Reading In Tier 2: Two Thousand Fans Allowed

26 November 2020
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading Borough Council has been placed in tier 2 (high alert) from 2nd December after the government national restrictions come to an end on that date. This means that Reading Football Club will be able to allow 2,000 fans to watch upcoming home fixtures.

The first game that fans will be able to attend this season will be the home game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday 5 December. With well over 2,000 fans having paid their retainers for reserved season tickets, the club will have to work out which will be given the chance to watch the team for the first time at home since March 2020.

Reading Borough Council has been placed in tier 2 (high alert) from 2nd December after the government national restrictions come to an end on that date. This means that Reading Football Club will be able to allow 2,000 fans to watch upcoming home fixtures.
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The first game that fans will be able to attend this season will be the home game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday 5 December. With well over 2,000 fans having paid their retainers for reserved season tickets, the club will have to work out which will be given the chance to watch the team for the first time at home since March 2020.

Discussion On This Story:

Jagermesiter1871

» 23 Nov 2020 17:05

My understanding is from the 2nd Dec live sporting events can have up to 4000 spectators in tier 1 and 2 areas.
1) is Reading likely to fall in one of these tiers come the 2nd Dec?

2) Will Reading open the doors?

3) How will tickets work?

Snowflake Royal

» 23 Nov 2020 17:24

Won't be returning personally. The travel would be crazy under the circumstances.
Hoping I'll still be able to watch on IFollow.

Jagermesiter1871

» 23 Nov 2020 17:31

Are you talking about due to long covid?
I think for those fans that do go, it should be relatively easy experience. Plenty of parking.

Jagermesiter1871

» 23 Nov 2020 17:39

Will concourses be open?

Hound

» 23 Nov 2020 17:45

2k if T2 isn’t it
And yeah looking forward to it if I can get in. Did renew the season ticket so guess I’ve a good chance of being invited along

Zip

» 23 Nov 2020 18:40

Same here. Not sure how many of us have renewed but would go back. I wouldn’t take the bus from Mereoak and would just park at the Stadium. If there’s no stadium parking I may give it a miss.

Zip

» 23 Nov 2020 18:41

Fully understandable Ian. I’m certain iFollow will continue because 1) the majority of fans still wont be able to go to games and 2) iFollow is a useful revenue stream.

Snowflake Royal

» 23 Nov 2020 19:06

Are you talking about due to long covid?
I think for those fans that do go, it should be relatively easy experience. Plenty of parking.
I travel from Cambridge, it's bonkers to go that far for a game, via trains and the tube, during a pandemic.

RoyalBlue

» 23 Nov 2020 19:13

I wish our club and all the others the best of luck in working out how all of this will operate. Typical of the Government to give them so little prior warning. From what I understand they're not even publishing details of the new tiers until Thursday so clubs won't know whether they're allowed 4,000, 2,000 or sod all fans until then!

Zip

» 23 Nov 2020 19:16

Agreed it’s a nightmare for clubs. How do they work out who can go to the games and what then happens if some fans decide they don’t want to go. Do they still have to pay for that proportion of their season tickets?

The numbers allowed through the turnstiles will barely make it profitable to open up stadia.

Hound

» 23 Nov 2020 19:44

I think most clubs have had plans in place for a while of some sort. I hope so anyway or else it’ll be mayhem
Guessing with us we’ve prob not sold too many more than 4K season tickets so maybe a bit easier. It will only be open to them. Big teams who might have sold a load more might have some interesting decisions to make

JR

» 23 Nov 2020 20:50

The club haven’t sold season tickets? Are you referring to the small retainer we paid instead?

Hound

» 23 Nov 2020 20:53

The club haven’t sold season tickets? Are you referring to the small retainer we paid instead?

Yeah them sorry. Maybe I’m misremembering but I thought they gave some sort of priority.

Zip

» 23 Nov 2020 21:00

The club haven’t sold season tickets? Are you referring to the small retainer we paid instead?

Yeah them sorry. Maybe I’m misremembering but I thought they gave some sort of priority.

I think it meant we retained our existing seats.

Hound

» 23 Nov 2020 22:04

Yeah them sorry. Maybe I’m misremembering but I thought they gave some sort of priority.

I think it meant we retained our existing seats.

Tbh I wasn’t paying much attention at the time but I did think it gave some sort of priority on top. My memory not the best tbf

Lower West

» 23 Nov 2020 22:35

Info here.
https://ticketing.readingfc.co.uk/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/faq.html
Until full capacity is allowed. Likely that you won't be able to buy reserved seat.

