Season Tickets

[madstadblues]

I have been a season ticket holder for more years than I can remember and I am interested to read about folks who aren't / haven't renewed their season tickets due to manager / how the club is run / results etc.

I can understand people not renewing due to financial issues but don't understand buying a ST based on expectation where football is such a fickle bride. As a ST holder I enjoy the whole match day experience ( winning / promotion is better) but if I wanted guaranteed performance etc. I would watch Chelsea. Seeing some of the dross we had to watch in the 80s,90s didn't make me think of voting with my feet so I wondered what's changed

[MeMeMe]

I have been a season ticket holder since the Mark McGee days. Right now I am seriously questioning renewing next season, I have missed a few home games this season already mainly through lack of interest. So why ?... well the football is very poor right now yes, but I have seen poor times under Bullivant and Burns, so it's mainly the constant drivel the club keeps spouting about 'cutting cloth', doing things the 'Reading way', listening to every excuse going about why we can't improve the team yet spouting marketing messages about how they need out support and how we should all 'back the boys', so basically... just send us your money.

A new owner needs "very deep pockets" quotes Mr Madj, yet we seem to acquire them with deep pockets and very short arms.

Looking at other clubs that were on a par with us not long ago such as Southampton, Swansea, Hull and West Ham to a degree, we compare very very poorly when it comes to managing our team.

So reasons to be optimistic and part with my hard earned cash again !... I am struggling right now !

[Elm Park]

I have been a season ticket holder since the Mark McGee days. Right now I am seriously questioning renewing next season, I have missed a few home games this season already mainly through lack of interest. So why ?... well the football is very poor right now yes, but I have seen poor times under Bullivant and Burns, so it's mainly the constant drivel the club keeps spouting about 'cutting cloth', doing things the 'Reading way', listening to every excuse going about why we can't improve the team yet spouting marketing messages about how they need out support and how we should all 'back the boys', so basically... just send us your money.

A new owner needs "very deep pockets" quotes Mr Madj, yet we seem to acquire them with deep pockets and very short arms.

Looking at other clubs that were on a par with us not long ago such as Southampton, Swansea, Hull and West Ham to a degree, we compare very very poorly when it comes to managing our team.

So reasons to be optimistic and part with my hard earned cash again !... I am struggling right now !

+1

we've had 3 ST's for about 12 years now. I was a regular attendee before that and a previous ST holder before that and kids came along.
Now I find that I'm not actually enjoying going to games and if I didn't nave a ST this year wouldn't bother. In fact I might not bother next week and go to Redingensians rugby instead. At least I can have a drink watching the game.

I am finding it hard to find a reason to consider renewing next Season. Let's just hope the second half of the season gives me a reason.

[ayjaydee]

Been watching longer than I care to remember (actually not true, 1969), chose season ticket for Madstad in the portakabin set up on the site way before it was built.

Had a few seasons doing almost every game home and away.

Gave up s/t 4 seasons ago mainly due to a year when I knew I wasn't going to get full use as I was hosting our companies corporate on a few occasions and away getting married and stuff. Financially the season ticket made no sense.

Still went to every game that I could with the odd away game thrown in (not so easy to do as a newly wed even for an old bastard like me).

But, like the poster above I am not enjoying all the bullshit associated with watching these days and am more selective about how I choose to spend my hard earned. If a game is on tv I probably won't go. If a better Saturday afternoon offer comes along likewise.

In my time I have seen far worse teams playing a far worse style of football so that is not the reason.

Still my team, still proud that we made it to the promised land in my lifetime . Even if I decide to go these days I don't get the same buzz.

I guess it is like a lot of relationships, you just fall out of love.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Is there a demand for half st this season, shows how far we have fallen.

[Cpl Jones Dont panic]

This is my 39 year being a st holder , like the poster above I recall choosing my seat and buying it at the porta cabin . As much as I want to reach the 40 year milestone I am unsure if I will . Strangely it's not about the poor performances but more the total Rfc experience . Amateur car parking control , being stuck behind for so long is x pain when you are not local . All the media spin from the club about what a wonderful club they are and fans are an important point . Non league standard half time experience and quality of food . It's now just a sterile corporate atmosphere . Before others put me down for my comments the prime reason is would I start following football on such a regular basis if this was the start of my journey sad to say no .

[under the tin]

I honestly think it's an age thing. The demographic implied by the replies above seems to highlight this.
As a young buck in the seventies, I could get my fix of irrational tribalism every Saturday relatively cheaply, kind of worshipping men whom I didn't know, and hurling abuse at another group whom I knew even less
I was under the tin in the South bank, beered up with my mates, no kids, no mortgage. Life was simple.

Things like wives, kids, mortgages came along, and something called perspective was experienced.
Yeah, it would be great to go to the away game at Selhurst Park, but the eldest has a birthday treat. Sorry, football. Read the same for my mates.

The funny thing is, the last paragraph is a blip. As the kids got a bit older, and the financial impact of having them had eased a little, then regular attendance picked up a bit. I was meeting my mates in the ground, and we mostly had kids in tow. Good times. Indoctrinating the next generation of Royals fans.

As they got older, some of the kids wanted to do their own thing. Fair enough. Those that stuck with the footy didn't want to sit in the North stand with us old boys. We'd split up outside the ground, and the youngsters would go to posture in Y25. The old mates back all together. Back to the future.

