THE TWO TYPES OF READING FAN

[old woman]

I suggest we fit into these categories

1 Born as a "blue baby" in the year 1871, original Club founder at a young age. Still has RFC duvet at 138 yrs old.
2 Plastic, jumped on the band wagon in the late 1890s, helped to build Elm Park, thinks Coley Park is a bus destination
3 Plastic, was on holiday in Italy before world war one and was amazed by our destruction of AC Milan and the Italy national team
4 Plastic, only saw first game in 1927 and was annoyed at losing the FA Cup semi
5 Plastic, only started going to Elm Park to watch ron blackman's goal scoring exploits but supported rfc since
6 Plastic, supported Liverpool in the 1980s but started watching Reading in 1994 under McGhee when Division 2 was won
7 Plastic, saw "Reading" were playing live on BBC in the playoff final and didn't realise your town had a football team till then
8 Plastic, attracted by sitting down at football and hospitality, saw the Mad Stad as a way of entertaining guests.
9 Young Plastic, born in late 80s/90s and instantly hooked by the passion of division 2, the cardiff play off heart ache and the brentford game.
10 Plastic, heard we were about to be promoted and bought a half season ticket, and didnt turn up until you renewed in the premierleague.

Don't fit any of those-what does that make me!!!!!

[Terminal Boardom]

An old woman

[old woman]

An old woman

But not quite old enough to remember Ron Blackman.

[Royal Spangle]

First match 1983 - been a regular and ST holder ever since. So, I'm a 1), but like 2) I'm getting increasingly frustrated by our Chairman.

[Ark Royal]

In darker moods that I have from time to time, I try and consider what would have happened had the club sunk under the nightmare that was Thames Valley Royals. Remembering that this was 1983, the idea of fans setting up their own clubs was very much a thing of the future. My beloved Royals would have ceased to exist. But looking back would that really have been a bad thing? The support was down to a hard core of 2000 or so. 1713 turned up to see us lose 3-2 at home to Preston after being 2-0 up. The players were poor. The football worse. It was a club on its last legs and the last rites about to be read. The results of year on year lack of investment in the facilities let alone players. FFS, the players used to train at the Adwest Sports Ground in Sonning Lane but only because Frank Waller was probably a Director of Adwest! Would anyone have bothered had we disappeared? Apart from the loyal few? Probably not.

I wonder if I would have gone to watch the new TVRs. Didcot? I really don't think that I could have brought myself to going there. Standing on terraces alongside people who supported oxford? I don't think so. I would not have been at all comfortable with that. There would have been rucks all over the place. So who would I have gone to watch and support? Reading Town didn't exist. The only alternatives were the shite or up to London. The other alternatives would have been to have gone non-league.

I didn't have a car back then so I would have had to rely upon public transport. It would have been either Wokingham or Maidenhead as they would have been the easier options. Would I have stuck with football? I might have kept playing on a Saturday. I might even have started playing rugby instead. One thing for sure is that my life would have been so much different and there are friends that I would have never met.

...and do not forget the brick through the coach window at Bournemouth in 85.

[Stooper]

Born 1986.

First game Jul 93.

Regular attendee from then until '02. Didn't miss a league game home or away between 1997-2002.

10 or so games since 2002 (last game attended as a 'fan' was Brentford...)

Still follow results and commentaries but lack the enthusiasm to attend as am usually disillusioned/bored/angry when I do.

[LUX]

first game 1969, aged 8, but obviously that's irrelevant to how "good" a fan I am, it's just when I was a kid.

ps my formative RFC-watching seasons were in Div 4, papes, not Div 3. I loved those days.

Obviously I am delighted with how we've developed.

[loyalroyal4life]

my 1st game was in 91 vs exeter we won 1-0

[readingbedding]

I suggest we fit into these categories

1 Born as a "blue baby" in the year 1871, original Club founder at a young age. Still has RFC duvet at 138 yrs old.
2 Plastic, jumped on the band wagon in the late 1890s, helped to build Elm Park, thinks Coley Park is a bus destination
3 Plastic, was on holiday in Italy before world war one and was amazed by our destruction of AC Milan and the Italy national team
4 Plastic, only saw first game in 1927 and was annoyed at losing the FA Cup semi
5 Plastic, only started going to Elm Park to watch ron blackman's goal scoring exploits but supported rfc since
6 Plastic, supported Liverpool in the 1980s but started watching Reading in 1994 under McGhee when Division 2 was won
7 Plastic, saw "Reading" were playing live on BBC in the playoff final and didn't realise your town had a football team till then
8 Plastic, attracted by sitting down at football and hospitality, saw the Mad Stad as a way of entertaining guests.
9 Young Plastic, born in late 80s/90s and instantly hooked by the passion of division 2, the cardiff play off heart ache and the brentford game.
10 Plastic, heard we were about to be promoted and bought a half season ticket, and didnt turn up until you renewed in the premierleague.

Don't fit any of those-what does that make me!!!!!

Incorrect, it was on ITV.

[PEARCEY]

The thread-starter is certainly no Einstein suggesting that thousands of us can be lumped into two highly arbitary groups.
Load of bollocks.

[Platypuss]

I'm a plastic glory-hunter who started following the 1979 Championship winning team, but am definitely on the cautious and questioning side rather than a blind optimist.

[PEARCEY]

I'm a plastic glory-hunter who started following the 1979 Championship winning team, but am definitely on the cautious and questioning side rather than a blind optimist.

So which group does that lump you into.

