Attendance

[Brogue]

It’s going to take time for the supporters to come back. We’ve always had a core support of about 12-15 k fans. If we have another season like last then I expect the average attendance will be around 17-19 k come the and of the season. We’ve always had lower attendances at the beginning of the season. It will pick up I’m sure.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

There was surely not much more than about 9000 people in the ground on Saturday? It was certainly way less than half full.

[NathStPaul]

The truth is we only have between 9k - 12k proper supporters who will turn up no matter what. We have about 6000 people who are casual supporters who will turn up when the going is good and there is a chance of promotion. The same casuals will also turn up to cup ties against the big clubs.

We are not a big club, we are not well supported. In our region we are many peoples second team, they will watch us when there is a reason to do so but in the meantime will support Arsenal or Chelsea from the comfort of their sofa. The same people won't bother paying £20 to watch us play Preston North End at the start of a season where there is a lot of unrest at the club and low expectations.

I also think there are a lot of people, like me, who haven't missed it one bit. At no point last season was I watching a home game on TV or listening to it on the radio wishing I was there. I was happy to not be spending the money to be honest. I will go to the odd away game when I can but I don't imagine I will be going to any home games this season.

[Millsy]

The only explanation can be that most people have stopped supporting Reading since we got rid of Aluko.

Don't underestimate the effect of a big signing.

[Westwood52]

The truth is we only have between 9k - 12k proper supporters who will turn up no matter what. We have about 6000 people who are casual supporters who will turn up when the going is good and there is a chance of promotion. The same casuals will also turn up to cup ties against the big clubs.

We are not a big club, we are not well supported. In our region we are many peoples second team, they will watch us when there is a reason to do so but in the meantime will support Arsenal or Chelsea from the comfort of their sofa. The same people won't bother paying £20 to watch us play Preston North End at the start of a season where there is a lot of unrest at the club and low expectations.

Shame really about the decline in supporter participation.I remember Our Wembley and Cardiff games when we rammed the stadiums.Equally the first year we were promoted ,we regularly hit over 20000 attendances for weekend games.Can’t really remember second time round;think there was a bit of a drop off.Not sure how that level of interest is regenerated.The Prem is still well attended.Maybe our locals don’t enjoy second rate football.I love this league however and believe it is one of the most competitive leagues in the world;you never really know what’s going to happen.After dominating the 2nd half on Saturday,I was bricking it for the last ten minutes.

[Stranded]

The truth is we only have between 9k - 12k proper supporters who will turn up no matter what. We have about 6000 people who are casual supporters who will turn up when the going is good and there is a chance of promotion. The same casuals will also turn up to cup ties against the big clubs.

We are not a big club, we are not well supported. In our region we are many peoples second team, they will watch us when there is a reason to do so but in the meantime will support Arsenal or Chelsea from the comfort of their sofa. The same people won't bother paying £20 to watch us play Preston North End at the start of a season where there is a lot of unrest at the club and low expectations.

Shame really about the decline in supporter participation.I remember Our Wembley and Cardiff games when we rammed the stadiums.Equally the first year we were promoted ,we regularly hit over 20000 attendances for weekend games.Can’t really remember second time round;think there was a bit of a drop off.Not sure how that level of interest is regenerated.The Prem is still well attended.Maybe our locals don’t enjoy second rate football.I love this league however and believe it is one of the most competitive leagues in the world;you never really know what’s going to happen.After dominating the 2nd half on Saturday,I was bricking it for the last ten minutes.

Because we were doing well. If we are in the top 6 at Christmas, Covid numbers are stable giving people confidence to return and the team are doing well at home i.e we win 6 or 7 of the first 10 home games, people will come back. If we are really pushing still in spring then sell outs will start to happen - it has always been so.

The problem we have is at the moment, you turn up to a Reading home game and the likelihood is you are going to watch them not win as the past decade as shown - the club needs a sustained run of decent home form to get fans back - you look at our start at home and in the first 7 games, you can make a case that we could win all of them but a record of W4 D2 L1 is more than achievable from those games - if we are also picking up a few points away, then floating fans may sense something interesting happening and return.

[genome]

Yeah, the truth is we have a pretty large fair-weather contingent. Around 12,000 max who will be there no matter what, the rest will come back if we get a few more home wins and decent performances. People can talk about the myriad of reasons but the only thing that is going to boost attendances is winning games, end of.

[Westwood52]

Bloody hell;just seen the fan pictures from Saturday.I had no idea they were serving beer outside the East Stand;I was absolutely gasping.Nothing but Compass,outside the North Stand.The pictures give the impression the Ground was packed.

[Hendo]

Bloody hell;just seen the fan pictures from Saturday.I had no idea they were serving beer outside the East Stand;I was absolutely gasping.Nothing but Compass,outside the North Stand.The pictures give the impression the Ground was packed.

They've sold beer outside the east stand for about 5 years now.

[NathStPaul]

Bloody hell;just seen the fan pictures from Saturday.I had no idea they were serving beer outside the East Stand;I was absolutely gasping.Nothing but Compass,outside the North Stand.The pictures give the impression the Ground was packed.

They've sold beer outside the east stand for about 5 years now.

Do you think Westwood has been going to a different stadium all these years? It might explain why his match reports make no sense and why he gets all of the players names wrong.

[Snowflake Royal]

The truth is we only have between 9k - 12k proper supporters who will turn up no matter what. We have about 6000 people who are casual supporters who will turn up when the going is good and there is a chance of promotion. The same casuals will also turn up to cup ties against the big clubs.

