by Woodcote Royal »
17 Nov 2007 22:03
Duke the Dog It's the winning of stuff (even Simod cups!) that gets people interested, why do Wolves, Burnley, Preston and even Stoke have reasonably good support, because they have huge numbers of older supporters who passed on the supporting "bug" to other members of the family. Lets face it, most people here started supporting Reading because a Dad, Uncle, Brother (ok, Mum, Sister or aunt) took them along first. Failing that a mate or work-colleague.
We need to win a title or an FA Cup AND stay in the prem, then we can start thinking ourselves a "BIG" club. At the moment, we're probably still "over-achieving" and still "plucky little Reading".
I take no serious issue with those who feel that it might take a generation of top flight football to establish the kind of hardcore support enjoyed by clubs like Norwich and Ipswich, even after several seasons in the Championship.
However, this view in isolation completely ignores the potentially massive benefits to be gained from our huge and affluent catchment area.
I've always maintained that when the Mad Stad is fully expanded to 38k we will average 30k+, which is all we need to become an average Prem side.
The Premiership has massive worldwide appeal and our grounds today are being filled increasingly by people who do not fit the mould of a typical football fan. These are the types who who will ensure that our enlarged stadium will be heavily populated from the off provided we avoid relegation.
We won't need any silverware; just the lure of top flight football to attract middle England and it's fat wallets in sufficient numbers and, over time, the fan base will continue grow as it has over the last decade.........................until we simply ran out of seats.
For example, 10,000 STH's decided to blank our televised cup tie with Liverpool and it was still as good as sold out.....................just the returning STH's would ensure something approaching 35k for the league match if we had the capacity.
We are in an enviable position, don't under estimate it.