[Einstein agogo]

HEY...
sorry i was just doing a touch of fishing
didn't realise it would get such a response , afterall , i'm NOT SDR??!!!

look , i was just a bit pissed of with all the idiots slagging of JM cos we had a poor start... when really, he should be appreciated for what he's done for US

generally , i think people that have been supporting RFC for longer , have a more realistic outlook and are far more patient...

Anyway, myself is:-
BORN in READING (1969 )
My father was born in reading (1944 ) my dad comes from a long list ( family wise ) of POMPEY supporters BUT he was born in reading and generally i think you should support the team from the town you were born in...he never went back to the IOW ( where his family are from ) but had to put up with being the lone RFC supporter in his family
HE took me to see my first game art Elm PARK in 1977( or possibly 1978) verses WImbledon ( 1-1 )

[PEARCEY]

HEY...
sorry i was just doing a touch of fishing
didn't realise it would get such a response , afterall , i'm NOT SDR??!!!

look , i was just a bit pissed of with all the idiots slagging of JM cos we had a poor start... when really, he should be appreciated for what he's done for US

generally , i think people that have been supporting RFC for longer , have a more realistic outlook and are far more patient...

Anyway, myself is:-
BORN in READING (1969 )
My father was born in reading (1944 ) my dad comes from a long list ( family wise ) of POMPEY supporters BUT he was born in reading and generally i think you should support the team from the town you were born in...he never went back to the IOW ( where his family are from ) but had to put up with being the lone RFC supporter in his family
HE took me to see my first game art Elm PARK in 1977( or possibly 1978) verses WImbledon ( 1-1 )

Just thought I'd have a pop at you because I have supported the club-admittedly from a distance for 37 years and am pissed off with all the talk of patience. I've been bloody patient all my life and for two fleeting seasons we had a fabulous ride. Much of the rest has been seasons of dross and flattering to deceive.
I just don't think you can summarise supporters in the way you suggest particularly as some of us can change our views on issues surrounding Chairmen, Managers and players over the passage of time.
Re SJM I feel he did a fantastic job up until a couple of years ago. He has done a lot for this club. However equally the club have done a lot for him. His profile has certainly risen and he has lapped up all the celebrity stuff whilst simultaneously complaining about the costs of being in the Premiership. That did not rest easy with me as he appeared to want it both ways.
It was that summer of 2007 which really disappointed me. There was no investment at a time when the clubs profile has never been higher and it cost us the long hard fought for Premiership status that had taken 135 years to achieve.
Since then the transfer windows have been ok although this one is becoming frustrating.
For three years SJM has stated he wants to sell the club. It doesn't fill me with confidence that his heart is really in it any more. If thats so we do need someone new to come in at the helm and the sooner the better.
Its just how I see it but I do recognise that under SJM the club have gone in an upwards direction but there is a danger that we could now fall back to the lower divisions which would be a huge shame.

[shoey]

old school here mate, dont get the h8 towards sjm for running a financially secure, well amanged club, who have been flying through recent years, through sc and sjm.

[leon]

HEY...
sorry i was just doing a touch of fishing
didn't realise it would get such a response , afterall , i'm NOT SDR??!!!

look , i was just a bit pissed of with all the idiots slagging of JM cos we had a poor start... when really, he should be appreciated for what he's done for US

generally , i think people that have been supporting RFC for longer , have a more realistic outlook and are far more patient...

Anyway, myself is:-
BORN in READING (1969 )
My father was born in reading (1944 ) my dad comes from a long list ( family wise ) of POMPEY supporters BUT he was born in reading and generally i think you should support the team from the town you were born in...he never went back to the IOW ( where his family are from ) but had to put up with being the lone RFC supporter in his family
HE took me to see my first game art Elm PARK in 1977( or possibly 1978) verses WImbledon ( 1-1 )

Just thought I'd have a pop at you because I have supported the club-admittedly from a distance for 37 years and am pissed off with all the talk of patience. I've been bloody patient all my life and for two fleeting seasons we had a fabulous ride. Much of the rest has been seasons of dross and flattering to deceive.
I just don't think you can summarise supporters in the way you suggest particularly as some of us can change our views on issues surrounding Chairmen, Managers and players over the passage of time.
Re SJM I feel he did a fantastic job up until a couple of years ago. He has done a lot for this club. However equally the club have done a lot for him. His profile has certainly risen and he has lapped up all the celebrity stuff whilst simultaneously complaining about the costs of being in the Premiership. That did not rest easy with me as he appeared to want it both ways.
It was that summer of 2007 which really disappointed me. There was no investment at a time when the clubs profile has never been higher and it cost us the long hard fought for Premiership status that had taken 135 years to achieve.
Since then the transfer windows have been ok although this one is becoming frustrating.
For three years SJM has stated he wants to sell the club. It doesn't fill me with confidence that his heart is really in it any more. If thats so we do need someone new to come in at the helm and the sooner the better.
Its just how I see it but I do recognise that under SJM the club have gone in an upwards direction but there is a danger that we could now fall back to the lower divisions which would be a huge shame.

Absolutely spot on. Apart from the strange punctuation.

[schubert06]

Oh that my great-grandfather was a dirty Berkshire mud lark trawling the Avon Kennett sludge to make ends meet... Then I’d be more worthy than you to support Reading FC.

[Sarah Star]

I've been a Reading supporter for less than two years during which haven't exactly been the best years to watch Reading as they seem to be on something of a decline. I'm quite an optimist though and since the first few matches I went to watch, we lost, I accept that you have to take the rough with the smooth. My own expectations have recently been lowered though from top half of the Championship to lower levels - barring any changes or miracles to the team. I don't generally go around blaming people for this as I imagine it's probably a combination of factors that will only come to light well after events have happened, so long as something is being seen to be done about fixing it.

I'm obviously a plastic.