It it worth buying a sesaon ticket for 2016/7

[Yellowcoat]

Top Flight you are living in a dreamworld with no financial problems. In the real world take your kid and the neighbours to Wealdstone where they are often given free admission. Show your Reading season ticket and three of you would have got in for £6. Would that make you happy?

[Maneki Neko]

remove the barriers

So, it's a Saturday morning. My kid is playing football in the front garden with my next door neighbours kid. My kid is really excited because he is going to watch Reading that afternoon. He won't stop bigging up how good Reading are to my neighbours kid and telling him how much he loves watching Reading and all the songs that he sings. My neighbours kid looks really curious and interested, he fancies a bit of it as well. I say to my next door neighbour, hey mate, what are you doing this afternoon? He says, Nothing. Do you wanna come and watch Reading with us? Then it suddenly dawns on me, how much hassle it is to arrange and how much he as not a supporter yet is expected to pay. If they come, where are they gonna sit?

have done exactly that on many occasions, with no hassle whatsoever. just a phone call to the ticket office. if theres no seats spare around you(never a problem in the north stand) they'll quickly and efficiently swap your season ticket for a paper one elsewhere, next to the people youre taking....

[LWJ]

You aren't ITK so I can comfortably disagree. Please feel free to show me solid evidence it will be 'far worse'.

Performances have improved recently, results haven't admitted. Still a lot better than the dross we had under Adkins, then Clarke at beginning and end of his reign.

Like I said, you evidently don't attend games judging by your recent tripe.

Team tipped for top 6 at the start of this season.
We'll be tipped for relegation at the start of the next.

Tipped for top 6? Any proof, again?

Doubt it. As we weren't.

No? Thought as much.

[Top Flight]

remove the barriers

So, it's a Saturday morning. My kid is playing football in the front garden with my next door neighbours kid. My kid is really excited because he is going to watch Reading that afternoon. He won't stop bigging up how good Reading are to my neighbours kid and telling him how much he loves watching Reading and all the songs that he sings. My neighbours kid looks really curious and interested, he fancies a bit of it as well. I say to my next door neighbour, hey mate, what are you doing this afternoon? He says, Nothing. Do you wanna come and watch Reading with us? Then it suddenly dawns on me, how much hassle it is to arrange and how much he as not a supporter yet is expected to pay. If they come, where are they gonna sit?

have done exactly that on many occasions, with no hassle whatsoever. just a phone call to the ticket office. if theres no seats spare around you(never a problem in the north stand) they'll quickly and efficiently swap your season ticket for a paper one elsewhere, next to the people youre taking....

Yes, but there is a considerable degree of planning involved in that.

The morning of the game is a bit late to start flapping about with tickets isn't it? If I want to persuade my next door neighbour to come with his kid to watch a Reading game with me just on the spur of the moment, a little bit spontaenously. It's going to cost him £28 and his kid £10 to come on the day. That is £38. He is not a Reading fan and at that price it will be very difficult to persuade him to come just off the cuff like that.

It's not just coming for a laugh, a bit of football, a couple of pints and a couple of hot dogs when you're asking £38 for a Dad and his Kid.
That is serious money the club are asking for. You need seriously dedicated fans who care enough if you are going to ask for that much money.

It's great that it works out at £16 a game for me and you. The club reward loyal fans like us. Thanks RFC. But don't you want new fans as well? Don't they want to attract new supporters? Just make football cheap again. Make it something you do for a bit of fun with your mates on a Saturday. Don't charge exorbitant prices that only hooked, drug addicted (football being the drug), Reading supporters are willing to pay.

[Top Flight]

Top Flight you are living in a dreamworld with no financial problems. In the real world take your kid and the neighbours to Wealdstone where they are often given free admission. Show your Reading season ticket and three of you would have got in for £6. Would that make you happy?

It would for a laugh on a Saturday afternoon if Reading are away to Leeds.

