Anybody else preparing to opt out next season?

[Hoop Blah]

its just another league
you play your games, you win some you lose some
some are great, some are awful
and at the end of it you stay up get relegated or win the league
it doesnt matter what league it is, its still a great buzz
surely that last minute winner vs sunderland, and the liverpool game, and to an extent the united game has made you see that there are so many more great days to go, to rival and eclipseall the old elm park days,the playoffs, the championship etc
im still well and truly loving all this,and long may it continue
we may well lose some fans, and that is as sad a thing as i have read on the team board, but they probably would have gone anyway eventually, football just becomes less important as you get older to most people, we will aquire legions of plastic fans to replace them, and so lose some of the character, and tradition of the club,but the club will go on, and grow,regardless.
but to leave now just as we finally approach the zenith of what a football club can achieve seems a mighty odd decision
just think, we could be playing european football in 5 years against the might of majorca, and dynamo bucharest

There is still a thrill to be had from individual games and the banter and discussion that goes with it. I still enjoy meeting up in the pub and having a few beers and the build up to the game, watching some of the best football we've ever seen as Reading fans, the post match deliberations and celebrations, all that is good about football.

I still think there is more to aim at for Reading FC. What is turning me off a bit is the cost and the sense of feeling that we're not really trying to push ourselves to the limit at the moment.

Can you imagine Reading turning down the chance to get into the League 1 play offs because we might not've had the squad to support playing in the Championship?

[Betty's Biscuit]

The problem for me is that Reading playing in the top flight, the one thing I always dreamed about but never thought I would see, is sucking the life out of my club. Sport is about competition, there is no competition in the Premier League so where's the sport? What is the point of a competition in which 80% of the participants have no chance of winning?

It always makes me laugh when people talk about the need to rid sport of drugs to keep the competition pure. Well, money is football's drug problem and the top four clubs are doped up to their eyeballs on it - the competition is anything but pure. We're not playing against other clubs anymore, we're playing against corporations, against brands, against international trademarks. I for one am sick of it.

What is the point of paying an inflated season ticket price to watch your team struggle to survive, hoping that they stay up so that you can pay even more money the next year to go through the same wretched cycle again? There is no point.

But the real kicker for me is the realisation that it will never be the same. If we get relegated and have to play in the Championship we'll be competing for a prize I don't want.

Until such time as the FA realise that football in this country is slowly drowning and introduce a way of sharing revenue to promote full competition, then I too fear it will have to go on without me either.

I will always be Reading till I die, I just feel that this year something inside passed away.

Very well expressed and with many incitefull observations. Yes, the money is changing the game. However, whatever your team, at whatever level, there is always something to strive for, something to win. Promotion can be exciting, but so can every achievement. Getting higher placed than before, qualifying for Europe, attracting talented players, being the underdog that over achieves. Then there is football as a entertainment. I am more entertained, the more skillfull players I see, and that is something that you get at this level, be it on our side or the opposition.

As one who has seen Reading play in all four divisions, I know where I'd rather have them ...at the highest level. It's just we need to re-frame our benchmarks, and its only just dawning on us what those benchmarks are. Survive & Strive works for me!

[Victor Meldrew]

This has been a very interesting topic and much better than the usual dross about the noise of the crowd and Reading till I die nonsense.
A couple of years ago a Saints fan friend of mine said that we should make the most of the early years because unless your club can afford to spend to keep up and afford not to lose your best players you would then just have a constant fight for survival and many dull matches.
I feel that it is too early to even think of ditching the season ticket especially after Saturday when we had a go.If there were many more 4-5-1s I would think about it more.
Mind you having just got the away season ticket for Chelsea and seen £48 as the next debit I started to wonder if the "product" is really worth it.
Hopefully we will go there with a similar spirit of adventure.

[Scrappy]

I've only recenty turned 18 and am experiencing adult prices for the first time whilst at Sixth Form doing a part-time job and have noticed that for an average away game this year it is £37 a ticket approximatelly. Add onto travel and you're instantly looking at around £60 a game. For just one person that is an extortionate amount, especially when trying to get to University and saving for that. The price of living is increasing, and the first step on the property ladder becoming more difficult. No wonder the average age of attendees at the football is increasing.

