Do we want promotion?

[Hungary Royal]

The reality of football in England today is that unless you have a massive worldwide fan base, it requires a multi billionaire to come in and make a team successful, and this route to success (as travelled by Chelsea and Man City) is being slammed shut by FFP. Ironically, the Prem is more competitive now than it was 5 years ago, with 4 or 5 teams capable of being champions rather than 2, but everyone outside the top 7 only has one goal - and that's to avoid relegation.

If that's what floats your boat, then chew your nails off poring over Wigan v Yeovil and what that means to our chances of promotion.

FFP are just threats, I've not seen any proof of it happen anywhere in the Prem. I think that if the FFP were to actually work, then we'd not just see the likes of Citeh, Manure and Chelski get absolutely battered by it, but also teams in the Championship like QPR. They have spent ridiculous money on players like Rémy etc, they can't afford it. If the FFP were to come in tomorrow morning, Fernandes would walk away from QPR, he doesn't want to have to pay up for the bills the club have been spending.
Back to the question: would love to see us again in the Prem, BUT and its a big but, we would need to invest heavily in quality players, I can't see it happening, where would the money come from? I find the Championship enjoyable - look at QPR who got battered like a fish last night and Wigan who drew - this league is far more competitive than the Prem. And at least there are no overpaid pre-madonnas diving around, in this league, there are only underpaid ones, .

[JIM]

I dont want us to be a yo-yo club, If we go up there has to be someone with a keen interest for us to stay.3rd time lucky I hope,

[melonhead]

id kill to be a yo yo club

[genome]

Yoyo club >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> lower mid table prem team

[Ian Royal]

id kill to be a yo yo club

One more promotion within 2-3 years and we could make a strong case we are one.

[Schards#2]

I want the club to be successful therefore I want promotion; but anyone believing all the hype and BS about the Prem being the be all and end all of football, and that not being in it will mean oblivion are talking rubbish.

There are 72 clubs NOT in the Prem, and those that are struggling financially tend to be those that spent way outside their means to either get into the Prem, or to stay in it; the list is long and well known.

There is a fallacy that promotion brings with it massive wealth; no, it brings in additional revenue but it also brings with it massive additional costs - usually in the form of increased salary payments to players. The net result is that even teams who are "long established mid table" in the Prem are running massive debt - Bolton, who most would have said epitomised that "long established mid table" model, being a recent example (and Fulham will soon be another). In order to stay solvent, these teams need to invest more and more money in order to maintain their position in the top division, but at some point, the day of reckoning will come for them.

The reality of football in England today is that unless you have a massive worldwide fan base, it requires a multi billionaire to come in and make a team successful, and this route to success (as travelled by Chelsea and Man City) is being slammed shut by FFP. Ironically, the Prem is more competitive now than it was 5 years ago, with 4 or 5 teams capable of being champions rather than 2, but everyone outside the top 7 only has one goal - and that's to avoid relegation.

If that's what floats your boat, then chew your nails off poring over Wigan v Yeovil and what that means to our chances of promotion.

I want us to be promoted because, for the most part, I've been bored shitless this season watching an uninspiring Reading team against equally uninspiring opposition. Even if we are bottom, I'm rarely bored watching us in the Premier League where evey point is a challenge and most opposition sides are worth watching. So, yes, I will chew my nails off poring over Wigan V Yeovil thanks because I want us to have a shot at promotion in the play offs, however remote the possibility.

[Sport Economist]

Hardly a relevant question at the moment although glass half full people may take encouragement that some of the injured players are back and we are a mere 7 points off the play-offs

Anyway - some thoughts and a reminder of what it was like last time:

http://thetwounfortunates.com/promotion-tales-reading-fc-and-disillusionment/

[Forbury Lion]

If we get promoted the money will help improve things on the pitch, even if we get relegated.

[Ian Royal]

If we get promoted the money will help improve things on the pitch, even if we get relegated.

Depends on what the player's contracts are and whether the club are willing to come out and tell supporters that they are deliberately not trying to stay up to take the cash. If you actually make an effort to try to stay up, unless you start out with an extremely strong starting point you're going to use up the money in making even a half-hearted effort to stay up.

And I'm willing to bet that promotion pay increases are generally higher than relegation reduction clauses.

[RoyalinBracknell]

[.

I want us to be promoted because, for the most part, I've been bored shitless this season watching an uninspiring Reading team against equally uninspiring opposition. Even if we are bottom, I'm rarely bored watching us in the Premier League where evey point is a challenge and most opposition sides are worth watching. [/quote]

This was from last year but I'd agree with this attitude. It at least felt like an achievement when we won a game and I'd rather see us trying to compete at a level that we were never quite good enough for than see us struggling to compete at a level which we should easily be good enough for.

It would be an interesting debate as to which was our best/worst season out of the last three. I'd probably choose the Premier League one as the one which provided the most interest because we were at least involved in big matches and that run just after Christmas time was one of the more exciting stages we've seen in the last few years.

It must be a big concern though to think that this is the second time within 5 years or so that we've been relegated from the Premier League and 18 months later have found ourselves struggling in the bottom half of the Championship - having both times bought in a new manager to try and play a significantly different way. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on why this is. Have we not learnt from our previous mistakes? Has the lure of the Premier League make us idealistically change our approach? Is it a case of us not doing enough before promotion/relegation to offset the problems or handling the situation badly post-relegation?

[Vic_Flange]

We dont want promotion.

We want a miracle.

[Forbury Lion]

Promotion next season, back to the Championship.