Relegation

[From Despair To Where?]

Once again you are citing another terrible example. Another club bigger than Reading, with a more invested fan base, who care more passionately about their club.

They were also known for having the most expensive tickets outside of the Premier League when they were in the Championship. In fact, I believe at one point it was only an Arsenal season ticket that cost more than an Ipswich season ticket in the whole of the English League system.

Even with the lowest prices in the Championship, the people of Reading haven't been bothered to support their club. That is not going to change for the better in League One.

For fans to come back we'd have to be near the top of league one and showing signs the club is better run which for the foreseeable feels unlikely. I hope I'm wrong and we bounce back straight away but I am not optimistic.

I reckon some fans will return if we stop playing the sort of turgid football we've been serving in for the best part of 5 years.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Reading fans on Twitter are the worst I swear, we're already down according to them, yes it's not good but the situation hasn't changed, beat Wigan and we might even start the final day outside the relegation zone, fail to beat Wigan and we're in a World of shit.

At the same time, I can't see us going out of business if we're relegated despite a surprisingly large amount of Twitter RFC fans believing it is inevitable, however I am concerned if we go down we might languish for a while.

I've looked at the fixtures for every club involved and we all play against each other at some stage, other than Blackpool who do not face any direct rivals.

Essentially, everyone knows that they've got a great opportunity if they can just beat those around them, as it brings them further into the mire whilst dragging themselves out of it. Wigan, for example, could get out of it with 2 wins against us and Rotherham.

Obviously Blackpool don't have that, but they also know that there will be at least one rival dropping points every week, so if they can do their job then they will be gaining on someone.

[windermereROYAL]

Reading fans on Twitter are the worst I swear, we're already down according to them, yes it's not good but the situation hasn't changed, beat Wigan and we might even start the final day outside the relegation zone, fail to beat Wigan and we're in a World of shit.

At the same time, I can't see us going out of business if we're relegated despite a surprisingly large amount of Twitter RFC fans believing it is inevitable, however I am concerned if we go down we might languish for a while.

I've looked at the fixtures for every club involved and we all play against each other at some stage, other than Blackpool who do not face any direct rivals.

Essentially, everyone knows that they've got a great opportunity if they can just beat those around them, as it brings them further into the mire whilst dragging themselves out of it. Wigan, for example, could get out of it with 2 wins against us and Rotherham.

Obviously Blackpool don't have that, but they also know that there will be at least one rival dropping points every week, so if they can do their job then they will be gaining on someone.

Wigan could do it with 2 wins but it`s invisibly unlikely, it would take Huddersfield to gain just a single point from their last 3 games, while there is an outside chance they will go all out for the win next week.

[Millsy]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

[The Royal Forester]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

As HH would say, I agree.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

I thought it was compulsory to shout Leeds! Leeds! Leeds! when talking about Leeds.

[Orion1871]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

As HH would say, I agree.

Hulk Hogan?

[Loafer]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

As HH would say, I agree.

Hulk Hogan?

Hector Herrera

[leon]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

I thought it was compulsory to shout Cnuts! Cnuts! Cnuts! when talking about Leeds.

[Orion1871]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

Better than his "good news" to Mick Gooding after the Luton game that QPRs next game was against Burnley. That turned out brilliantly.

Not forgetting of course that halfway through the last two seasons he's said "don't worry about Reading getting relegated, no chance of that.", before we've promptly plummeted down the table in both seasons.

[NathStPaul]

Love Ady as a player, probably my favourite ever but boy does he annoy me sometimes on the radio. Quite often have to turn him off.

[Silver Fox]

Really looking forward to the Wigan game only for Adie to say the hilarious and original "big'un v Wigan".

Nowhere near as irritating as when he inexplicably says "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" instead of just Leeds.

Better than his "good news" to Mick Gooding after the Luton game that QPRs next game was against Burnley. That turned out brilliantly.

Not forgetting of course that halfway through the last two seasons he's said "don't worry about Reading getting relegated, no chance of that.", before we've promptly plummeted down the table in both seasons.

