I've got this strange feeling..............

[Victor Meldrew]

What I find most odd (as some have already said) is that I have nowhere near the same interest in football outside of The Premiership and this after just 3 months.
I can now understand how fans of Premier clubs knew nothing about Colchester or Hartlepool,Swindon or Scunthorpe whereas we knew a lot about them as not only had we seen our side play them and been to their grounds but also they were the competition.

Most games at the moment are like FA Cup 3rd round fixtures almost every week and apart from Sheff Utd away we have felt like the under-dogs.
Despite the league position which is excellent as long as we don't continue to slide I do feel that the football is nowhere near as exciting because of our tactic in every game of giving up possession.
As MR A says it is marvellous to see tip-top players most weeks but with Kitson being absent from day one we are on the back foot every week with very little attacking play to offer and I get the feeling that we would have slipped down whoever we had to play during the past few weeks.

We are now 5 points off the bottom and whereas in the last 5 games we haven't been able to compete we now have the added excitement of knowing that we have to win at least 3 of the next 7 to stay above the relegation area.
The time has arrived for us to stop admiring the opposition and give everything from the first minute of every game rather than sit back and see what happens.
Yes,just being there is great but we do need a bt more of the Bolton/Blackburn philosophy of making sure that the opposition (whoever that may be) feel that they have been in a game when they play us.

Lastly I wish that more Midlands clubs were in The Premiership as trips like Saturday's 6 hours up to Anfield are already starting to tell and I'm not sure whether (like Kevin Doyle)I'll suffer from burn-out before the season is over.
BTW Mr A like you my brother and I will let the plane take the strain for the Newcastle game as we have taken your lead and booked early from Southampton.
Away with the lads.

[Arch]

I think two things are getting people down. Obviously one is we've been struggling of late and look to continue to do so. The other is the media circus after the Chelsea game. Take that away and I don't think you'd say the media surrounding our games has been a problem at all. Sure there are some ignorant pundits, but I enjoy getting to see what people like Wenger and Rafa have to say both before and after they play us. There was no shortage of diving, whining and general poison in the Championship. Andy Johnson? Neil Warnock? Southampton away? That was all as bad last year as we've heard this year apart from fokken Mourinho and the Cech incident.

Mourinho and Chelsea have poisoned the atmosphere and it still lingers. I get the feeling that's as true for the players as for us. If you find it hard to get your enthusiasm up, you have to realize that that's a problem the players have to face too. Yes, they're professionals, but that doesn;t mean they don't have to face the problem.

So I think, who might be enjoying the season? Answer (aprt from Man U) is Portsmouth fans. They've had two years of fighting relegation, and now they are one of the most competetive teams around. We're two years behind them in our development. If you want to enjoy Premiership football, hang on. You will.... if we survive.

[mzungu_royal]

1. Mourinho is a w****r and he makes the Premiership look s**t.
2. Without pathetic decisions that are obvious in all leagues, the Premiership included, the league would not be so fun...
3. Managers such as Allardyte make the the Premiership worthwhile because they make patheitc comments about their 'good' performances week in week out, the Premiership isn't so funny.

4. the Championship isn't so good because there are teams such as ips**t and leicester etc to play. in the Premiership we play teams that are apparently good enough to play in europe. that is partially true.

in conclusion, i miss the Championship because of the pansy teams we played but i like the Premiership because of the idiots for managers like Allardyte.

[Arch]

I'd rather get done 4-0 by Arsenal than 5-1 by Rotherham any day.

[SpaceCruiser]

I'd rather beat Arsenal 1-0 than lose 4-0 to Arsenal.

[OldBiscuit]

At least back then we had a bit of fun on the South Bank, no stewarding issues or anything back then. And the football was entertaining at least....for the away fans anyway!

Fun being the key word. Not much of that in football today.
What i would give for just one game this season at EP, just one......[/quote]



For f-ucks sake! i've heard it all now! we've got one of the best facilitated grounds in the country and you lot are still banging on about EP. What exactly was the fun on the southbank? skimming stones over the puddles? spending the whole 2nd half being sick after purchasing some 'food' from the catering facilities at halftime? watching some shite team from the bottom stuff us on a freezing cold day? You guys wanna get a grip! This is the most exciting period in our uncoloured history and your longing for the old times. I watched our game at liverpool last week on Al jazira (or however you spell it) and it was just like being back on the southbank, just when you found a space, someone stood in the way. wouldn't move, and blocked the view. Spent most of the game watching hair nits. Look at our recent fixture list, with Spurs at home this week, mouthwatering, and apart from Arsenal, we haven't been outclassed. For f-ucks sake stop whining! You just can't please some people!

[Memories Of India]

The strange thing is that around this time last season we were hearing similar rumblings of discontent from Wigan fans.

Let's get of our collective high horses, recognise where we've come from, where we are now, enjoy it while it lasts, and when the inevitable relegation comes, let's enjoy the lower division football as well.

[peeping_bernal]

I think it is great finaly been there, I think the main problem being we had forgotten what it was like to go on a lossing streak and people are starting to moan and think they can do better than SC and we should be top etc. etc. but if we finish 4th from bottom I will be happy, as long as the boys have given there all for the cause. And finally we have an atmosphere all around the ground on match days and not just in Y25 as he had been for to long

[Jim-Bob]

Maybe I'm wrong but I get the feeling that when we were playing in the lower leagues we always felt we could win games, avoid relegation, reach the playoffs or win the league. Every game you felt you'd get something out of. I felt this way even the 2 years I remember being relegated.