Hound

» 24 Nov 2020 08:45

The initial payment gives you priority to purchase matches that are played at reduced capacity and at a pro-rata price which could save you up to £7 per match (A Season Ticket holder in Club 1871 will pay £13 per match, but a Member or a 2019/20 Season Ticket Holder who does not renew will pay £20 per match). It also serves as a down payment on the balance of your Season Ticket if full capacity resumes during the 2020/21 season and reserves your normal Season Ticket seat for you, in relation to future full-capacity matches.
Not sure how they'll do it but sounds like they have something in place

Anonymous

» 24 Nov 2020 09:21

I won't go back until everyone can go back. Certainly dead against a particular stand or section of people going back before anyone else. The only fair way to do match tickets in the current climate is to offer season ticket holders with the most amount of Royalty points first refusal and then work backwards.

Hendo

» 24 Nov 2020 09:28

I think this is what they'll do, tbf. That or there will be some sort of ballot where once you get a ticket, you can't enter again for like 3 matches or something.
I guess the only difficult thing would be families looking to go as one may have way more points than the other.

Anonymous

» 24 Nov 2020 09:31

I think this is what they'll do, tbf. That or there will be some sort of ballot where once you get a ticket, you can't enter again for like 3 matches or something.
I guess the only difficult thing would be families looking to go as one may have way more points than the other.
This is the an issue I would have. I go to football with my son, it is what we have done for the past 5 years together so there is no way I am leaving him at home because he doesn't have as many points as me.
I guess they could do a random ballot deal like you say. The people who want to go to a game are entered and get 2 tickets if selected so they can bring a family member or friend.

skipper

» 24 Nov 2020 09:35

I'm totally down for going, since my work industry is totally screwed, I actually have Saturdays available again!
I have a terrible points total though, so would need to be on general sale for me to get a look in. With any luck I might get a game.

Hendo

» 24 Nov 2020 09:46

gazzer, loyal royal

» 24 Nov 2020 10:33

As far as I’m aware the club were ready to go in October before the government stopped it so there shouldn’t be too much difference. I’ll certainly give it a go if I can get a ticket and then make my mind up if I want to go again after. Easier for me though as I don’t use public transport to get to the ground in normal circumstances so not really a lot has changed in my routine

Jagermesiter1871

» 24 Nov 2020 11:29

Anonymous

» 24 Nov 2020 11:31

Surely Club 1871 should be given priority considering they are our most ardent fans? Maybe let them all in and then any tickets left over raffle them off on the C1871 twitter page with all proceeds going to new C1871 banners and flags?
No. The people who have been there the longest should get first dibs. Why should the 90 year old man in the West Stand miss out just because he doesn't jump around and sing? He loves the club just as much as anyone.

boycey

» 24 Nov 2020 11:40

tidus_mi2

» 24 Nov 2020 11:57

No. The people who have been there the longest should get first dibs. Why should the 90 year old man in the West Stand miss out just because he doesn't jump around and sing? He loves the club just as much as anyone.

Encouraging a 90 year old man into a high risk covid situation is far from ideal.

Give all tickets to the youngsters in C1871. Its the safest way to go.
Right, and me, my dad and my nephew who have been going for a long time at this point miss out because we choose to be in the East Stand.

muirinho

» 24 Nov 2020 12:01

Yeah, we'll have to see what happens, but I think it's fairly likely that not everybody who is offered a ticket will take them up. I go by public transport to the game, and my other half is officially "vulnerable", so I won't be going, even though I think it's reasonably likely I'd be offered one.
It does mean that if the stadium is opened up full capacity, but before a vaccine has been rolled out, I'd probably lose my "retainer" fee, but it wasn't that huge amount in the first place - and also, surely, even this government wouldn't go full capacity on football before the vaccine.

muirinho

» 24 Nov 2020 12:02

Surely Club 1871 should be given priority considering they are our most ardent fans? Maybe let them all in and then any tickets left over raffle them off on the C1871 twitter page with all proceeds going to new C1871 banners and flags?

You're stirring aren't you?
Actually they'd probably be discouraging chanting etc, so they'd want to be offering to Upper West first, as representatives of our most sedate fans.

Hendo

» 24 Nov 2020 12:50

Surely Club 1871 should be given priority considering they are our most ardent fans? Maybe let them all in and then any tickets left over raffle them off on the C1871 twitter page with all proceeds going to new C1871 banners and flags?

You're stirring aren't you?
Actually they'd probably be discouraging chanting etc, so they'd want to be offering to Upper West first, as representatives of our most sedate fans.

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