by tmesis »
13 Nov 2023 21:20
Clyde1998 Snowflake Royal tmesis We are not a big club in relation to context of all the pro clubs in England, but we certainly would be in League Two. Older fans, who grew up with us being a Div 3/Div 4 club would disagree, but for anybody under about 30, they will have barely known us being below the top two divisions.
Even before that we rarely featured in tier 4.
I think I'm right in saying we've spent considerably more seasons in tier 2 than 4. I think it's something like
Tier 1 - 3
Tier 2 - twenty or thirty
Tier 3 - many lots
Tier 4 - about 7/8.
So by any measure we're an upper L1 club at least and definitely a big fish in L2. Albeit that doesn’t mean we can't be shit and find ourselves outside the league.
It's 3; 29; 57 and 8 respectively (twenty-five seasons were in the Third Division South). Our average finishing position since being a league club has been 50th (equivalent to 6th in League One); since 2000, it's been 31st (11th in the Championship).
For anyone over 30, you'd've grown up with us typically being a third tier club with the occasional season in the division higher or lower.
Since the 94/95 season, this is only our 5th season lower than championship level, and that previous spell was 98/99 - 2001/2. We also kicked on massively after moving ground.
If you are maybe in your 60s, however, you'd have grown up with Reading mainly in the 4th division. From 71/72 to 83/84, we had 8 of 13 seasons in the 4th, and have been into your 30 before seeing Reading have more than a couple of years higher than the 3rd tier.
The Reading fans who think we are just a 3rd tier club seem to be more otwards that older range.
Compared to the typical League Two side, we are a big club. Support, facilities, achievements even, far more. What we aren't is a glamorous club.