Anybody else preparing to opt out next season?

[Alan Partridge]

I'm not sure I will renew next year in all honesty. This year is my lst year as a concession (well for the next 43 years anyway!!!) and the increase from £385 - £545 is just too steep, especially to watch this team. Reading have produced what 4 or 5 decent home performances when you actually think 'that was worth the £30 odd today'. Going down would actually increase the chances of me renewing because i'd hope the price would go down again.

I'm not a big fan of the Premier League and the rich table that it feeds, but it has been a joy to see Reading compete in this division, it's a long way from Wrexham in the snow although that too had it's great points!!

£545 to watch football, and especially to watch Reading is just far far too much.

[Barry the bird boggler]

All so true. WIN, WIN, WIN, and MONEY, MONEY, MONEY is all the game cares about. FIFA and UEFA do b*gger all to curb the excesses brought about by SKY and the big clubs and until such time as WE all STOP taking SKY and demanding pubs put other entertainment on its what we're stuck with.

[brendywendy]

bah

bloody plastic

[brendywendy]

you can pay in installments of 50 squid a month etc so unless you are on the breadline it shouldnt hurt the pockets too much.

only the arrival of children of my own could even make me think about giving mine up

[Royalee]

Yep, not renewing home and away season ticket next season - first season I'll be missing for years and years.

[Old Biscuitman]

Take a leaf out of baseball in the States

Nosebleed seats (the high altitude ones) are 10 USD each!

Differential pricing would be a real boost.

Good point, but I'd take it further. Introduce a process like the US draft system which prevents the same clubs from having their pick of the best players. Therefore money does not dictate to the same extent and the talent pool is spread around more.

[tom_t69]

I am still keeping my season ticket aktough im at uni next so will be hard to get down the mad stad every game. I am just hoping for something different next either relegation or we sign a load of new quality players so we can push on up the table. I would not be happing coming 14th every year as there is nothing to play for every match and i sometimes think it is a waste of my time.

[gn1982]

I think this could also be my last season as a season ticket holder after 11 joyous (and sometimes just rubbish) years. I love the game, i love the banter with my mates and the only reason i will be giving it up is my impending Armed Forces career.

I'll miss the atmos, but will get down as soon as i can!!!

[Volvicanus]

I am pretty sure Mr V and I are deciding the same thing. We almost did this season.

As to why - we've never been all that ga-ga over the Premiership. The fun of the whole thing was getting up the divisions and the highlight was getting here. It's not going to get any better than it did the season we came up. And I've always had a bit of philosophical problem with the idea of investing so much emotional support in somthing that is a business. It's there to make money and that's it. It will be a relief to be away from that.

Also, we quite often feel these days that there are things out there to do that we'd probalby rather spend our time on.

[Old Biscuitman]

I can relate to most of the posts here and feel much the same way myself. It's all gone a bit flat. But this is still one of the saddest threads I've read.

[Dirk Gently]

Agreed, but it's simply a reflection that a lot of the joy has gone out of it for a lot of people - that's what the Premier League is doing.

The "big 4" can collect enough "tuoritst" supporters from Ireland, China, South Korea, etc to fill the holes being left in the stands by "traditional" supporters voting with their feet. But I'm not sure about smaller clubs who will never ever finish in the top 4 - and that includes Reading.

[Gordons Cumming]

I can relate to most of the posts here and feel much the same way myself. It's all gone a bit flat. But this is still one of the saddest threads I've read.

It'll all change after our historic victory at Chelsea.

Fickle fans = Reading fans.

[Forbury Lion]

my £565 season ticket fee will not be missed nor crucial to our future progression.

Hence why they will undoubtedly put the prices up!

[rotherwick_royal]

What a melancholic thread!

I can understand the sense of anti-climax but for me the ride isn't over yet. I just accept that the Premier League has its faults but is still something to look forward to. I can't imagine that anybody who was there on the weekend failed to get excited by the team's performance.

Maybe that's the key, regardless of which league/division, it's entertainment. The only difference with the Prem is that we are not going to win as much as we have (fairly) recently been used to.

[Royal Rother]

Not that I wish for a recession, but I still have a belief that the finances of the Top 4 are not quite as secure as people think and when some shite hits the fan in the economy the massive contracts the players are on will bite very very hard.

The international brands they are creating are crucial of course and protect them from much of the impact of financial hardship in this country but they don't half need to be earning some money to keep going as they currently are.

Reading are one of the few clubs building a financially rock solid base, within their means, and I have a belief that our prudency and sensible financial management versus most other clubs' continual riding-the-wave approach will enable us to capitalise when others struggle.

Top 4? - well, nothing lasts forever in sport and their dominance will not go unchecked in the coming years. We could be one of the clubs with a great opportunity to step up. Brick by brick is more likely to get us there than the gambler's approach most other clubs are taking.

I intend being around to see it happen.

[Hampshire Royal]

I agree with the posters that say that this is a sad thread.

Never mind, though, there's always something that'll cheer you up:

Yep, not renewing home and away season ticket next season - first season I'll be missing for years and years.

[floyd__streete]

Would the last person who still thinks that Reading still need 38,000 seats please return the drawing board to the cupboard when they're done, cheers.

[brendywendy]

its just another league
you play your games, you win some you lose some
some are great, some are awful
and at the end of it you stay up get relegated or win the league
it doesnt matter what league it is, its still a great buzz
surely that last minute winner vs sunderland, and the liverpool game, and to an extent the united game has made you see that there are so many more great days to go, to rival and eclipseall the old elm park days,the playoffs, the championship etc
im still well and truly loving all this,and long may it continue
we may well lose some fans, and that is as sad a thing as i have read on the team board, but they probably would have gone anyway eventually, football just becomes less important as you get older to most people, we will aquire legions of plastic fans to replace them, and so lose some of the character, and tradition of the club,but the club will go on, and grow,regardless.
but to leave now just as we finally approach the zenith of what a football club can achieve seems a mighty odd decision
just think, we could be playing european football in 5 years against the might of majorca, and dynamo bucharest

[Barry the bird boggler]

So, what we need to do is get a big petition together to encourage the "big 4" to get out of our league and go and play cr*ppy euro footie with the rest of europe's noggins, then we'll all have a league worth playing in.

[Royalee]

I agree with the posters that say that this is a sad thread.

Never mind, though, there's always something that'll cheer you up:

Yep, not renewing home and away season ticket next season - first season I'll be missing for years and years.

Aww, bless.