Reading fans-little club mentality

[Victor Meldrew]

I know that Hob Nob only represents a minute proportion of Reading fans but does anybody else get just a bit fed up with the drivel that comes on here after we have played one of the big clubs?
If it's not cheating Ronaldo,it's cheating Lampard,cheating Fabregas and now cheating Gerrard.
If it's not moaning Fergie or Mourinho it's moaning Benitez or Wenger.
The ref is also ALWAYS a cheat and Reading should have had at least one stone-walled penalty.

At the moment we are just about hanging in there but I wonder if some of you lot would prefer us to get relegated so that we could be a medium-sized club with a little bit of tradition compared with what we are now-a very small club with no tradition.

Big clubs always get the big decisions,whether that is in Manchester,Liverpool,London,Milan or Madrid so why can't some of you lot accept it?
It's not just the big clubs that have divers-we have our own in Doyle,Lita and Hunt-so why do we have to hear yet again about Gerrard diving to get out of the way of Bikey?
Wouldn't you if you had European Cup quarter-finals to come and didn't want to get injured in a non-descript game like Reading?

So I say get over the big inferiority complex, enjoy these fixtures as we might not have many more of them and please don't come on here every time bleating about decisions and implying that we wuz robbed.

[mini _dariusz]

Reading fans - smacks of doubLOLe standards

[Row Z Royal]

So I say get over the big inferiority complex, enjoy these fixtures as we might not have many more of them and please don't come on here every time bleating about decisions and implying that we wuz robbed.

This comment is a "little club mentality" statement.

[Chillitsphil]

Actually I don't consider us any smaller than liverpool, we compete in the same league. That is why they shouldn't receive preferential treatment from referees. Sorry and all that.

[Platypuss]

Actually I don't consider us any smaller than liverpool, we compete in the same league. That is why they shouldn't receive preferential treatment from referees. Sorry and all that.

Meanwhile, back in the real world....

[Quagmire]

Victor, I notice you didn't appear after the Man Utd/Chelsea matches with a similar post, could this be down to the reaction on HNA? is aimed at your beloved Liverpool? If it had been Ronaldo diving yesterday and not your hero Gerrard, you would have been foaming at the mouth more than anyone. I assume if it were Ronaldo/Joe Cole diving you would believe they were also trying to save themselves for the CL quarter finals and not trying to cheat.

Simple fact is there is no little club mentality about it. If you were to go on RAWK after the Liverpool Chelsea game at the start of the season you would have seen your fellow Liverpool fans having a pop at the ref saying he cost them three points. RedCafe after the Man Utd Portsmouth game last Saturday would likely have had similar posts made over the ref. Every club have fans who react in the same, try KUMB after a West Ham defeat.

[readingbedding]

Hasn't every club got its fair share of rabid, clueless and predictable 'fans'?
Why have some people just realised this?

The referee wasn't biased, he was just awful in the 2nd half.

Yeah, he was absoutely useless, and another thing - you should only have enough room in your heart for one team....preferably local.

xxx

[Victor Meldrew]

Hasn't every club got its fair share of rabid, clueless and predictable 'fans'?
Why have some people just realised this?

The referee wasn't biased, he was just awful in the 2nd half.

Yeah, he was absoutely useless, and another thing - you should only have enough room in your heart for one team....preferably local.

xxx

Replying to you and Quagmire,like a lot of fans brought up following perennial lower division clubs I had two clubs-Reading where I was growing upand Liverpool due to a family connection and at the time Liverpool were a 2nd division side.
I knew that at some stage I would have to "come out" and nail my colours to the mast and for me the date was March 11th 1970.
That day I had gone by train for a job interview in Southampton and that night Liverpool were playing at Saints and we were at home to Luton.
I made the decision to get back to Reading as RFC needed me more and to this day I have spent thousands of pounds following my club and the habit has passed on to my son,daughter and grand-daughter with differing degrees of support on their parts.