As we didn't get relegated last season hopefully Ady's hit the nail on the head once again

[Schards#2]

Terrible though we are, looking at the remaining fixtures, I think there's a realistic chance we will go into the last game knowing a win will secure safety, or possibly safety subject to Cardiff not winning at Burnley, which you would hope is unlikely.

In a one game shoot out with Carroll back and rested, and possibly one or two others, it's definitely possible. As "our tune" at the Swansea play off final said, "don't stop believing"

[Loafer]

I just think Warnock is too good of a manager to relegate and send Huddersfield at home against us on the last day of the season down

[South Coast Royal]

Terrible though we are, looking at the remaining fixtures, I think there's a realistic chance we will go into the last game knowing a win will secure safety, or possibly safety subject to Cardiff not winning at Burnley, which you would hope is unlikely.

In a one game shoot out with Carroll back and rested, and possibly one or two others, it's definitely possible. As "our tune" at the Swansea play off final said, "don't stop believing"

Or......Sarr scoring on own goal with one of his "go anywhere" headers to send us down and keep his old club up.

Unlike Ian ,who is looking forward to the prospect of Div 1 football, I really don't want it for so many reasons not least that we remain there for the rest of my lifetime and coming full circle to when I started watching us in Div 3 South.

[RG30]

When was the last time we won back to back games? Given we haven't won away on the road since before the World Cup it's a real tough ask,

[Elm Park Kid]

I'm trying to work out 'worst case scenario' for the last day, assuming we beat Wigan.

I think . . . . . . If Cardiff beat Rotherham, QPR beat Stoke, Huddersfield beat Cardiff, Rotherham beat Boro and Huddersfield then beat Sheff Utd, then we go into final day

19 - Huddersfield 50 points
20 - Rotherham 49 Points
21 - Cardiff 49 Points
22 - Reading 46 Points

Which, could mean that we would need both results and goal swings to go our way to stay up.

I guess any scenario where beating Huddersfield doesn't keep us up is going to be pretty bad.

[Hound]

Our side, crap as it has been, has competed just about in the champ. If we hadn’t got the 6 points we’d prob been fine

So why would it double drop? Hardly like the players leaving at the end of the year (guessing Ejaria, Meite, Joao, Moore, Dann, Loum, Hendrick, Fornah, Baba, Casadei, Long, Hoilett) have massively contributed have they?

Keep Sarr, Holmes, Lumley maybe, Yiadom, Carroll, Mbengue, Azeez, Ehib, McIntyre, NGW and Ince (ok that’s unlikely) and we’d be fine in div1. They’ll all be good players at that level

[tidus_mi2]

Our side, crap as it has been, has competed just about in the champ. If we hadn’t got the 6 points we’d prob been fine

So why would it double drop? Hardly like the players leaving at the end of the year (guessing Ejaria, Meite, Joao, Moore, Dann, Loum, Hendrick, Fornah, Baba, Casadei, Long, Hoilett) have massively contributed have they?

Keep Sarr, Holmes, Lumley maybe, Yiadom, Carroll, Mbengue, Azeez, Ehib, McIntyre, NGW and Ince (ok that’s unlikely) and we’d be fine in div1. They’ll all be good players at that level

A fellow Reading fan at work suggested to me we're more likely to drop to League Two than get promoted to the Championship, I disagreed, I feel we will always be one of the bigger sides in League One and the bottom of that division is incredibly bad, I feel we'd only drop to League Two if we were placed into administration.

[Stranded]

From a L1 perspective, if we drop we will be a big fish, no doubt about it - 20 years in the top 2 divisions will ensure that - there will be a massive percentage of fans and players involved who won't know as anything but a Champ/PL club.

From an attracting players perspective, our turnover will shrink but will still likely be one of the highest in L1 esp if we sell a few players too and - most importantly - we will have one of, if not, the best training facilities in the division. Yes there will be some other big clubs in there - whoever doesn't go up of Weds, Ipswich, Bolton, Derby for example but certainly from a Free Agent perspective - we should have a decent chance of signing most players who could/should be performing at the top level in L1.

In the Champ, we may find it harder to make headway. There is an argument that could be made that we could build a team better equipped for the Champ in L1 by using our plus points to attract young players who are already capable of playing at the top of L1, who could in a year or two be Champ ready - ideally with us.