It's been emotional

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

We had an opportunity to cement our status and we blew it. It'll be another 135 years before we play in the top division again. Most of my matches were watching Reading play in the old 4th but I for one don't want to go back to those days.

Most? Did you stop going for 20 years of something after the 70s?

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Quite a few people are pissed off, booing and moaning. Why?
I said at the start of the season as did many others that you need to invest in this league to compete. We haven't invested, destiny was in our own hands and we DESERVE to be where we are. Booing the players is pointless, they have neither the mental strength or physical ability to compete on this stage and it has shown all season. They are simply not good enough and its not their fault.
I sang today louder than I have for a long time, reason being...I accept what we are as a club, I accept where we are going as a club and I am am proud to be a reading fan regardless of how awful we have performed this season.
We are not a premiership club and never will be under its current ownership and its time a lot of people accept that.
Modern english football is ruthless, its a sharks game all about the big bucks and ambition to spend, we have none, rightly or wrongly. English football has changed and so has the enjoyment and soul of it. Those tottenham fans today sum up the modern day football fan completely, taking the piss all game thinking they are a massive club because they won the league cup, daring to tell us our support " is shit" despite being quiet as mice with a one goal advantage. The premiership is littered with wannabe's like these, arrogant fans who have no grasp of the soul of the game. These fans wouldn't even comprehend what a trip to chesterfield on a tuesday night would be like. I'll be glad to see the back of the prem when we go, i enjoyed going to northampton, crewe, chesterfield,etc All were nice towns with tradition and warm fans and you were all in the same boat, on the same level watching your teams battle it out where the players gave 100% and money was nowhere near as important as it is in the prem, it played a slight part but nowhere near the same levels, look at brighton, walsall and rotherham when they were promoted from division two around the same time as us.
Tottenham are a good prem side and they have good players and management, we never had a chance of a point today and I knew this weeks ago, again as did many others. Unfortunately like most other good sides the fans are ignorant, self centered morons with little respect for anyone other than themselves.

As I walked out of the ground today there will be a few faces I probably won't see again and many I will, i've enjoyed following reading since I first came and that will never change, regardless of wherever we are.

Platypuss, please leave this one up, it'll probably be my last post.

Very good post. Puts things in perspective.

Well done FR - respect. Like you, I'm a bit sick of the hysteria on here.

Relegation will be disappointing, but that's all. It's happened before and no doubt will again. I've enjoyed the last few years -what a ride! But the Premier league is not all it's cracked up to be. Look how exciting the finish is in the Championship - that's a level playing field. What have most teams in the PL got to aim for? Avoiding relegation, or dreaming that one day they might make the Inter Toto Flipping Cup!

[Coppelled Streets]

Was anyone else moved by the sheer passion of our support in the opening minutes of the game today?

'BOOM BOOM Blarmy BOOM BOOM Blarmy'

nope.

I heard no drum from my seat in Y25. Not at all today actually. Just the sheer encouragement in those first 2 minutes, it took my breath away and a real lump in the throat. It was chants, songs...just pure encouragement and passion which sadly wasn't matched on the pitch!

[earleyroyal]

If a magic dragon had appeared to me in May 2005 and told me that within three years Reading would be coming towards the end of their second season in the Premiership, locked in a survival fight with one match to play, I would have been very happy to hear of that situation. As it is, this feels like a wasted chance for the club rather than a good achievement. The worst thing is that the fantastic memories of the last two years have been trampled by the feeling that Reading could, and should, have done so much more to establish ourselves as a Premiership club.

All season the debate about spending money has raged, with some people advocating buying half the Premiership and others planning to become a yo-yo club, scared of 'doing a Leeds.' As usual there was a plan in between these two which could've worked. Had Reading invested a sum of say £15 or £20 million, unheard of for us but small by Premiership standards, I think we would have survived comfortably, if a decent central midfielder and centre-back had been brought in. Had we spent this and gone down, the money wouldn't have brought the club to ruin. Instead, the club, most probably Madejski, decided to do things on the cheap and spend a derisory sum. This was understandable in the summer - we lost one player from the 8th placed team - but in January the team was crying out for investment. It was obvious at the time that we should've invested, it was obvious a month later and it's obvious now. A fairly small amount of spending would've improved the future of this club and Madejski would've stood more chance of selling on. That's the real shame about the situation.

