When were we last shit?

[The Doctor]

We have been shit for a few years.In the past 82/83 utter rubbish .

if your idea of us being shit is top ten championship finishes then gimme more!! you have no idea what shit really is. these are still great times to support the royals!

[leon]

last time we were really sh*t was under Bullivant and then Burns. Pardew had his moments as well (as did Coppell) but that was when we were really awful

[Franchise FC]

Truly shit Reading teams from:

70/71 & 71/72
76/77 & 77/78
81/82 & 82/83
97/98

82/83 was spectacularly sh1t.

We were forever surrenduring games before they'd even started (couple of goals down in a 10-15 minutes) and with absolutely no prospect of coming back. How the hell we managed to throw a win at Oakwell was beyond anyone's comprehension - and Barnsley were top at the time.

[Schards#2]

22/1/2000

Luton 3-1 Reading

Probably the last game when I thought things were utterly hopeless. By the end of the game we were 22nd in Division 1 and had gone 13 league games in that terrible division without a win. Relegation to Div 2 during the second season at the Mad Stad was genuine possibility. We has already sacked one manager and Pardew looked to be hanging on with only a few games left. I was on a corporate thing that day so was late leaving the game and saw Pardew in the car park afterwards, I was going to say to him something along the lines that "we deserve better than this" but he had an utterly haunted look on his face like a man about to top himself so I just went for "unlucky Alan".

A year without a home win deserves an honourable mention but there was always the belief that we might turn things around which I didn't have in January 2000 when, IMHO we were last shit. The next home game Robinson made his debut, Martin Allen had come on board, we won and we began a huge march forward, albeit not always in a straight line.

[Wimb]

I still dispute the fact we were s**t under Rodgers, there were certainly s**t performances but as a whole the team was alright and seemed to slowly be turning the corner. So in answer to the OP I'll have to say 1998/99

so slowly that had we continued to improve at that rate we would be in a league one relegation battle.

FTR (/Snowball mode on)

Rodgers final 6 games were DWLWLD = 8/18 points or 1.3 PPG.

We were on 21 points from 21 games when Rodgers was sacked.

Picking up 1.3ppg over the rest of the season would have seen us onto 53/54 points = 16th place or to put it another way, 9 points worse than the final total under Brian McDermott.

Not disputing the fact he had a poor start and floundered, but I'll maintain my stance that post QPR he did a reasonable job and the SIGNS were there that he could have dug his way out of the mess, especially if allowed to sign loan players like Griffin & Khiz etc.

Yeah his early efforts were a steaming pile of turd, QPR was an embarrassment, but it wasn't his fault Gylfi missed 3 sitters against Scunny or that Victor Mosses had a worldy/Feds had a mare against Palace.

[Jerry St Clair]

I was on a corporate thing that day so was late leaving the game and saw Pardew in the car park afterwards, I was going to say to him something along the lines that "we deserve better than this" but he had an utterly haunted look on his face like a man about to top himself so I just went for "unlucky Alan".

I saw Pardew in Shooters (now The Jazz Cafe) one weekday lunchtime in 1999. Must have been around Pants Day. He looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked physically stooped and had huge bags under his eyes. Whatever we think of Pardew since West Ham, I'm convinced he took himself to the edge that year.

[Ian Royal]

I still dispute the fact we were s**t under Rodgers, there were certainly s**t performances but as a whole the team was alright and seemed to slowly be turning the corner. So in answer to the OP I'll have to say 1998/99

so slowly that had we continued to improve at that rate we would be in a league one relegation battle.

FTR (/Snowball mode on)

Rodgers final 6 games were DWLWLD = 8/18 points or 1.3 PPG.

We were on 21 points from 21 games when Rodgers was sacked.

Picking up 1.3ppg over the rest of the season would have seen us onto 53/54 points = 16th place or to put it another way, 9 points worse than the final total under Brian McDermott.

