Reading City FC

[AthleticoSpizz]

Have no interest whatsoever in Reading City or Scours Lane because of certainly personalities associated with Reading City.

Club for Chelsea fans who can’t afford or aren’t allowed to go to the Bridge.

name and shame SCIAG. I thought those Reading Town style ‘personalities’ were long gone.

[Royal Rother]

I've been to Scours Lane watching Highmoor Ibis / Reading Town / Reading City v Windsor (plus a couple of even lower level Cup Finals) a good number of times over the last 10 years.

Absolute dump which I hope I never have the occasion to visit again but I've never seen even a hint of trouble there.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Watched some of those ‘lower league’ cup finals there (relative and RFC ‘tight to the players’ employee was playing)…gated over 300, beer on the pitchside, sunny afternoon, not so bad a place given the occasion.

[tmesis]

I've been to Scours Lane watching Highmoor Ibis / Reading Town / Reading City v Windsor (plus a couple of even lower level Cup Finals) a good number of times over the last 10 years.

Absolute dump which I hope I never have the occasion to visit again but I've never seen even a hint of trouble there.

I went there in the Highmoor IBIS days, and it was an utter pit, with junk littering one side.

It might be the most dismal ground I've been to - and I've been to Tilbury.

[LUX]

surely its location on a pretty part of the Thames would help?

It has massive Reading sporting pedigree too, with the speedway.

[St Pauli]

Used to go to Reading Town when they were owned by Hayes TUC or whatever. The same group that run the booze at Reading Festival. Seemed to be a pet project of a high ranking officer of the GMB union.

It was ok, in that it was cheap, you could drink pitchside.

That said, the food and booze were pretty shit, the location around the ground is a bit shit, it’s hard(ish) to get to with few decent pubs near it despite its location close to the Oxford Road.

The previous owners had used part of the site to dump industrial waste.

Could be good with a bit of investment, and some more decent boozers reopening (we can dream) nearer then the shit end of the Occy Road.

[ReadingGlasses]

There's something about a club reforming that seems to galvanise support, but retaining use of the stadium is key.

Definitely. The "new" club has to maintain a sense of continuity with the "old" one, or fans will not transfer their support over. You can only go so far by having the same kit and a similar badge. Keeping the same stadium is by far the biggest way to do that - sitting in the same seat as before, having the same pre-match routine, seeing familiar faces etc.

[St Pauli]

There’s no way a phoenix club could retain the Madejski.

Would also be weird for a club that size to play in a 20k+ stadium.

[tmesis]

There’s no way a phoenix club could retain the Madejski.

Would also be weird for a club that size to play in a 20k+ stadium.

Given how other clubs retained (or even gained) fans after reforming, I see no reason why we'd be any different.

If Southend went bust, but a reformed club kept Roots Hall and reformed in the Isthmian League, nobody would be surprised to see them getting 4000-5000 at their games.

So why do people assume that if we reformed we'd only be getting a few hundred?

[ReadingGlasses]

A lot would depend on the council and how they react. If some kind of planning restriction said that the stadium can only be used for sport then whoever ends up owning it may be more willing to rent it out to the new team. Perhaps with some of the stands mothballed until they are needed.

[Dirk Gently]

The biggest decision is what level the appropriate FA Committee decides the "new" club starts at, and whether it's a brand new club or a "continuation" of an existing club. Not all new clubs have to start at the very bottom of the pyramid, and that would be a crucial decision.

I've been involved in a few phoenix clubs/community ownership clubs (still am!) and the one thing that is never considered, and is always a pleasant surprise to cynics, is what "ownership" actually means to people. Typically once a club is community owned, all sorts of people with diverse talents and various companies emerge to support or help out in practical or financial ways. There's something about changing the relationship from customer to owner that changes everything.

[St Pauli]

There’s no way a phoenix club could retain the Madejski.

Would also be weird for a club that size to play in a 20k+ stadium.

Given how other clubs retained (or even gained) fans after reforming, I see no reason why we'd be any different.

If Southend went bust, but a reformed club kept Roots Hall and reformed in the Isthmian League, nobody would be surprised to see them getting 4000-5000 at their games.

So why do people assume that if we reformed we'd only be getting a few hundred?

If you come up with a list of clubs that have reformed from scratch from the ashes, but kept their old ground, I think the list would be very short. Happy to be proved wrong on this.

