Most gutting moment as a Reading fan.

[Ian Royal]

Beating Derby 4-0 and still getting relegated courtesy of a late Fulham goal. Mind you the Derby fans were nice in the pub after and the booze and weather was also alright.

[tink]

walsall takes it for me. i think like many others have said before me, there was an expectation that we would go up that year. that was coupled with outnumbering the walsall fans by 3-1, owning the millenium stadium that day, leading twice, going ahead in extra time - that was the moment i thought we were up - and then that crushing equaliser followed almost immediately by the own goal. i couldn't even bring myself to watch the rest of the match. i just sat with my head between my knees, occasionally glancing up at the screens. leaving the stadium was horrific - hearing the fireworks going off and the sounds of "we are the champions". driving home in silence. and then just to top it all my mate turned off at junction 13 for newbury, and rather than driving into newbury where we actually sodding lived, he rejoined the M4 and drove all the way to reading, where we had to come off at J12 and drive all the way back. i think the only words that were said the whole way home were along the lines of "you oxf*rd dick"

i think that just shades relegation at derby. but watching the fulham game in a pub in newbury, the glorius weather, the feeling that everything might, just might be ok, getting nervous, but waiting for that feeling of euphoria when we stayed up, only to see that fulham goal go in, and have everything drained out of you, was truly gutting. and as others before me having pointed out, it's made that much worse by having your missus tell you "it's only a game" and "why are you so upset"

[Mid Sussex Royal]

walsall takes it for me. i think like many others have said before me, there was an expectation that we would go up that year. that was coupled with outnumbering the walsall fans by 3-1, owning the millenium stadium that day, leading twice, going ahead in extra time - that was the moment i thought we were up - and then that crushing equaliser followed almost immediately by the own goal. i couldn't even bring myself to watch the rest of the match. i just sat with my head between my knees, occasionally glancing up at the screens. leaving the stadium was horrific - hearing the fireworks going off and the sounds of "we are the champions". driving home in silence. and then just to top it all my mate turned off at junction 13 for newbury, and rather than driving into newbury where we actually sodding lived, he rejoined the M4 and drove all the way to reading, where we had to come off at J12 and drive all the way back. i think the only words that were said the whole way home were along the lines of "you oxf*rd dick"

i think that just shades relegation at derby. but watching the fulham game in a pub in newbury, the glorius weather, the feeling that everything might, just might be ok, getting nervous, but waiting for that feeling of euphoria when we stayed up, only to see that fulham goal go in, and have everything drained out of you, was truly gutting. and as others before me having pointed out, it's made that much worse by having your missus tell you "it's only a game" and "why are you so upset"

Actually think the second was the own goal - their winner was a shot from 20 yards which looked distinctly savable from our end.

Not much to choose between Bolton and Walsall due to the manner in which both games were lost.

Prob Bolton just for me as it pretty much wrecked the summer.

[Niko]

Walsall beats Bolton for me, as i was only 7 at Wembley. I remember i dyed my hair blue that day we went to Cardiff...

Relegated by Fulham (or Pompey) and Burnley playoffs were also pretty gutting, but i wasn't actually there for those so it wasn't as bad.

Only drawing to Blackburn on the last day of the wonder-season when we should have won and finished in a UEFA cup spot!

[Franchise FC]

Bolton for me, on the grounds that I always thought we'd have another crack at getting out of the third level when we lost to Walsall.

