Frustrating seasons which (t)is/was the most?

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When we took on Adkins, a number of Southampton supporter said they thought it was a good move for us. They did say to be patient and whilst the results wouldn't always go our way, we would enjoy the matches.

Therefore I have been frustrated how fragmented we look regardless of the results. I would have found Saturdays result more palatable if we had played good football, but not got the result.

I also missed the Watford game where apparently the football was wonderful to watch.

[andrew1957]

Increasingly as we have gone game by game into this season, I have found myself increasingly frustrated by it and as a fan who has supported Reading since the late 70's and long ago realised that up's and downs goes with the territory of supporting Reading, I have found myself wondering why this more than any other season has done this...

We've had good teams that have just missed out, or relegations to deal with.. Good managers poached when things were looking promising etc but this season for me has been the most frustrating..

All I can out it down to is that it's a combination of factors, the feeling at the start of the season, that with the signings we made we would go back up, the fact that this group should be playing better football, the ownership of the club, the real lack of consistency, home form and maybe the realisation that failure to get promoted (actually I am one of those fans who is happy in the premier league or the championship) is likely to lead to another group of good players leaving...

So just wondered if this is our most frustrating season or whether were others that ranked up with this one or maybe surpassed it?

Apologies if there is a thread about this, it's been bugging me for a while, so just logged on and went for it!!

I agree with what you say above - one cannot but feel that the players should be doing much better but I think the overriding frustration is that during the last 25 years or so under SJM the club has seemed to be moving generally forwards. There have been good and bad seasons but I have always felt that the club was moving in a positive direction. Now it feels like we are approaching a precipice. I think that this season promotion is essential if we are to avoid the fate of many other ex PL clubs and falling into a downward spiral of decline.

I don't blame SJM for wanting to sell up. He has done such a great job, but it seems as though the list of billionaires with dosh to throw away is very short these days and apart from the top 8 or so clubs in the PL, football club financing just does not work these days. The gap between these top 8 and the rest will ever grow now with FFP as most clubs that get promoted will only be able to sign players on short term contracts because otherwise when they get relegated the parachute payments will not be sufficient to stop them falling foul of the FFP regulations. So it hard to see why anyone would buy a football club for business reasons as the whole business model is now flawed and sustains the rich few at the cost of every other club. The best RFC can ever hope for now is an odd season in the PL where we get thrashed every week and then come down and rebuild again. The only reason for promotion is to get the parachute payments and so it would be pointless to spend any significant money whilst in the PL as this benefit would be lost. But then the fans will moan. So the future of football outside the top few is quite bleak unless you can find that elusive billionaire with money to burn on a new toy.

So I fear that without promotion this year the future is concerning and I wonder if this is what is weighing so heavily on the players as they will be aware what a key season it is and that failure will lead to the decimation of the current squad.

The only positive of failure (failure to be promoted or to find that rich elusive new buyer) is that it will be enjoyable seeing the young Academy lads fighting against relegation next season - as without a new owner it is very doubtful that the club will be able to bring new players in once the old ones have gone.

[Royal Biscuitman]

97/98 for me.
...... Another new manager & 7 signings on deadline day and the Hollywood ending looked set - Robert Fleck was going to score the winner against Norwich to keep us up in the last game at Elm Park..

we got relegated at Forest. Not on the last game.

However that season was terrible

Was that the season we lost 7-1 away to Stockport?

[under the tin]

I agree with what you say above - one cannot but feel that the players should be doing much better but I think the overriding frustration is that during the last 25 years or so under SJM the club has seemed to be moving generally forwards. There have been good and bad seasons but I have always felt that the club was moving in a positive direction. Now it feels like we are approaching a precipice. I think that this season promotion is essential if we are to avoid the fate of many other ex PL clubs and falling into a downward spiral of decline.

