The craziest thing you,ve done to follow Reading?

[The Prisoner]

I used to live in Liverpool back in the mid 90s and get the train to Elm Park for home games (Ahh Reading West!). I used to get on the train about 10am to Brum and change there. Weren't many Reading fans to go with me (!), but always would get talking to fans going to other games. I worked for the railways at the time so the train tickets were free!

Remember the Sheff Utd game the year before we went down (97) as I got to Brum and suddenly realised that I'd forgotten my wallet! I had my freebie rail pass thingy, but no cash for beers or entrance!!! I jumped out at New Street station, went into HSBC and had to try and persuade the manager to give me 50 quid out of my account with no cash card or anything. Fortunately my priv rail pass had a pic on it for ID and I could remember my account number and sort code! The manager told me there was still no way he could give me money, but after an impassioned explanation it turned out that he had been on trial with us years ago and still followed all our results! He bent the rules and got me the 50 quid out of my account!!!

We lost 3-0 I think. Load of Man Citeh fans got on at New Street on the way back - they had won 1-0 at Villa Park, but got relegated out of the premier that yearm and they came down with is the year after. Still they bought me a beer in the Station at Stafford where I changed. Ah Saturday night footy trains!

[Larry_Parnell]

Went out drinking on Friday night and carried on to the early hours. Reading were playing away at Birmingham and at 6am I decided to go. Caught the bus to South Wimbledon tube (I lived in London) bought a sandwich and a packet of cigs then got the tube to some station in north London. Went to the cash point which declined my card. Jumped the train, on the grounds that in my drunken state I decided it would be embarrassing to go home. Got to the ground. Didn't have enough money to get in. Asked for money from Reading fans entering the ground and got the money quickly (thank you if you were there). Jumped the train back to London (beers provided by Millwall supporters on the way home from Coventry - they're not all bad) Got back to the pub to continue drinking with my mates. Not sure of the year but I think we drew 2-2.
I also hitched from Devon to Hereford to see us win promotion but we oxf*rd up and only drew so I got a lift back to Reading to see us win in the week - invaded the pitch when we scored (against Tranmere?) with my day pack on my back and then hitched back to Devon (which took 2 days).

[bobby1413]

Some brilliant stories, my craziest is when I had to wait an hour for the next train to Sheffield after I missed the first one.

[On High]

Joined this Forum!

[rg6royal]

Flew up to Sunderland.

[mini _dariusz]

I heard he used to walk up to the midlands matches on his hands

Juggling a football with his feet as he did so.

Nothing nearly so exciting for me I'm afraid - other than, when the stadium was near to completion my ex husband used to go up there practically every week to see how it was getting on - Boyd Butler was there one day and we asked when it would be completed. He said there was no way it would be completed in time for the first league match of the season, so we booked a family holiday where we'd be coming back a couple days after the first saturday in the season. Of course, nearer the time, the stadium WAS completed on time and while we were in France, my husband made me book a ferry home for the day before the game, so he could go.

He also rang BBC Radio Berks when we were in Florida and listened to the commentary down the phone for an hour and a half.

You've got a habit of bad planning with football dates. You need to get your act together.

[lovetoscore]

Walking into weatherspoons pub in Wolves before play off semi 1st leg

Bouncers made a big show of checking our tickets

We walked in and this neanderthal asked me what time it was

I was tempted to say "pardon my ignorance old chap but may I ask why you have not taken the trouble to purchase for yourself a portable timepiece" but no-one there looked as if they would get the humour.

The whole bloody pub just put their pints down and glared at us-we thought it might be a good idea to leave before it kicked off-turns out it was their fans equivalent of Monks retreat so quite pleased to still be alive!

[Norfolk Royal]

I walked down to the my local pub to watch the second half or a Reading game recently and had four pints in 45 minutes.

How I got home in one piece, I'll never know.

