Relegation

[Snowflake Royal]

But lower league does tend to mean lower quality, that's why those clubs are in the division below.

I'd definitely rather be in the Championship, even if it means another season fighting relegation.

Upper L1 > bottom Championship.

Unsuccessful teams play badly, successful teams play well.

If we survive we might fare better next year in the league table. Bowen did a good job recruiting and there seems to be a bit of a plan to take the club forward. No guarantee we'd fight relegation again although we'll have to recruit well to avoid another relegation battle but if we do then I don't see why we can't finish midtable.

That might is no better than the might bounce straight back. In fact I'd say less likely.

[South Coast Royal]

The one positive from an earlier posting that I like is "no international breaks".
Having said that, we will probably have a player from Luxembourg and one from Andorra meaning that our games still get cancelled.

[Sebastian the Red]

Negatives
1. Loss of revenue
2. Lower crowds
3. Owner might lose interest - administration?
4. Job losses
5. No guarantee of getting back
6. Poorer players and a lower quality of football

1. Winning games would encourage many to return
2. As above
3. Next owner cannot be any worse
4. If the owner does not adopt a community based outlook for the club then there's unlikely to be any growth. Be further decline due to apathy. Successfully run lower league clubs are adopting strategies that are more than just about the 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon.
5. That's football. That's why we return every season. A reflection of life. A soap opera. Full of highs and lows.
6. That's an insult to professional footballers in the lower leagues. Watchable and exciting football doesn't mean you have to play like Man City. Better than paying to watch players past their best simply building their pension pots while on overpaid salaries. Fewer top level footballers now drift back down the leagues. They've no need as already multi millionaires. That's why the game may well appear to lack quality these days.

On point 1 - our last 2 seasons in the 3rd tier saw average crowds as follows:

Play-off season (00/01) - 12,647
Promotion season (01/02 - 14,115

Since then, we have beaten that higher mark every season bar the last two (that were not COVID impacted). The season before the play-off run, despite being in a shiny new stadium, we only averaged 8,985 whilst finishing 10th. A home game v Bury attracted 5,393 people - Burnley, Scunthorpe & Wrexham games just a tad over 6k - an up tick in form in the back of end of the season helped crowds but the most we saw through the turnstile was 13k.

So yes, success at a lower level may draw people back in but realistically, it will need to be a concerted push for automatic promotion and even then crowds may only rise in the 2nd half of the season.

I miss those days of small attendances. It was just such a lovely place to be without too many football fans around.

[Loafer]

Small attendances in a stadium like ours is shit

I still hope we go down though, would he nice to win a few games and not be at the bottom

[Rusty royal]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65299069

The wind up has begun

[Stranded]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65299069

The wind up has begun

It's only a wind up, if you get wound up by it.

[SWLR]

Warnock added: "I hope everybody survives, I hope Cardiff, ourselves and Rotherham survive. So you know who I want to go down!"

I really hate Colin... with a passion

[RG30]

It might have been answered elsewhere (there's obvs far too many threads duplicating stuff) but why are there no championship relegation odds around (on Bet365 at least)? Is there a points deduction in the offing for someone? I thought everyone else was being let off from any misdemeanors?

Firms have understandably been scarred off by recent deductions as there is much uncertainty now within the market to the point where I would be surprised if long term they start pricing up relegation markets mid season.

Betway currently the only firm who have markets open as does the Betfair Exchange. Sky Bet reopened Saturday night but closed again (you can still cash out any bets placed on Sky).

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Football doesn’t get much lower quality than our performances thid season.

Less skillful players doesn't automatically mean low quality football. There's plenty of decent football in L1. We're not talking conference here.

A new owner could be worse, but it's not that likely.

But lower league does tend to mean lower quality, that's why those clubs are in the division below.

I'd definitely rather be in the Championship, even if it means another season fighting relegation.

Upper L1 > bottom Championship.

Unsuccessful teams play badly, successful teams play well.

By rights, Plymouth, Sheff Wednesday or Ipswich won't want to come up either then seen as though they aren't likely to be as successful next season?

[tmesis]

Know there are a few dramatics about how if we went down then we’d go down again to L2

Just don’t see it. Don’t think we’d be anywhere close - there are some pretty dreadful teams in that div, we’d have to do terribly to finish below the likes of port vale and Cheltenham

Only way we'd go down is administration tbh. Even our second string/kids should have enough to survive in L1. I've watched plenty of games in that league and L2 and it's a pretty poor standard.

It appears we have to stick to another business plan next season. A lot will depend on how much that business plan will restrict us if we go down.