But I'm addicted to Reading and I'd like to help grow Reading's fan base. But the club aint helping when I have to try and say with a straight face that it will cost £38 to come and watch us and you will have to sit on your own.

[Hoop Blah]

I agree a fair amount with what you're saying Top Flight, the price of football throughout the pyramid is too much and does act as a barrier to dragging people along, as does the mechanics of buying tickets these days.

I don't think reserved seating is really the problem though, it's just a minor inconvenience, especially at times like now when you can sit almost anywhere in the stadium with a bit of a scout around to find some empty seats.

[Rea Ding]

Great value as always, about a fiver a game for 23 is decent. These last two seasons we have had 2 great cup runs, other clubs have had it far worse and have higher ticket pricing.
So happy as ever to renew

What have the cup games got to do with season ticket pricing?

For just over £5 a game at championship level is really good value, I know cup games haven't got anything to do with the pricing but I was just making the point that that during the last 3 seasons there has been excitement in all

[Maneki Neko]

Yes, but there is a considerable degree of planning involved in that.
The morning of the game is a bit late to start flapping about with tickets isn't it?

none whatsoever, you just phone them, and then collect them

If I want to persuade my next door neighbour to come with his kid to watch a Reading game with me just on the spur of the moment, a little bit spontaenously. It's going to cost him £28 and his kid £10 to come on the day. That is £38. He is not a Reading fan and at that price it will be very difficult to persuade him to come just off the cuff like that.

I think your issue is that your neighbour just doesn't want to come and watch reading...
offer to take his kid, I bet he jumps at the chance of a quiet day

[Maneki Neko]

remove the barriers

So, it's a Saturday morning. My kid is playing football in the front garden with my next door neighbours kid. My kid is really excited because he is going to watch Reading that afternoon. He won't stop bigging up how good Reading are to my neighbours kid and telling him how much he loves watching Reading and all the songs that he sings. My neighbours kid looks really curious and interested, he fancies a bit of it as well. I say to my next door neighbour, hey mate, what are you doing this afternoon? He says, Nothing. Do you wanna come and watch Reading with us? Then it suddenly dawns on me, how much hassle it is to arrange and how much he as not a supporter yet is expected to pay. If they come, where are they gonna sit?

have done exactly that on many occasions, with no hassle whatsoever. just a phone call to the ticket office. if theres no seats spare around you(never a problem in the north stand) they'll quickly and efficiently swap your season ticket for a paper one elsewhere, next to the people youre taking....

Yes, but there is a considerable degree of planning involved in that.

The morning of the game is a bit late to start flapping about with tickets isn't it? If I want to persuade my next door neighbour to come with his kid to watch a Reading game with me just on the spur of the moment, a little bit spontaenously. It's going to cost him £28 and his kid £10 to come on the day. That is £38. He is not a Reading fan and at that price it will be very difficult to persuade him to come just off the cuff like that.

It's not just coming for a laugh, a bit of football, a couple of pints and a couple of hot dogs when you're asking £38 for a Dad and his Kid.
That is serious money the club are asking for. You need seriously dedicated fans who care enough if you are going to ask for that much money.

It's great that it works out at £16 a game for me and you. The club reward loyal fans like us. Thanks RFC. But don't you want new fans as well? Don't they want to attract new supporters? Just make football cheap again. Make it something you do for a bit of fun with your mates on a Saturday. Don't charge exorbitant prices that only hooked, drug addicted (football being the drug), Reading supporters are willing to pay.

they do it by giving U7s a free season ticket, and by making it cost me 25 quid extra to get a U16s ST along with mine for the whole season, and by giving away free mates tickets to certain games.

I get that these don't fit the described scenario, but how many middle aged men who aren't currently football fans are really likely to suddenly become reading fans cos you can get them a 20 quid ticket?

[Sutekh]

The best solution for many will be to buy half season tickets in November when we can can see if there is a team worth watching or if we have another pile of uncompetitive dross.

