Which playoff final was worse?

[From Despair To Where?]

Walsall for me. Strong favourites lost in crazy circumstances and defeat meant we were stuck in a piss poor league for another year.

[tidus_mi2]

I went for Huddersfield, simply because we were always playing catch up after the horrible first half against Swansea, but yesterday, despite not being a great performance we were always in with a very good chance and to be 3-1 up on penalties just to blow it on the final 2 just deflated me.

[royalsmudge]

Yesterday was least disappointed I've been after a "big stadium" game, couldn't go to Swansea.

Bolton by a long way the worst (never thought we'd get there)

Walsall (stuck in a cack league)

Arsenal (including it as a similar experience), played well, gutting way to lose, long time before we're there again.

Huddersfield, played poorly, didn't really deserve to win and no animosity towards Huddersfield who haven't had the experience of the big time (pens was grim though).
Williams notable exception who was outstanding yesterday (thought Ilori looked very good for a lad playing his 3rd/4th game

[Kitsondinho]

Bolton was the worst.....the club was so different then and it felt like we'd never, ever get back there again. However, I'd now put yesterday 2nd.....it is the closest we have ever come to actually winning one.....At 3-1 up, we could/should have won it. I'm not upset as I was after Bolton, but angry that it has happened again AND that we came so close but somehow threw it away. I was gutted after Walsall....because we went ahead twice snd still contrived to lose. Swansea didn't bother me, because we were never in a position to actually win the game. Yes if Noel had followed up Jem's shot, it would have been 3-3....but our defence was so poor that day, we'd have still managed to lose.

[Norfolk Royal]

Bolton by a long way of course.

On the plus side, we must officially be a team now which is officially crap in the play offs.

That can only mean one thing of course, that one day we will win in the play offs and the pundits will be writing the headlines in advance.

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

Bolton. Always and forever.

[Kitsondinho]

Bolton by a long way of course.

On the plus side, we must officially be a team now which is officially crap in the play offs.

That can only mean one thing of course, that one day we will win in the play offs and the pundits will be writing the headlines in advance.

Share the record of 4 final defeats with Sheff Utd......so surely we have to hope we get back to the final next season against them......it may be our only chance of ever winning one......

[Hoop Blah]

Bolton, by a long long way.

Yesterday was disappointing, but the Premier League doesn't hold that great an appeal for me as a Reading fan at the moment so not going up doesn't bother me too much.

[No Fixed Abode]

Out of the two options given then it's Swansea for me, the only reason it doesn't seem as bad is cos we went up the season after.

I know I felt worse after Swansea than I did yesterday.

Oh well, one day I may see us win a play off final

Given that I know Reading fans who stayed away yesterday because they didn't want to see another play-off defeat - there could be even more Reading fans staying away next time.

[BR2]

Nothing will ever come close to the Bolton game . Not just missing the penalty after being 2-0 up, but the fact that in any other year, the team that finished second like we did would have got automatic promotion.

I would say Walsall was second most depressing as we were clear favorites and threw it away in a crazy couple of minutes.

Agreed about Bolton.
We had just beaten them in a league game and had finished second overall so in any other season would have been promoted.
We also had a side that I felt had a chance then of staying up whereas yesterday you looked at it and thought that other than Kelly and possibly Ilori fulfilling potential and Danny Williams playing like he has for the past 3 games there is nobody good enough for Premier League football so for me it wasn't (on reflection) majorly disappointing (like the Bolton game when the walking wounded gave everything) although getting so close was in itself disappointing.

[traff]

BOLTON.

[Reading4eva]

Bolton was bad as it meant our team would be torn apart. We didn't have the financial clout then and Elm Park would have been electric in what was a more English Prem.

Walsall was a massive kick in the gonads. We were clearly a better side all season and should really have been out of sight but surprise surprise, we screwed it right up.

Swansea less said about it the better. But we weren't ready that season for the Prem. We also weren't ready the following season as it showed

Yesterday we set up in a completely different way. Had we come out and attacked after half time got a goal then defended well we would have ended up in the Prem. In that way it's currently a headfook what to think

[Zammo]

I suppose Bolton, purely cos we never thought we'd see anything like that again (and being 2up and missing a pen), but yesterday is gonna take some getting over.

[loyalroyal4life]

Walsall, gutting to lose from such a freak goal.

This

[Sutekh]

For me the Walsall one was the worst just because of the level of football we were condemned to play again and all pretty much down to that utter fluke of a goal conceded for their second equaliser.

We're staying in the Championship again which really isn't so bad. as it's a competitive league where quite literally I can see everyone having a chance of a play off place as a minimum next time round. Go to the overhyped crapbag that is the PL and there's 12/14 games you can write off immediately as games where getting anything is just a bonus surprise and you're really just going to see the supposed best players in the world strut their stuff for other teams. Generally I prefer the former but still want to see Reading testing themselves against the latter.

Annoying isn't it - perhaps there should be a PL Division 2 or something.

What is depressing me most though is the fact it's another 2 whole months of waiting about and nothing until it all starts up again. I just want next season to start now

[Winston Biscuit]

What is depressing me most though is the fact it's another 2 whole months of waiting about and nothing until it all starts up again. I just want next season to start now

Dragons Den football idea - Summer and winter leagues and every club has to put a team into both. 25 games per season in both with a 1 week break between leagues. You are allowed to use 3 players max from either of your teams in the other team.

[Mr Angry]

Bolton was the worst, by a Country mile. After the way the FSB dicked us during the season, that team genuinely deserved promotion and the chance to play in the Premier League. I still hate that scouse git Jason McAteer, who should have gone for giving away the penalty.......

Didn't go yesterday as I didn't fancy another dose of post-Wembley paraquat and razor blades after our inevitable defeat.

[Ascotexgunner]

Easy.....Swansea. Had we gone up we would have had a decent side for a bit longer. I think we would have stayed up as well. When Jem hit the post to make it 3-3 and then we conceded that soft penalty, I felt much worse than yesterday going home.

[tmesis]

Bolton - no contest at all.

Firstly for the manner of the defeat - 2-0 up, missed a penalty, with us coasting they somehow get back into the game, and get a completely undeserved equaliser with five minute to go, set up by the guy the ref "let off" a 2nd yellow card after blatantly tripping Gilkes for the pen.

We'd been on such a roll for two seasons. It just felt like our destiny to go up, and even at 2-1, a was very confident we'd hold on. It felt like we were there, only for it to be snatched away.

Then there was the fact that we'd never been near the top division, let alone in it, and we knew that was probably our only chance.


It would be interesting to know if there's anyone who went to the Bolton final (maybe excluding those who were kids at the time) who doesn't think Bolton was worst.

[Half Biscuit]

For all the reasons already expressed, Bolton was the easily worst playoff loss for me.

But the OP's question (in the title) is "Which playoff final was worse", giving a choice of two, so of course it's yesterday's game, on the assumption that quality is being questioned.
Then the actual poll says "Which playoff final loss was worse", which is a trick question, as yesterday's result was a draw.
So it's Swansea.