1993-1995 vs 2005-2007

[floyd__streete]

Pretty sure this has been covered in the dim and distant past but frankly discussing the present and future prospects of our club (a mere column on the balance sheet of property developers, such as RFC is these days) is less appealing.

For those of us who enjoyed two great golden periods in the club - did you find 1993-1995 or 2005-2007 to be more exciting or rewarding.....and why

I fully expect to be in the minority to plump for 1993-1995. For the following reasons (and more besides):

- Squad made up entirely of bargain/cheap signings.
- The trauma of losing our manager three-quarters of the way through this period which gave the fans a sense of renewed hunger.
- our first flirtation with the top flight. Previously we'd not even made so much as eye-contact.
- The fans felt so much more part of it all; remember when the club called for letters and faxes (how archaic) before that Friday night Bolton home game and they ended up basically redecorating the dressing room twice over with fans submissions.
- The support at some of the away games in that era was truly epic; Bournemouth '94 and Bristol City '95 for instance when we outnumbered the home fans
- It felt like dear old Elm Park was enjoying a well deserved Indian Summer. I defy anyone to have such strong feelings towards our out-of-town identikit venue in RG2.

[Esteban]

Both good in their own way. More telling is fall from grace that followed both periods, when we really should have been kicking on.

[Ian Royal]

Won't vote as i only tagged on at the end of the first era, but I'm amazed if many prefer that.

[paultheroyal]

The football played in 1993-94 under mark McGee was something to behold. I have never ever seen us back at that totally dominant level.

I remember a run of games at home culminating in a match against Southend where it was men against boys and just so easy. We had such exciting and brilliant players back then and a real team ethos. Great times.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Im going for 1993-95, but you knew that didn't you?

You've stated much of the reasons above. For me, its was because you just couldn't really believe it was happening. Club seemed to be in total decline in the early 90's. Our highest ever league placing was 13th at Tier 2. January 92, we are 18th in Div 3. Standard. Just 2 years later we are genuinely competing for the title and promotion to the Premier League. Completely unreal, a proper fairytale.

To this day, Jimmy Quinn is still welcome to use my anus any time he wants.

2005-07 was obviously better in terms of the level of football, but in terms of the overall progress of the club, you could see it coming eventually, even if it was a bit sooner than we thought.

[Winston Smith]

93-95 by some distance.

The quality of football was mind blowing. The fact it was done by such a small squad, who were mostly free signings or unwanted elsewhere, then you would see them in the pub or Utopia afterwards just made it extra skillz

[Forbury Lion]

Broadly speaking you can define era's by managers..... on that basis, I think the Pardew era 98-01 has been overlooked, For me those were some of the games I enjoyed the most and remember fondly, We went from relegation fodder under Tommy Burns to playing attacking football and winning games at ease. September 2000 was the highlight - our home league results for that month were 4-0 Brentford, 5-0 Oldham, 5-1 Swansea. We also had that cracking game against Wigan in the play off semi, plus promotion away at Brentford.

[maffff]

93-95 because I was in that age (7-9) where I was totally in awe of football, meeting what were my idols at the time and them bothering to talk, being on the terraces etc... not even just the football, although making it to a playoff final was pretty special and just cemented my love of the club.

05-07 was pretty damn special too.

[John Smith]

93-95 because I was in that age (7-9) where I was totally in awe of football, meeting what were my idols at the time and them bothering to talk, being on the terraces etc... not even just the football, although making it to a playoff final was pretty special and just cemented my love of the club.

05-07 was pretty damn special too.

Absolutely.

I think purely because of Elm Park I've gone for 93-95

[If you still hate Futcher]

93-95 - the fans had more of a connection to the team

[tidus_mi2]

I can't bring myself to vote as I'd have to vote for 2005-07 because I only started watching Reading in 2002.

[stealthpapes]

1993-5 was so out of the blue that it was like a fairytale. Bolton, on a Friday night, Lee Nogan. Lovely.

Given that in 2003, we had a decent crack at it, and the club had stepped up a level in terms of everything, it was then always going to happen at some point. Maybe not the sheer joy of 05-07, but promotion, having a go at the Premier League, eventual relegation. Just don't do what Bradford did please.

I think we've been broadly spoilt since 2000, fwiw.

2000-2001 - losing playoff
2001-2002 - promotion
2002-2003 - losing playoff
2003-2005 - ok, a bit meh
2005-2006 - promotion
2006-2007 - Premiership 1
2007-2008 - relegation
2008-2009 - losing playoff
2009-2010 - relegation battle(ish) turned into gr8 FA cup run and late surge
2010-2011 - FA cup run, losing playoff
2011-2012 - promotion
2012-2013 - Premiership 2 (and I think I could have stomached this more, if they'd kept Brian around)
2013-2014 - almost playoffs
2014-2015 - gr8 FA Cup run

There's that early noughties Coppell lull, and Adkins/Clarke, but that's a decade and a half that my family wouldn't have imagined Reading were capable of.

