Do the people of Reading care?

[Sutekh]

I hope you don't mind me posting as a Brighton fan who lives in Reading.

Where I worked I knew two genuine Reading fans and one that jumped on the band wagon when you got promoted to the Premier League. But there was more Manchester Untited, Arsenal, Spurs and me who got the most stick because I supported Brighton despite being the at the wrong end of league 2 at the time. I do think Reading a has a community of people who have connections to other areas, maybe more so then other towns.

My next door neighbour is a Reading fan and we chat about football and I have been to a couple of Reading games with him, when Brighton are away, but I was still not awear of what is happening to your club. I obviuosly knew you were religated, by a mixture of points deduction and employing Paul Ince as manager, but it was not until I saw an article on the BBC yesterday about another possible point deduction that I looked on this board to see what is really happening. It looks grim.

As you may know as Brighton fans we went through a really sh!tty time with owners who were there just to assit strip the club.
If you feel the owners are damaging your club, you need to do something about it. I don't suggest doing what we did, breaking the cross bar so the match was abandond, but it did make national news and alerted the wider football community to what was happening.

You need to unite as a fanbase and plan what you are going to do. Try and bring it to the attention to other football fans.

As much as you probably don't like Brighton fans, if you really needed our help and your club is in serious trouble we would join in a fans united day and protest beside you. No true footbal fan likes to see another club in real danger. We would even do it for Palarse.

look at the things we did to see if you can draw some inspiration. Do not let apathy allow poor owners take your club a way from you.

Good luck.

Good thoughts, thanks, utterly agree hate seeing any club - whoever they are - getting turned over by their owners. Trouble is our lot are rather odd. Plenty of money to support the infrastructure (academy etc.) and waste on stupid signings that some fans called as stupid at the time, yet ZERO being spent where it actually matters i.e. on a proper manager/head coach/whatever they want to call it to oversee the playing side and now failing to pay people on time which is is absolutely diabolical and absolutely no reason for it in this day and age.

What we need but won't get is a communication from the man himself explaining why we're where we are and what the plan is going forward. In the absence of that I agree we need a CAREFULLY thought about plan of action which subtlely brings concerns to the forefront of everyone's mind. A PANTS day type of thing - something really fun but non-disruptive that gets people happy to join in and noticed nationally in the media. A massive flag size pair of pants to replace the big STAR flag that sometimes appears at games and gets passed around before and during games could be a start. Trouble there would be having enough supporters in the stadium to pass anything whatsoever around after the years of non-entertaining utter cr@p that has been endured.

[tmesis]

I hope you don't mind me posting as a Brighton fan who lives in Reading.

Where I worked I knew two genuine Reading fans and one that jumped on the band wagon when you got promoted to the Premier League. But there was more Manchester Untited, Arsenal, Spurs and me who got the most stick because I supported Brighton despite being the at the wrong end of league 2 at the time. I do think Reading a has a community of people who have connections to other areas, maybe more so then other towns.

My next door neighbour is a Reading fan and we chat about football and I have been to a couple of Reading games with him, when Brighton are away, but I was still not awear of what is happening to your club. I obviuosly knew you were religated, by a mixture of points deduction and employing Paul Ince as manager, but it was not until I saw an article on the BBC yesterday about another possible point deduction that I looked on this board to see what is really happening. It looks grim.

As you may know as Brighton fans we went through a really sh!tty time with owners who were there just to assit strip the club.
If you feel the owners are damaging your club, you need to do something about it. I don't suggest doing what we did, breaking the cross bar so the match was abandond, but it did make national news and alerted the wider football community to what was happening.

You need to unite as a fanbase and plan what you are going to do. Try and bring it to the attention to other football fans.

As much as you probably don't like Brighton fans, if you really needed our help and your club is in serious trouble we would join in a fans united day and protest beside you. No true footbal fan likes to see another club in real danger. We would even do it for Palarse.

look at the things we did to see if you can draw some inspiration. Do not let apathy allow poor owners take your club a way from you.

Good luck.

Good thoughts, thanks, utterly agree hate seeing any club - whoever they are - getting turned over by their owners. Trouble is our lot are rather odd. Plenty of money to support the infrastructure (academy etc.) and waste on stupid signings that some fans called as stupid at the time, yet ZERO being spent where it actually matters i.e. on a proper manager/head coach/whatever they want to call it to oversee the playing side and now failing to pay people on time which is is absolutely diabolical and absolutely no reason for it in this day and age.

