Reading (A) match thread - Jan 13th

[Rampant Zebra]

Everyone didn't know what was going to happen yesterday. There was a lot of talk about it but talk and action are different things. 

[Rockape99]

All in all one thought struck me in all this Reading mess , thank god Carol , Kevin and Paddy paid the ransom and saved us 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Brian Johnson said:

The thing is Phil, everyone knew what was going to happen yesterday but you still took the risk of going to the game. You cant moan to be compensated  after knowing the risks.

 

Yes I get that. 

I ain't spoke to me nephew bet he was fuming .

That's the reason I decided give it a miss it was along with Portsmouth the 2 away games a season I decided I may go too but after hearing that they were going on the pitch decided a day mulling around Trentham Gardens having a stroll with me season ticket paid for was a better option .

 I didn't even put it on me provider as knew it was not going be played .

So ended up watching Rotherham v Stoke a easy win for Stoke Rotherham were so negative and got what they deserved ,and Newcastle v ManCity for 80 mins a very good game kept nodding off though so bed at 21.25 woke at 07.10 .

If Vale nor playing not that interested in others .

UTV 

 

[Rampant Zebra]

6 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

The abandonment today has been covered by:

Evening Standard, Daily Mail, ABC (America), Talksport, The i, BBC, Sky News, The Telegraph, Yahoo, Guardian, The Times, The Mirror, The Sun, FourFourTwo, The Athletic.

Were all of these national and international outlets reporting on the tennis balls on the pitch?

National/international pressure on a chairman can have a massive effect. Yongge has businesses. He has shareholders and stakeholders. The EFL will face questions they weren't facing from the press on Saturday morning. 95% of football fans in the country now know there's something amiss at Reading.

I'm sorry, I know we all go about our lives wanting what's best for ourselves, but a Saturday afternoon and £29 wasted is well worth it if today contributes to young kids still having a football club to attend with the families next season.

Thing is, it is not the Premier League so not many people will be that bothered. I think that they have not helped their cause really as the owner will just screw them over because he can and won't want to show weakness. They took it too far by getting the game abandoned in my opinion. Half an hour on the pitch and let the game finish would have been more effective. Show some undeserved respect for the owner but have the threat of causing an abandonment still in the locker. 

[sheffield61]

The Reading manager is saying on the BBC website he hopes it gets replayed in front of a full house!! 

 

NOT a great idea I'd say.......

 

At the very LEAST this needs replaying with NO HOME fans attending IMO.....

 

[Biddulph_PV]

Morning! So I’ve reviewed my position overnight and have come to the following conclusion…. there is absolutely no way on Earth that this game should be replayed. End of.

[Walter]

I'll start by saying I agree in principle what the Reading fans did yesterday. It's their club and no one else is going to do anything to help them, so fair play. 

My personal opinion is that I don't have a great deal of <ovf censored> to give for Reading. It's sad and not a great but i look around and they are still have a lot more going for them than we do currently. They probably didn't even know we've been in similar situations twice previously let alone cared about it. This notion of the football family is a load of rubbish. Who cares about Southend for example, no one other than Southend fans really. Just like no one but Port Vale fans cared when we went through it.

I went to the game and knew there had been talk of action. To be honest I assumed Reading fans were a load of poncy tories so didn't actually expect them to do what they did or for so long. Fair play. 

The big disappointment for me was the actions of some port vale fans. Hugging and kissing Reading fans, taking scarves off them etc. Just didn't sit right. The round of applause and the rendition of get out of their club was enough I thought. Some lads down at the pitch side went way over the top. I was actually a little embarrassed. Especially because about 20 minutes later the same lads they had been hugging were then the target of their gesturing as we as collective got fed up of the Reading fans nonsense. 

 

[Tony Rodriguez]

8 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Thankfully, the group of fans did enough to make him amenable to selling to Carol Shanahan, who we should be thanking God for every single day, whatever her flaws may be.

Rather unnecessary last five words.

[The French Connection]

7 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

The abandonment today has been covered by:

Evening Standard, Daily Mail, ABC (America), Talksport, The i, BBC, Sky News, The Telegraph, Yahoo, Guardian, The Times, The Mirror, The Sun, FourFourTwo, The Athletic.

Were all of these national and international outlets reporting on the tennis balls on the pitch?

National/international pressure on a chairman can have a massive effect. Yongge has businesses. He has shareholders and stakeholders. The EFL will face questions they weren't facing from the press on Saturday morning. 95% of football fans in the country now know there's something amiss at Reading.

I'm sorry, I know we all go about our lives wanting what's best for ourselves, but a Saturday afternoon and £29 wasted is well worth it if today contributes to young kids still having a football club to attend with the families next season.

We actually got a mention in the Sentinel, first time in months! 

[smithie]

39 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

The thing is Phil, everyone knew what was going to happen yesterday but you still took the risk of going to the game. You cant moan to be compensated  after knowing the risks.

 

This wasn't a pitch invasion by thousands and could easily have been prevented. Only Thames Valley police and the Head of Stewarding at Reading can explain why they didn't do so. 

