by blythspartan »
19 Jan 2024 14:01
kieran Snowflake Royal kieran
I think you are proving my point. Apparently theres a good reason for ill feeling towards Pompey but Reading deserve no ill feeeling even thought it has been dispensed. Reading are special..sheeesh.
Be honest, Reading would have rested players ahead of an FA cup final also, and you would have supported it.
Be honest, Reading have overspent just as Pompey did (maybe not as much but the principle is the same). Neither set of fans have any say in it.
Be honest, you would have celebrated if you won the FA cup
Maybe if it were just accepted that Reading is no different and we all got screwed then there may be a little more sympathy?
But, I am guessing theres going to be a reply justifying why Reading is different.................
There's a few differences.
There was already a general dislike of Pompey because of their BELLend and South coast proximity that frequent had us as poor relations in the media. Plus what was previously referenced. That's specific club to club, not generic across all clubs.
Then there's that we got our actual success, both PL jaunts by spending sustainably, under good and sensible leadership, bar the very end of the second promotion push from Zingarevich, but that had limited effect. As well as our last PO appearance.
There was also considerable concern raised amongst the fanbase around the signings of Aluko on big money, plus spending big on Puscas and Joao at the same time, immediately after a soft embargo lifted.
Plus with Pompey, criticism of them was followed by a dickhead fan turning up on here giving it large about how they'd done nothing wrong and we'd go into administration before them. Was it you?
Generally speaking there's always going to be an element of ignorance from other fans about how much concern and opposition there's been to mismanagement, especially if that bought success to a club at the same time. And especially if that club is geneally disliked, like Leeds, or Pompey for example.
I don't blame those fans for reacting without much sympathy. And I don't blame fans of clubs we have a genuine rivalry with being pissy about it, so it's understandable for Pompey. But I would expect clubs who have been through it, to be more aware and more sympathetic. As I'm sure we would be in future to others if we survive.
But Reading really isn't a particularly offensive club. And we can hardly be accused of buying success by anyone who actually knows anything, because Dai took over at the very tail end of our last PO season. And the one 7th finish was basically down to three months of unbelievable but unsustainable performance.
And there you go, as you said, its different for Reading. Expect little sympathy until this stance is removed. A van load of Pompey fans went to Bury to raise money on the way to a game several times. We had active fundraisers for Bolton and Bury just recently as well as 20 minutes of full on (Fratton park style) "F**k the EFL" in support at one game. During protest marches there were fans of Pompey at both the aforementioned in the media at the time. Likewise for the Pompey marches football shirts of all colours. None were Readings. Sometimes in life you get what you put in.
I don’t have anything against any club and I attended a Pompey march with a couple of Pompey supporting mates. I didn’t wear my Reading shirt, mainly because I have never been to Fratton Park wearing colours.
I think the problem for us sometimes is other clubs don’t see us as being worthy (tinpot whatever that really means). I accept that if you go to places like Portsmouth, Derby and Sunderland everyone in those towns is wearing their respective team’s colours. Yet around Reading you’re likely to see more Chelsea and Man United shirts, and that probably is due to us not having an illustrious history.
Personally, I think the majority of decent fans don’t want to see any other football clubs go out of business. I certainly wouldn’t want that to happen to the likes of Oxford and Swindon. Also, whether you have an average attendance of 800 or 75,000 all fans deserve to be respected for supporting their team.