those years ago. Perhaps if I had done, we could have been looking forward to a Eurpoa League win in 2024!

Thank you and goodnight. Hic.

PS Yes, the Club did provide a WC ticket - although we had to pay full price for it! If you watch the YouTube video of it, I am to the right of the Tilehurst End goal, waving a green Park Lane Primary School jumper. Happy days!

[Caversham Royal]

Perhaps its time we all took stock of the Reading situation and football in general:
Lets look at some of the facts;

1. Reading will never be a big club. We don't have the fan base or the ground size to ever develop into one.
2. To exist (i.e stay above relegation) in the premiership you have to spend at least £25 - 30m with a large wage bill to do that. To fund that you need billionaires that don't mid losing lots of money.
3. There are very few billionaires like that around
4.From now on we should accept being a mid-table championship club with the occasional flirtation with the play-offs as success
5. We should start to be proud of our young players and having players of the Gooding and Parkinsons type who want to play for us instead of the money grabbing mercenaries who want maximum reward for minimum effort
6.Be proud that we did at least make it into the premiership but realise the premiership is now all about money and greed
7. Lower our expectations and start to enjoy watching again.

Lets face it football and the obscene amount of money being pumped into it at premiership level cannot last. In the long run better to be on the outside looking in that be part of the disaster waiting to happen.

What do others think?

You really are such a cheery soul. The long winter evenings must just fly by....

[glass half full]

A long long time ago, in the summer of 1970, my dear old mum took me for lunch at The Rendevous Restaurant along the Oxford Road, can't even remember the occasion. Long gone now, it was somewhere near Wantage Road I think.

I had started going to matches in March of that year, aged about 10 or 11, and had been totally transfixed by Jack Mansell's brand of football, tippy tappy football long before Barcelona allegedly invented it.

Anyway, at the next table was a group of RFC players, and after whispering this fact to my dear old Mum, (who knew shag all about football so I thought), she went over to them and started talking about the upcoming Watney Cup game against Manchester United. Well I was amazed that she knew anything as momentous as this was happening to RFC! Being brazen, she asked them if they had a spare ticket for me. Sadly none of them did, but promised to sort something out for me and gave her a number at the club to ring to get things moving.

Well walking back to the bus stop after the meal, she asked me why I supported a small team like RFC. For some weird reason, I said that they were small now, but that I would see them win a Wembley Cup Final AND one day play in the First Division. She looked at me with that sad resigned look of a parent not wishing to burst a youngsters dreams, but knowing full well that's that all they were - just dreams. Of course 18 years later my first prediction came true, and 18 years after that, so did my second!


I really loved reading that post! Dreams are what sustain us and our love for the game and Reading FC.

Unfortunately, it is all too easy to be swept up in a tidal wave of cynicism.

For anyone still reading this inebriated drivel, the moral of the story is that the most outrageously wild expectations really can come true. Who knows, in another 18 years we could be ruling the roost in the PL, or indeed Europe. It sounds absolutely ludicrous at present, but then so did my assertions back in 1970.

Sadly I didn't mention anything about RFC winning a Eurpoean competition all those years ago. Perhaps if I had done, we could have been looking forward to a Eurpoa League win in 2024!

Thank you and goodnight. Hic.

PS Yes, the Club did provide a WC ticket - although we had to pay full price for it! If you watch the YouTube video of it, I am to the right of the Tilehurst End goal, waving a green Park Lane Primary School jumper. Happy days!

[glass half full]

Sorry, Strap. My computer/fingers jumped and my reply became buried in your text.

I can really relate to your thoughts, however.

[strap]

Sorry, Strap. My computer/fingers jumped and my reply became buried in your text.

"I really loved reading that post! Dreams are what sustain us and our love for the game and Reading FC.

Unfortunately, it is all too easy to be swept up in a tidal wave of cynicism."

I can really relate to your thoughts, however.

Yes, yes they do GHF! Along with copious amounts of alcohol and maybe other substances! As you can see, I'm still at my keyboard at 4:15am, (yes Mrs Strap is away at present!), actually listening to Hawkwind, but thinking about those heady days we spent watching RFC in div 4!! Haha! Kids today don't know they're born!!

[Royal Rother]

All this "things will never change" nonsense does my head in.

Sure, one can't see it changing in the next few years but "never".....?

Rubbish.

[Agent Balti]

Considering the last 10 years have been nothing but the epitome of change, I'm totally calling shenanigans on that drivel.

Promotions, relegations, close to European football (once), Wembley appearances, Play-off woe (and some semi-joy), new owners, bad owners, no owner(ish), oh yeah, we're a club that does absolutely nothing!!

And like Strap says, anyone that's stood on the South Bank and ever thought "We'll always be in this position, we'll never amount to anything..." - and believe me, it was easy to imagine, fast forward to where we are now. It is a light year away from piss dribbling around your ankles to the present day. Maybe we don't really want to be all Premier League and swallowed up by the circus within, but we've got no choice but to follow and enjoy the ride. It's in the blood, innit.

[tmesis]

Considering the last 10 years have been nothing but the epitome of change, I'm totally calling shenanigans on that drivel.

Promotions, relegations, close to European football (once), Wembley appearances, Play-off woe (and some semi-joy), new owners, bad owners, no owner(ish), oh yeah, we're a club that does absolutely nothing!!

And like Strap says, anyone that's stood on the South Bank and ever thought "We'll always be in this position, we'll never amount to anything..." - and believe me, it was easy to imagine, fast forward to where we are now. It is a light year away from piss dribbling around your ankles to the present day. Maybe we don't really want to be all Premier League and swallowed up by the circus within, but we've got no choice but to follow and enjoy the ride. It's in the blood, innit.

There is one critical difference with the then and now, namely the building of the Madejski. It gave us a huge boost in attendance, as often happens when clubs move to a new modern stadium. The problem is that there's not really any easy way to get that same boost again to take us, in terms of fan base, up another level. A long spell in the top division could do it, but that's easier said than done, and build on the assumption of survival is a gamble.


As for "accepting just being an average championship club", it really depends what you mean. If it's just taking it for granted that we'll never be any better, that's just silly. Clubs will always fluctuate away from where they "ought" to be.

On the other hand it does make sense to stop treating anything other than over-achievement as a failure.

[paultheroyal]

Perhaps its time we all took stock of the Reading situation and football in general:
Lets look at some of the facts;

1. Reading will never be a big club. We don't have the fan base or the ground size to ever develop into one.
2. To exist (i.e stay above relegation) in the premiership you have to spend at least £25 - 30m with a large wage bill to do that. To fund that you need billionaires that don't mid losing lots of money.
3. There are very few billionaires like that around
4.From now on we should accept being a mid-table championship club with the occasional flirtation with the play-offs as success
5. We should start to be proud of our young players and having players of the Gooding and Parkinsons type who want to play for us instead of the money grabbing mercenaries who want maximum reward for minimum effort
6.Be proud that we did at least make it into the premiership but realise the premiership is now all about money and greed
7. Lower our expectations and start to enjoy watching again.

Lets face it football and the obscene amount of money being pumped into it at premiership level cannot last. In the long run better to be on the outside looking in that be part of the disaster waiting to happen.

What do others think?