We are not a big club, we are not well supported. In our region we are many peoples second team, they will watch us when there is a reason to do so but in the meantime will support Arsenal or Chelsea from the comfort of their sofa. The same people won't bother paying £20 to watch us play Preston North End at the start of a season where there is a lot of unrest at the club and low expectations.

I also think there are a lot of people, like me, who haven't missed it one bit. At no point last season was I watching a home game on TV or listening to it on the radio wishing I was there. I was happy to not be spending the money to be honest. I will go to the odd away game when I can but I don't imagine I will be going to any home games this season.

I think the pool is far bigger but there's a large number who can't make all the games no matter what.

Thinking back to my youth in 'ding, I made about 16 games a year. That wasn't because I was a casual fan. It was because of what I and my friends could afford and arrange together. It had nothing to do with doing well or big games.

I think there's a big number of people with similar feelings.

I think the A typical one's are the ones who go every week regardless. It's a huge commitment.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Bloody hell;just seen the fan pictures from Saturday.I had no idea they were serving beer outside the East Stand;I was absolutely gasping.Nothing but Compass,outside the North Stand.The pictures give the impression the Ground was packed.

They've sold beer outside the east stand for about 5 years now.

Do you think Westwood has been going to a different stadium all these years? It might explain why his match reports make no sense and why he gets all of the players names wrong.

Lol

[3points]

Well I guess I'm now in the "floating" fan category having not renewed my season ticket three years ago. That decision was made for a variety of reasons including my son going off to uni, as well as my mate's son. I kept going for one season by myself, but it isn't the same. I also worked away a lot so midweek games were getting harder to get to each week / season, and that is exacerbated if you have a cup run and those home Saturday league fixtures get moved to midweek. Plus our home form was absolute shite for way too many years to be enjoyable.

I didn't go on Saturday as my son couldn't make it as he was working. I'm working late tomorrow night which will make getting to the ground very tight. I suspect I will go to 6-8 games this season now, when it fits in around my life whereas in the past my life fitted around football. COVID will have broken many people's habits of going to the football and it is hard for attendance to be re-started, unless we're doing well. Winning games is important, but so too is entertaining football.

I think the Championship has massively deteriorated in terms of quality in the past few seasons as well with too many teams coming to the Mad stad (SCLS) looking for a point or a scrambled winner from a set play. At to this the slow tempo and lack of physical challenges I just, personally, do not find the modern era of football as interesting as I used to.

[PieEater]

In case, like me, anyone else was wondering what this record low attendance was .... 12,156

[Brogue]

Bloody hell;just seen the fan pictures from Saturday.I had no idea they were serving beer outside the East Stand;I was absolutely gasping.Nothing but Compass,outside the North Stand.The pictures give the impression the Ground was packed.

you must be on the wind up?

[RoyalBlue]

The truth is we only have between 9k - 12k proper supporters who will turn up no matter what. We have about 6000 people who are casual supporters who will turn up when the going is good and there is a chance of promotion. The same casuals will also turn up to cup ties against the big clubs.

We are not a big club, we are not well supported. In our region we are many peoples second team, they will watch us when there is a reason to do so but in the meantime will support Arsenal or Chelsea from the comfort of their sofa. The same people won't bother paying £20 to watch us play Preston North End at the start of a season where there is a lot of unrest at the club and low expectations.

I also think there are a lot of people, like me, who haven't missed it one bit. At no point last season was I watching a home game on TV or listening to it on the radio wishing I was there. I was happy to not be spending the money to be honest. I will go to the odd away game when I can but I don't imagine I will be going to any home games this season.

I think the pool is far bigger but there's a large number who can't make all the games no matter what.

Thinking back to my youth in 'ding, I made about 16 games a year. That wasn't because I was a casual fan. It was because of what I and my friends could afford and arrange together. It had nothing to do with doing well or big games.

I think there's a big number of people with similar feelings.

I think the A typical one's are the ones who go every week regardless. It's a huge commitment.

Yes, not just in money but also time, particularly if you don't live in Reading. It also often involves neglecting other commitments, incurring family wrath etc.

[blythspartan]

I used to go to every home game and some away games. However, since I moved from Tilehurst to Wootton Bassett I get to the games as and when I can.

I remember back in the 70s our average attendance was around 3 to 4 thousand. However, I remember standing in crowds of around 26,000 against Southampton and 14,000 plus against Aldershot so we have always had a lot of fair weather supporters.

I still believe if we were a successful team in the premiership we could fill a stadium with a 36,000 capacity.

[Forbury Lion]

Visiting team the furthest possible distance away hardly helps
COVID will be the big thing , lots of people still not ready for crowds

I have a theory that getting to the games on crowded stuffy buses with standing room only is putting people off more than the thought of actually being in an open air stadium cheering the team on.

I personally drove to the game and paid for parking for the first time ever for this reason.
Anyone who can't drive, cycle or walk to the grounds maybe remained at home.

Another less cheery theory is that crowds are down because a high number of fans passed away in the last 18 months - there were certainly a few sad stories of this being relayed on the BBC Berks pre-show. I guess there's a little of this every season though.

[Hendo]

Attendance was so low it was actually the 10th highest in the EFL, once again our fans will try and use absolutely anything to bash our own club.

[Forbury Lion]

Attendance was so low it was actually the 10th highest in the EFL, once again our fans will try and use absolutely anything to bash our own club.

How did it compare to last season?