There's no need to go into detail about this as posters have expressed it better than I could, and there are other reasons for our season. We've gained two points after going behind this season. Last season, we beat Boro, Spurs, Bolton and Wigan after going behind, just off the top of my head. The spirit which got us here seems to have disappeared. Yes we were good in 05-07, but we weren't a cut above in terms of skill, it was our incredible work ethic, teamwork and spirit that elevated us, and carried us to 8th. Once that went, we were exposed as what we are - a squad not good enough to survive in the Premiership.

From 05-07 I think we hit on the perfect way to run a football club - solid, steady foundations, hard work and players making the best of themselves. This season has seemed stale, apathetic - changing-room splits, players wanting to move on, overly loyal team selection - none of the things which characterised us are here anymore. I think most people are annoyed not because we are about to get relegated, but because of the way in which this has happened. The sleek, professional model of a club has been replaced by a disjointed, slightly amateurish one. (Not speaking to new signings? Picking the same team for 8 consecutive defeats? Searching for a physio on the internet?)

Madejski still deserves a huge amount of credit and thanks from Reading fans - look at a league table from 1998, or even 2003, and see where some of the teams we were playing are now - but it's obvious that he's too tight to be a Premiership chairman. Coppell is the best manager in our history, I'd want him to stay but I think he'll leave. Whatever happens, we should thank the team for the previous two seasons, which will never be bettered unless another Abramovich turns up, and remember the good days. If we ever get back to this position, we should invest properly this time, so instead of one season of playing 'the best football in the country', the first-day comeback, the draw with Man U, Leroy's double, the 6-0, being one goal away from Europe, we have decades of it. For now at least the CCC offers us a chance to win more than a few games and get back to real football, where cheating isn't rife.

And I take back all of the above if we stay up

[Man Friday]

We had an opportunity to cement our status and we blew it. It'll be another 135 years before we play in the top division again. Most of my matches were watching Reading play in the old 4th but I for one don't want to go back to those days.

Most? Did you stop going for 20 years of something after the 70s?

Nope.

[Ian Royal]

We had an opportunity to cement our status and we blew it. It'll be another 135 years before we play in the top division again. Most of my matches were watching Reading play in the old 4th but I for one don't want to go back to those days.

Did I waste my money on a ticket for next Sunday? is it cancelled or something?

[working class hero]

We had an opportunity to cement our status and we blew it. It'll be another 135 years before we play in the top division again. Most of my matches were watching Reading play in the old 4th but I for one don't want to go back to those days.

Did I waste my money on a ticket for next Sunday? is it cancelled or something?

Not cancelled. But you may well be wasting your money....

[earleyroyal]

We had an opportunity to cement our status and we blew it. It'll be another 135 years before we play in the top division again. Most of my matches were watching Reading play in the old 4th but I for one don't want to go back to those days.

Did I waste my money on a ticket for next Sunday? is it cancelled or something?

Not cancelled. But you may well be wasting your money....

I'm worried I might be addicted to this... after a season of terrible performances, I was so excited about the Wigan and Spurs games - this was the time for us to turn it round and pull ourselves clear. Of course that didn't happen, but now I can't wait for the final day, and to hope against hope that we can stay up. When we do go down, I'll feel just as disappointed as any fan, but will want August to come around so we can start again.

Football has no logic to it, we pay all this money to watch a bunch of men kick a ball around who we have no ties to apart from the club being in our hometown, even when the team plays badly, we come back for more.