I never thought we'd get above the second level after Bolton - until the coming of the Uberteam

[tink]

walsall takes it for me. i think like many others have said before me, there was an expectation that we would go up that year. that was coupled with outnumbering the walsall fans by 3-1, owning the millenium stadium that day, leading twice, going ahead in extra time - that was the moment i thought we were up - and then that crushing equaliser followed almost immediately by the own goal. i couldn't even bring myself to watch the rest of the match. i just sat with my head between my knees, occasionally glancing up at the screens. leaving the stadium was horrific - hearing the fireworks going off and the sounds of "we are the champions". driving home in silence. and then just to top it all my mate turned off at junction 13 for newbury, and rather than driving into newbury where we actually sodding lived, he rejoined the M4 and drove all the way to reading, where we had to come off at J12 and drive all the way back. i think the only words that were said the whole way home were along the lines of "you oxf*rd dick"

i think that just shades relegation at derby. but watching the fulham game in a pub in newbury, the glorius weather, the feeling that everything might, just might be ok, getting nervous, but waiting for that feeling of euphoria when we stayed up, only to see that fulham goal go in, and have everything drained out of you, was truly gutting. and as others before me having pointed out, it's made that much worse by having your missus tell you "it's only a game" and "why are you so upset"

Actually think the second was the own goal - their winner was a shot from 20 yards which looked distinctly savable from our end.

Not much to choose between Bolton and Walsall due to the manner in which both games were lost.

Prob Bolton just for me as it pretty much wrecked the summer.

You are correct sir. I may have had slightly impaired memory due to copious amounts of pre-match beer, but i do seem to now recall that it was OG, followed by almost instant daisy cutter right from the re-start.

[Gunny Fishcake]

Bolton times a million........nothing comes close

[bcubed]

Bolton times a million........nothing comes close

Do you stand by this after yesterday?

I think I do - there were echoes of Wembley yesterday and as soon as the first goal was scored I had the same feeling as after the missed pen at Wembley. I'm sure I could feel it in the crowd as well. Do we somehow pass this negativity onto the players?

So Wembley hurt more but this was mighty close

[Still Hate Futcher!]

I was gutted after yesterday's Villa comeback but it doesn't come close to how I felt after the Bolton play-off. Walsall and our relegation from the Prem were both pretty devastating, even more so than yesterday, but again didn't come close to the pain of that 1st play-off final. The feeling after that game was even worse than how I felt after England's Italia '90 semi.

[fester_royal]

bolton '95
pardew leaving (still havent forgiven brooking, no feelings about Alan himself mind)
Derby away just for the thinking we'd done it only to hear it go round the stand that Murphy had scored

burnley at home, wolves and walsall wasnt really too upset with (walsall just didnt feel our day, and even before burnley i didnt think it would happen. wolves stung just because they kicked forster out in the first leg deliberatly!

[Schards#2]

Bolton times a million........nothing comes close

^^this. Soul destroying.

Walsall was depressing but not close, I think defeat at Brentford followed by another play off failure would have rivalled it.

I went to Derby resigned to relegation, the worst day of that season was Fulham at home.

[wolsey]

Bolton times a million........nothing comes close

^^this. Soul destroying.

Walsall was depressing but not close, I think defeat at Brentford followed by another play off failure would have rivalled it.

I went to Derby resigned to relegation, the worst day of that season was Fulham at home.

Yep, also remember being particularly pissed off when McGhee went to Leicester (especially as the Evening Post had run headlines of "He's Staying" or similar earlier in the day.).

[LUX]

too many to choose from.

Bolton? I was there but (this is very unlike me) I was able to "see the positive side". Must admit I take any league defeat extremely badly, but the worst thing is hope.

Home to Rotherham, second last game of the 76/77 season old Div 3, we needed to win it (and then at home to already relegated Grimsby) to stay up. IIRC we had been on a good run and Rotherham were down there too.

We lost 3-0 to round off a season where we had been nearly top around October.

ps details from painful memory, but essentially accurate.

[RobRoyal]

I'm a post-95 latecomer, otherwise I'm sure Bolton would top the list.

1: Relegation from the Premiership. It seemed so avoidable. One poxy point would have done it. So much hard work and success undone, and I don't believe we had one of the three worst squads.

2: Defeat at Cardiff. Others have spoken about the feeling that we'd go and get promotion next year, but I didn't feel that at all. At the time I was sure that we would lose key players and that we'd missed a crucial chance in absurd circumstances. I was very grateful to be proved wrong (though without the late goal at Brentford my nightmare scenario might have unfolded then).

