The Eternity Of Reading FC’s 500-Day Limbo
Although the Royals came out of the January window without too much damage done, the concern is very much still there, as one Reading fan writes.
500 days is a long time in anyone’s book. For us Reading fans though, it’s felt like an eternity. While we’ve managed to navigate the transfer windows relatively unscathed this season, the underlying concern is still there. The summer is fast approaching and we’re still in a period of limbo as to whether we’ll still be here next season.
As I watched the minutes count down on Deadline Day on the Sky Sports News ticker, I found myself thinking about if I’ll get this opportunity again as a fan of the club I’ve supported since I was a young boy on the terraces of Elm Park.
A weird feeling, and one that I never thought I’d have, especially given at times you spend the day hearing about the same three stories all day. But who can forget those moments with Harry Redknapp or fans behaving badly? It’s daft and sometimes just hyped up. As a fan, it’s an extra bit of excitement and joy to just add to the story of the season.
Recently I was chatting to someone about what we’ll do when the takeover does happen, what we’ll talk about in between games. At the moment, the football seems to be the distraction from the serious stuff, but how will it feel when it’s actually all over?
I have to be honest, I’ve forgotten what it was like to support a “normal” club. A club where the only concern is who should start up front. It feels like a lifetime ago but the reality is, it’s really not, and that’s where our story should be a concern to so many sports fans around the world. As someone else said last year, if it can happen to a club formerly sponsored by Waitrose, it can happen to anyone.
With a couple of bad decisions at the top around players and facilities, any club could be like us, fighting for its very existence. You only have to look at the teams that have gone before us: Bury, Morecambe, London Irish even. Did anyone who followed them really expect to find themselves in the position they found themselves?
Our plight shouldn’t just be a footnote at the end of the sports bulletin, it should be an example to others as to the pitfalls of over-investment and bad advice.
We built a training ground with a vision of success, but with no backup plan if it went wrong. We invested heavily on a squad that didn’t necessarily deliver with no means to financially support it if it didn’t succeed.
We’re seeing the same story play out across the EFL and Premier League already, just hoping that their story doesn’t have the same chapter as ours in recent years. I hope that once this chapter concludes with our big takeover party in the Purple Turtle, it’s used as an example for others - that it can go badly as quickly as it can go well.
The Football Governance Bill will go some way to help mitigate that, I’m 100% sure of it, but there’s an argument that is hard to hide from that the whole of sport needs reform as the model for success is not clear-cut. It’s not simply a case of investing X to get Y.
The reason we fell in love with football, and the reason so many watch sport in general, is that anything can happen. We need to protect these community assets to ensure they can withstand bad results, as well as set them up for success.
Throughout this time, I’ve told everyone who will listen to cherish their club. To enjoy the good moments, to celebrate them properly. To cherish them. They’re special memories.
To this day I look back fondly on the 106 and 2012 promotions, but equally I look back on those random results which, in the grand scheme of things, meant nothing. Tom McIntyre’s goal against Swansea City in that incredible 4-4 just after lockdown is just one example. Moments which just allow you to escape reality and make you feel something that nothing else can.
At the end of the day, that’s what we’re fighting for while we’re trying to save our club. Not to be Champions League winners or anything else like that (though I would like us to win the Champions League...), but for me, the reason I want this club to survive is because of that sense of belonging that I get which is unlike anything else.
I couldn’t care less what league we’re in, as long as we’re still here and on a Saturday morning I get to wake up, pull on my shirt, get on the bus and for a few hours every week get to forget about reality. That same feeling I’ve had since my first game and hopefully will continue to get forever more.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. So please don’t take my Reading away...