Not disputing the fact he had a poor start and floundered, but I'll maintain my stance that post QPR he did a reasonable job and the SIGNS were there that he could have dug his way out of the mess, especially if allowed to sign loan players like Griffin & Khiz etc.

Yeah his early efforts were a steaming pile of turd, QPR was an embarrassment, but it wasn't his fault Gylfi missed 3 sitters against Scunny or that Victor Mosses had a worldy/Feds had a mare against Palace.

We got a few results in his last few games, but all the frailties still seemed to be there to me. Just a bit more luck went our way. And look at the results immediately after he left. They were poor too and saw us drop into the relegation zone. Maybe that's the turmoil. We'll never know, but I just can't see us have managed the sort of run we got under McDermott, which means we'd have been in a fight, even if we did manage to survive.

[Wimb]

I agree it would have been a struggle Ian and I'm not disputing that McDermott got far better results from the players than Brendan did/was going to do. However once Brendan finally got the message that 4-3-3 wasn't going to work the team was starting to play a little better or they were at least doing more to get results.

After the QPR debacle we slowly started to put things right. We were mugged at home to Leicester before getting a good away win at Coventry, outplayed Ipswich at home in a 1-1 draw before finally getting that first home win over Blackpool. We choked at Derby before beating Sheffield Wednesday, got outclassed by Victor Mosses then threw away 2 points against Scunny thanks to Gylfi's lack of finishing.

Brendan couldn't have done any worse then Brian did in the next 5 league games, (DDLLL) but then would have had Barnsley (H), Donny (A), Plymouth (H) to try and build some momentum.

Then again it's all ifs and buts and guesswork that doesn't really matter

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Only once since we moved the the Madejski have we finished in the bottom half and that was in the Prem . Finishing positions being 11, 10, 3, 2, 4, 9, 7, 1, 8, 18, 4, 9, 5. The turning point was pants day, the last day we were shit.

[Ian Royal]

I guess we just agree to differ on what might have happened.

[Wimb]

I guess we just agree to differ on what might have happened.

Either way we wouldn't have been in the Championship Play-Off Final this year so I'm happy with how it ended up!

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Rodgers had us second-bottom, 4 points from safety having played one more game.

[Forbury Lion]

We all secretly dream of a team of Gurneys, Kromheers, Bodins, Braysons and Scotts.

I would say we were only truly shit before we bought Matt Robinson. That for me was when it all changed and we've not been shit since.

Alan Pardew's first signing IIRC.

The 3-3 draw against Stoke City was the turning point for me, Players suddenly had passion, determination and belief after a season of despair under Tommy Burns. No more giving up, This was a fight back.

Reading 0-6 Bristol Rovers was rock bottom.

[Franchise FC]

We all secretly dream of a team of Gurneys, Kromheers, Bodins, Braysons and Scotts.

I would say we were only truly shit before we bought Matt Robinson. That for me was when it all changed and we've not been shit since.

Alan Pardew's first signing IIRC.

The 3-3 draw against Stoke City was the turning point for me, Players suddenly had passion, determination and belief after a season of despair under Tommy Burns. No more giving up, This was a fight back.

Reading 0-6 Bristol Rovers was rock bottom.

I had the pleasure of chatting to Ian Holloway and all was going swimmingly until I mentioned I was a Reading fan and he mentioned that 6-0 defeat. He was Rovers manager at the time and managed to recall all 6 goals and how well Mark McKeever played for them.

That had to be the worst point of the last 20 years

[Maguire]

We were pretty pfucking shit last Monday

[Pete10]

We where shit in 1982 .Utter rubbish .Had the top scorer Dixon still went down.
The Club will be strong ,The manager is cute he knew this could happen.Mind you,
a bit of money spent would not go a miss.

[muddyfeet]

,The manager is cute.

[LUX]

"Swansea have four goals. And Reading two"

[Pete10]

Yes cute as in knows his stuff .No need to take the piss .

[Pete10]

Only gay in the village..