Does anyone mind if we get relegated?

[Wycombe Royal]

Would also be interesting to know; who of the current STH will not renew if we go down.

I would be MORE likely to renew if we went down (however I will be renewing regardless of the outcome this season).

[Tinrib]

Seeing as I ma pretty much on my own in the "no" camp I suppose I had better add some reasoning behind it. I onviously support Reading and have done so for many years, but as I am stumping up a lot of cash for that priviledge I also want to enjoy watching the football. For me that enjoyment has taken a serious knock this season and it will continue to do so whilst the best we can hope for is a mid-table finish. Of course I want us to be competing with the best teams in the country but there is a trade-off.

Losing to Man Utd/ Chelsea et al >>>>>>Losing to Bury.

Who said anything about getting relegated to League 2?

- Well thats what you allude to.

I'd much prefer to pay my cash and watch the best players in the world pit their wits against Reading in the Prem, than spend less and watch third rate players hoof a ball about.

Reading already has by far has the best squad of players it's ever had, and we do compete, with teams around us. - I find it somewhat amusing after all the years we've struggled along, in the lower divisions that expectations now demand we either ' compete' with the big boys or go backwards till we can win something again.

[Wycombe Royal]

Who said anything about getting relegated to League 2?

- Well thats what you allude to.

I'd much prefer to pay my cash and watch the best players in the world pit their wits against Reading in the Prem, than spend less and watch third rate players hoof a ball about.

Reading already has by far has the best squad of players it's ever had, and we do compete, with teams around us. - I find it somewhat amusing after all the years we've struggled along, in the lower divisions that expectations now demand we either ' compete' with the big boys or go backwards till we can win something again.

Where on earth did I allude to that?

I don't come to the Madejski to watch the opposition players, I come to watch Reading regardless of who they are playing against. I want us to win matches and entertain in the process, if that is in League 2 then so be it.

As for competing in the Premiership, yes we do with the teams around us, but that isn't enough for me. I don't want Reading to just be making up the numbers in the Premiership I was us to be competing with the top teams in which ever division we are in, if that is in the Premiership then great, if not then that is great as well.

[readingbedding]

No I wouldn't mind.
But we're not going to be relegated, and I don't mind that either.

[Stranded]

Well, yes.

For those who say they don't mind as we'll stand a chance of winning the division below, it's more competitive etc....well surely that's fairly academic. We go down, have a good season and end up back where we started. Or we never return and have the odd decent season where we make the play-offs and lose.

At least that will be one more season of excitement than we are currently getting.........

But it just become a vicious cycle then doesn't it?

Have poor season, Get relegated
Have good season, get promoted
Have half decent season, Finish midtable
Have half decent season, Finish midtable
Have poor season, Get relegated

Rinse and repeat as needed.

[Tinrib]

Who said anything about getting relegated to League 2?

- Well thats what you allude to.

I'd much prefer to pay my cash and watch the best players in the world pit their wits against Reading in the Prem, than spend less and watch third rate players hoof a ball about.

Reading already has by far has the best squad of players it's ever had, and we do compete, with teams around us. - I find it somewhat amusing after all the years we've struggled along, in the lower divisions that expectations now demand we either ' compete' with the big boys or go backwards till we can win something again.

Where on earth did I allude to that?

I don't come to the Madejski to watch the opposition players, I come to watch Reading regardless of who they are playing against. I want us to win matches and entertain in the process, if that is in League 2 then so be it.

As for competing in the Premiership, yes we do with the teams around us, but that isn't enough for me. I don't want Reading to just be making up the numbers in the Premiership I was us to be competing with the top teams in which ever division we are in, if that is in the Premiership then great, if not then that is great as well.

You might as well jack it all in now then...

[Forbury Lion]

[

My dream is that we get a team together that finished regularly mid table, then we may finally be able to take the cup competitions seriously.

I would rather see us relegated having won either the League or FA Cup than to finish somewhere above relegation but outside of Europe.

[East Stand Royal 500]

I don't come to the Madejski to watch the opposition players, I come to watch Reading regardless of who they are playing against. I want us to win matches and entertain in the process.

Be there on Saturday and you'll see both. We will win and I hope we will entertain. But entertainment is subjective. It's possible to be entertained by the lack of quality in a lower division even if we don't win.

It would be nice to have a level playing field in the Prem but with the present wage structure and the glamour of the big clubs we will not get it. I'd rather we had a sensible wage structure and transfer policy and fought hard to keep a mid-table spot in the Prem than whinge because we can't compete with the big 4 and look longingly at the lack of quality in the lower divisions.

It's amazing what the human psyche can adjust to when something is forced on us and I'm sure I could get to like watching the team in a lower division but I'm glad we have at least one more season in the best league in Europe.

