Do you agree with todays pitch invasion and match abandonment?

[biff]

Yeah i think pitch invasion is a one and done thing. Cant keep jeopardising the team or league standing whilst diluting any PR and goodwill. (inb4 BUT WE'RE GOING UNDER. I know. Get creative.)

[Winston Biscuit]

It's currently the main headline on Talksport news

[Orion1871]

IIRC we got fined £50k for the post Bradford pitch invasion, so I'd expect the fine to be a lot more than that.

No point giving out a fine. It won't get paid.

[Reading4eva]

IIRC we got fined £50k for the post Bradford pitch invasion, so I'd expect the fine to be a lot more than that.

No point giving out a fine. It won't get paid.

It's peanuts for him. We need bans and disqualifications now. Not financial penalties and definitely no points deductions as truthfully he doesn't give two tosses about the club.

Best scenario is a seizure of assets.

[Snowflake Royal]

His name suggests he is a West Stand mong who takes his own sandwiches to games along with a tartan patterned blanket to pit over his legs.

Well your be glad to know one of those West Stand mongs as you so eloquently put it, my 82 year old dad, a real life long fan ST holder since 1970 won’t be returning after yesterday. He had 2 heart attacks in the last couple of years has 2 stents and still walks over a mile to the ground. On top of seeing no football ( he supports the protests just thinks should of got off in time for game to continue) and havin kids shout abuse in his direction that he should be invading the pitch has been the last straw.
Sure this will make many happy cos who wants old West Stand mongs who actually supported the club for over 60 years as fans eh!!!

That’s unfortunate but let’s face it at 82 he was going to stop supporting the club pretty soon anyway one way or the other.

Very good chance he outlives the club at this rate.

[OLLIE KEARNS]

I know I've kind of already made this point in my responses to others but I think it needs emphasising.

Reading Football Club is on the verge of extinction. It's not just about the possibility of us falling into league two because of points deductions, there's a very real possibility the club won't be competing at any level. Those who disagree with yesterday's actions need to make it very clear where they stand and start making some suggestions about what they think will work because I'm not seeing too many alternatives.

The question is whether yesterday makes extinction more or less likely, something which nobody can know the answer to at present. I personally think the impact of the pitch invasion would have been the same had the game been allowed to continue when the last warning was given. That in turn would have been better for the players and staff with regard to retaining league 1 status. However, all opinions are respected and I may prove to be wrong on that.
What I would suggest SBWD consider now is raising a government petition (100,000 signatures required) for football ownership to be debated in parliament. Anyone familiar with horse racing will know that a debate will take place in parliament on Feb 26 to stop affordability checks on gambling as a result of such a petition.
The scale of football versus horse racing should make this an easy target, especially if SBWD coordinate with the likes of WBA, Sheffield Wed and any other club facing ownership problems. A million signatures wouldn’t be out of the question and it would get national coverage all the way through to parliament.

[Snowflake Royal]

Surely the easiest way to get the stragglers off the pitch would have been to have run the Papa John's free pizza promotion - you should see the way the youths swarm around when it's announced in 1871

If they'd just said over the tannoy the game was cancelled 40 minutes earlier they'd have all oxf*rd off and the club could have then restarted 15-20 mins later behi d closed doors.

[Sutekh]

Well your be glad to know one of those West Stand mongs as you so eloquently put it, my 82 year old dad, a real life long fan ST holder since 1970 won’t be returning after yesterday. He had 2 heart attacks in the last couple of years has 2 stents and still walks over a mile to the ground. On top of seeing no football ( he supports the protests just thinks should of got off in time for game to continue) and havin kids shout abuse in his direction that he should be invading the pitch has been the last straw.
Sure this will make many happy cos who wants old West Stand mongs who actually supported the club for over 60 years as fans eh!!!

That’s unfortunate but let’s face it at 82 he was going to stop supporting the club pretty soon anyway one way or the other.

Very good chance he outlives the club at this rate.

Wonder if he'd want/be able to back the startup of a phoenix club.

[Reading4eva]

Another thought. Tax on the stadium and Bearwood. Is there any way that we can find out if all the tax is paid to the council? If not, could the councils seize the stadium and training ground against Dai's name?

As long as its not levied at the club, which it shouldn't be as its with this Renhe Sports Group, then it is possible that might be a solution which strangely helps the club. I might be wrong.

Clutching at straws here...

[Snowflake Royal]

You don't think anyone will buy a club that has a set of fans who are passionate and committed? I'd have thought the right person would be more than happy to have that kind of support.

Fans who will turn on them, the operational management, the team manager, the director of football when times get tough. Drift away as the club falls down the league standings. As they'd prefer to spend their hard earned money on other things.

Sorry but I can't agree. It's not just about times being tough or falling down the league. The club is on the verge of extinction. Something drastic has to be done.

The whole thing is very vocally in support of the staff too.

It's a weirdass take to compare this performance or level we play at. Nothing to do with it.

[RoyalBlue]

Fully understand and don't disapprove of the pitch invasion. Not totally convinced of the additional value/benefit of abandonment over significant delay and then resumption of play.

[Ten Bobsworth]

I think it's a case that most people who argue against the action still respectvthe feelung behind it and support the right to do it.

