Enjoy the match

[Winchester Royal]

I do find this middle class at football bashing rather funny. They say football reflects society and Britain's working class is nowhere near as big as it was 20/30 years ago. The town of Reading is a perfect example of this and surprise, surprise that is shown by our crowd. Sure the club is doing its utmost to create a truly cringeworthy match experience but maybe if there was more atmosphere they wouldn't need to.

It's slightly more than that, though. The club's marketing is based much more on appealing to a middle-class audience much more than to traditional/less affluent audience. It makes commercial sense since they are more affluent and able to afford what is now a very expensive pastime, and off course the family side means that they get a whole family and endless trips to the refreshment kiosks for cola-flavoured sugar water and the other pap sold there.

But they can't have it both ways - if they aim the marketing at middle-class families and not "traditional" supporters they can't then expect there to be the a traditional sort of atmosphere.

I think this is a bit too cynical.

Talking to many of you, it seems most people started coming to games as kids and you stayed and became "traditional" supporters. To blame the club for trying to catch kids young and turn them into supporters seems a bit hypocritical. Whether they are going about it the right way is debatable, but of course they're going to try to appeal to families even if matters on the pitch aren't helping.

And that is the point. When I was an 11 year old on the South Bank, the things that attracted me were things that I'm sure they aren't going to encourage now. A big sweary mass of people that smelt of smoke and alcohol, a ramshackle stadium, a pitch that looked amazingly green. Walking through a muddy puddle on the way back, and something that seemed like a cross between anger and passion as Reading were relegated. I remember a pitch invasion and my dad insisting we left early. As a kid attracted to the club at the very back end of the 'old skool' days, the things that attracted me were far more rusting tin than shiny plastic. And yes, I enjoyed it for what it was, not for what they were trying to make it.

[weybridgewanderer]

I do find this middle class at football bashing rather funny. They say football reflects society and Britain's working class is nowhere near as big as it was 20/30 years ago. The town of Reading is a perfect example of this and surprise, surprise that is shown by our crowd. Sure the club is doing its utmost to create a truly cringeworthy match experience but maybe if there was more atmosphere they wouldn't need to.

It's slightly more than that, though. The club's marketing is based much more on appealing to a middle-class audience much more than to traditional/less affluent audience. It makes commercial sense since they are more affluent and able to afford what is now a very expensive pastime, and off course the family side means that they get a whole family and endless trips to the refreshment kiosks for cola-flavoured sugar water and the other pap sold there.

But they can't have it both ways - if they aim the marketing at middle-class families and not "traditional" supporters they can't then expect there to be the a traditional sort of atmosphere.

it would be interesting to look at what the demographic of the social classes in the reading area and m4 corridor are now compared to say 30,40 or 50 years ago

the factories seem to have mostly gone and its all blue collar industry now so Reading has possibly a different population than before

is the club just trying to change to market to the audience that is on its doorstep?