That night we lost the crucial game v Luton and with it our hopes of promotion and of course Liverpool won at The Dell.
Although it has been strange these past 2 years to see Reading taking on Liverpool I feel it more important for Reading to get what points they could and was delighted with the home win back in November.
In the other games I have wanted Reading to play well and to show that we belong at this level and that no Liverpool players get injured as I would also like to see them win the Champs League again-Reading aren't involved so there is no question of which team gets the support and if Reading ever were in the competition they would get my full support.

Going back to Quagmire's post I agree that most fans of most clubs are bad losers but this is the only fans site that I look at so that is why I posted the topic.
I can only hope that we will be in this division long enough and become bigger and more successful to the extent that other fans and managers start to complain about not getting decisions against Reading but in the meantime I expect the small club stuff to be spouted out to the nth degree if the odd decision goes against us at Newcastle or Arsenal and let us be prepared here and now for the pitch at Wigan and not suddenly shocked and amazed when we play there.

BTW Ronaldo is still the King of the divers followed closely by Joe Cole and Andy Johnson-Gerrard in my view is nowhere near as consistent as those.

[Royalupnorth]

Yeah, thats life. These things happen.

Bollox.

In todays game there should not be decisions going in favour of the big 4. How is anyone supposed to compete if referees are biased towards one team?
That's not sport, that's practically a dictatorship.

Personally, I think its swings and roundabouts. We have been allowed Hunts "did it, didn't it cross the line?" goal when maybe we were lucky. And yesterday we had decisions go against us that maybe on a different day or against a different team would have drawn a different decision.

I am not going to be a "We wuz robbed" person. The result was expected and probably fair. But because of poor decisions we were not playing on a level field.
Thats not fair.
Just like Pedersons elbow against Fulham when he scored last week wasn't fair.
And portsmouth making sure of the penalty against man utd by diving wasn't fair.
Joe cole being ruled offside when there were 2 men standing on the goal line wasn't fair.
I could go on all day.

The game is filled with cheats and bad decisions and as a game it is not fair.

But to say "that's life, get over it" is stupid.

People get mugged in the street, and houses get broken into. Should we say thats life to that too? Of course not. When rules are not abided to, things have to be done.

Those who think that the paying public should just accept it are naive and stupid. Go and live in China, they like people who never question authority, and accept that you have no rights.
Leave the rest of us to dream of a day when the outcome of a football match depends entirely on the skill of the teams and not on whether the ref is on your side or not.
Then if we are in the bottom 3, we can agree its because we are not good enough, not start looking for excuses and blaming referees.

[sucatraps]

BTW Ronaldo is still the King of the divers followed closely by Joe Cole and Andy Johnson-Gerrard in my view is nowhere near as consistent as those. [/quote]

Steve Gerrard is still a miserable bastard though and Luckypool are still exactly that and Jamie Carragher is still a past master of the professional foul and refs are still influenced and intimidated by "big" teams, reputations etc. but hey shit happens and we will all still be Reading fans in the morning!

[madreadingfan]

I hate gerrard he is a diver but hes won the referees over some how hes a scouse twat!! I hate him with a passion

[Cookie]

It's not just the big clubs that have divers, we have our own in Doyle, Lita and Hunt.

What?
Wash your mouth out Victor!

[sucatraps]

It's not just the big clubs that have divers, we have our own in Doyle, Lita and Hunt.

What?
Wash your mouth out Victor!

No, no, be fair they've had 38 penalty decisions given their way so far this season, haven't they? errrrrrrr no!

[Victor Meldrew]

It's not just the big clubs that have divers, we have our own in Doyle, Lita and Hunt.

What?
Wash your mouth out Victor!

No, no, be fair they've had 38 penalty decisions given their way so far this season, haven't they? errrrrrrr no!

But we won't get them because we are a little club.
And of course our players haven't been in the opposition penalty areas this season.

[Victor Meldrew]

Yeah, thats life. These things happen.