And you can argue whether it's constructive or the best action as much as you like before it happens to try to influence against it, but once it's happened that's done and its time to send a united front.

I was against tennis ball disruptions during the game, I'd prefer a different protest or timing that doesn't interrupt play. But it did it's job and was mostly well handled, which is worth applauding those who did it.

Same for the pitch invasion. I think it's more harmful than helpful, and now was the wrong time. I didn’t think it should happen. But it has, so now we get behind it.

Get behind it with another futile gesture. That'll show 'em what you're made of.
Why not try to become preferred bidder like BWFCST did. They raised £50K.

£50k?

When the time comes that we have a chance of buying the club or creating a phoenix club, I'd expect us to raise that much from just our highest 10 - 20 contributors. I'd do at least 4% of it myself. Maybe more.

The idea that £50k would get anything for a club with assets worth about £15m - £25m is hilarious. oxf*rd off back to Bolton, they don't want you either, but you're their village idiot, not ours.

Hello Richard. How is Mrs Head today?

[Snowflake Royal]

IIRC we got fined £50k for the post Bradford pitch invasion, so I'd expect the fine to be a lot more than that.

No point giving out a fine. It won't get paid.

It's peanuts for him. We need bans and disqualifications now. Not financial penalties and definitely no points deductions as truthfully he doesn't give two tosses about the club.

Best scenario is a seizure of assets.

On what legal basis, genius?

[NathStPaul]

Another thought. Tax on the stadium and Bearwood. Is there any way that we can find out if all the tax is paid to the council? If not, could the councils seize the stadium and training ground against Dai's name?

As long as its not levied at the club, which it shouldn't be as its with this Renhe Sports Group, then it is possible that might be a solution which strangely helps the club. I might be wrong.

Clutching at straws here...

Focus on Bournemouth.

[Lower West]

Fully understand and don't disapprove of the pitch invasion. Not totally convinced of the additional value/benefit of abandonment over significant delay and then resumption of play.

Health and Safety. Insuffient numbers to control the crowd.

[jd82]

I wonder if this would have still gone ahead if the ref had had the bottle to give the fouls on Knibbs, which also would have probably been a red or the penalty shout on Makiaru

Bloody good job their opener was chalked off as well, suspect the Vale lot wouldn’t have been quite so supportive in that case.

[P!ssed Off]

I was one of the 70 or so that stuck around and caused the abandonment yesterday. Think I spotted BenReading there until the end, not sure if he still posts here.

Mix of ages: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. 1 or 2 that looked U18 at max I would say.
Not 'stupid kids on pocket money' but adults with jobs risking a non-zero chance of arrest, banning-order, criminal conviction, loss of job. The police were making threats that they were about to start arresting people and had numbers dwindled much further stewards would have had the advantage,

My view is that the only realistic available
short-term option to force Dai Yongge to sell is match abandonments. If we refuse to allow matches to take place until he sells then his position as owner is untenable.

Allowing the match to finish yesterday would have been a capitulation and shown Reading fans do not have the guts to force him out. A 10-60 minute game pause would have been swept under the carpet and generated 1/10th of the media coverage/pressure on Dai Yongge & EFL.

The threat of forced match abandonments has to remain. If Dai Yongge has not made serious progress towards a sale in the next 10-14 days then ideally Derby or Orient at home will be forced to abandon at 16 minutes due to further fan protest.

[Orion1871]

Would rather people boycotted games than got another one abandoned. The protest was losing support the longer it went on and doing it again and again would make the fanbase more and more fractious

[Snowflake Royal]

I was one of the 70 or so that stuck around and caused the abandonment yesterday. Think I spotted BenReading there until the end, not sure if he still posts here.

Mix of ages: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. 1 or 2 that looked U18 at max I would say.
Not 'stupid kids on pocket money' but adults with jobs risking a non-zero chance of arrest, banning-order, criminal conviction, loss of job. The police were making threats that they were about to start arresting people and had numbers dwindled much further stewards would have had the advantage,

My view is that the only realistic available
short-term option to force Dai Yongge to sell is match abandonments. If we refuse to allow matches to take place until he sells then his position as owner is untenable.

Allowing the match to finish yesterday would have been a capitulation and shown Reading fans do not have the guts to force him out. A 10-60 minute game pause would have been swept under the carpet and generated 1/10th of the media coverage/pressure on Dai Yongge & EFL.

The threat of forced match abandonments has to remain. If Dai Yongge has not made serious progress towards a sale in the next 10-14 days then ideally Derby or Orient at home will be forced to abandon at 16 minutes due to further fan protest.

Respect to you and Ben for risking the potentially very serious consequences.

Hopefully you don’t receive banning notices or subsequent criminal charges. Maybe Seb can sort you outlt pro bono if you do!

Regardless of whether it was the right or best thing to do, there is no question you've thought through the consequences and decided it's the best, and least you can let yourself do.

[P!ssed Off]

Would rather people boycotted games than got another one abandoned. The protest was losing support the longer it went on and doing it again and again would make the fanbase more and more fractious

Boycott is completely meaningless.
90+% of fans have already paid for their tickets.