What we need but won't get is a communication from the man himself explaining why we're where we are and what the plan is going forward. In the absence of that I agree we need a CAREFULLY thought about plan of action which subtlely brings concerns to the forefront of everyone's mind. A PANTS day type of thing - something really fun but non-disruptive that gets people happy to join in and noticed nationally in the media. A massive flag size pair of pants to replace the big STAR flag that sometimes appears at games and gets passed around before and during games could be a start. Trouble there would be having enough supporters in the stadium to pass anything whatsoever around after the years of non-entertaining utter cr@p that has been endured.

One issue with any kind of protest at a home game is that by the time we have one, if we still have the same issues as now, it could all be too late.

[Sutekh]

I hope you don't mind me posting as a Brighton fan who lives in Reading.

Where I worked I knew two genuine Reading fans and one that jumped on the band wagon when you got promoted to the Premier League. But there was more Manchester Untited, Arsenal, Spurs and me who got the most stick because I supported Brighton despite being the at the wrong end of league 2 at the time. I do think Reading a has a community of people who have connections to other areas, maybe more so then other towns.

My next door neighbour is a Reading fan and we chat about football and I have been to a couple of Reading games with him, when Brighton are away, but I was still not awear of what is happening to your club. I obviuosly knew you were religated, by a mixture of points deduction and employing Paul Ince as manager, but it was not until I saw an article on the BBC yesterday about another possible point deduction that I looked on this board to see what is really happening. It looks grim.

As you may know as Brighton fans we went through a really sh!tty time with owners who were there just to assit strip the club.
If you feel the owners are damaging your club, you need to do something about it. I don't suggest doing what we did, breaking the cross bar so the match was abandond, but it did make national news and alerted the wider football community to what was happening.

You need to unite as a fanbase and plan what you are going to do. Try and bring it to the attention to other football fans.

As much as you probably don't like Brighton fans, if you really needed our help and your club is in serious trouble we would join in a fans united day and protest beside you. No true footbal fan likes to see another club in real danger. We would even do it for Palarse.

look at the things we did to see if you can draw some inspiration. Do not let apathy allow poor owners take your club a way from you.

Good luck.

Good thoughts, thanks, utterly agree hate seeing any club - whoever they are - getting turned over by their owners. Trouble is our lot are rather odd. Plenty of money to support the infrastructure (academy etc.) and waste on stupid signings that some fans called as stupid at the time, yet ZERO being spent where it actually matters i.e. on a proper manager/head coach/whatever they want to call it to oversee the playing side and now failing to pay people on time which is is absolutely diabolical and absolutely no reason for it in this day and age.

What we need but won't get is a communication from the man himself explaining why we're where we are and what the plan is going forward. In the absence of that I agree we need a CAREFULLY thought about plan of action which subtlely brings concerns to the forefront of everyone's mind. A PANTS day type of thing - something really fun but non-disruptive that gets people happy to join in and noticed nationally in the media. A massive flag size pair of pants to replace the big STAR flag that sometimes appears at games and gets passed around before and during games could be a start. Trouble there would be having enough supporters in the stadium to pass anything whatsoever around after the years of non-entertaining utter cr@p that has been endured.

One issue with any kind of protest at a home game is that by the time we have one, if we still have the same issues as now, it could all be too late.

OK what about something really massive that could be draped around the stadium at night. Not something that stops people getting on with their jobs or something that damages property but something noticeable... anyone got one of those Pink Floyd inflatible pigs that could sort of be attached and float just over the top of the stadium but sufficiently below airspace to avoid any trouble with aircraft?

[Lower West]

Probably a not insignificant number of people who live in Reading who aren't even aware there even is a club.

Amazingly one or two who seem to think this town is a suburb of London, at least I assume so when they argued with the bus driver about using their Oyster cards.

Remember some years travelling to Sacramento the USA on business. At immigration control. Asked where in the UK I was from. Living 9 miles north of Newbury at the time in a rural location. I said Newbury being the nearest largest town. The immigration officer looked blankly at me. Then said. "How far from London is that? ". I replied "About 70 miles due West" . To which he said "You live in the suburbs then".

[Jackson Corner]

Well I have always had soft spot for Brighton as my mum came from West Sussex and remember going to the Goldstone when Peter Ward was scoring for fun. I only wish we were half as well run as them. But as mentioned they have been through the mire, playing at Gillingham and then Withdean. And look at them now, a top class side playing in Europe. There problem was not having a ground. We have all the facilities just clueless owners who couldn’t run a Bath. I never dreamt back when SJM was at the helm we would end up in this situation, sadly protest’s will make little or no difference in this case. The owners will disappear behind there communist wall why we will fade into oblivion. I know it’s only a game but for some of us Reading FC are a big part of our lives, and watching this situation unfold is truly heartbreaking.

