Untrue truisms

[Clyde1998]

As requested on the 'Richardson out' thread:

We can do “untrue truisms” on another thread, brought to you by “Nyambe and Roberts don’t cross the halfway line” and “just not sure what type of goals they’re trying to score”.

[Clyde1998]

I think my current thought is 'Reading are a massive club in League One'.

This obviously comes down to the definition of what a 'big club' is (fanbase; revenue; history; facilities; potential; etc.), but are we seriously much bigger than a lot of sides in this division?

We're historically a third tier side, which had a period of top two division football; our crowds put us around the play-off places (if it was a league table); our facilities are going to be among the best in the division (especially the training/youth setup); revenue hasn't been amazing.

I certainly think Cardiff; Bolton; and maybe Plymouth are bigger than us. Sides like Bradford; Huddersfield; Barnsley; Luton; Blackpool; Rotherham; Peterborough; and Stockport have aspects in which they're competitive with (or clearly bigger than) us.

We're towards the top end of the division, but we're not a side which should be blowing teams out of the water or have a god given right to be in the play-off picture given the relative competition we've got.

Also, our relative standing declines each season we're in League One. If next season we have both Sheffield Wednesday (almost certain) and Leicester/West Brom/Portsmouth/Blackburn(?) come down, we're probably smaller than any of them.

We're a larger club in this league, but nothing special imo.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

This is not to dismiss the claims of any other clubs currently at L1 level, but....

The financial footprint of Reading FC which requires a net spend of ~£10M per season just to stay afloat means we are too big for L1. ..

QED, we're too big for League 1...

[Snowflake Royal]

This is not to dismiss the claims of any other clubs currently at L1 level, but....

The financial footprint of Reading FC which requires a net spend of ~£10M per season just to stay afloat means we are too big for L1. ..

QED, we're too big for League 1...

Or does it just mean we're spending incredibly badly on things a L1 side doesn't need.

[From Despair To Where?]

Yeah, a significant part of that is the Cat 1 academy which is an extravagance in League 1

[Millsy]

1-2-3-4-5-*-2-£-!-4-! is necessary nowdays because 4-4-2 is so outdated.... in league one.

[Clyde1998]

This is not to dismiss the claims of any other clubs currently at L1 level, but....

The financial footprint of Reading FC which requires a net spend of ~£10M per season just to stay afloat means we are too big for L1. ..

QED, we're too big for League 1...

Or does it just mean we're spending incredibly badly on things a L1 side doesn't need.

I think it's partially this and partially almost all League One clubs making losses.

An example: we have about fifty professional players at the club. That's going to cause a huge outlay on wages.

[Hound]

This is not to dismiss the claims of any other clubs currently at L1 level, but....

The financial footprint of Reading FC which requires a net spend of ~£10M per season just to stay afloat means we are too big for L1. ..

QED, we're too big for League 1...

Or does it just mean we're spending incredibly badly on things a L1 side doesn't need.

I think it's partially this and partially almost all League One clubs making losses.

An example: we have about fifty professional players at the club. That's going to cause a huge outlay on wages.

The number of professionals we have is nuts. So many wasted wages - esp if we just end up mid table