The Premiership is the same every year with a different logo. Added to the fact you cannot relate to the players anymore, there was a time when they could be your next door neibour, now they're in their own estates getting done for drink driving offences because they think they're above the law.

[bobby1413]

there's nothing left to hope for.

In the late 70's early 80's if you had said we would be lording it with the big boys in the the future, you would have been carted off to the funny farm.

We were a 3rd or 4th division club, and that was all we would ever be.

The favotite song was "all we are saying is give us a goal" - we set a record for the most amount of 0-0 draws on record and set a Reading record for the lowest ever crowd against Port Vale if I remember rightly.
A good FA cup run meant a game against Bury.

But we still dreamed of the top flight, of playing Liverpool (they were the top club then)

So whats the difference between that and dreaming of Europe and the Premiership title now?

None.

Great post.

[bobby1413]

Imagine 38k at £20, it is still a lot of money.

And it's still too much to watch a football match.

Some interesting comments on here but, essentially, it boils down to expense and the matchday "experience".

Battling through traffic to get to a retail park with not a single pub within a mile, then paying through the nose to watch a game of football from a plastic seat is not the reason I fell in love with this club.

Also a good post. I did not renew my season ticket for several reasons:

- I spent an absolute FORTUNE last season on home/away season tickets plus transport to all the away games (I was too scared to add up how much I'd spent)
- Cost of tickets now - I want to save money at the minute for house/car/other things for the future
- As you say, the time element. I don't want to be committed to every other saturday spending 5 hours or so outside going to the game. I loved it, but sometimes I can't do it, or don't want to go out/have other plans, etc...
- I kind of like the idea of picking and choosing games, makes it a bit more of an occasion rather than a routine. E.g. choosing to go to Everton away (didn't go last season), or going to Fulham away as last season it was brilliant...
- work. I have to work about two weekends a month in work now, so can't guarantee the time off.

So a few reasons why I don't have a season ticket now, not all financially related.



Edit: also forgot to add that I go to games by myself normally, this does get quite tiresome going every single week with no one to talk to, share a laugh with,e tc... You can put the violins away now.

[readingfc13]

I think I may not renew next year for many of the reasons already mentioned, such as financial cost and football having lost part of its magic. Also as a University student in my 2nd year of three, I feel like I'm missing out on the limited amount of time I have to enjoy the student life as I am constantly travelling back at weekends and midweek to watch the game, when often it isn't actually worth it. Moreover it is impossible to get a job when I have to go home to watch the football, as people are always looking for weekend staff. It doesn't particularly worry me at the moment about not having a season ticket which I have done since 2000, as I know that whether the stadium expansion goes ahead or not, with the amount of points I will have on my member card it will still be easy to get tickets for the games which I am able and perhaps more importantly want to go to. I have also been rather tempted lately to go and watch Lewes who have recently had a rather nice near terrace added to the ground, plus I could do the whole matchday experience for cheaper than my travel to Reading and back!

[West Stand Flash]

Until we move up with the times in terms of transfer fee's & wages, we will either get relegated or struggle EVERY single season.

[Northern Git]

Opt out of my season ticket? No.

Be a bit more selective on how and where I spend my ‘football time’? Yes.

A football match has always been more than the 90 mins on the pitch to me. It’s all about meeting up with the mates for a beer (or two) before the game, the banter during the journey to and from the game, especially away games, the game itself, win lose or draw and then the post match beer and debate after the game.

My main gripe is that the overall match day experience (I hate that phrase but cannot think of a better one) at Reading has got progressively worse as we have climbed the table.

The well documented problems with the catering, trying to buy an overpriced beer (or what passes for beer) in under 15mins from uninterested waste of space catering staff, even if you are ‘lucky’ enough to get in the Hotel or Jazz Bar. Getting trapped in the car park every game, whist brain dead attendants do nothing but stare blankly around, only to finally escape onto gridlocked roads. As someone pointed out if you park at the ground you will, during the course of the season, spend a whole day trying to get out the car park.