[ozzygull]

Well I have always had soft spot for Brighton as my mum came from West Sussex and remember going to the Goldstone when Peter Ward was scoring for fun. I only wish we were half as well run as them. But as mentioned they have been through the mire, playing at Gillingham and then Withdean. And look at them now, a top class side playing in Europe. There problem was not having a ground. We have all the facilities just clueless owners who couldn’t run a Bath. I never dreamt back when SJM was at the helm we would end up in this situation, sadly protest’s will make little or no difference in this case. The owners will disappear behind there communist wall why we will fade into oblivion. I know it’s only a game but for some of us Reading FC are a big part of our lives, and watching this situation unfold is truly heartbreaking.

Yes I think your situation is harder than ours as your owner are not local or even in this country, so they are harder to get at. I don’t know much about your owners. Two of the owners that were trying to destroy us owned Focus DIY so we would hold protests outside the stores handing out leaflets suggesting boycotts, I’m not sure anyone going in to the stores was bothered, but affected their business and staff. People would camp outside our owners house as well it all got very intimidating. There were lots going on outside of match time.

During matches we had walkouts, whistles, pitch invasions. we were a crap side in division four and getting a match abandoned was the only way we could get anyone to listen to what was going on. Up until that point FA did sweet F A.

I feel very lucky to be where we are as a club now, but that does not mean that I’m obvious to the fact in the future we could be in a sh!tty situation again. I would prefer to converse with fans that support their local team, then the entitled fans that seem to follow the so called top six.

Reading FC is important and it should be to everyone who loves football. We all laugh when a rival is not doing well but should not turn our backs when they are in real trouble. A football club in a community is so important, it gives people a break from their lives and allows them to be part of an extended family.

I really hope this is just a very bad blip from your owners and they come good, pay the players on time, get you a manager and team ready to go again next season. If you can do that, put some good results together and get back to the championship, it will be great. When you win matches it does not matter who you play, you go away from the games happy. but don’t let it get to far before you start to responding if they, the owners don’t.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

A General Election isn't that far away now. You'd have thought the local MPs would have been bright and cynical enough to spot that they're some potential votes in this, even if they don't actually care about the club in reality.

He won't in Reading West, he almost resigned the other week.matt Rhondda, unlikely
John Redwood!!!!!!

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Theresa May

[Eaststandman]

I believe Pants Day was a success because it was essentially simple, funny & harmless!
Chinese psyche is famously inscrutable and relies largely on "face"
I wonder how the owner would feel about a stand full of blue & white morph masks, particularly if it was accompanied by nothing but whistling, which is apparently insulting!?
The expressions "Gongcandang" mean sad & pitiful
"Huaidan" means bad egg
"Huanchong" means locust/insect
"Youbing" means sick
All of these expressions are unwelcome by Chinese nationals hoping to maintain "face" which is seemingly important!

[Sutekh]

Theresa May

The most stunningly useless [insert naughty word(s)] that ever drew breath.

If there's nothing in it for them they'll not be interested (that's the way a capitalist democracy works) whoever they are. You'll get further talking to independents than those that'd be told to quietly drop it as "the party doesn't do stuff that's popular with the masses".

Honestly anyone who thinks the Torys or the Labour "charlies" give a flying one about a tinpot provincial football club (even if it does get a few more votes) is in serious need of getting their head examined, both parties are a bunch of utterly unelectable idiots who I wouldn't trust to run a bath let alone a country.

[ILoveMoonPig]

To be fair, reading is mainly a London/South coast commuter town.

Most people in reading support either a London club because they moved here from the city, or else a South coast club (Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton etc).

It's not that reading fans don't care, so much as most people that might care, support other teams more.

I think a lot of our developing fan base hasn't returned since COVID. Attendances still feel way below pre-lockdown levels.

The players don't deserve a protest and with the amount of his personal money he spent (albeit poorly), I'm not entirely sure dia does.

Rather than protest at the training ground, let's go across the road to Nirvana for a massage and a dip in the salt-water pool

[Sutekh]

To be fair, reading is mainly a London/South coast commuter town.

Most people in reading support either a London club because they moved here from the city, or else a South coast club (Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton etc).