The only one that comes to my mind is Aldershot and I actually have no idea if they retained the ground from the outset.

Having been to their ground, the size and design means it would be much cheaper to maintain and run their ground than the Madejski stadium. Keeping hold of the Madejski would be a major money sink for a newly reformed club, as would all modern, all seater stadia.

[Dirk Gently]

There’s no way a phoenix club could retain the Madejski.

Would also be weird for a club that size to play in a 20k+ stadium.

Given how other clubs retained (or even gained) fans after reforming, I see no reason why we'd be any different.

If Southend went bust, but a reformed club kept Roots Hall and reformed in the Isthmian League, nobody would be surprised to see them getting 4000-5000 at their games.

So why do people assume that if we reformed we'd only be getting a few hundred?

If you come up with a list of clubs that have reformed from scratch from the ashes, but kept their old ground, I think the list would be very short. Happy to be proved wrong on this.

The only one that comes to my mind is Aldershot and I actually have no idea if they retained the ground from the outset.

Having been to their ground, the size and design means it would be much cheaper to maintain and run their ground than the Madejski stadium. Keeping hold of the Madejski would be a major money sink for a newly reformed club, as would all modern, all seater stadia.

Yep, the vast majority of successful community ownerships have come when the supporters have acted as "buyers of last resort" and rescued their club from administration when it was such a basket case no-one else would buy it.

[tmesis]

There’s no way a phoenix club could retain the Madejski.

Would also be weird for a club that size to play in a 20k+ stadium.

Given how other clubs retained (or even gained) fans after reforming, I see no reason why we'd be any different.

If Southend went bust, but a reformed club kept Roots Hall and reformed in the Isthmian League, nobody would be surprised to see them getting 4000-5000 at their games.

So why do people assume that if we reformed we'd only be getting a few hundred?

If you come up with a list of clubs that have reformed from scratch from the ashes, but kept their old ground, I think the list would be very short. Happy to be proved wrong on this.

The only one that comes to my mind is Aldershot and I actually have no idea if they retained the ground from the outset.

Having been to their ground, the size and design means it would be much cheaper to maintain and run their ground than the Madejski stadium. Keeping hold of the Madejski would be a major money sink for a newly reformed club, as would all modern, all seater stadia.

Aldershot
Hereford
Macclesfield

I am certain Bury will get football league size crowds next season, now they are back at Gigg Lane.

Various non-league clubs have had the boom/bust cycle...Farnborough and Salisbury are two that spring to mind.

Wimbledon are a strange case as they didn't have a ground before reforming, but were able to move to a ground that was almost football league ready.

In almost every case, the clubs that lost their grounds found it much harder to retain crowds, and progress as clubs. Newport got lucky by having a rugby ground they could move to in 2012, which allowed them to progress to EFL level.

[St Pauli]

Aldershot
Hereford
Macclesfield

Thanks, I had a look at the Hereford and Macclesfield grounds, and as I expected, like Alderhot they both have several stands that are terraced as opposed to all seater, and the stadia generally are low rise stadia with limited roofing.

Certainly very different and much cheaper to run than a ‘high rise’ all seater stadium like the Madejski. They’re not really comparable, and the Madejski would be far more expensive to run.

[tmesis]

Aldershot
Hereford
Macclesfield

Thanks, I had a look at the Hereford and Macclesfield grounds, and as I expected, like Alderhot they both have several stands that are terraced as opposed to all seater, and the stadia generally are low rise stadia with limited roofing.

Certainly very different and much cheaper to run than a ‘high rise’ all seater stadium like the Madejski. They’re not really comparable, and the Madejski would be far more expensive to run.

They also get much lower crowds than Reading.

One of the selling points of an all-seater ground is that it's lower maintenence than terracing, which needs regular work on the terracing itself, and the barriers, to maintain capacity. Have you not noticed non-league clubs replacing terracing with seats?

Move to Scours Lane or Palmer Park, and Reading FC as we know it is finished. In that sort of environment crowds really would be around the 1000 mark, and getting back to the football league would probably take about 20 years.

It's all daftly hypothetical at the current time, but I'd say even if the first 5000 of every crowd would be paying for the stadium, we'd be far better off there than somewhere crap like Palmer Park.

[Green]

surely its location on a pretty part of the Thames would help?

It has massive Reading sporting pedigree too, with the speedway.

They should build a bowling alley down there