[seahawk10]

Mine is going to be super tame but here it is:

September 22, 2007 Wigan @ Reading. Hiro, from HNA, was in Los Angeles on vacation and we had decided to meet up to watch the game. Reading games are typically on at 7am in the morning. So I made arrangements to pick him and his wife up at their hotel since Hiro was hesitant to drive in LA since we drive on the wrong side of the road. Now the game was due to be on Setanta, so I found a soccer pub near their hotel, picked them up and headed over there. I also brought my laptop in case the game wasn't on, I could stream it on the computer from the pub.

So we get there and the game was not being shown. No worries, I went back to the car and grabbed the laptop. Brought it inside and fired it up. No wifi. Couldn't even glom on to some neighbors signal. So now we have two choices, stay and watch some other game or leg it down the street to a Starbucks we passed which I am sure would have wifi. We choose the latter.

We get there, all three of us decked out in our Reading shirts (LOL if you like, but I am a grown man and I wear a Reading shirt on game days). Sit down, fire up the laptop and try to connect to their signal. I get taken to a screen where I need to pay $15 for a day pass to T-Mobile's wireless network. Bugger, so I whip out the credit card (yes I am a plastic fan too), pony up and we finally start watching the game.

By the time we had it working the Royals were already up 1-0 thanks to Dave Kitson. And as the second-half rolls around Marcus Bent equalises early. (The first five-ten minutes after the break were always nervy for me last year as we seemed to give up goals like crazy after the team talk). So as we watch, streams of yuppies and upper crust variety are going in and out of starbucks with their half-caf double-mocha latte's and every now and again Hiro and I will scream or shout at a close call or play getting loads of looks from people in the queue. Finally, in extra time, James Harper comes up with the game-winner and we let out such a shout that we nearly gave the people waiting at that time a heart-attack.

After the game, we went back to the pub for a proper english fry up for me while Hiro got the fish and chips and a beer the size of my car. We watched more footy and had a great time. The end.

[From Despair To Where?]

Last day of the spring term at uni, was getting kicked out of my house on the Friday. Missed the last train home so am traipsing round Manchester with all my worldly possessions in tow. Next train to Reading 6am in the morning. Bumped into a mate and decided to go on a pub crawl. Cut a long story short, ended up in a gay nighclub (Paradise Factory I think it was in the old Factory Records building). Staggered out of there at god knows what time with my possessions and sphincter still intact and wound up in some dodgy Jungle club in Hulme.

Got to the station at 5:50 only to find the train had been cancelled. Next train at 10am. Fell asleep on the platform but was woken up by in time to catch the train. Got to Reading at 2:20 on the Saturday. Mad dash to the bus because I didn't have enough for the cab fair, just caught it. Got to my parents' house, thankfully 2 minutes from Elm Park, dumped my gear and staggered half asleep round to the ground just as the game kicked off. Worth the hassle just to see Achie bang in a hatrick against Swindon. Pretty surreal experience but it was April Fool's day after all.

[Seal]

A few years ago, on the Friday night post work lash in London, absolutely hammered, myself and a friend were larking about and to cut a long story short, ended up in a police cell for the night.

Had very little sleep, Left Islington police station at 11am, back to Putney (where I was living at the time) by midday to a very angry girlfriend. Grabbed mine and my mates' tickets for the match, ran out the front door with her shouting behind me. Made it to Reading station by just after 2pm, met my mates, and in the ground for 3pm to watch a 1-1- draw with Wigan.

Needless to say that relationship didn't last much longer....

[Royal With Cheese]

I've got a tattoo of David Leworthy on my bell-end

I would have believed you if you'd said it was Nigel Vaughan.

[Hampshire Royal]

Chaney, that sounds spookily like my experience of hitching up to Stockport. My experience happened late 60's/1970. Four of us were happily getting ratted and decided to hitch up to Stockport (didn't know where Stockport was, except that it was near Manchester). Forget RTG's or STG's, we were looking at things through Beer Tinted Glasses and I remember thinking that we would get to Stockport far too early, and what would we do when we got there?

