Is there a generation gap among fans?

[Deadlock]

Over the years I have mostly liked and supported our players but along the way I disliked Palethorpe,Meaker,Hughes,Rougier and Hunt for various reasons(ironically all wingers) but loved (possibly a bit strong) Dennis Allen,Bowman,Jenkins,Dixon,Webb,Senior,Darius,Shaka,Osborn,Parky,Cureton,Kitson,Doyle (mainly midfielders and strikers).

Jack Palethorpe? Blimey Victor, didn't realise you were that old!

[facaldaqui]

Coppell deserved crticism for the unnecessary relegation last season, but on the whole I trust him. Even when I have doubts, I don't try to second guess him, and most times he does not let me down. I would recommend to Victor and others who worry about whether this team could survive in the prem to live for the moment. Enjoy the week-to-week tension and, usually, the success of our present campaign. Let Coppell and others worry about the future. I'd back them to have us competitive in the prem, if we go up. How they'll do it, by changing the team or stiffening it, I don't know, but they've done it before. The point is that if we are second, we are being succesful. Smell the coffee. Of course the team and individual players have many faults, which is why some of the performances seem stuttering, but the same seems to be true of the rest of the teams in the championship and many of those in the prem. I wish some people could have their entitled moan about, say, Hunt or Harper, without going the whole hog and wanting them out of the club. They are part of a successful TEAM.

(I remember people moaning about Martin Peters in 1966, my 11-year-old self included, but the team won the World Cup. I should have trusted Alf.)

[SteveRoyal]

Wouldn't it help if there was a Poll up for all HNA? users to select their age range?
It might help answer your question. Kinda.

[Sarah Star]

Wouldn't it help if there was a Poll up for all HNA? users to select their age range?
It might help answer your question. Kinda.

Wouldn't it need to be something along the lines of:

Old and miserable ---
Old and happy --------
Young and miserable-
Young and happy-----

LOL

[rabidbee]

The internet has changed things. With the internet, people now seem to genuinely think that their views are important, and might even have some influence. Fans have become pseudo-managers in their own heads. That's the biggest change.

The internet has changed nothing. People have always held these views, and expressed them, but now they do so even to people outside earshot of them in the pub, on the bus or at the ground.

[Sarah Star]

The internet has changed things. With the internet, people now seem to genuinely think that their views are important, and might even have some influence. Fans have become pseudo-managers in their own heads. That's the biggest change.

The internet has changed nothing. People have always held these views, and expressed them, but now they do so even to people outside earshot of them in the pub, on the bus or at the ground.

This is true.

A friend of mine told me his Dad used to regularly write to the manager of Chelsea (can't remember who it was at the time) telling him who to pick in their next game.

[West Stand Man]

The fact is that there is a generation gap. I am in a different generation to that of my sons and daughter. That doesn't mean we all have different opinions just based on our ages, but we are in different generations. I hope that helps to add to the debate.

[rob the royal]

my name's rob and i'm 5 years old.

i think we are rubbish and will get relegated this season. coppell out.

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

Facaldaqui,

You've started a great thread here. Like you, I have to pinch myself that here we are, 2nd in the 2nd tier. My supporting life started in the 78-79 promotion season aged 10.

Now, my old man, who has watched Reading through thin and thin for most of his life, moans like hell about RFC, even though these are the golden years. Just goes to show you can take the man out of the Tilehurst End, but not etc ..

Enjoy these times because sooner rather than later we'll be at the wrong end of the championship .. and maybe worse. It's all part of supporting a club that, while on the up in recent times, is not one of the Big 4 or Everton or Villa.

[Victor Meldrew]

Over the years I have mostly liked and supported our players but along the way I disliked Palethorpe,Meaker,Hughes,Rougier and Hunt for various reasons(ironically all wingers) but loved (possibly a bit strong) Dennis Allen,Bowman,Jenkins,Dixon,Webb,Senior,Darius,Shaka,Osborn,Parky,Cureton,Kitson,Doyle (mainly midfielders and strikers).

Jack Palethorpe? Blimey Victor, didn't realise you were that old!

No,Chris Palethorpe.

[Rex]

Do we go for the event or the occasion. Me i just go with the flow, never really moan about a player of get on their back during the game. True is madly frustrating sometimes and a little depressing going home after a long haul away game but it's not life and death. Football is a really good ice breaker on occasion and gets even strangers in pubs talkng.
Football is naturally not always about the good times. It's a very selfish and expensive past time for me which is something i continually come back to despite the uphill struggle we have faced in the past.
There is a person i know who is from the older generation of support and he continually curses certain players even if they are playing out of their skin. He then goes quiet and moves onto the next palyer to moan. I really hate this attitude as though everyone is entitled to an opinion, why go to a game when it appears he is not getting anything out of it. (other than a few hours away from the wife).