It does seem that as football supporters we a frequently asked to put up with levels of service that would have us reaching for our hat and coat at a restaurant, theatre, cinema etc. But we put up with it because it’s ‘our team’.

As for the football I am still getting the same buzz (or depression ) watching the team pit its skills against some of the best opposition in the world as I did when we were slogging it out against teams in the lower leagues. How I will feel if we survive at this level and we get season after season of mid table safety with odd brush with Europe or relegation remains to be seen.

What I am doing is spreading my ‘football time’ around more and getting some of my football fix away from Reading. I will be at the Wycombe v Chesterfield game at the weekend, meeting up with old friends from ‘oop North’, having a few beers and probably having the piss taken for being a ‘Southern softie’ these days. Would have gone to Wycombe even had Reading progressed in the cup to meet Man U. Already got a visit to an Aldershot game pencilled in with a neigbour and his sons.

Will also be at Chelsea on the following Wednesday.

Will I have a better ‘Premiership’ day out at Chelsea than my ‘Lower League’ day out at Wycombe?

I doubt it.

[frimleygreen_shotspur]

i echo the sentiments of the posts originator almost word for word. i deceided pretty damn quick that the team i used to walk to work in order to save the money to get to see the 'spurs home and away no longer appealed as the stark comercial reality of the premiership dawned.i loved the club,stil do,but the motivation to go has been extinguished. my fifteen quid now goes (when shifts allow) on a few pints of the black stuff in the golden lion pre match,a couple of hours in whingers corner(win or lose,no excuses) and a train ride.and i know the 'shots appreciate each and every punter that hands over the folding.

[emmer green dave]

80 of us were Premier Club members for 5 years paying £600 to £850 per season.As soon as we reached Premiership we were moved to make way for more corporate seats.Second season we are told sorry no more Premier Club as we do not make enough money.We were offered same seats £1500 plus vat with food.We were eventually given seats in Upper West and after this season we are not bothering anymore.My first game was when I was 8 I am now 63.

[Gordons Cumming]

Domestic financial constraints have meant only half a season ticket this year ( sharing with brother-in-law ).
Next year, I doubt I'll get one. Pick and choose matches I guess.

It'll always be Reading for me, but the appeal of watching a team like Aldershot or Bracknell is tempting.

[mx]

Likewise, I'm sharing a season ticket with a mate this year, and, apart from the fact that I missed the Liverpool game, its worked out OK.

Other demands on my time at weekends mean I will never go to every league game, which makes a season ticket pretty uneconomic. By sharing it I've only paid half the cost, and have had pretty good value as a result.

[windjammer]

The Premier League and its pricing and top four winning everything reflect the country as a whole. This is (and always has been) rip off Britain, most expensive energy, water, transport, highest stealth taxes (conning us by saying it's for the good of the planet). The average man in the street is like the majority of the Prem league teams outside the top 4, paying thru the nose knowing they will never win anything. My son has just returned from a long weekend in Barcelona. A week before he went he got tickets for the Barcelona-Racing Santander game at the Nou Camp, equivalent of £19 to see Thierry Henri and co, and a 71,000 crowd as well. Man U and Arsenal with their big stadiums wouldn't charge as low as that because they know the stupid average Brit football fan will always pay more. Wouldn't it be good if football fans boycotted the the Prem League for a whole month and all games were played in empty stadiums?

[readingfc13]

The Premier League and its pricing and top four winning everything reflect the country as a whole. This is (and always has been) rip off Britain, most expensive energy, water, transport, highest stealth taxes (conning us by saying it's for the good of the planet). The average man in the street is like the majority of the Prem league teams outside the top 4, paying thru the nose knowing they will never win anything. My son has just returned from a long weekend in Barcelona. A week before he went he got tickets for the Barcelona-Racing Santander game at the Nou Camp, equivalent of £19 to see Thierry Henri and co, and a 71,000 crowd as well. Man U and Arsenal with their big stadiums wouldn't charge as low as that because they know the stupid average Brit football fan will always pay more. Wouldn't it be good if football fans boycotted the the Prem League for a whole month and all games were played in empty stadiums?