[Adz1871]

It's been in our hands for the majority of the season and quite frankly, we bottled it. Fulham looked down and out in February/March and all we needed to do was to match their results. But we didn't.
Now we need results to go our way. And tbh with Fulham's form, I dont see them slipping up against Pompey.

[RoyalBlue]

We had an opportunity to cement our status and we blew it. It'll be another 135 years before we play in the top division again. Most of my matches were watching Reading play in the old 4th but I for one don't want to go back to those days.

Did I waste my money on a ticket for next Sunday? is it cancelled or something?

Yep, Coppell and the team aren't going to bother to show up!

[mr_number]

i just watched the motd highlights again on the bbc website.
from 55 mins on, that was the best we've played in ages, and but for an awesome save and a lucky deflection off zokora, we might well have had something. god i hope we can win at derby.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

i just watched the motd highlights again on the bbc website.
from 55 mins on, that was the best we've played in ages.

Yep. That's kind of the problem though. When you are holding up that last half hour as example of us playing well, it shows just how far our standards have fallen.

[Alan Partridge]

i just watched the motd highlights again on the bbc website.
from 55 mins on, that was the best we've played in ages, and but for an awesome save and a lucky deflection off zokora, we might well have had something. god i hope we can win at derby.

By then we should have been at least 6 down

[Man Friday]

Exactly. We have been LUCKY, not unlucky these past few weeks. Yesterday, for example, Spurs, a mid-table team with nothing to play for and without their star player, completely outplayed us, having a goal incorrectly disallowed and hitting the post (that goal really is our star performer) and yet somehow only beat us 1-0. We came back into it only after they'd brought on a couple of youth team players to even things up. The last few months there's no way we've been playing like a Premier League side. We're currently as bad as Derby - a game I can't see us winning. Fulham and Bolton TOTALLY outclassed us...at home (the woodwork thing again)! One thing would have alleviated the agony slightly - if Bolton had gone down with us, but even that ain't gonna happen.

It's been emotional...it's been crap.

[rhroyal]

Quite a few people are pissed off, booing and moaning. Why?
I said at the start of the season as did many others that you need to invest in this league to compete. We haven't invested, destiny was in our own hands and we DESERVE to be where we are. Booing the players is pointless, they have neither the mental strength or physical ability to compete on this stage and it has shown all season. They are simply not good enough and its not their fault.
I sang today louder than I have for a long time, reason being...I accept what we are as a club, I accept where we are going as a club and I am am proud to be a reading fan regardless of how awful we have performed this season.
We are not a premiership club and never will be under its current ownership and its time a lot of people accept that.
Modern english football is ruthless, its a sharks game all about the big bucks and ambition to spend, we have none, rightly or wrongly. English football has changed and so has the enjoyment and soul of it. Those tottenham fans today sum up the modern day football fan completely, taking the piss all game thinking they are a massive club because they won the league cup, daring to tell us our support " is shit" despite being quiet as mice with a one goal advantage. The premiership is littered with wannabe's like these, arrogant fans who have no grasp of the soul of the game. These fans wouldn't even comprehend what a trip to chesterfield on a tuesday night would be like. I'll be glad to see the back of the prem when we go, i enjoyed going to northampton, crewe, chesterfield,etc All were nice towns with tradition and warm fans and you were all in the same boat, on the same level watching your teams battle it out where the players gave 100% and money was nowhere near as important as it is in the prem, it played a slight part but nowhere near the same levels, look at brighton, walsall and rotherham when they were promoted from division two around the same time as us.
Tottenham are a good prem side and they have good players and management, we never had a chance of a point today and I knew this weeks ago, again as did many others. Unfortunately like most other good sides the fans are ignorant, self centered morons with little respect for anyone other than themselves.

As I walked out of the ground today there will be a few faces I probably won't see again and many I will, i've enjoyed following reading since I first came and that will never change, regardless of wherever we are.

Platypuss, please leave this one up, it'll probably be my last post.

