Do you miss the Premiership?

[From Despair To Where?]

Don't really miss the Premiership at all. I remember coming home from the 1-0 home win against Fulham in 2007 feeling cheated out of £35 to watch what was a really shit game of football and thinking this was the future. Sadly, the only games to really get the pulse racing after that were the 3-3 at Ewood and the win against Liverpool. I want to watch a competative match with a decent quality of football. The Premiership only offered that fleetingly.

[AthleticoSpizz]

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.

Pretty much says it for me too U&D

The promised land that we never thought that we would reach, was breeched in style..lifetimes unlikely dreams achieved!!
.
I enjoyed a lot of last seasons matches, the cheaper ST and the extra games, but the magic just wasn't there.

This season is almost a case of taking it game by game and expecting nothing.

Maybe I've been spoilt in recent years and am not used to having ambitions

Maybe Reading just need to go on a winning run

[tee peg]

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

The old charabanc picking up supporters in the villages around Reading for 1d and taking them to Elm Park.
No moaning about the parking in thoses days.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Good video - sad to see virtually all those players have now gone.

We looked bloody good. Was this the last decent Convey game - he looked fantastic, especially the pass to Harper for the third.

Still, most of that team were no better known or rated when we signed them than the players we have now put our hopes in. Onwards and upwards.

[Carlos 83]

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.

+ 1

Though think part of the excitement about the Premiership is getting there. Never thought I would see us in that league but did, and as someone else said, in that first season stuck two fingers up at everyone.

Miss seeing us on MOTD, but love the excitement of seeing if we can get back there or not (and tickets being cheaper!!).

[Para Handy]

Yeah, I miss seeing World Class players week in week out but that's about it. (oh, and Spacey, don't bother posting some shite about only watching Reading).

To be honest, I still miss Elm Park far more than the Premiership. Watching Reading in the seventies down in Divisions 3 and 4 it was difficult to imagine we'd ever be in the "First" Division. Excitement in those days was listening to the radio for the FA Cup 3rd round draw at 1 o'clock, hoping we'd drawn someone big and finding out, as usual, that we'd drawn Notts County away. A definite beating then... That was on the odd occasion we actually made the 3rd round.

Anyway, having achieved the promised land it was a bit of a let down, personally. Maybe it was the era, the stadium, I don't know.

I just know it wasn't what I expected. It was great to see us play teams like Liverpool, Man Utd etc. but for me it seemed almost like watching a different team. One that I couldn't associate with in the same way as I did with the linament smelling heroes of my childhood.

I guess a great part of that was related to the stadium. Nothing will compare to Elm Park for me. Leaving the R&T 10 minutes before the kick off and seeing the lights down the Tilehurst Road for night games... I can only imagine what it would have been like to see Liverpool in a league game down there.

So, no, I don't particulary miss the Premiership. I miss 10 years ago!

I'm quite happy to be in Division 2. We haven't actually spent that many years at this level.... Still, I'm sure that we'll be back in the top flight one day in the not too distant future. Despite all the moaning minnies on here we look in good shape. I'm of the opinion that Brendan knows what he's doing and we actually look as though we've got an exciting future.

[Pseud O'Nym]

I honestly think that the Premier League and Sky are killing football.

What, as others have pointed out, is the point of getting promoted when the best you can dream of is not getting relegated too soon? Now the top four/five have got so huge that they win all competitions it all starts to seem a bit hopeless.

I think I start to see the signs of a bubble about to burst though. Did anybody read the ferocious attack made on the BBC by Murdoch Junior last week, and wonder what rattled his cage? With newspapers and paid for by advertising radio/TV in a state of terminal decline worldwide, subscriber Sky was fast becoming the jewel in News Corp's crown before the recession hit and individuals, pubs and clubs started cancelling subscriptions at a prodigious rate, and Sky are scared.

The collapse of Setanta might look like good news for Murdoch but if it raises the thought in the public mind that it is not inconcievable that Sky could go the same way...

[Arnie_Pie]

I only miss the Prem in regards to my London mates (I live in London) who all support Arsenal, Chelsea, West ham & Spurs, who all gave me some kind of footballing respect at the time. Reading were all their second team. Now my view means nothing again. We are shit and I support a shit team again. We were good a few years ago, but really missing the Prem? Not really. It is not what our little club is about and it does not bother me at all and I love it the same.

[RobRoyal]

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.

How about the slog nagging depression of watching your club's progress be wittered away?

I don't genuinely think that's what's happening to us now, but should the Rodgers Revolution fail and we end up struggling over the next few years, that will be the real test of the club's support - more so than the relegation, which many fans will hope precedes your no. 1, above.

[Maguire]

Yeah, I miss seeing World Class players week in week out but that's about it. (oh, and Spacey, don't bother posting some shite about only watching Reading).

