Hard to see any progress for the forseeable future

[Royal Lady]

Are there 6,000 people desperate for tickets who can't get them? No? Then what would have been the point of an extension? Other than to have a few more thousand empty seats?!

[BR2]

I'm getting fed up with people going on about the credit crunch as if no lending at all is being done.
Banks and building societies are still lending billions to individuals and on good securities interest rates are in no way prohibitive.
As for our stadium I am one of those that felt the club should have pressed on with the project halfway through the Championship winning season when it was known that the next season would sell out every week regardless of who we might be playing and of course once established there is very little maintenance work costs involved with plastic and concrete and it would all have been in place for many years to come.

[brendywendy]

Are there 6,000 people desperate for tickets who can't get them? No? Then what would have been the point of an extension? Other than to have a few more thousand empty seats?!

hes explained that quite well actually i thought

the point is that while we are in the prem we do fill it, and would use up extra seats if we had them.
and while in the championship we have the extra capacity to lose some seats during the season and it not hit us financially.

its all about the potential extra revenue, so that when we do go up, we will not have to wait three years to fulfill our seating potential and are instantly able tio increase revenues, in order that we can both reduce ticket prices, and feed the extra revenue into the wage bill, whilst still conforming to JMs "proper business" plan

without it we cant grow
and everyone moaned about teh extra seats before we moved, and in hindsight it is what enabled us to improve as a club.

[Gus the teenage cow]

can people just stop saying "credit crunch"...it doesn't really mean anything, be more specific you vile vile people

[BR2]

I saw some kids having a kickabout in a local park yesterday and one of them was wearing a Reading shirt with the name of Doyle on the back-now that IS progress.

[Hampshire Royal]

can people just stop saying "credit crunch"...it doesn't really mean anything, be more specific you vile vile people

OK, Gus, how's the recession in the Republic? Beginning to bite yet?

[Schards#2]

The experience of last season would suggest that 24,000 will be adequate for all but a handful of games even if we were promoted.

Ticket demand in the first season was dictated by the novelty factor, this was already wearing off after one season with games not selling out and others only getting close to selling out due to special offers e.t.c.

I see no reason to suggest that, even in the best possible scenario, the cost of the extention would be recouped and in any other scenario would be a huge financial millstone around our necks and an empty white elephant.

I do however, bow to the superior knowledge of hob nob's resident idiot - Woodcote Royal who, this season, has been demanding the sacking of Coppell and threatening to boycott games until he's gone. Added to his opinions that Andy Hughes was a better left back than Shorey and that Sidwell was rubbish and we won't miss him, it's clear his opinion should not be taken lightly as he is a man of great wisdom and foresight.

[Royal Lady]

Are there 6,000 people desperate for tickets who can't get them? No? Then what would have been the point of an extension? Other than to have a few more thousand empty seats?!

hes explained that quite well actually i thought

the point is that while we are in the prem we do fill it, and would use up extra seats if we had them.
and while in the championship we have the extra capacity to lose some seats during the season and it not hit us financially.

its all about the potential extra revenue, so that when we do go up, we will not have to wait three years to fulfill our seating potential and are instantly able tio increase revenues, in order that we can both reduce ticket prices, and feed the extra revenue into the wage bill, whilst still conforming to JMs "proper business" plan

without it we cant grow
and everyone moaned about teh extra seats before we moved, and in hindsight it is what enabled us to improve as a club.

Well, if you read Ian Royal's diatribes on this thread, he says we shouldn't expect to be in the Premiership. If we went up, we'd still need another couple of years in the Prem, imho, before contemplating an extension. Our ST numbers are currently pretty good because a lot of people felt that we'd go straight back up. If we get promoted, obviously they'll rise higher. If we get into the top 6 but fail to get promotion, STs will probably still be fairly high as people think that next year we'll get back in the Prem. If we slide down the table and finish middling, STs will drop next season and for every season after that that we don't show signs of a chance of getting into the Prem. Even allowing for all this, unless we're a Prem side next season, you won't be seeing a clutch of threads on here moaning that people can't get a ticket and the stadium is too small.

[Gus the teenage cow]

Are there 6,000 people desperate for tickets who can't get them? No? Then what would have been the point of an extension? Other than to have a few more thousand empty seats?!

hes explained that quite well actually i thought

the point is that while we are in the prem we do fill it, and would use up extra seats if we had them.
and while in the championship we have the extra capacity to lose some seats during the season and it not hit us financially.

its all about the potential extra revenue, so that when we do go up, we will not have to wait three years to fulfill our seating potential and are instantly able tio increase revenues, in order that we can both reduce ticket prices, and feed the extra revenue into the wage bill, whilst still conforming to JMs "proper business" plan

without it we cant grow
and everyone moaned about teh extra seats before we moved, and in hindsight it is what enabled us to improve as a club.

