We will survive this won't we?

[WestYorksRoyal]

Think this team would do quite well in league two but have to remember that this team won’t be in league two. If we go down everyone will get sold off.

I believe we will get taken over, Selles will go and any half competent monkey could get us out of this mess. We’re not a million miles off. I have faith but we NEED a new manager which means new owners.

If we have a decent owner I expect promotion back to L1 immediately

Impossible to say. Remember we can't pay a fee until summer 2025. If this team gets picked apart by vultures, we'll have another new team of academy products, frees and loans in L2 which means relegation battle.

Any new owner should be prioritising contracts and convincing players to buy into our project long term. If this squad can stay together we'd have a great chance. Smith could be in a promotion chasing L1 team, so imagine him staying in L2.

[Snowflake Royal]

It's all on the new owner.

I don't see many of the squad going anywhere regardless.

L1 and 2 teams do almost all their deals on frees. And really, how many Championship or PL clubs will offer money worth taking for our players? Even the exciting young players are only going to be going into Championship U23s or be fringe squad players.

And our youngsters will have 15 to 40 games under their belts by next season. Fresh start, with a new owner, hopefully an experienced manager, and a bit more experience that isn't over the hill or a proven failure.

It's not ability that's seeing us do so badly right now. It's that no one has any confidence and there's endless disruption and feel bad factor.

We started this season with confidence and drive, but a couple of injuries, a half arsed old pro a shit manager, Dai and a bit of bad luck meant we couldn't get the results to maintain or build on that.

[Royalwaster]

Read somewhere how this sh:t is dangerous to people with mental health issue - I'm mentally pretty stable, but am finding it really hard. I tried to put it in perspective (it's just a game), but hell this sure as hell ruins my mood over the weekend ...

[Royal_jimmy]

Think this team would do quite well in league two but have to remember that this team won’t be in league two. If we go down everyone will get sold off.

I believe we will get taken over, Selles will go and any half competent monkey could get us out of this mess. We’re not a million miles off. I have faith but we NEED a new manager which means new owners.

If we have a decent owner I expect promotion back to L1 immediately

Impossible to say. Remember we can't pay a fee until summer 2025. If this team gets picked apart by vultures, we'll have another new team of academy products, frees and loans in L2 which means relegation battle.

Any new owner should be prioritising contracts and convincing players to buy into our project long term. If this squad can stay together we'd have a great chance. Smith could be in a promotion chasing L1 team, so imagine him staying in L2.

We have the embargo yes, which is ridiculous in my view as we're about to be sold to a new owner. It's not fair we're being punished again. That'll have been 5 years of transfer embargoes which is just nuts.

I can't see many clubs wanting our players though and a good manager should be able to get them out of that league. It's a park football league at best.

Sam Smith is also a local lad who loves the club. He could score for fun in that division.

[Snowflake Royal]

If we have a decent owner I expect promotion back to L1 immediately

Impossible to say. Remember we can't pay a fee until summer 2025. If this team gets picked apart by vultures, we'll have another new team of academy products, frees and loans in L2 which means relegation battle.

Any new owner should be prioritising contracts and convincing players to buy into our project long term. If this squad can stay together we'd have a great chance. Smith could be in a promotion chasing L1 team, so imagine him staying in L2.

We have the embargo yes, which is ridiculous in my view as we're about to be sold to a new owner. It's not fair we're being punished again. That'll have been 5 years of transfer embargoes which is just nuts.

I can't see many clubs wanting our players though and a good manager should be able to get them out of that league. It's a park football league at best.

Keep offending, keep getting punished. Pretty simple.

[The Royal Forester]

We survived Maxwell didn't we? So we can survive the current mess (hopefully). With a new owner who is prepared for and is still willing to back us in League 2, maybe even further down the pyramid, we will be alright. But we need a new owner and a new manager, coaching staff urgently. Let's hope the EFL put the Owners test (or whatever is the latest title) on fast track, to free us from this mess.

[Clyde1998]

Think this team would do quite well in league two but have to remember that this team won’t be in league two. If we go down everyone will get sold off.

I believe we will get taken over, Selles will go and any half competent monkey could get us out of this mess. We’re not a million miles off. I have faith but we NEED a new manager which means new owners.

If we have a decent owner I expect promotion back to L1 immediately

I'd expect that too. If we've got a decent owner who's providing the funds to keep the club operating (ensuring we can pay tax bills, wages, etc.), we should have the budget to compete with any side in League Two. If we're performing decently well in L2, we'll probably be among the highest attendances - only Bradford (18k), Notts County (12k) and Wrexham (10k) are getting north of 10k on average; half the league is getting 5k over lower. The latter two sides mentioned could be promoted this season too.

Our academy products should be stronger than any side in L2 as well. The fact we're competing in basically every game in L1 suggests we're not too far from being a mid-table L1 side provided good management.