[Dirk Gently]

As it happens, I'm in the middle of writing an item about this......

I'd say it's not quite as simple as a two-way generation gap - I'd say it really breaks down four ways.

There are newer supporters (last 4-5 years) who have typically only seen the "new" Reading, where there has mainly been success (notwithstanding the relegation, it was at least a relegation from the PL). This groups tends to be younger - but isn't always - but they mainly seem to be those who expect instant success, and are bought into the "thrown money at the problem/buy new players/sack the manager etc). So if anything their patience is lower and their expectations are higher. Speculating, maybe this is because they spend too much time playing Championship Manager and watching Soccer AM, where Sky tells them how to be a football supporter.)

The opposite to this are the older/longer-term supporters. They've seen Reading in the lower leagues and aren't convinced by the recent glamour of football - and find it hard to believe Reading's recent success. They tend to be more tolerant and fatalistic because they see more of the long-term picture - they hardly recognise Reading from the team of old at Elm Park.

Now the other axis (if this was graphed) is more about how people want to support. There is a significant group who want to stand, sing, be tribal and loud and to recreate the 70s/80s stereotype of a football supporter - even if they weren't themselves alive in the 70's/80s. Then there is the other group who want to watch the match, and are happy to sit and applaud when doing it, without all the aspects of being a traditional/stereotypical supporters.

As we are from a predominantly affluent/middle-class/non-industrial area we tend to have more of this latter type than many clubs. It's the difference between these two latter types of supports that causes much of the conflict at games - especially away games which are attractive to familes etc - this latter type tends to be a lot more selective about the matches they attend, too. But, again, this isn't age-based, as both of these types of supporters can belong to any age group.

[Millsy]

IN summary - I am generally the best fan there is and my views are the most balanced, the most correct and the best. Most people when describing the perfect fan with the most spot on and perfect opinions generally think of me. Thank you.

*takes a bow*

Spot on, top post.

*takes another bow*

[Millsy]

Finally ther's the middle ground: those who joined around the time of Wembley 95 (like ME!)

I thought you were MUCH older.

Oi!!!

[AF1]

I've no idea what age people are on here, but some of the criticism seems to me too extreme. Here we are second in the Championship and some people are still not happy: recently, Hobnobbers have been queueing up to wish the likes of Hunt and Harper, two of our key players, were out the door.

Myself, I go back to the sixties, when my dad started taking me to games......

as soon as no mark posters start rambling about how long they've supported blah blah I quit reading, grab a plus one and head back to AE

[rabidbee]

Dirkers, wouldn't you identify the 95 Play-off Final as another generational fault-line?

[papereyes]

Dirkers, wouldn't you identify the 95 Play-off Final as another generational fault-line?

Just anecdotally on here, I see a difference in attitude from people whose first match was between the two Wembley appearances (and also likely to be new fans as in they were brought into football in a big way post-Italia '90). Explained my thoughts on this elsewhere.

[rabidbee]

Yeah. I started going in 93/4, although 94/5 was the first season I pretty much saw every home game. Even taking 1998 into account, it's seemed preety much an upward trajectory since that point.

[strap]

I was conned into supporting Reading in the 69/70 season,when all games seemed to be 6-3 for or against.The entertainment was fantastic,and i thought the following seasons would be more of the same.Top half of the third division dizzy heights.

How wrong i was, relegation was followed by years in the old fourth division.In those years we all had plenty to moan about.It is only in the last five or six years that we have established ourselves as a strong championship side,with aspirations of the premiership.

Would i have missed the struggling years? No way,they make the good times even better.Do i still moan ? of course i do i am a Reading footballer supporter.

+1

Own up you wrinklies, how many shed a tear at the mad Stad the day we beat Derby to clinch the Championship? At the final whistle I was slumped in my seat in the East stand bawling my eyes out after years of watching RFC, literally shaking with emotion, whilst all around me fans were going mental at the team on the pitch. I don't actually recall hearing any noise either, just an eerie silence like I was in a world of my own. A Very VERY surreal experience.

Still makes me well up even now.

[Royal Lady]

I shed tears of delight at Leicester away when we clinched promotion. I've never seen Schards look so happy.