Reading FC fan verdict: Likely relegation- a balanced opinion

I’ve been a Reading season ticket holder for 40 years. I stand in Club 1871 alongside my Father, who is in his 57th year of holding a Season ticket. I won’t pretend I haven’t missed the odd game, but Reading is in my blood, I’m passionate and I love that I care as much as I do.

Which is why I want to provide a balanced perspective. On twitter, on hob nob, I struggle with the fans comments made at times, I can deal with negativity and acknowledge how performances affect us all, but what I can’t stand is the apparent sense of entitlement that Reading fans have developed. To be fair, this behaviour is probably not exclusive to Reading fans, I’m sure others following struggling teams echo similar sentiments, but in truth I don’t care or listen to any other fanbase.

Let me break football down for a moment.

At the start of every Championship season, 24 teams spin the wheel and have ambitions of promotion. 3 teams will be successful, just 12.5% of those participating, the remaining 87.5% will fail in their objectives. Of these,  3 teams will suffer relegation, falling at the bottom of that pack. Every one of those 24 teams has a chairman, manager, set of players  and fans that all hoped and believed as the season commenced. None of them targeted failure as an objective, but most will inevitably be disappointed.

This is why football matters, and why we care. It’s all about the jeopardy. Remove the threat of relegation or the chance of promotion, and it would become stale and monotone. There has to be danger for there to be excitement. I can’t imagine Houdini would have captured anyone’s attention if the crowd were told beforehand, he was always guaranteed to escape unhurt.

We love football because we are vulnerable, it’s the uncertainty that makes it so addictive. It’s only because of the lows that allow us to truly experience the incredible highs, so we should accept it and embrace it. We are not immune to relegation, sometimes you just have to accept it’s your turn. Not one of the 21 clubs above us deserve to be relegated more than we do, so just take it on the chin.

And this is why I have an issue with us behaving like we’re entitled, and at times, greedy.

We have no divine right to promotion. We also have no divine right to stay up every year either. The size of our fan base and annual revenues suggests that fighting for survival in the bottom 3rd of the Championship is probably about our level. That’s fine, that’s football. Occasionally we’ll have a Luton-esque freak couple of boom years, but occasionally we’ll also get caught out. Every one of the teams is spinning the wheel, only a few will win.

And this is why I don’t understand why Dai Yongge is so often vilified by some prominent social media voices. It’s the sense of entitlement rearing its ugly head again.

Everyone references Luton Town as being an example to follow. They have one of the lowest wage bills in the Championship, yet they have secured play-offs the past two seasons. Well done.

But even Luton lost £6.3m in their recent accounts. That is £6.3m that someone, somewhere, had to find to maintain their continued existence. It’ll be the same next year.

What would happen if Luton were to only spend what they earned? If they had to break even as a minimum every year?

They’d be relegated. And then likely relegated again. No one would be putting them on a pedestal as the model to follow.

And herein lies the hypocrisy of the loud voices amongst some of our fan base.

If you offered any of them the choice of the Club being financially prudent and solvent, only spending what it has, and pretty much guaranteeing on-pitch failure, versus spinning the wheel, spending beyond its means (even to a modest Luton-like level) in the hope of success, they would all take the latter.

And that financial bill must be paid. Funnily enough, not by the dissenting fans.

Step forward Dai Yongge.

He puts in £300m, builds a training facility that is the envy of many, and a great academy. He spins the wheel, committing funds way beyond the means of most Championship clubs in the hope of increasing the odds of promotion and a return to the promised land.

And we loved it whilst it was all happening. We got excited about the transfers, the new names, and the fact that our odds were improving. We all dined out on social media when £7.5m Puscas scored 2 on his debut against Cardiff. Not one of those fan voices complained about the Club over-extending itself financially, yet every one of us can do basic maths.

Success is never guaranteed. If it was, there would be no excitement. There are 23 other clubs vying for promotion, some have pockets equally as deep as our Chairman, some with parachute payments to fall back on. The reality is football is tough and it’s a gamble, just ask Todd Boehly.

We should be thankful we have Dai Yongge. We have no right to call him out, demanding he makes a statement or criticising him because he’s not provided guaranteed success. We each spend £400 a year on a ticket, he spends £40m. We have no right to call the shots. If we’d prefer to be a fan-owned Club like AFC Wimbledon, then prepare for an annual battle to survive in the Football League.

So, it looks like this year is our turn for the luck to run out. C’est la vie. Thanks to Dai Yongge’s continued investment we have a talented backroom team in Bowen, Carey and Dublin, and a training facility that will give us a real edge in League one recruitment. If he pulled out, we’d have no hope.

So, let’s all be the bigger person and take relegation (if it happens) on the chin. Let’s accept that it’s part of why we love the game so much, you’ve got to experience the lows to really enjoy the highs.