A new age.....

[papereyes]

Probably the right place for it.

I was watching the Reading highlights in the graduate bar on Sunday and got talking to a french lad. He asked if Reading had any famous players, and my answer was, obviously, "No". Now, I know most football fans would have probably heard of Sidwell but that really is about it.

And even though we are up there, it is still very much a side of underdogs. I hesitate to use the word journeyman, but I think the fact that nearly the entire squad had not played a minute of Premiership football before made taking on and beating Middlesboro', a fairly entrenched premiership side even sweater.

It was payback.

What is making this season so sweet for me is that our side is still very much an unknown quantity, that it is a side that, give or take a few exceptions, was a top half championship side a few years ago. So far, it has bucked the received wisdom of Premiership survival and, although I wouldn't dare risk survival for the chance to be a bit smug, I'd love it, absolutely love it if we did stay up that way.

And then spent loads next summer.

[Only one Trevor Morley]

I love being a Reading fan now and I hope Reading stay in the Premiership forever

Good post OOTM, I've been meaning to make a similar post for a while.

I'd say I have always loved being a Reading fan infact even moreso when we were small and obscure. Whilst I'm happy now for Reading I feel it's not my Reading. It's a new plastic Reading with new fans, new players, new stadium, new outlook, new hopes, new aspirations etc etc.

I know you probably didn't mean you *only now* like being a Reading fan but rather that you like it *even now*, but still I just wanted to make the point that whilst it's all good at the moment, I miss the old days and if we mess up and end up in league 2 playing in a rubbish stadium again with crowds of 5000, i'll be just as delighted to be a Reading fan, if not more so. Reading till I die.

Yes spot on - I have always loved being a reading fan - but I wanted to emphasise that I still love Reading. Its the 'what it is to be a reading supporter' bit that has changed.

[Lower West]

I was watching the Reading highlights in the graduate bar on Sunday and got talking to a french lad. He asked if Reading had any famous players, and my answer was, obviously, "No". Now, I know most football fans would have probably heard of Sidwell but that really is about it


But aren't a lot of clubs the same? Foreign players that come from out of no where, no history. Days are gone when you could track the rise and fall of footballers careers.

[friday fan]

A part of me misses the Elm Park days - standing in the Southbank, the compactness of the ground nestled amongst housing however to suceed at a higher level the move from EP was a must. As for progression to the Premier League, I am obviously overjoyed that we are there, playing in the elite divison in one of the best league's in the world but I am not dilussional. We can't compete with moneybags clubs and the top teams will always be the favourites for the title however to score a few memorable wins along the way would be great. I'd fancy our chances of further sucess in one of the cups and consolidating our league position to ensure season by season survival. Many of us would have never of dreamt of this moment as I remember my first game at EP in 1965 as a five year old and always loved to attend the then combination games to see the big stars who might have been turning out for the reserves. I guess it wouldn't hurt every now and again to pinch ourselves and remember those who never got the chance to experience this moment and to remind the kids on how far we have come - success didn't come over night we built it over the years and who knows what might have happened if people like Roger Smee, Mr. Madejski, Alan Pardew and Steve Coppell hadn't come along.

[papereyes]

But aren't a lot of clubs the same? Foreign players that come from out of no where, no history. Days are gone when you could track the rise and fall of footballers careers.

I'd say we're doing the opposite, actually. Players with a history that several years on go on to make it.

Hahnemann has played 170 odd games before the Premiership, Murty 350 odd, Shorey 200, Bryn 150 plus. They have all had decent lower level careers and then made the leap to the Premiership.

Even players like Hunt and Sidwell have 125, 130 games under their belt