[The French Connection]

43 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

The thing is Phil, everyone knew what was going to happen yesterday but you still took the risk of going to the game. You cant moan to be compensated  after knowing the risks.

 

Not everyone 'knew'.  It was threatened, yes, but could also have been prevented by better policing by Police and Stewards.  It could have been that, after a few minutes, people left the pitch so the game could continue. 

[smithie]

11 minutes ago, Walter said:

I'll start by saying I agree in principle what the Reading fans did yesterday. It's their club and no one else is going to do anything to help them, so fair play. 

My personal opinion is that I don't have a great deal of <ovf censored> to give for Reading. It's sad and not a great but i look around and they are still have a lot more going for them than we do currently. They probably didn't even know we've been in similar situations twice previously let alone cared about it. This notion of the football family is a load of rubbish. Who cares about Southend for example, no one other than Southend fans really. Just like no one but Port Vale fans cared when we went through it.

I went to the game and knew there had been talk of action. To be honest I assumed Reading fans were a load of poncy tories so didn't actually expect them to do what they did or for so long. Fair play. 

The big disappointment for me was the actions of some port vale fans. Hugging and kissing Reading fans, taking scarves off them etc. Just didn't sit right. The round of applause and the rendition of get out of their club was enough I thought. Some lads down at the pitch side went way over the top. I was actually a little embarrassed. Especially because about 20 minutes later the same lads they had been hugging were then the target of their gesturing as we as collective got fed up of the Reading fans nonsense. 

 

The "I stand with you, Reading" posturing was laughable and most likely done for social media purposes. I'm just waiting for a commemorative 50/50 scarf to be produced. 

[worldsendvalefan]

Obviously, per usual, I'm going to get a lot of hatred for my view. 
I'm sure that Carol etc will see what they can do in regards to sorting out some form of compensation but apart from the match ticket & those that used the official club coaches, I'm not sure that will happen.
The fact that "every man and his dog knew exactly was planned" (me included) then Vale fan's can not really be screaming for compensation for petrol, hotels etc because you took the risk of attending when you were warned that this was going to happen

I didn't know what was planned, nor did other people around where I was sat. Other people only heard after they got on the coach coming down. I don't live in Staffs, so wasn't privy to any rumours. Can't recall anything being mentioned on this forum (could be wrong)
So everyone and his dog did not know about it.

Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app

[Brian Johnson]

Just now, worldsendvalefan said:

I didn't know what was planned, nor did other people around where I was sat. Other people only heard after they got on the coach coming down. I don't live in Staffs, so wasn't privy to any rumours. Can't recall anything being mentioned on this forum (could be wrong)
So everyone and his dog did not know about it.

Sent from my SM-A528B using onevalefan mobile app
 

People claiming that they did not know what was going to happen that are using the internet, social media & forums like OVF, have truly had got their heads buried underneath the sand.

It was mentioned on the first few pages of this thread.

[Bede]

8 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

In 2019, I spoke quite a bit to Mr Norman Smurthwaite. He was fairly clear that under no circumstances would he sell Port Vale. He enjoyed being a football club chairman too much. He was the sole shareholder. He would stay as long as he wanted to - even if that meant PVFC in non-league.

Then, a determined group of fans made things less comfortable for him. National press attention, open hostility at home games - the man started to buckle under the pressure. He didn't like it. He started looking for an out.

At this point, Mr Smurthwaite stated he'd quite happily let the club fold. He'd simply stop funding the club until it failed to repay its debts, then make the selling process extremely difficult, which would have very easily ended in a Bury situation. We were really close to being on the brink.

No Port Vale. Vale Park in the hands of Smurthwaite. AFC Burslem Vale playing Northwest Counties in a groundshare with Leek Town. The 150 year history of Port Vale, the club of our grandparents and hopefully our grandkids, stolen by one bloke.

Thankfully, the group of fans did enough to make him amenable to selling to Carol Shanahan, who we should be thanking God for every single day, whatever her flaws may be.

Reading FC are in that position. Yongge will finish them off. No Saturday pints. No seeing your mates at the game. No family bond. No history. Nowt.

They did what they had to do today. Will it make a difference? No idea. They've got national attention on their fight and, let me tell you, it makes a massive difference. Getting the game abandoned makes a far bigger splash than going back to your seats after the PA tells you to. Everyone in the country knows about this now. It's national news.

The Vale fans on here carping about £29 and one game of football should really think back to 2019. We were lucky enough that we had a saviour waiting in the wings, so didn't need to go as far as match abandonments. Reading are being held hostage - £70m is being demanded. Picture your Saturdays without Vale. That's what Reading fans are facing.

It's not the fans fault they overspent. It's not the fans fault they're in this position. They're doing whatever they can to protect the football club from going bump, as we so very nearly did.

Some stuff is bigger than your day out. You're not the main characters of life, lads. This is thousands of people's football clubs.

Can't believe I'm reading Vale fans moan about it. Some absolutely disgusting comments. I don't think folks clock how lucky they are to even attend professional games of football to moan about.

Came here to say pretty much this, Joe.