We've been spoilt and frankly, we should sometimes take a step back and appreciate that.

[Ark Royal]

On paper, 2005-07 should be the choice, but as I was out of the country, I would have to go for 93-95. I regarded that period as the apex of my support for the club. It was also the first time that I considered the team to be one the most dominant teams at its level.

Some of the football McGhee produced was blissful and performed by some of the greatest players to wear the hoops: Hislop, Wdowczyk, Gooding, Osborn, Lovell and particularly Jimmy Quinn - a great scorer of goals and a scorer of truly great goals.

Memories of epic away trips: Huddersfield, Exeter, Stockport, Blackpool, Wolves (even though we lost), Luton, Bristol City, Tranmere.

[Forbury Lion]

1993-5 was so out of the blue that it was like a fairytale. Bolton, on a Friday night, Lee Nogan. Lovely.

Given that in 2003, we had a decent crack at it, and the club had stepped up a level in terms of everything, it was then always going to happen at some point. Maybe not the sheer joy of 05-07, but promotion, having a go at the Premier League, eventual relegation. Just don't do what Bradford did please.

I think we've been broadly spoilt since 2000, fwiw.

2000-2001 - losing playoff
2001-2002 - promotion
2002-2003 - losing playoff
2003-2005 - ok, a bit meh
2005-2006 - promotion
2006-2007 - Premiership 1
2007-2008 - relegation
2008-2009 - losing playoff
2009-2010 - relegation battle(ish) turned into gr8 FA cup run and late surge
2010-2011 - FA cup run, losing playoff
2011-2012 - promotion
2012-2013 - Premiership 2 (and I think I could have stomached this more, if they'd kept Brian around)
2013-2014 - almost playoffs
2014-2015 - gr8 FA Cup run

There's that early noughties Coppell lull, and Adkins/Clarke, but that's a decade and a half that my family wouldn't have imagined Reading were capable of.

We've been spoilt and frankly, we should sometimes take a step back and appreciate that.

Those who have been supporting the team less than 15 years don't know how lucky they are, no wonder their sense of perspective is different to us oldies.

One point, promotion is great but that also applies to runners up (except for 95/96!) and those who get lucky in the playoffs, We were Champions and let's not downplay that by calling it Promotion.

[stealthpapes]

I would happily take losing the play off final and having a cup run to the quarter finals every single season.

[andrew1957]

1993-5 was so out of the blue that it was like a fairytale. Bolton, on a Friday night, Lee Nogan. Lovely.

Given that in 2003, we had a decent crack at it, and the club had stepped up a level in terms of everything, it was then always going to happen at some point. Maybe not the sheer joy of 05-07, but promotion, having a go at the Premier League, eventual relegation. Just don't do what Bradford did please.

I think we've been broadly spoilt since 2000, fwiw.

2000-2001 - losing playoff
2001-2002 - promotion
2002-2003 - losing playoff
2003-2005 - ok, a bit meh
2005-2006 - promotion
2006-2007 - Premiership 1
2007-2008 - relegation
2008-2009 - losing playoff
2009-2010 - relegation battle(ish) turned into gr8 FA cup run and late surge
2010-2011 - FA cup run, losing playoff
2011-2012 - promotion
2012-2013 - Premiership 2 (and I think I could have stomached this more, if they'd kept Brian around)
2013-2014 - almost playoffs
2014-2015 - gr8 FA Cup run

There's that early noughties Coppell lull, and Adkins/Clarke, but that's a decade and a half that my family wouldn't have imagined Reading were capable of.

We've been spoilt and frankly, we should sometimes take a step back and appreciate that.

Good summary. It has been a very exciting 15 years or so. At least following RFC is seldom boring as we are either on the verge of promotion, relegation or FA Cup glory. I doubt there is another club outside the top 4 that could boast as much excitement for their fans over this period.

[stealthpapes]

Wigan, without thinking about it too much.

[The Sum of the Parts]

Nothing - absolutely nothing - beats 2005-07.

That team, largely built on the cheap too, is just beyond comparison.

They played a style of football that many of us never thought we'd see from a Reading team - with such a confident swagger and in such style (just nine bookings from the defence all season in 05/06 - and not one red card for the whole team!) that they are simply superlative.

That team delivered more in two season to its supporters than many fans get to witness in a whole lifetime of supporting.

You may consider that season "less exciting" because the team was so good, with promotion sewn up in the third week and the highest points total ever, but if excitement and closeness are what you judge a team on I can nominate some relegation season - with rubbish teams - that were just as exciting. Don't let "closeness to other teams" blind you to the greatness of Coppell's team.

[Maneki Neko]

Nothing - absolutely nothing - beats 2005-07.

agreed, but you would say that, wouldn't you.

[Green]

I would happily take losing the play off final and having a cup run to the quarter finals every single season.

As long as there's a drink up in the Bree Louise and a day trip to Wembley I'm happy enough.