It's not that reading fans don't care, so much as most people that might care, support other teams more.

I think a lot of our developing fan base hasn't returned since COVID. Attendances still feel way below pre-lockdown levels.

The players don't deserve a protest and with the amount of his personal money he spent (albeit poorly), I'm not entirely sure dia does.

Rather than protest at the training ground, let's go across the road to Nirvana for a massage and a dip in the salt-water pool

Say again that the main problem has actually been the utterly dreadful football being played that has driven fans away and the succession of utterly ******* stupid managerial appointments that some (hopefully now sacked) idiot at the club thought were good ideas.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

To be fair, reading is mainly a London/South coast commuter town.

Most people in reading support either a London club because they moved here from the city, or else a South coast club (Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton etc).

It's not that reading fans don't care, so much as most people that might care, support other teams more.

I think a lot of our developing fan base hasn't returned since COVID. Attendances still feel way below pre-lockdown levels.

The players don't deserve a protest and with the amount of his personal money he spent (albeit poorly), I'm not entirely sure dia does.

Rather than protest at the training ground, let's go across the road to Nirvana for a massage and a dip in the salt-water pool

i don't think anyone in Reading supports a south coast club. Premier league tops in town are the usual London or United

[Royal_jimmy]

To be fair, reading is mainly a London/South coast commuter town.

Most people in reading support either a London club because they moved here from the city, or else a South coast club (Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton etc).

It's not that reading fans don't care, so much as most people that might care, support other teams more.

I think a lot of our developing fan base hasn't returned since COVID. Attendances still feel way below pre-lockdown levels.

The players don't deserve a protest and with the amount of his personal money he spent (albeit poorly), I'm not entirely sure dia does.

Rather than protest at the training ground, let's go across the road to Nirvana for a massage and a dip in the salt-water pool

This. Reading is also popular as a place to live for people who move to the UK from abroad. Whereas somewhere like Sunderland have a community of people who were born and brought up there and so support their hometown club.

[Royal_jimmy]

To be fair, reading is mainly a London/South coast commuter town.

Most people in reading support either a London club because they moved here from the city, or else a South coast club (Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton etc).

It's not that reading fans don't care, so much as most people that might care, support other teams more.

I think a lot of our developing fan base hasn't returned since COVID. Attendances still feel way below pre-lockdown levels.

The players don't deserve a protest and with the amount of his personal money he spent (albeit poorly), I'm not entirely sure dia does.

Rather than protest at the training ground, let's go across the road to Nirvana for a massage and a dip in the salt-water pool

i don't think anyone in Reading supports a south coast club. Premier league tops in town are the usual London or United

Yeah mostly just Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, United and Liverpool not anyone else

[Hound]

To be fair, reading is mainly a London/South coast commuter town.

Most people in reading support either a London club because they moved here from the city, or else a South coast club (Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton etc).

It's not that reading fans don't care, so much as most people that might care, support other teams more.

I think a lot of our developing fan base hasn't returned since COVID. Attendances still feel way below pre-lockdown levels.

The players don't deserve a protest and with the amount of his personal money he spent (albeit poorly), I'm not entirely sure dia does.

Rather than protest at the training ground, let's go across the road to Nirvana for a massage and a dip in the salt-water pool

I’ve never met anyone here who supports either of those 3 clubs

London teams - yes lots of them

[Snowflake Royal]

Walking back through Whitley and town after games for years, you could almost guarantee at least one random passerby would ask about the score and have a quick chat about how the club were doing.

Lots of people care, even ones who don't ever go. Just not to the same level like fans who attend do.

Most of my family aren't interested in going particularly, but they still care about the health of the club because I do. There's a lot of that around I'm sure.

And many of us cared about Bury going out of business. We'd get some solidarity from fans of other clubs too. Like Wimbledon did. Like Brighton did. And many others.

[Elm Park Kid]

You only have to look at the racial diversity of the people in Reading and compare it to the typical crowd at the Mad Stad to start to understand the issue.

[RATM]

You only have to look at the racial diversity of the people in Reading and compare it to the typical crowd at the Mad Stad to start to understand the issue.

Very few Reading fans actually live in the town. I recall previous surveys that showed only a small percentage do. I’m in West Berkshire and the support in this area has always been decent.

Referring to racial diversity is relevant because West Berkshire is a lot less diverse than Reading

[tmesis]

You only have to look at the racial diversity of the people in Reading and compare it to the typical crowd at the Mad Stad to start to understand the issue.

And other big towns/cities don't have a similar diversity?