It would be interesting but for every regular attendee who didn't go there would be someone else willing to take their place. Also how could you justify to people that they should miss out on games that they have already paid for? I'm sure not all clubs feel the way we do. The fans of the "Big 4" are probably pretty content with things as they are and at the end of the day if those clubs are still present Sky and the Premiership will continue to exist just fine.

[readingbedding]

I'll still be going to Reading FC as long as I can afford to, I haven't got much of a choice, whatever standard and shape the game or Reading is in, I'll always see my team, my weekends wouldn't be the same without it.

The thought of opting out would normally never enter my mind.

Never, ever would I entertain seeing another club play week in, week out if I remained in this Country.
Wouldn't feel the same.

[M U R T Y]

I've only recenty turned 18 and am experiencing adult prices for the first time whilst at Sixth Form doing a part-time job and have noticed that for an average away game this year it is £37 a ticket approximatelly. Add onto travel and you're instantly looking at around £60 a game. For just one person that is an extortionate amount, especially when trying to get to University and saving for that. The price of living is increasing, and the first step on the property ladder becoming more difficult. No wonder the average age of attendees at the football is increasing.

The Premiership is the same every year with a different logo. Added to the fact you cannot relate to the players anymore, there was a time when they could be your next door neibour, now they're in their own estates getting done for drink driving offences because they think they're above the law.

Last years average was £28. This years average so far upto the Chelsea game is £29.40. No idea where you got £37. Not saying it is "cheap" tho!

[Alan Partridge]

The problem for me is that Reading playing in the top flight, the one thing I always dreamed about but never thought I would see, is sucking the life out of my club. Sport is about competition, there is no competition in the Premier League so where's the sport? What is the point of a competition in which 80% of the participants have no chance of winning?

It always makes me laugh when people talk about the need to rid sport of drugs to keep the competition pure. Well, money is football's drug problem and the top four clubs are doped up to their eyeballs on it - the competition is anything but pure. We're not playing against other clubs anymore, we're playing against corporations, against brands, against international trademarks. I for one am sick of it.

What is the point of paying an inflated season ticket price to watch your team struggle to survive, hoping that they stay up so that you can pay even more money the next year to go through the same wretched cycle again? There is no point.

But the real kicker for me is the realisation that it will never be the same. If we get relegated and have to play in the Championship we'll be competing for a prize I don't want.

Until such time as the FA realise that football in this country is slowly drowning and introduce a way of sharing revenue to promote full competition, then I too fear it will have to go on without me either.

I will always be Reading till I die, I just feel that this year something inside passed away.

Missed this first time looking on this thread, superb post. Agree with all of it entirely.

[Derbyshire Royal]

I opted out a few years ago when I moved oop north. I still love the Royals and always will but to be honest I have other things to spend my cash on. I will still got to the odd game when I can but its only once or twice a year now and not like the old days when I had a season ticket.

My last game was the defeat at Blackburn and it was a great day out and a laugh, but it all costs too much now that we are successful.

I wouldnt swap mid table premiership for top of the championship though.

[hantsclaret]

What a fascinating thread - Looking in as an outsider (a local (to Reading) Burnley fan), its really interesting to see the views expressed about the sense of anticlimax as well as peoples views on the Premier league.

In reality It's probably not something that I will have to concern myself with in the near future but I have always said publicaly that I would not want us to get promoted to the Premiership. It really feels like a media circus with the star acts being, in part, a bunch of mildly talented wideboys who are earning mega-wages. I wouldnt, by the way, include people like Gerrard in that bracket or, in fact, the Reading boys.

The most fun I ever had was when we were in the 4th division (and winning it comfortably) - going to places like Hereford, York and Halifax. I'm sure that I'm looking at it through rose tinted specs to some extent - I do recognise that the standard of football is crap at that level - but boy was it fun.

Part of me hopes that the whole thing implodes - but I suspect it wont..

Anyway, thanks for a fascinating read on a slow day at work!

Up the Clarets...and maybe see you next season?