[1960]

Until very recently Wigan had not taken a single point off the top four in two and a half seasons. In two seasons we have:
Drawn with Man Utd twice in the league, once in the cup and had the crossbar save them from an embarrassing second draw (and two of these draws were at OT);
Drawn with Chelsea once;
Beaten Liverpool once.

I call that pretty competitive. If we can survive this year lessons will have been learnt which weren't served up to us last year. We finished 8th, so SC thought everything was hunky dory. It wasn't, so the management must look to improve and I think they will and we could push towards a European place if three places are available like last year.

And a resounding Yes to whether I would mind. Turning on Sky Sports News and discussing Reading alongside the others. On MOTD every week. On Sky Sports Football First if you like. Full match reports in every paper instead of bare bones if at all. International players at our club who would leave if we went down. I could go on. I remember during our 60 years of being in the bottom two divisions we once got really excited because Peter Shreeves had got into the Wales U-23 team - then got injured and couldn't play.

And please don't roll out the old crap about playing in a division we could win. All our best players would go, we'd not be able to tempt replacements in and we would end up either in terminal decline or mid-table mediocrity and i would prefer to be mediocre in the Prem than the Fizzy Pop league. As someone above said, ask Wolves, Leicester, Southampton, Nottm Forest, Leeds, Norwich, Sheff Wed and United, Ipswich, Charlton, Coventry, QPR. Who would be arrogant enough to claim that we could do what they had all failed to do, namely get promoted?

[Garrincha]

With the prospect of relegation still looming large, does anyone mind if we get relegated?

We're not exactly going to win the league and will need a heavy investment just to finish in the top ten.

At least if we got relegated, we'd have a chance of winning something and enjoying some away games for a change.

Numbnuts, what a stupid post!!!!

Answering the question merely gives it credibility.

[RoyalBlue]

In the short term yes, I do care, because of pride and reputation.

I like it when I am overseas and people know who Reading FC are!

Longer term no. Like Dirk I dislike so much of what the modern PL and its members stand for. I also miss the lower league experience - visits to real away grounds with real football supporters etc.

[Schards#2]

If anyone out there frequents other team's message boards, i'd be interested to hear what supporters of sides that have recently been relegated think of their lot.

I would imagine the likes of Wolves/Southampton/Leicester/Coventry would kill to be back up.

[Wycombe Royal]

Where on earth did I allude to that?

I don't come to the Madejski to watch the opposition players, I come to watch Reading regardless of who they are playing against. I want us to win matches and entertain in the process, if that is in League 2 then so be it.

As for competing in the Premiership, yes we do with the teams around us, but that isn't enough for me. I don't want Reading to just be making up the numbers in the Premiership I was us to be competing with the top teams in which ever division we are in, if that is in the Premiership then great, if not then that is great as well.

You might as well jack it all in now then...

Nope, you've completely lost me now.....

[Schards#2]

In the short term yes, I do care, because of pride and reputation.

I like it when I am overseas and people know who Reading FC are!

Longer term no. Like Dirk I dislike so much of what the modern PL and its members stand for. I also miss the lower league experience - visits to real away grounds with real football supporters etc.

Did you and I cease to be real football supporters simply because our side got promoted to the prem?

[Wycombe Royal]

I would imagine the likes of Wolves/Southampton/Leicester/Coventry would kill to be back up.

And I would want us to get promoted back up as well, but being in the Premiership isn't all it is cracked up to be and some on here give the impression that they have no interest in supporting Reading if we became a lower league team again.

[Stranded]

I don't think it's a case that anyone would stop supporting the club it's just that they would prefer us to stay in the division we are in.

I don't want us to go down but if we did, come the first game of the new season it would be the same feelings as you get every year regardless of the divison.

[Wycombe Royal]

I don't think it's a case that anyone would stop supporting the club it's just that they would prefer us to stay in the division we are in.

I don't want us to go down but if we did, come the first game of the new season it would be the same feelings as you get every year regardless of the divison.

That's why I used the word "impression".

I don't want us to be relegated, but that wasn't asked.

[RoyalBlue]

In the short term yes, I do care, because of pride and reputation.

I like it when I am overseas and people know who Reading FC are!

Longer term no. Like Dirk I dislike so much of what the modern PL and its members stand for. I also miss the lower league experience - visits to real away grounds with real football supporters etc.

Did you and I cease to be real football supporters simply because our side got promoted to the prem?

Perhaps not but we were joined by many who either did or who never were. What's more, real supporters at other longer standing PL clubs appear to very much be in the minority.

Worse still, I feel the longer I remain in the environment the more likely I am myself to begin to adapt to the culture.

[Gordons Cumming]

I would like to see us achieve successive relegations (not sure how many ) in order for us to meet Aldershot again.

[westongeezer]

I can only see positives here, if we stay up all well and good and with a little investment we can fight for the 4th postion from the bottom again, or if we go down we can dominate the championship again, so im kinda in two minds