I don't blame SJM for wanting to sell up. He has done such a great job, but it seems as though the list of billionaires with dosh to throw away is very short these days and apart from the top 8 or so clubs in the PL, football club financing just does not work these days. The gap between these top 8 and the rest will ever grow now with FFP as most clubs that get promoted will only be able to sign players on short term contracts because otherwise when they get relegated the parachute payments will not be sufficient to stop them falling foul of the FFP regulations. So it hard to see why anyone would buy a football club for business reasons as the whole business model is now flawed and sustains the rich few at the cost of every other club. The best RFC can ever hope for now is an odd season in the PL where we get thrashed every week and then come down and rebuild again. The only reason for promotion is to get the parachute payments and so it would be pointless to spend any significant money whilst in the PL as this benefit would be lost. But then the fans will moan. So the future of football outside the top few is quite bleak unless you can find that elusive billionaire with money to burn on a new toy.

So I fear that without promotion this year the future is concerning and I wonder if this is what is weighing so heavily on the players as they will be aware what a key season it is and that failure will lead to the decimation of the current squad.

The only positive of failure (failure to be promoted or to find that rich elusive new buyer) is that it will be enjoyable seeing the young Academy lads fighting against relegation next season - as without a new owner it is very doubtful that the club will be able to bring new players in once the old ones have gone.

It's not weighing on their minds at all. They're just professional sportsmen on a career path earning a living. They leave here, do the standard photoshoot stuff with someone else's scarf over their heads, the cliche'd platitudes about their new challenge, and their new club's potential, and they move on.
I have a pet theory that football is inherently cyclical. We've been playing on the swings for a long time now. Maybe it's now our turn to go on the slide. Bigger, better, more famous clubs than ours have been through it.

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

Increasingly as we have gone game by game into this season, I have found myself increasingly frustrated by it and as a fan who has supported Reading since the late 70's and long ago realised that up's and downs goes with the territory of supporting Reading, I have found myself wondering why this more than any other season has done this...

We've had good teams that have just missed out, or relegations to deal with.. Good managers poached when things were looking promising etc but this season for me has been the most frustrating..

All I can out it down to is that it's a combination of factors, the feeling at the start of the season, that with the signings we made we would go back up, the fact that this group should be playing better football, the ownership of the club, the real lack of consistency, home form and maybe the realisation that failure to get promoted (actually I am one of those fans who is happy in the premier league or the championship) is likely to lead to another group of good players leaving...

So just wondered if this is our most frustrating season or whether were others that ranked up with this one or maybe surpassed it?

Apologies if there is a thread about this, it's been bugging me for a while, so just logged on and went for it!!

I agree with what you say above - one cannot but feel that the players should be doing much better but I think the overriding frustration is that during the last 25 years or so under SJM the club has seemed to be moving generally forwards. There have been good and bad seasons but I have always felt that the club was moving in a positive direction. Now it feels like we are approaching a precipice. I think that this season promotion is essential if we are to avoid the fate of many other ex PL clubs and falling into a downward spiral of decline.

I don't blame SJM for wanting to sell up. He has done such a great job, but it seems as though the list of billionaires with dosh to throw away is very short these days and apart from the top 8 or so clubs in the PL, football club financing just does not work these days. The gap between these top 8 and the rest will ever grow now with FFP as most clubs that get promoted will only be able to sign players on short term contracts because otherwise when they get relegated the parachute payments will not be sufficient to stop them falling foul of the FFP regulations. So it hard to see why anyone would buy a football club for business reasons as the whole business model is now flawed and sustains the rich few at the cost of every other club. The best RFC can ever hope for now is an odd season in the PL where we get thrashed every week and then come down and rebuild again. The only reason for promotion is to get the parachute payments and so it would be pointless to spend any significant money whilst in the PL as this benefit would be lost. But then the fans will moan. So the future of football outside the top few is quite bleak unless you can find that elusive billionaire with money to burn on a new toy.

So I fear that without promotion this year the future is concerning and I wonder if this is what is weighing so heavily on the players as they will be aware what a key season it is and that failure will lead to the decimation of the current squad.

