aaaae wrote:Scaly Egbert wrote:Interesting to read some of the comments here.
Where does the idea that Reading fans were arrogant yesterday come from?
Well probably because we did not hear a peep from your fans, absolute silence, until 37 minutes when you scored.
It was a dull game, and it's not as if if you were playing a league from the division below, you'd be wildly enthusiastic. You got 2500 against Fleetwood in the 1st round, and 2900 against Chesterfield, so it's not as if you were highly enthused by the cup either.
The first song your lot sang was "one nil one your big day out". Frankly who the fudge hell do you think you are?
I've covered why fans sings that song, and the fact we'll sing it to anyone. The other obvious reason is to wind the away fans up. It seems it worked a treat.
You're so big you have to share your ground with a rugby team. Do you think that's what "big" teams do?
Why do you assume we have to share? I think their contribution comes to something like £300,000 a year.
Plastic fans of a plastic club. If you got relegated you'd be back to the 8000 you used to get at Elm Park and be all the better for it.
How many years in a row of 17000+ crowds do we need to have before people think that maybe it's not a blip?
Also, why do said stadiums have to include a drummer? Jeeeeesus. I'd rather have a quiet Bescot than a Drummer.
Believe me, so would we.
The idiot with the drum is right down the other end because he got so many suggestions surrounded where he could store his drumsticks. Thankfully, from down the other end of the stand, the accoustics mean were rarely hear him.
It's not bitterness biscuit man - what is there to be bitter about?
Losing by a somewhat harsh 0-4 scoreline perhaps, especially with so much optimism on display?
I've been to dozens of clubs up and down the country, some modern stadia, some not so modern, but honestly Reading is up there with the worst.
It's soulless, corporate, lifeless, boring, miles out of town, you have to pay to park everywhere near it (so again, returning to the point about the corporate nature of it)
What's "corporate" about car parking? Other than the stadium car park, the club doesn't make a penny out of it.
There used to be loads of places where you could park for free, but one by one they got encouraged to bring wheel-clampers in etc, and traffic wardens in Reading are like a plague of locusts. Personally I park in Mereoak P&R, just south of the motorway, which is £3.50, which is hardly extortionate. All parking used to be that sort of price until we got to the premier league, but the prices didn't come back down again.
There was meant to be a train station half a mile away, that was meant to open when the ground opened (or shortly after). Not only has it still not opened, but Network Rail have put it back until 2019-2024.
There are regular shuttle buses from Reading station though, which is more than there was to Elm Park.
, as others have said, there was zero atmosphere until you scored, and even then, the Walsall fans were louder.
It wasn't a big game for us. Sorry if that offends you, but getting to the 4th round means we've won 1 cup game. Do you get excited about reaching the 2nd round?
It was a fairly low key game, and as said, it lurched from boredom to complacency within two minutes.
Yes, our fans don't exactly live up to Galatasaray's "welcome to hell" image (and having been to a low key league game at the Ali Semi Yen Stadium, nor do theirs all the time either) but the atmosphere has been rather better at other games.
Reading are the type of club that is killing traditional old English football. You can understand that the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd/city will attract all these modern half and half scarf wearing football "fans"
so how many half & half scarf Reading fans have you seen?
None, obviously, but little details like that clearly won't stop you getting offended about what you assume Reading fans are like.
, but Reading, having spent a little time in the company of the biggest club, now think they have a divine right to be there all the time
We do?
I can only assume you've spoken to loads of Reading fans to get this opinion, and aren't just, again, getting offended by your own assumptions, as that would be a little stupid.
, thus take no interest when they are not competing with the big boys.
I guess if you'd been drawn at home to a typical 4th tier club you'd have sold out.
The great thing about a club like Walsall is you will get the same kind of passion and support whether it's away at Hartlepool in December, or at home to Chelsea in the cup.
Getting 2500 at 2900 in your home FA Cup ties this season kind of suggests that's nonsense.
The attitude you get from clubs like Reading (and Reading aren't the only ones) is that only the games against the big 4 matter
Really? You taken an active interest in the hundreds of games we've played since going up in 2006, that aren't against the big four, to judge our atmosphere?
You couldn't really just be getting offended by your own assumptions again, could you? Or do you maybe put Walsall in the same bracket as all the clubs who aren't a big 4 club?
, that's all they care about, that's when they sing...when they're on TV
Having been a championship club (or higher) for nearly 15 years in a row now, being on tv is nothing special. The idea that we'd get excited about being on tv is just daft. But then again, if you are the kind of person who has preconceived ideas, and requires no actual evidence to back them up, it's an understandable viewpoint.
. I understand all clubs want to get promoted, or win the league, that's what it's all about, but Reading are just a horrible club with no soul.
So what did we have, in terms of soul, that was so different in our Elm Park days? Or did we have no soul then either? That would be odd, as it's meant to be that moving has ruined us and taken our soul away.
I'd hate to support a club like Reading, in fact I wouldn't, I'd go and support a non league side if Walsall ever moved to a ground miles away from anywhere, with 15,000 empty seats and an empty home "end".
The main support was always at the side, even at Elm Park, because the home end wasn't covered. It was one "tradition" we took to the new place, which is a shame as the view from the end is fantastic.
I'd hate to play in a ground with 15000 empty seats too. Luckily we average 18000 this year, despite playing badly, and the Madejski doesn't hold 33000.
Even yesterday's low crowd was 55% full, which is proportionally still more full than the Bescot is, on average.
But still, as you say, at least you didn't in any way seem bitter about it.