Well, if you read Ian Royal's diatribes on this thread, he says we shouldn't expect to be in the Premiership. If we went up, we'd still need another couple of years in the Prem, imho, before contemplating an extension. Our ST numbers are currently pretty good because a lot of people felt that we'd go straight back up. If we get promoted, obviously they'll rise higher. If we get into the top 6 but fail to get promotion, STs will probably still be fairly high as people think that next year we'll get back in the Prem. If we slide down the table and finish middling, STs will drop next season and for every season after that that we don't show signs of a chance of getting into the Prem. Even allowing for all this, unless we're a Prem side next season, you won't be seeing a clutch of threads on here moaning that people can't get a ticket and the stadium is too small.

RL i think you should have left more space between your post and the quote of bendy, it makes your post very unreadable, that along with the fact that you are a woman means few are likely to read your admittedly informative if one-sided post

[Schards#2]

BR2, of the three players you say we are in danger of losing in January, the only one that worries me is Bikey, but even with him we have Pearce waiting in the wings. If what our Irish posters are saying is true, then Mooney is at least as good as Doyle. Harper is no longer in the first team squad and we don't seem to have missed him.

Needless to say, you omitted to mention the one player who a lot of people say is the driving force behind our current success - Stephen Hunt. As we found out last season, unless you have decent service, it doesn't really matter how good your strikers are.

I saw a bit of the Birmingham game on Saturday and they don't seem to be that good, at least not as good as us at the mement.

Odd that no one offered in the millions then, that being Doyle's worth.

From the thread where those comments were made, it's clear the poster was comparing Mooney and Doyle at the stage of their careers when they left Ireland ie he believes Mooney to be as good/better than Doyle was not as he currently us with a few seasons in English football behind him.

That's not how Hampshire Royal's post reads but, even if we accept that, is it realistic to assume a player is going to improve to the extent that Doyle did given that Doyle is widely regarded is one of the greatest success stories ever. His meteoric improvement is a very rare exception rather than the rule and is quaintly naive to assume Mooney will do likewise.

[Hampshire Royal]

The Schards/Royal Lady double act is a real loss to comedy.

[Thaumagurist*]

Are there 6,000 people desperate for tickets who can't get them? No? Then what would have been the point of an extension? Other than to have a few more thousand empty seats?!

Well, as I KEEP SAYING (and I thought I was the deaf one) that when Wolves and Birmingham come visiting, the demand will outstrip the number of tickets that can go on sale and while it won't be as many as 6K as you would like to exaggerate, I'm sure an extra 2K or 3K would be welcome revenue-wise to the club.

I saw some kids having a kickabout in a local park yesterday and one of them was wearing a Reading shirt with the name of Doyle on the back-now that IS progress.

Actually, last Saturday, I visited the Tony Pryce sports shop in Exeter and I saw Reading shirts on sale in there. Now, that IS progress!

[The 17 Bus]

as a club we have learned that money in the bank from ST's is very important, as shown by Norwich and a few others, who market their seats extremely well.

As a club we missed out on a few tricks in Boyd Butlers days, we do not price the seats near the half way line higher, as many clubs do, and it has been shown that pitch side seats are not as popular or easy to sell as those higher up, I assume the extension seats will all be higher up, ergo more popular than many now available.

There are many good reasons to expand, but it has to be well thought out, same as everything that JM has done in the past. More hospitality, usable for more than just match days has to be a good idea.

If the ground was extended they could even make ST cheaper, relatively, theres an arguement in favout for any fan surely.

[Gus the teenage cow]

certainly i find this thread far more amusing and it makes far more sense if in the above few posts you read ST's as STD's

[Schards#2]

The Schards/Royal Lady double act is a real loss to comedy.

Given your feeble attempts at addressing any of the issues raised in this thread, if you must post, it's probably best you stick to that sort of weak effort.

[Hampshire Royal]

You really do make me laugh. You witter on about people making knee-jerk reactions to good results, yet you whole original post was a knee-jerk reaction to a bad result at Ipswich. You, for reasons known only to yourself, failed to recognise that having got rid of three good, but disruptive players, we now had the chance of replacing them either with fast-developing youth or good, yet relatively cheap, signings.

As a result, your original post and your subsequent pathetic attempts to justify it against the overwhelming majority of responses to it have very little value. The main issue raised by your post is that more and more you are making yourself look very silly indeed.

[The 17 Bus]

The experience of last season would suggest that 24,000 will be adequate for all but a handful of games even if we were promoted.

Ticket demand in the first season was dictated by the novelty factor, this was already wearing off after one season with games not selling out and others only getting close to selling out due to special offers e.t.c.