The only positive of failure (failure to be promoted or to find that rich elusive new buyer) is that it will be enjoyable seeing the young Academy lads fighting against relegation next season - as without a new owner it is very doubtful that the club will be able to bring new players in once the old ones have gone.

Now I'm really depressed!

[Zana Badawi]

97/98 for me.
The impending new stadium. A new manager who was given proper money to buy a striker among others. Then the season actually started. Every keeper we had was injured. Most displays were woeful.
Even as things were bad in the league we had two decent cup runs and the odd decent result which proved what the team was capable of. Another new manager & 7 signings on deadline day and the Hollywood ending looked set - Robert Fleck was going to score the winner against Norwich to keep us up in the last game at Elm Park.
Utterly crushed to have gone down with such a whimper and for Reading's last goal at Elm Park to be from Michael Meaker.

Thats a good account of the season, but the following season was even worse with the brand new stadium hearalding an era of utter mediocrity.
You were sat in the stands wondering whether if this was the best that all this investment deserved.
Nowadays, I cant relate to the players, but for that season I truly disliked them - some of them have gone down in legend for all the wrong reasons.

You can dislike Adkins/ Mcdermott if you like, but there were simply no excuses for Burns. He had everything a manager could have asked for.

[Royal Ginger]

This season wouldn't have been half as bad if we didn't have so many dull draws. It would be less frustrating if we'd lost more games but there's been more to them. Entertaining games need shots on goal, but ours seem to mostly be played in the middle third. My frustration comes from being not quite bored, but definitely under-entertained.

[Hugo Boss]

97/98 for me.
The impending new stadium. A new manager who was given proper money to buy a striker among others. Then the season actually started. Every keeper we had was injured. Most displays were woeful.
Even as things were bad in the league we had two decent cup runs and the odd decent result which proved what the team was capable of. Another new manager & 7 signings on deadline day and the Hollywood ending looked set - Robert Fleck was going to score the winner against Norwich to keep us up in the last game at Elm Park.
Utterly crushed to have gone down with such a whimper and for Reading's last goal at Elm Park to be from Michael Meaker.

I bl**dy loved that season in comparison to watching now. I don't know if it's cos we've had relative success in recent years, but I used to properly love it when we got a win back then. Now, I barely even check the results. It was that season we beat Sunderland 4-0 wasn't it? Asaba had about his only good game that day IIRC.

[melonhead]

97/98 for me.
The impending new stadium. A new manager who was given proper money to buy a striker among others. Then the season actually started. Every keeper we had was injured. Most displays were woeful.
Even as things were bad in the league we had two decent cup runs and the odd decent result which proved what the team was capable of. Another new manager & 7 signings on deadline day and the Hollywood ending looked set - Robert Fleck was going to score the winner against Norwich to keep us up in the last game at Elm Park.
Utterly crushed to have gone down with such a whimper and for Reading's last goal at Elm Park to be from Michael Meaker.

I bl**dy loved that season in comparison to watching now. I don't know if it's cos we've had relative success in recent years, but I used to properly love it when we got a win back then. Now, I barely even check the results. It was that season we beat Sunderland 4-0 wasn't it? Asaba had about his only good game that day IIRC.

actually my favourite football season ever
weird

[Hugo Boss]

It's almost as if we're m8s and think similarly.

[Wimb]

Has to be 2008/09....

A team that seemed to get over the hangover of relegation to beat all of our main contenders including the eventual Champions home and away but suffered a ridiculous collapse in form that didn't see us win at home after January 27th (note that our last home win this season was the 28th of Jan...)

To have SO MANY CHANCES to get into the top two and yet throw them away was painful, and to see our fate drawn out painfully by Burnley in the play-offs was the icing on the frustration cake.

Still no idea what caused that collapse but it's small wonder that the majority of that squad never found lasting success in the game after that.