Do you miss the Premiership?

[SLAMMED]

I do miss it and we feel a long way away from the Premiership now as well.
But that is what being a real fan is like

I honestly believe that you can't call yourself a real fan until you've made an effort to see a few games (for our Yank friends [and others living in JohhnyForeignerland] that might just be watching a game on TV or the net, it's not so much the being there, but the effort of seeking it out, the passion) and have experienced a relegation.

I think going to an away game is important as well, though to a lesser extent.

How has experiencing a relegation got anything to do with being a real fan?

[Ian Royal]

It's part of football and the experience. It tests your committment and loyalty. It shows you're not just there for the good times.

There are (in general) 5 main feelings that go with football.

1) The elation of success - promotion, a title etc.
2) The bitter disappointment of narrowly missing out on the above
3) The panicky and draining, but sweet relief at surviving, the drop.
4) The frustration and moderate satisfaction of midtable mediocrity
5) the gut wrenching despair of relegation

The one it's easiest to be a "real" fan but not have experienced is number one, because it's the one we're all chasing. The one that makes or breaks fans is the fifth one, the one that tells you the most about your support of your club.

Obviously all just my opinon. Not having experienced it doesn't automatically mean you're a "lesser" fan, it just means you haven't passed the test yet. But I think it's an important test.

[Terminal Boardom]

I don't miss the hype, the ridiculous kick-off times, the blatant cheating, the patronising media nor the patronising supporters of other clubs.

I do miss the quality of the football and the buzz of a full Mad Stad.

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

I miss the Premiership - the pride in being there, the coverage and interest, watching fantastic players, the joy of seeing us up against some of the best players and teams in the world.

But I also love the Championship. It does feel more 'real', I like being able to get tickets when I need them (I live 40 miles away and have a family, and half of my prem season ticket was wasted through other commitments). I like watching old cloggers and young kids in our team, and in others. All of human life is there.

I loved last season (till the last few draining weeks). Lots of goals, wins, optimism.

I'm loving this season. New dawn in many ways, problems with the Chairman nicking all our money to fund his failing businesses, and the subsequent need to see whether the academy is any good, and whether you can win things with kids.

I don't understand the absolutism of so many posters on here. Black or white and nothing in between. Why do players either have to be great or traitorous b'stards? Why does a supporter who doesn't really shout and sing get castigated as not a true fan. Why does JM have to bankrupt himself to fulfill our dreams? What's a plastic anyway? This board is great when it's giving insight - like eye witness reports for those of us who weren't there. Like discussing performances, formations and anticipating the next game or turn of events. It's depressing when it simply becomes a bile fueled pissing contest. 'You love him so I hate you'. Tsk.

Life is not black and white. It's multi-hued. Only one thing in football is definite, you back your club, you back your boys, good or bad, whatever the division, whatever the result. Or you're a numpty.

I miss the Prem. But I love supporting Reading, whatever the division.

[Avon Royal]

the buzz of a full Mad Stad.

That's what I miss, to be fair some of those plastics sure could sing.......

[Dirk Gently]

I don't miss the scramble for tickets, the plastic hanger-oners, the ticket prices, the matches rescheduled for TV (far more than in the CCC), the massive inequality between the Big 4 and everyone else that makes some matches like Harlem Globetrotters exhibition games, the fact that we'll never win the thing, the idea that we can't beat a Big 4 team but they can only lose to us, the media circus, the billy big bollocks attitude that it gives players, etc etc etc.

Money is what has made football so unpleasant today for match-going supporters - the more money involved, the more unpleasant it becomes, and in the PL there is more money than anywhere else.

[Royal With Cheese]

Nope, I've got sky.

So you don't miss the 1 hour match highlights of every Reading game that sky give you as part of the Premership fooball first package.

Weird.

[LUX]

Yes.

"Liverpool have won their last 5 matches in the premier and champions league, with 21 goals scored and just one conceded. No wonder they start as strong favourites against a Reading team who have recorded only 1 victory in their last 6."

The rest is history.

yes. We were relegated.

[SLAMMED]

Yes.

"Liverpool have won their last 5 matches in the premier and champions league, with 21 goals scored and just one conceded. No wonder they start as strong favourites against a Reading team who have recorded only 1 victory in their last 6."

The rest is history.

yes. We were relegated.

[tee peg]

Div. 3 south for me.Those were the days.35,000 in Elm park and only 6d to get in.

[Terminal Boardom]

Div. 3 south for me.Those were the days.35,000 in Elm park and only 6d to get in.

Cue the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch from Monty Python



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[phil in cornwall]

How can anyone not want to be in the Premiership? Don't you want to do well this season? (Or next?)

The consequence of doing really well is the Premiership.

The best ever night of my life as a Reading supporter was being in the stadium when we beat Liverpool. No amount of games against Scunthorpe, Doncaster and Barnsley could possible get anywhere near that.

It even beats watching Reading beat Hartlepool 7-1 in ?1967-1969, which I thought was quite good at the time.

How can you be satisfied with second best?

[Terminal Boardom]

Because I believe that if we were to enter the Prem with the current crop at the end of this season, we would end up with a record that would make Derby, Swi*don and Sunderland look like Real Madrid. It would be an embarrassment.

[phil in cornwall]

Because I believe that if we were to enter the Prem with the current crop at the end of this season, we would end up with a record that would make Derby, Swi*don and Sunderland look like Real Madrid. It would be an embarrassment.

It won't be the end of this season.

Be patient. But have ambition.

[REALROYAL]

Yes I do..Any fan that dont want prem footy is a twat....

[Thomas L'Heureux]

That first season was ridiculous. Being the under-dogs for every game, being every pundit's choice for the drop, only to stick two fingers up at everyone and defy the odds on a shoe-string budget compared to the rest.

Never again will we be in that position though. We'll no longer be Premiership debutants, we've got our top-flight experience now.

That one season will never be reproduced unfortunately.

[Ups and Downs]

I loved the 1st season but the novelty had worn off a bit in the 2nd, I think our transfer policy may have had something to do with that though.

Something's changed in me since we got promotion. There were times back in 2004 when losing a mid-table nothing to play for game would have ruined my weekend and a win in the same circumstances would se me catatonic with joy. During the 2nd season in the Prem (with a few exceptions) I just felt a bit unbothered about the whole thing and now, after last season, I barely give a shit at all. It's like something inside me has snapped. Perhaps I'm just getting old.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Div. 3 south for me.Those were the days.35,000 in Elm park and only 6d to get in.

Cue the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch from Monty Python

Dont get me started

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ur5fGSBsfq8&pop_ads=null

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I miss MOTD, but not the prem per se

[Norfolk Royal]

I miss the old division four, stops at service stations on the M1, wind in your hair, etc.