I agree, and people are being harsh on the players. It's not their fault they're just not good enough. They do try hard, but when the opposition are that much better it doesn't show as they're chasing shadows. The players are out of their depth but are still trying to keep us up. You can't have a go at them.

[jimbangg]

Spurs had nothing to play for...Neither have Derby...We should win...But, moral in the team is at an all time low...

Anyone know what we have to do to stay up? (goals, points etc)

[rhroyal]

Spurs had nothing to play for...Neither have Derby...We should win...But, moral in the team is at an all time low...

Anyone know what we have to do to stay up? (goals, points etc)

Get a better result than Fulham and equal Brums. If we win, we're safe if Fulham fail to win. If we win 8-0 or so that'll be enough anyway, but lets be realistic.

If we draw Fulham must lose and Birmingham must not win.

If we lose Brum must lose and Fulham must be thrashed 8-0 or so.

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

When (okay, if) we go down, I don't think the championship will be the breeze some people think.

[Schards#2]

The most depressing aspect for me is the manner of this failure. It's not been a glorious failure by a team that gave their all but just didn't make it with exciting highs and lows.

It's been like a lingering death as we limp on failing to score, let alone win, while the players appear more concerned with their nextmove/next contract/who they've fallen out with rather than giving everything to achieve safety.

These former heroes have let the fans the club and themselves down and a dream 120 odd years in the making has needlessly been tossed away. We could have been safe weeks ago if everyone had applied themselves totally.

That's what hurts the most and that's why I'll only be applaud a few off if it goes wrong next week. I hope murty plays whatever his state of fitness just to see someone who loves the club wearing the shirt

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Quite a few people are pissed off, booing and moaning. Why?
I said at the start of the season as did many others that you need to invest in this league to compete. We haven't invested, destiny was in our own hands and we DESERVE to be where we are. Booing the players is pointless, they have neither the mental strength or physical ability to compete on this stage and it has shown all season. They are simply not good enough and its not their fault.
I sang today louder than I have for a long time, reason being...I accept what we are as a club, I accept where we are going as a club and I am am proud to be a reading fan regardless of how awful we have performed this season.
We are not a premiership club and never will be under its current ownership and its time a lot of people accept that.
Modern english football is ruthless, its a sharks game all about the big bucks and ambition to spend, we have none, rightly or wrongly. English football has changed and so has the enjoyment and soul of it. Those tottenham fans today sum up the modern day football fan completely, taking the piss all game thinking they are a massive club because they won the league cup, daring to tell us our support " is shit" despite being quiet as mice with a one goal advantage. The premiership is littered with wannabe's like these, arrogant fans who have no grasp of the soul of the game. These fans wouldn't even comprehend what a trip to chesterfield on a tuesday night would be like. I'll be glad to see the back of the prem when we go, i enjoyed going to northampton, crewe, chesterfield,etc All were nice towns with tradition and warm fans and you were all in the same boat, on the same level watching your teams battle it out where the players gave 100% and money was nowhere near as important as it is in the prem, it played a slight part but nowhere near the same levels, look at brighton, walsall and rotherham when they were promoted from division two around the same time as us.
Tottenham are a good prem side and they have good players and management, we never had a chance of a point today and I knew this weeks ago, again as did many others. Unfortunately like most other good sides the fans are ignorant, self centered morons with little respect for anyone other than themselves.

As I walked out of the ground today there will be a few faces I probably won't see again and many I will, i've enjoyed following reading since I first came and that will never change, regardless of wherever we are.

Platypuss, please leave this one up, it'll probably be my last post.

I agree, and people are being harsh on the players. It's not their fault they're just not good enough. They do try hard, but when the opposition are that much better it doesn't show as they're chasing shadows. The players are out of their depth but are still trying to keep us up. You can't have a go at them.

If this was our first season up I'd agree that the players aren't good enough. The fact is though they they proved last year that they can play far better than they have this year. Even with "second season syndrome" and the loss of Sidwell, we shouldn't be 21 points worse off than at this stage last year.