I see no reason to suggest that, even in the best possible scenario, the cost of the extention would be recouped and in any other scenario would be a huge financial millstone around our necks and an empty white elephant.

.

Last season we dropped just 4636 in total in league attendances from our first season in the Prem, as i do not have away fans i cant tell if that is down to home or away fans.

The first season in the prem we did linked games for the bigger teams at the start of the season, in the second season we did not, that will have had some effect on ticket sales I would have thought.

Good to see the novelty factor at other clubs is also wearing off, Arsenal upped prices in their shiny new stadium, and still fill it every week, good marketing can off set a lot of the downsides of a large ground.

Barcelona can get mega crowds, many of whom pay relatively little for the pleasure, cheaper seats are offset by the dearer ones, and hospitality I believe, no reason why that cannot happen at RFC, we have already adressed the point that many seats are less desirable, so lets add more desirable seats , charge more and sell the less desirable ones at a lower price.

[readingbedding]

The experience of last season would suggest that 24,000 will be adequate for all but a handful of games even if we were promoted.

Ticket demand in the first season was dictated by the novelty factor, this was already wearing off after one season with games not selling out and others only getting close to selling out due to special offers e.t.c.

I see no reason to suggest that, even in the best possible scenario, the cost of the extention would be recouped and in any other scenario would be a huge financial millstone around our necks and an empty white elephant.

.

Last season we dropped just 4636 in total in league attendances from our first season in the Prem, as i do not have away fans i cant tell if that is down to home or away fans.

The first season in the prem we did linked games for the bigger teams at the start of the season, in the second season we did not, that will have had some effect on ticket sales I would have thought.

Good to see the novelty factor at other clubs is also wearing off, Arsenal upped prices in their shiny new stadium, and still fill it every week, good marketing can off set a lot of the downsides of a large ground.

Barcelona can get mega crowds, many of whom pay relatively little for the pleasure, cheaper seats are offset by the dearer ones, and hospitality I believe, no reason why that cannot happen at RFC, we have already adressed the point that many seats are less desirable, so lets add more desirable seats , charge more and sell the less desirable ones at a lower price.

I guess that you're not a ST holder in what you call a desirable seat (I assume you mean East Stand directly looking over the Half way line)?

[Royal Lady]

You really do make me laugh. You witter on about people making knee-jerk reactions to good results, yet you whole original post was a knee-jerk reaction to a bad result at Ipswich. You, for reasons known only to yourself, failed to recognise that having got rid of three good, but disruptive players, we now had the chance of replacing them either with fast-developing youth or good, yet relatively cheap, signings.

As a result, your original post and your subsequent pathetic attempts to justify it against the overwhelming majority of responses to it have very little value. The main issue raised by your post is that more and more you are making yourself look very silly indeed.

As he's probably on his way home right now, I'll just step in and state that his post wasn't a "knee jerk reaction to the bad result at Ipswich" - the Ipswich result was the catalyst for him wishing to voice his opinions. He has been proved neither right nor wrong at this stage. He's already said that he will hold his hands up at the end of the season if we finish a lot higher than he's predicted and admit he was wrong. And he will be very pleased to do so, as he is a passionate supporter of this club and has been for over 35 years. Will you and the rest of his "knockers" do the same if he is proven to be ultimately correct? I very much doubt it. Time will tell.

[Royal Lady]

The experience of last season would suggest that 24,000 will be adequate for all but a handful of games even if we were promoted.

Ticket demand in the first season was dictated by the novelty factor, this was already wearing off after one season with games not selling out and others only getting close to selling out due to special offers e.t.c.

I see no reason to suggest that, even in the best possible scenario, the cost of the extention would be recouped and in any other scenario would be a huge financial millstone around our necks and an empty white elephant.

.

Last season we dropped just 4636 in total in league attendances from our first season in the Prem, as i do not have away fans i cant tell if that is down to home or away fans.

The first season in the prem we did linked games for the bigger teams at the start of the season, in the second season we did not, that will have had some effect on ticket sales I would have thought.

Good to see the novelty factor at other clubs is also wearing off, Arsenal upped prices in their shiny new stadium, and still fill it every week, good marketing can off set a lot of the downsides of a large ground.

Barcelona can get mega crowds, many of whom pay relatively little for the pleasure, cheaper seats are offset by the dearer ones, and hospitality I believe, no reason why that cannot happen at RFC, we have already adressed the point that many seats are less desirable, so lets add more desirable seats , charge more and sell the less desirable ones at a lower price.

I guess that you're not a ST holder in what you call a desirable seat (I assume you mean East Stand directly looking over the Half way line)?

He's not a season ticket holder and he rarely goes to games these days. There are also a number of people on here in the same situation yet they think they know it all and post as some sort of authority, when in reality all they know about the games are what they read in the papers/hear on the radio!