3: Elimination from playoffs by Burnley. This time it was obvious that it was the end of an era. In keeping with the other two, a (possibly unfounded) sense of injustice made this worse (how many shots on target did Burnley muster in 180 minutes ).

Remembering those makes today seem a bit more bearable, though only the above three and possibly the playoff defeat to Wolves felt worse.

[Wimb]

Sunday certainly felt a bit Boltonesque, but in not quite so far reaching a way. It was the same 'missed opportunity' type of feeling but at least we have the rest of the season to look forward too and not sat stewing for 3 months.

[The Goat was fed]

As most of you know, it was Derby for me!

I was only 7 for the Bolton game, but that season was my second "proper" season where my Dad started taking me to all the games so I knew how bad it was. I remember seeing a hell of a lot of older Reading fans crying that day, the same older blokes you still see going home and away now. To those guys, the men who had seen us in Division 4 South etc, it must have felt like that was our one chance. We were a genuinely small club back then.

For me that loss lost a lot of its hurt when we finally did make it up and that's why Derby hurt so much. It was the way we went down that got me (that and a dangerous amount of nervous drinking in the pub) it just seemed like players I loved had been a bit consumed by the premiership and didn't seem to want it as much any more. The fact of the matter is, however much we convince ourselves that we're happier in the championship, it just isn't true. To see Reading regularly play in what is widely considered the best league in the world, was something that most Reading fans thought they'd never see and sadly, what a lot of Reading fans (including relatives of posters on this board) did not live to see.

The thing is not only did we "play" in that league, we contributed to it. The same Reading that had previously employed Michael Meaker and Simon Shepherd was now pushing for Europe. So when we meekly got relegated (not on the day, but think Fulham at home etc.) it choked me because something that had been the pinnacle of our expectations and had taken 135 years to happen had collapsed in the space of a couple of months and it seemed so entirely preventable.

[Terminal Boardom]

Sunday was nowhere near as bad as Bolton. It was "only" a quarter final. It was not as if we got to the semis then lost which would have been horrible. And, deep down, how many of us REALLY thought that we would win before kick off?

[floyd__streete]

The fact of the matter is, however much we convince ourselves that we're happier in the championship, it just isn't true. To see Reading regularly play in what is widely considered the best league in the world, was something that most Reading fans thought they'd never see and sadly, what a lot of Reading fans (including relatives of posters on this board) did not live to see.

Agree to some extent, but in all honesty it doesn't make one iota of difference to me what league we're in. I'll always want to be there and I'll always be bloody moaning about it. For me, one of the more attractive things about our club is that we have been up and down the divisions; someone of my dad's generation has seen them play in all four divisions of english professional football. I genuinely pity those who attach themselves to some faceless franchise playing a hundreds miles or more away from their home; how can you really feel any real attachment to Manchester United living in Reading? So I'll take all these gutting moments on the chin because a happier memory will no doubt come along soon enough and as far as I am concerned a last minute equaliser at Anfield in the cup shouldn't be celebrated any less than a last minute winner at Peterborough.

I was very disappointed with the capitulation on Sunday. But at least I can pin it down as typically Reading and feel comfortable enough with the natural order of things, safe in the knowledge that my life isn't empty enough for me to have to survive off reflective glory from 'supporting' some utterly naff millionaires club like Chelsea .

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Sunday was nowhere near as bad as Bolton. It was "only" a quarter final. It was not as if we got to the semis then lost which would have been horrible. And, deep down, how many of us REALLY thought that we would win before kick off?

Actually, I really did think we'd win. We probably made a mistake going 2-0 up (and rousing Villa) instead of snatching the usual late goal!

[loyalroyal4life]

Bolton (although i was rather young) and Millenium stadium, rougier the clown ruined the day