Bollox.

In todays game there should not be decisions going in favour of the big 4. How is anyone supposed to compete if referees are biased towards one team?
That's not sport, that's practically a dictatorship.

Personally, I think its swings and roundabouts. We have been allowed Hunts "did it, didn't it cross the line?" goal when maybe we were lucky. And yesterday we had decisions go against us that maybe on a different day or against a different team would have drawn a different decision.

I am not going to be a "We wuz robbed" person. The result was expected and probably fair. But because of poor decisions we were not playing on a level field.
Thats not fair.
Just like Pedersons elbow against Fulham when he scored last week wasn't fair.
And portsmouth making sure of the penalty against man utd by diving wasn't fair.
Joe cole being ruled offside when there were 2 men standing on the goal line wasn't fair.
I could go on all day.

The game is filled with cheats and bad decisions and as a game it is not fair.

But to say "that's life, get over it" is stupid.

People get mugged in the street, and houses get broken into. Should we say thats life to that too? Of course not. When rules are not abided to, things have to be done.

Those who think that the paying public should just accept it are naive and stupid. Go and live in China, they like people who never question authority, and accept that you have no rights.
Leave the rest of us to dream of a day when the outcome of a football match depends entirely on the skill of the teams and not on whether the ref is on your side or not.
Then if we are in the bottom 3, we can agree its because we are not good enough, not start looking for excuses and blaming referees.

There speaks a man who is not ground down by life.
I don't disagree with what you say at all but despite what the great Bill Shankly once said football is only a game and I think we would do well to remember that.
It's a bit of fun on a Saturday afternoon and to read the bile hurled at certain players on here today is quite frankly pathetic and endemic of a society that wishes to blame somebody else all the time.
The way to change things (if some of you really want to) is to make sure that your kids don't dive when they are playing football or do a Rooney and eff and blind at referees and at the same time as parents not shout and bawl at some amateur referee doing his or her best.
That's how you can change things,not by crying wolf on a message board.

[sucatraps]

No, no, be fair they've had 38 penalty decisions given their way so far this season, haven't they? errrrrrrr no![/quote]

But we won't get them because we are a little club.
And of course our players haven't been in the opposition penalty areas this
season. [/quote]

Touche! but where are they doing all this diving then?

[rg6royal]

Clubs like Liverpool will get the benefit of the doubt with decisions as they are the " Big Clubs "

For instance yesterday some of the free kicks they got were really soft ones.

[1960]

Coppell treats this, as always, very calmly. He says he just wants consistency, as we all do. He quoted Luke Young giving a penalty away just the same as Gerrard should have done yesterday. I don't remember the Young incident, but I assume SC was comparing like with like. And, if you argue that Gerrard could do nothing about it, then the ref in the Young incident should have let it go too.

Why doesn't Hackett get all the refs together (say) once a month and show taped incidents and come to a consensus about similarities? They could agree to always give a penalty if it hits a hand, or never if it's blasted from a yard away - I don't mind, as long as they do the same thing.

[SpaceCruiser]

Coppell treats this, as always, very calmly. He says he just wants consistency, as we all do. He quoted Luke Young giving a penalty away just the same as Gerrard should have done yesterday. I don't remember the Young incident, but I assume SC was comparing like with like. And, if you argue that Gerrard could do nothing about it, then the ref in the Young incident should have let it go too.

Why doesn't Hackett get all the refs together (say) once a month and show taped incidents and come to a consensus about similarities? They could agree to always give a penalty if it hits a hand, or never if it's blasted from a yard away - I don't mind, as long as they do the same thing.

Exactly, your comparison of the Gerrard and Young handballs is spot on.

Just as when we played Man Utd in the first game of the season, Rooney did a very bad foul on our player and didn't get booked for it whereas Kitson got sent off for a bad foul. Quite unfair.

[g]

chalk up another liverpool supporter with multiple teams 'supported'