Reading have just over a one in four chance of returning to the Championship at the first attempt, according to research by Skylab.
Studying data from the last 20 years, 63 teams have been relegated to League One.
No doubt this will be the target for Mark Bowen and the club, however only 27 per cent have done this.
They are still yet to appoint a first-team manager ahead of the new season.
13 of the 17 to have done so have gone up automatically, with four winning the play-offs.
Almost half, 44 per cent, do not even reach the top six, and 11 per cent have been relegated in successive seasons.
It took four seasons for the club to make a return to the second tier after relegation in 1998, twice finishing mid-table and losing in the 2001 play-off final to Walsall.
Blackpool and Wigan Athletic were relegated alongside Reading, with the Tangerines only one of seven clubs to suffer successive relegations from the second to fourth tiers in 2015/16.
The Latics have already been deducted eight points for failing to pay staff on time.
Three clubs have previously had points deducted in League One, all three were relegated to League Two.
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