To be honest, I still miss Elm Park far more than the Premiership. Watching Reading in the seventies down in Divisions 3 and 4 it was difficult to imagine we'd ever be in the "First" Division. Excitement in those days was listening to the radio for the FA Cup 3rd round draw at 1 o'clock, hoping we'd drawn someone big and finding out, as usual, that we'd drawn Notts County away. A definite beating then... That was on the odd occasion we actually made the 3rd round.

Anyway, having achieved the promised land it was a bit of a let down, personally. Maybe it was the era, the stadium, I don't know.

I just know it wasn't what I expected. It was great to see us play teams like Liverpool, Man Utd etc. but for me it seemed almost like watching a different team. One that I couldn't associate with in the same way as I did with the linament smelling heroes of my childhood.

I guess a great part of that was related to the stadium. Nothing will compare to Elm Park for me. Leaving the R&T 10 minutes before the kick off and seeing the lights down the Tilehurst Road for night games... I can only imagine what it would have been like to see Liverpool in a league game down there.

So, no, I don't particulary miss the Premiership. I miss 10 years ago!

I'm quite happy to be in Division 2. We haven't actually spent that many years at this level.... Still, I'm sure that we'll be back in the top flight one day in the not too distant future. Despite all the moaning minnies on here we look in good shape. I'm of the opinion that Brendan knows what he's doing and we actually look as though we've got an exciting future.

No doubt the best of your 348 posts, you old cunt.

Same for me fwiw, although you're probably a decade earlier than me in terms of the Elm Park experience.

I don't miss the Prem at all I have to say. It was fun for a season for novelty value but after than I got a bit fed up with paying so much to see us play in a competition we couldn't ever hope to win. I also realised that for the all the hype about the PL and the hushed reverence it's spoken about in by fans of lower league teams, it's just another league. Every team outside the top 4 was beatable when we were in it, and most of the games just weren't particularly high quality at all.

[papereyes]

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.

Likewise

I try to get myself worked up but when Shola fucking Ameobi scores a hattrick against you, you know mediocrity has arrived.

[cmonurz]

Yes.

I'd rather be watching my team play the best teams in the country. I'd rather be part of a capacity crowd in a loud stadium as we pull off another great result against a 'bigger' side (ok, I'm thinking 06-07 here). I'd rather be part of a club going forwards than one going backwards.

If you'd asked me this at the start of the season I might have felt a bit differently, but it's become evident we aren't after promotion this season, and as a result, I've lost interest a bit, tbh.

[rhroyal]

06/07 - So so so much.

07/08 - Not one bit.

I know what's more likely to happen should we go back up.

[Schards#2]

Yes.

I'd rather be watching my team play the best teams in the country. I'd rather be part of a capacity crowd in a loud stadium as we pull off another great result against a 'bigger' side (ok, I'm thinking 06-07 here). I'd rather be part of a club going forwards than one going backwards.

If you'd asked me this at the start of the season I might have felt a bit differently, but it's become evident we aren't after promotion this season, and as a result, I've lost interest a bit, tbh.

Amen to all of that.

Simply don't feel any "buzz" either going to or actually being at the games at the moment. For some reason I still feel obligated to go.

[Ian Royal]

More fool you then.

[Royal Lady]

What does that even mean?

You are such a pathetic little shit with your retorts sometimes.

[Ian Royal]

What does that even mean?

You are such a pathetic little shit with your retorts sometimes.

And you are getting extremely tiresome with your uncalled for personal abuse. You really ought to know better given how much you whine about getting it yourself.

It's pretty obvious. More fool Schards for continuing to spend money on going, simply because he feels "obligated to" despite getting no buzz.

From that it looks sadly like he's been corrupted by the "best league in the world" which is a shame, because he always seemed to be a pretty good fan to me. Even if we didn't always agree on how the club was run.

I find Schards loss of the buzz a sad thing.

[Royal Lady]

Corrupted by the best league in the world?? LMAO

He still is a "pretty good fan" - just because he's lost a bit of the buzz doesn't make him any less of a fan. Or anyone else for that matter.

Personally, I'm sick and tired on here of people who hold alternate views to someone else thinking they're better than everyone else. When you've supported a team for getting on for 40 years, you don't just stop going because you don't get a buzz for a while. Not that many on here who are the most vociferous would know, because it's laughable that some of them rarely go to many games in the first place.

[wickedwhispers]

I miss league one.

[Mr Angry]

I'm happy to watch Reading regardless of Division, so no, I don't miss the Premiership at all.

That doesn't mean I don't want us to get back there, but only inasmuch as being in the Premiership will be the end result of promotion, which is what I want for the club.

I have wondered how many people can only associate success with being in the Premiership; poor individuals - they will be almost always disappointed in life.