My memory of the actual journey is a bit hazy, but we got there just before half-time. The score in the game was 2-2 and Les Chapple scored. We bumped into a mate of my friend who had driven up, and managed to scrounge a lift back. Anyway, to cut a long story short, his car broke down in Banbury and we had to hitch back. We saw a bloke with an estate car who was delivering developed photos to chemists and he gave us a lift back to Reading, stopping at every chemist to drop off photos.

If you were one of us stupid band, I guess you were in the other pair to me as I got home at about 8am to be greeted by my father who asked where I'd been 'Stockport' I replied before going straight to bed.

[Franchise FC]

I discharged myself from hospital on Easter Monday 1983 to see the game that afternoon.

I'd been concussed and broken my collar bone playing the previous day.

I was a season ticket holder for the South Bank, but managed to get the club to give me a seat in the stand due to my inability to stand up straight (I can't work out why they didn't think I was just pi$$ed).

Can't remember much of the game except that Kerry Dixon scored.

[Dirk Gently]

I discharged myself from hospital on Easter Monday 1983 to see the game that afternoon.

I'd been concussed and broken my collar bone playing the previous day.

I was a season ticket holder for the South Bank, but managed to get the club to give me a seat in the stand due to my inability to stand up straight (I can't work out why they didn't think I was just pi$$ed).

Can't remember much of the game except that Kerry Dixon scored.

"The Definitive Reading FC" says "no".

4th August 1983, Reading 2 (Hicks, White), Bournemouth 1.

[Franchise FC]

I discharged myself from hospital on Easter Monday 1983 to see the game that afternoon.

I'd been concussed and broken my collar bone playing the previous day.

I was a season ticket holder for the South Bank, but managed to get the club to give me a seat in the stand due to my inability to stand up straight (I can't work out why they didn't think I was just pi$$ed).

Can't remember much of the game except that Kerry Dixon scored.

"The Definitive Reading FC" says "no".

4th August 1983, Reading 2 (Hicks, White), Bournemouth 1.

Sorry Dirk, but I'm more confused now than when I was concussed. Easter isn't in August

If you've just typoed the month, then I remember even less of the game than I thought.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

I discharged myself from hospital on Easter Monday 1983 to see the game that afternoon.

I'd been concussed and broken my collar bone playing the previous day.

I was a season ticket holder for the South Bank, but managed to get the club to give me a seat in the stand due to my inability to stand up straight (I can't work out why they didn't think I was just pi$$ed).

Can't remember much of the game except that Kerry Dixon scored.

"The Definitive Reading FC" says "no".

4th August 1983, Reading 2 (Hicks, White), Bournemouth 1.

Easter in August? Really?

[Dirk Gently]

I ahve absolutely no idea why I typed August when I meant APRIL!

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Mirk GentLOLy

[Chaney]

Chaney, that sounds spookily like my experience of hitching up to Stockport. My experience happened late 60's/1970. Four of us were happily getting ratted and decided to hitch up to Stockport (didn't know where Stockport was, except that it was near Manchester). Forget RTG's or STG's, we were looking at things through Beer Tinted Glasses and I remember thinking that we would get to Stockport far too early, and what would we do when we got there?

My memory of the actual journey is a bit hazy, but we got there just before half-time. The score in the game was 2-2 and Les Chapple scored. We bumped into a mate of my friend who had driven up, and managed to scrounge a lift back. Anyway, to cut a long story short, his car broke down in Banbury and we had to hitch back. We saw a bloke with an estate car who was delivering developed photos to chemists and he gave us a lift back to Reading, stopping at every chemist to drop off photos.

If you were one of us stupid band, I guess you were in the other pair to me as I got home at about 8am to be greeted by my father who asked where I'd been 'Stockport' I replied before going straight to bed.

Hamshire I sent you a PM, this sounds so near to my message you could well be one of the other guys who I lost touch with ages ago!