We've got a core of players contracted for next season (at least) - so hopefully we won't be changing the entire squad yet again. Whilst we're under a transfer-fee embargo, most L1/L2 clubs don't buy players for fees - so we'll not miss out on much with that issue.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Just looking at the L2 table, we would be an absolutely massive club at that level. Only Bradford and Notts Co comparable. If we did get good owners who could run the club competently, promotion would be matter of when, not if.

[Mr Angry]

Dear Shades.

Will we survive this?

Yes.

The club is in a good catchment area, some really promising youngsters as well as having great infrastructure and potential; all we need is decent owners and we will be back to - where I think our "natural" level is - top half of the Championship, in the not too distant future.

I fear we need to accept that we are going to need to start again at L2 level, but other clubs have done that and come back (Look at Luton as a for instance).

So, keep the faith.

[shadesrwrf]

Just looking at the L2 table, we would be an absolutely massive club at that level. Only Bradford and Notts Co comparable. If we did get good owners who could run the club competently, promotion would be matter of when, not if.

I'm not sure we can talk about being a "big club" any more, that's tempting fate in my opinion. And anyway, I'm not even sure we ever have really been a "big club", we just had a bit of spell in the big time.

Despite now living in Devon I will continue to follow RFC whatever its fate. I'm just getting more and more concerned about the lack of anything concrete happening.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Just looking at the L2 table, we would be an absolutely massive club at that level. Only Bradford and Notts Co comparable. If we did get good owners who could run the club competently, promotion would be matter of when, not if.

I'm not sure we can talk about being a "big club" any more, that's tempting fate in my opinion. And anyway, I'm not even sure we ever have really been a "big club", we just had a bit of spell in the big time.

Despite now living in Devon I will continue to follow RFC whatever its fate. I'm just getting more and more concerned about the lack of anything concrete happening.

I guess what's the point of being a "big club"? It's having resources that allow you to attract better players and staff than your competitors. We really should fall in that bucket in L1 and L2, but it needs the club to be run well.

Dai has shown this season it counts for nothing if you can't run a bath. But with new owners it will make a difference, even more so in L2.

[tmesis]

Just looking at the L2 table, we would be an absolutely massive club at that level. Only Bradford and Notts Co comparable. If we did get good owners who could run the club competently, promotion would be matter of when, not if.

I'm not sure we can talk about being a "big club" any more, that's tempting fate in my opinion. And anyway, I'm not even sure we ever have really been a "big club", we just had a bit of spell in the big time.

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.

[tmesis]

Let's hope the EFL put the Owners test (or whatever is the latest title) on fast track, to free us from this mess.

If they did bring in a new test, and the result of it was a potential new owner got rejected, would we be pleased or annoyed with the football league?

[Snowflake Royal]

Just looking at the L2 table, we would be an absolutely massive club at that level. Only Bradford and Notts Co comparable. If we did get good owners who could run the club competently, promotion would be matter of when, not if.

I'm not sure we can talk about being a "big club" any more, that's tempting fate in my opinion. And anyway, I'm not even sure we ever have really been a "big club", we just had a bit of spell in the big time.

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.

[Clyde1998]

I'm not sure we can talk about being a "big club" any more, that's tempting fate in my opinion. And anyway, I'm not even sure we ever have really been a "big club", we just had a bit of spell in the big time.

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.

[Royal Monkey]

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.

Yeah it’s definitely a generational thing with viewing how big the club is. For me being 51 and being taken to my first game in the late 70’s we’re not a big club, I’ve always viewed as as a Division 3 size club even with the move to the Mad Stad and always felt we were punching above our weight in the Championship let alone Prem.
But for my kids who are 26 and 24 it’s completely different. We were in Champ when I started taking them so this is their first experience of us below the top 2 divisions.

[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.

[WestYorksRoyal]

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.

I'm 35. I was about to turn 6 in 1994 when we won promotion, i.e., I hardly remember it. The 3rd tier for me has largely been a 4 year exception to the rule from 98 - 02. Obviously my early years were Elm Park and a memory of us being more of the underdog, but I certainly haven't grown up with us typically being a third tier club. That's people in their 40s and older.

[tmesis]

I feel sorry for the fans in their teens or maybe a tad older. Too young to remember the 106 team and actually being good for a year in the premier league, most of their Reading supporting lives has been this last decade of crap.

[Clyde1998]

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.

I'm 35. I was about to turn 6 in 1994 when we won promotion, i.e., I hardly remember it. The 3rd tier for me has largely been a 4 year exception to the rule from 98 - 02. Obviously my early years were Elm Park and a memory of us being more of the underdog, but I certainly haven't grown up with us typically being a third tier club. That's people in their 40s and older.

It'll be 40+ based on that then. The era at which you started watching the club will clearly have a bearing on the view of the relative size of the club. Being in the second tier in the 90s was largely the exception to the rule at the time, but quickly became the norm over the next 25 years. Moving to the Mad Stad did take the club up a level - we certainly wouldn't have sustained second tier football for so long at Elm Park.