I'm officially bored of travelling away with Reading

[Huntley & Palmer]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

[Sharpy]

I never said families should not be at football.

No, you merely heavily implied it.

Nottingham Forest at Bristol City on Saturday, 3,500 stood up throughout the game hardly a shirt or family in sight.

hardly

[Sharpy]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

you wouldnt get many RFC families at the den though lets be honest

[Huntley & Palmer]

I don't know why, it's the safest ground I have been to in the last five years

[SWLR]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

you wouldnt get many RFC families at the den though lets be honest

Took my two to the last game - they had a great time and couldn't stop giggling at the banter/exchange of abuse in the 'cage' by the train station. BTW we have two rules: all 'football words' are strictly left at the ground and there will be no splitting on dad to mum, about his use of that language.

[Behindu]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

you wouldnt get many RFC families at the den though lets be honest

Spoken by one who presumably hasn't been there...

Last trip to the Den was pretty normal mix of Royals fans of all ages.

No sign of large numbers of 'lads' which is odd as you'd think all those 'hard core' mates of Sharpy's who get excluded from all the other games woul dhave made a pointof turning up for that one

[EASTENDER MARKY]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

you wouldnt get many RFC families at the den though lets be honest

Took my two to the last game - they had a great time and couldn't stop giggling at the banter/exchange of abuse in the 'cage' by the train station. BTW we have two rules: all 'football words' are strictly left at the ground and there will be no splitting on dad to mum, about his use of that language.

[Sharpy]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

you wouldnt get many RFC families at the den though lets be honest

Spoken by one who presumably hasn't been there...

Last trip to the Den was pretty normal mix of Royals fans of all ages.

No sign of large numbers of 'lads' which is odd as you'd think all those 'hard core' mates of Sharpy's who get excluded from all the other games woul dhave made a pointof turning up for that one

no i was there....as h&p and others can confirm as i was at the same boozer at lonners bridgers. im not on about hooligans, just generally large groups of blokes up for a sing song and good time

[Behindu]

So you were there but ignore the fact that it was a pretty typical away following ?

What point were you trying to make ?

[Sharpy]

So you were there but ignore the fact that it was a pretty typical away following ?

What point were you trying to make ?

im not trying to make one, just saying compared to say fulham there were alot less families at the den

[SWLR]

So you were there but ignore the fact that it was a pretty typical away following ?

What point were you trying to make ?

im not trying to make one, just saying compared to say fulham there were alot less families at the den

i.e. Fulham was unique - not surprising given its proximity to Reading and New Malden (for all the Korean families)

[Irvinchangeyaname]

Generally, there's no doubt this was one of our more vocal away days and streets ahead of the Emirates visit a few weeks ago although that's hardly saying much. (Have we two different sets of supporter's!)

In a word, yes. Arsenal away was one for the once-a-season away supporters. Not far to travel, new ground, big club, 3 o'clock Saturday kick-off. Perfect.

Tottenham, if it didn't go on general sale, was available to most. The only reason for this was that it was on TV and, with the slightly more awkward kick off time, was far too much hassle for the other 'set' of supporters.

[Behindu]

So you were there but ignore the fact that it was a pretty typical away following ?

What point were you trying to make ?

im not trying to make one, just saying compared to say fulham there were alot less families at the den

There were a lot less people full stop !

[Seal]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

Agreed but I think there is a middle ground somewhere in between...

[Arch]

This really has to be one of the daftest threads ever. People who harken back to the halcyon days of Elm Park really make me wonder whether they were really there. There was basically one part of the ground - half the south bank - where sharpy-style laddishness was the preferred form of support. The rest of the place was a mixture of families, grumbling old geezers and acres and acres of empty space. If you were right in the middle of the south bank the support seemed great, but if you were anywhere else you realized it was just a few drunks periodically bawling. (When I moved to London, I often went to Highbury. Same phenomenon. If you stood in the North Bank it seemed like the best football support you ever heard, and then you couldn't understand why Arsenal support seemed so shit on telly.)

On away trips (and I only went to a couple as a youth), it was basically a selection of the lads from the south bank. The reason other people didn't go was because going to away matches meant dealing with opposition hooliganism wherever you went, police heavy-handedness, nasty travel services and a generally crap time to and from the ground.

Some people liked that. Good for them. But the old model was a small number of basically similar people, and the new model is a large number of diverse people. If you preferred the old model, and don't want to go, then fine but don't imply that because you prefer it it's objectively better.

Money has got Reading to where we are today. Money from TV, money from expensive tickets, and money from a very fine man who wants his club to be a family club. You can;t have the old ways and still have the success.

[SWLR]

Arch for Mayor - he gets my vote.

[Seal]

This really has to be one of the daftest threads ever. People who harken back to the halcyon days of Elm Park really make me wonder whether they were really there. There was basically one part of the ground - half the south bank - where sharpy-style laddishness was the preferred form of support. The rest of the place was a mixture of families, grumbling old geezers and acres and acres of empty space. If you were right in the middle of the south bank the support seemed great, but if you were anywhere else you realized it was just a few drunks periodically bawling. (When I moved to London, I often went to Highbury. Same phenomenon. If you stood in the North Bank it seemed like the best football support you ever heard, and then you couldn't understand why Arsenal support seemed so shit on telly.)

On away trips (and I only went to a couple as a youth), it was basically a selection of the lads from the south bank. The reason other people didn't go was because going to away matches meant dealing with opposition hooliganism wherever you went, police heavy-handedness, nasty travel services and a generally crap time to and from the ground.

Some people liked that. Good for them. But the old model was a small number of basically similar people, and the new model is a large number of diverse people. If you preferred the old model, and don't want to go, then fine but don't imply that because you prefer it it's objectively better.

Money has got Reading to where we are today. Money from TV, money from expensive tickets, and money from a very fine man who wants his club to be a family club. You can;t have the old ways and still have the success.

We're hardly advocating a return to the dark old days you talk of. There are many many clubs who quite happily are still able to stand at away games (as surely you would have seen at the Madejski this season?).

All we're saying is that it is a shame that when following Reading we can't do the same, as it's always traditionally been part of the away fan experience.

[SpaceCruiser]

Arch for Mayor - he gets my vote.

His Arsenal background would count against him though.

[Sharpy]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

Agreed but I think there is a middle ground somewhere in between...

agreed

[Huntley & Palmer]

Having witnessed first hand the supporters of Swansea making their way back from the Den on Saturday afternoon, I am very glad our support is a mixture of lads, kids and older folk. I could think of nothing worse than being hounded around London in a constant police escort and then being frog-marched by 60 odd police dressed in riot gear back on a train home

Agreed but I think there is a middle ground somewhere in between...

Of course there is but I don't think you can dictate what your support is like, especially when away from home it's been nothing more than average in recent history. We have had our odd moment in terms of numbers, Newcastle away astonished me as not only did we take a large number up there on a cold Wednesday night in December we also had a larger percentage of those that were there for the day/night as well as the football. It would be great from my perspective if more games were like this overall, I couldn't really careless really as long as I have a crack with a good few beers beforehand and some mates in tow. I'm not there for other people