Now I feel at best we can do is just hold our heads up and say "We survived".

Whoever said earlier about Pompey doing well now, let's hope we do the same in a couple of years. It is a huge gap to close and these things take time.

[Cripple Creek]

When we were a lower division side my attitude was very much 'I can handle the despair, it's the hope I can't stand'. Going to watch Reading in the Burns, Bullivant and the Branfoot eras (in spite of a modicum of success with the latter) could be truly agonising. There were times we were atrocious but you kept going back labouring under the delusion that some miracle would occur and watching Reading would be enjoyable.

I'm living abroad now so if Reading weren't in the premiership I would have zero opportunity to watch the team I've supported for 30 years.

I have to confess I am not remotely interested in the national team and, generally, with the exception of Reading I would much rather watch Spanish or Italian football. I know the premiership would be a circus but its coverage has gone beyond saturation point. So many words have been written about it it has got boring.

For me, and I know I'll be slated for this, the highlight of being a fan was the McGhee era.

[HighburyRoyale]

I'm quite keen for the intertoto me.

[Jeffers217]

yes there is , we're playing tottenham on saturday , we've just played liverpool , asenal , utd and chelsea .
We may have been beaten but we're learning all the time .
The media frenzy etc.. is all part of the spectacle . Enjoy it , I for one never thought I'd see the day when Reading made HEADLINES on the back page . It is all to be taken with a pinch of salt .
Let the Mourihnios of this world rant and rave , but for fans like us , we can sit back and enjoy .
I also think the best matches at the Mad are yet to come .
The six pont battles with charlton , sheff utd etc... will be blood and thunder affairs more reminisent of last season .

Well they won't be reminisent of last season because we were kicking teams last season

[SpaceCruiser]

I have to confess I am not remotely interested in the national team

Yes, we all know how much you hate England.

For me, and I know I'll be slated for this, the highlight of being a fan was the McGhee era.

Surely last season was the biggest highlight of being a Reading fan?

[RG30]

Like others have said, I've enjoyed all the matches so far. In my opinion I don't think we've seen a boring match yet in the Premiership, although our time will come when we pay £30 for the privilage of a boring 0-0 draw against long ball Bolton.

The main bit that has annoyed me though are kick off times. In terms of kick off times, we've only had 4 Saturday 3pm games;

Reading Vs Middlesborough
Sheffield United Vs Reading
Portsmouth Vs Reading
Liverpool Vs Reading

It's made planning for away games extremley difficult with transport. Like many others, I took a chance on the Newcastle away game with flights but the lack of information regarding UEFA Cup dates meant I still wasn't 100% sure until recent.

The way Sky have so much influence is ridiculous. Richard Scudemore may have negotiated a great TV contract for the clubs and armchair fans but the ones that are travelling to games suffer most with 12:45pm kick offs, 5:15pm and even 11am last season for Man City Vs Everton . Bit of trivia here but when Liverpool face Wigan Athletic at the JJB on the 2nd December it will be Liverpool's 1st away game kick off at 3pm in the Premier League for over a year.

The prices, at the moment I'll put up with definetely this year because this is a history season, we'll never see a season like it again and already the away season ticket on tickets alone has cost around £180.But I'm sure others like me are in the same position and will then be picking and choosing games.

[SpaceCruiser]

I've enjoyed all the matches so far.

You enjoyed us being stuffed 4-0 by Arsenal?

I didn't enjoy that one at all.

[RG30]

It's better being stuffed 4-0 by a team who played great football than watching boring confrontations at Burnley

[SpaceCruiser]

I'd rather we didn't lose at all.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

It's better being stuffed 4-0 by a team who played great football than watching boring confrontations at Burnley

I'm with you on that one - losing 4-0 to Arsenal playing as they did really isn't anything to be ashamed about. However, losing 6-0 to Brizzol Rovers having been 0-0 at HT...

[Tilehurst Mike]

We've waited a long time for top flight football and all it entails, but I'm getting a very negative feeling about the whole circus that is the Premiership.

When Reading weren't involved you could look at it from a distance and see the bad things about it. The diving, the cheating, the media frenzy, the lazy journalistic b*ll*cks etc., etc.

Now Reading are involved in this monster I'm getting slightly nostalgic for the good old days.

Is there something wrong with me?

Discuss.

No, your view is shared by a number of people and I always knew the hype, cheating, extortionate prices relating to the Premiership would be factors. The main problem is that In the Championship ( Reading excepted last season) most teams knew that they could beat anyone else on the day and you had a fair few teams in contention for the play offs.

With the Premiership, the Big 4/5 teams and Chelsea's ridiculous spending on tramsfers and wages has really killed the game, so that the Premiership is fast becoming like Rangers/Celtic has been for years in Scotland. As it stands there is no hope in hell that Reading can ever hope to compete on a lvel playing field with these teams.

It started off as a great adventure at the start of the season and we had been waiting for it for so long, but I guess after a few games and defeats the novelty is beginning to wear thin a bit. Interesting to note that there are still tickets available for Sundays game--is that saying something?

[Heart and Seol]

I'd rather we didn't lose at all.

who wouldnt?