Then, about 2009 ish, the group in the concourse started getting sporadic absentees. These people in their late 40's were beginning to seriously think about how much money was being spent, and weighing that against the amount of enjoyment had. For myself, the beginning of the end was beckoning. Even though I had a ST, there were several games that I just could'nt be ar@ed to attend.

I hardly ever go now. I don't miss it, either. I think I just grew out of it.

[grey_squirrel]

I had been a STH for most seasons since 1975, but chose not to renew this year - and I am very glad I didn't.

Essentially I just wasn't enjoying any of it - and hadn't been for some time - ; the football, the overall match day 'experience', the ownership debacle, ..... Nothing was enjoyable anymore. I found I was just going more for the benefit of my mates, than for me.

My love for the game overall has considerably waned over the years too, with the financial aspect driving everything / increasingly thick players earning exorbitant wages / stratospheric transfer fees etc etc, being at the core of my disillusionment

I found myself waking up on match day mornings thinking "oh God. I've got to go to football today", so reluctantly I decided to give it a breather and some time out to see if my appetite for RFC and the game in general would return. So far it hasn't and I am not missing it.

Sad but that's just the way it is.

[melonhead]

the football is very poor right now yes, but I have seen poor times under Bullivant and Burns, so it's mainly the constant drivel the club keeps spouting about 'cutting cloth', doing things the 'Reading way', listening to every excuse going about why we can't improve the team yet spouting marketing messages about how they need out support and how we should all 'back the boys',

!

you don't enjoy the game because someone mentioned cutting cloth and the reading way?

the reading way was around during coppells time, did you stop enjoying it then too?
SJM has been going on about cloth cutting foever, including during championship winning campaigns, did it stop u going?



and lets be fair. this is actually the time where the team REALLY needs our support, so we should back the boys.
anyone can back em when we are winning th league with 106 points.

[SPARTA]

I have been a season ticket holder since the Mark McGee days. Right now I am seriously questioning renewing next season, I have missed a few home games this season already mainly through lack of interest. So why ?... well the football is very poor right now yes, but I have seen poor times under Bullivant and Burns, so it's mainly the constant drivel the club keeps spouting about 'cutting cloth', doing things the 'Reading way', listening to every excuse going about why we can't improve the team yet spouting marketing messages about how they need out support and how we should all 'back the boys', so basically... just send us your money.

A new owner needs "very deep pockets" quotes Mr Madj, yet we seem to acquire them with deep pockets and very short arms.

Looking at other clubs that were on a par with us not long ago such as Southampton, Swansea, Hull and West Ham to a degree, we compare very very poorly when it comes to managing our team.

So reasons to be optimistic and part with my hard earned cash again !... I am struggling right now !

Very valid points and shared by many I'm sure.

[dean horrix legend]

I honestly think it's an age thing. The demographic implied by the replies above seems to highlight this.
As a young buck in the seventies, I could get my fix of irrational tribalism every Saturday relatively cheaply, kind of worshipping men whom I didn't know, and hurling abuse at another group whom I knew even less
I was under the tin in the South bank, beered up with my mates, no kids, no mortgage. Life was simple.

Things like wives, kids, mortgages came along, and something called perspective was experienced.
Yeah, it would be great to go to the away game at Selhurst Park, but the eldest has a birthday treat. Sorry, football. Read the same for my mates.

The funny thing is, the last paragraph is a blip. As the kids got a bit older, and the financial impact of having them had eased a little, then regular attendance picked up a bit. I was meeting my mates in the ground, and we mostly had kids in tow. Good times. Indoctrinating the next generation of Royals fans.

As they got older, some of the kids wanted to do their own thing. Fair enough. Those that stuck with the footy didn't want to sit in the North stand with us old boys. We'd split up outside the ground, and the youngsters would go to posture in Y25. The old mates back all together. Back to the future.

Then, about 2009 ish, the group in the concourse started getting sporadic absentees. These people in their late 40's were beginning to seriously think about how much money was being spent, and weighing that against the amount of enjoyment had. For myself, the beginning of the end was beckoning. Even though I had a ST, there were several games that I just could'nt be ar@ed to attend.

I hardly ever go now. I don't miss it, either. I think I just grew out of it.

Exactly the same for me. I don't miss going and even hearing the results doesn't do anything for me now.

[Zana Badawi]

and lets be fair. this is actually the time where the team REALLY needs our support, so we should back the boys.

That is, without doubt, absolute nonsense.
They are a football club, not a charity.
If Player X wants to get 10,000 a week - he cant just expect it. He has to earn it.

[Westwood52]

I have been a season ticket holder for more years than I can remember and I am interested to read about folks who aren't / haven't renewed their season tickets due to manager / how the club is run / results etc.

I can understand people not renewing due to financial issues but don't understand buying a ST based on expectation where football is such a fickle bride. As a ST holder I enjoy the whole match day experience ( winning / promotion is better) but if I wanted guaranteed performance etc. I would watch Chelsea. Seeing some of the dross we had to watch in the 80s,90s didn't make me think of voting with my feet so I wondered what's changed

I don't enjoy the whole match experience-it is very expensive to park near the Ground; so I have a long walk-catering is poor and the pre match announcer does my head in, finally at the end of the game it takes ages to get out of the "terraces".
On the plus side-I have superb seats & enjoy watching live football & every now & then Reading put in a uplifting performance-Fulham ?
Will I continue with a S/Tkt yes cause I would miss it if I didn't go.