[Maneki Neko]

if we were fly by night plastics, yeah

[SCIAG]

And crowds are dropping year by year. Maybe I'm wrong on that. But that is the feeling that I get.

You're very wrong. Second-tier crowds are the highest they've been since the 60s.

At Reading specifically, attendances have risen since we moved to the Madejski. Post-Taylor, Elm Park held about 15,000, but we never averaged above 10,000 after 1962.

[Longhorn1970]

Top Flight you are living in a dreamworld with no financial problems. In the real world take your kid and the neighbours to Wealdstone where they are often given free admission. Show your Reading season ticket and three of you would have got in for £6. Would that make you happy?

+1

[Longhorn1970]

The best solution for many will be to buy half season tickets in November when we can can see if there is a team worth watching or if we have another pile of uncompetitive dross.

mate I think it December u get half of season ticket...
I think we will do well next season

I might get mine after BM has gone then !

[Ian Royal]

Y26ers. You should all move to the North Stand and save £50. Get some proper support behind the goal, not stuck in the corner where no-one can hear you!

I'd have to sit behind a goal then though. Think I'm going to shift up and North into Y24/25

[Ian Royal]

The team starting next season will be far worse than the one that started this one.

Decreased quality.
Not sure how you could disagree with that.

You aren't ITK so I can comfortably disagree. Please feel free to show me solid evidence it will be 'far worse'.

Performances have improved recently, results haven't admitted. Still a lot better than the dross we had under Adkins, then Clarke at beginning and end of his reign.

Like I said, you evidently don't attend games judging by your recent tripe.

Team tipped for top 6 at the start of this season.
We'll be tipped for relegation at the start of the next.

By who?

[Maneki Neko]

he's travelling northwards, but not to the north stand you strange man pretending to be a retard.

[Elm Park Kid]

I don't really agree with the idea that the only way you can get more fans is by having more success. Sure getting into the Prem encourages a large number of casuals to turn up to watch the 'big' teams, but how many stick around? In the last 10 years we've had:

3 Seasons in the Premier league
2 Championship title seasons
2 Play off finish seasons (one leading to a play off final).
1 FA Cup semi final finish

Yet we're still struggling to get 14,000 of our own fans to every game.

I'm not saying there's any easy solution but surely we have a high enough population in the area to do better?

I agree with a lot of the points about it no longer being easy or cheap enough to go to games. My first elm park matches were literally me and my friends deciding at 2:30 on a Saturday to go and watch the game. We need to get people into the habit of thinking of Reading as an option of some reasonably priced entertainment - like going to watch a film at the cinema. It's only once they start going on a regular basis just for fun rather than because of the results that they will stick around.

[Haag Royal]

Agreed its not just about success on the pitch. The club must try and understand its the whole match day experience that frankly those on the Board due to their special status probably are not even aware of.

- it starts with getting into the ground. Have the Board ever tried to drive to the ground around 2.15 up the A33 and then park in the public car parks?
- the catering at the ground is shocking. Trying to buy a decent drink before the game is a lottery as to which of the catering staff has been trained to either pull a pint or serve a bovril. Always hit and miss.
- the pre match PR bloke is such a bell end that none of the Board hear him as they don't get to their seats in time
- the pre match music is soooo loud you cant speak to your mate next to you.
- the game itself is a relief after all the stress of what has gone on before!
- after the game can the club not sort out the buses and cars? People leave early to get away before the barrier goes down for the buses. Again the Board don't see this chaos outside as they do not need to experience it.

I could go on but I can imagine that the people who make the decisions are blissfully unaware of how dreadful the whole experience has become.

[Winston Smith]

the pre match music is soooo loud you cant speak to your mate next to you.

this to the max. I go to football to watch the game and socialise. The music is so loud that I cannot hear the person standing next to me. makes for gr8 half time chats about the game so far