If we find ourselves in July with a small squad of genuine first team players again, the odds of us being able to build a promotion chasing squad are not high.

Put it this way - if we stay up this year, I think there's far more chance of us being in the Championship in 24/25 than there is if we go down this season.

Yes, if we went up next year from League One, it'd be far better than another year of bottom half grind in the Championship, but the amount of time it's taken several bigger clubs than us to get back suggests it's rather more difficult to get back up than some are making out.

[tmesis]

Small attendances in a stadium like ours is shit

I still hope we go down though, would he nice to win a few games and not be at the bottom

The Madejski is horrible with low crowds, especially for night games.

There's something about sitting there in the cold on a dark November evening, watching us play a team from some godforsaken northern barnacle, when it's quiet enough that you can hear the generators from the chip vans outside, that makes you wonder why you are wasting a night of your life in this way.

[Hound]

Had a few games like that in the champ this year as well tbh

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Warnock added: "I hope everybody survives, I hope Cardiff, ourselves and Rotherham survive. So you know who I want to go down!"

I really hate Colin... with a passion

Fakes?

[Snowflake Royal]

But lower league does tend to mean lower quality, that's why those clubs are in the division below.

I'd definitely rather be in the Championship, even if it means another season fighting relegation.

Upper L1 > bottom Championship.

Unsuccessful teams play badly, successful teams play well.

By rights, Plymouth, Sheff Wednesday or Ipswich won't want to come up either then seen as though they aren't likely to be as successful next season?

I rather expect they all think they have a good chance of competing.

[Sutekh]

Small attendances in a stadium like ours is shit

I still hope we go down though, would he nice to win a few games and not be at the bottom

The Madejski is horrible with low crowds, especially for night games.

There's something about sitting there in the cold on a dark November evening, watching us play a team from some godforsaken northern barnacle, when it's quiet enough that you can hear the generators from the chip vans outside, that makes you wonder why you are wasting a night of your life in this way.

Especially when Pauno or Ince are managing the club….

[AthleticoSpizz]

Get over it Sutekh they’re gone

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Upper L1 > bottom Championship.

Unsuccessful teams play badly, successful teams play well.

By rights, Plymouth, Sheff Wednesday or Ipswich won't want to come up either then seen as though they aren't likely to be as successful next season?

I rather expect they all think they have a good chance of competing.

There's my point about us though, why can't we compete? It's not like it's something we've not been doing for years, we've been poor but we've managed to be better than other sides. It's not great to see the team lose, but it's better to see us in a better division than a lower one where there is no guarantee we will get out in a timeframe that will satisfy the fans. We should want to be playing at the best level we can, for as long as we can.

[Royal_jimmy]

By rights, Plymouth, Sheff Wednesday or Ipswich won't want to come up either then seen as though they aren't likely to be as successful next season?

I rather expect they all think they have a good chance of competing.

There's my point about us though, why can't we compete? It's not like it's something we've not been doing for years, we've been poor but we've managed to be better than other sides. It's not great to see the team lose, but it's better to see us in a better division than a lower one where there is no guarantee we will get out in a timeframe that will satisfy the fans. We should want to be playing at the best level we can, for as long as we can.

This - I'd take 17th in the premier league every season over this or league one

[Snowflake Royal]

By rights, Plymouth, Sheff Wednesday or Ipswich won't want to come up either then seen as though they aren't likely to be as successful next season?

I rather expect they all think they have a good chance of competing.

There's my point about us though, why can't we compete? It's not like it's something we've not been doing for years, we've been poor but we've managed to be better than other sides. It's not great to see the team lose, but it's better to see us in a better division than a lower one where there is no guarantee we will get out in a timeframe that will satisfy the fans. We should want to be playing at the best level we can, for as long as we can.

I'm not talking about competing to not be relegated, I mean top half.

We've finished top half twice in 10 years. We aren't competing. We have a culture of losing and failure. We're badly run, struggling to be financially competitive.

Take Ipswich, they now have a culture of winning from years of competingfor promotion. They've sorted themselves out, there's a feel good factor about the place.

The last ten years at Reading have been increasingly rancid.

I know you think it's better to be losing in a higher division than winning in a lower one. You know I don't agree.

[JR]

Warnock added: "I hope everybody survives, I hope Cardiff, ourselves and Rotherham survive. So you know who I want to go down!"

I really hate Colin... with a passion

As much as we’d like to think this is him winding us up because of a long term vendetta against mighty Reading. It’s as simple as all the other clubs he has a managed - so it’s only natural he wants us, Blackpool and Wigan to go down.