Etched
It is currently 6:01am, the day after Reading finished their campaign for the 2023/24 season, and I’m sure most of us are still trying to take in what we experienced, one way or another. We will all have very different memories of the day and night, but we can all agree it was simply special.
For a club that has finished 17th in the league, there normally wouldn’t be any circumstances where that finish in the standings would be lauded as a success. For most, it would be an absolute failure for a club of our size. But this has been no ordinary lower-mid-table finish; The numbers of wins, draws and losses can’t tell you the whole story, but it’s a story that will forever be etched into our memories and hearts as fans of our club.
Positive
In this one game we saw all the traits and hallmarks of what has made this season such a defining one. We concede a goal like we’ve conceded many this season, a goal that could and should have been easily avoided. But we can gloss over that as none of that mattered, ultimately.
We recovered well and in some style. We didn’t panic or lose focus, we showed our resilience and strength in making a negative into a positive, just like we have done countless times before. Responsibilities weren’t shirked, we knew exactly what to do and Sam Smith duly delivered with a trademark headed finish from a Femi Azeez cross.
We kicked on in the second half with tidy finishes from Harvey Knibbs and Azeez. From then on, the result never seemed to be in doubt. Blackpool’s chances of sneaking into the play-off positions had long since gone and so did their fight. They reduced the deficit in the dying minutes but their season was effectively dead by this point.
What came alive was the euphoric scenes of happiness and relief for the players and fans. We said goodbye to Tom Holmes, who was visibly emotional at ending his, until now, lifelong association with the football club. He, more than many, has encapsulated a lot of what we have experienced this season.
He was at the forefront of the shift between the previous manager and the current manager, Ruben Selles. Caught in the crossfire of Selles’ will succeed. But all of this was water under the bridge as Selles claimed the club needed to say goodbye in better ways. Safe to say that this was definitely achieved. We wish Tom well in his future with Luton Town, but he knows he will always be a Royal.
Pride
Celebrations continued with thousands of fans applauding our heroes as they walked around the pitch with their families. The overriding feel was one of immense pride of what they all achieved. They pulled together just like the fans did. We can only imagine what it must have felt like for them this season to endure a situation that never seemed to have a bright side.
No doubt they will have been lied to, conned or been given false hopes. Yet still they showed up, resolute and hungry. They achieved 17th position despite multiple point deductions, with the fear of what could be yet to come always lurking in the shadows waiting to bite.
They can rest easy in a job that was very well done. For that we’ll remember this team very fondly indeed.
Power House
For me, I ended this season with a group of people who I now class as my friends. You won’t know many of us, but we are Sell Before We Dai. For the first time this season, many of us met for the first time in the flesh. Over the course of the season different people at different times joined the group, myself included, but a lot of us had never met before. Meeting up at the last game of the season was always ‘the plan’ to let our hair down and drink the afternoon and night away. And that’s exactly what we all did!
I can honestly say that I, for one, am incredibly honored to be among such amazing people. My own achievements within the group are small, but there are many others who deserve high praise for everything they have achieved. Many of us have done stints with the media, including me with The Guardian Football Weekly Podcast (which is my personal achievement of the season!).
Others are wizards with all things process-related and the politicking that has been sorely needed to achieve change in our game. They have been relentless in their pursuit of trying to shape not only our club but for the betterment of other clubs in the EFL.
A few have been the most obvious faces of SBWD that put themselves up, front and center, to continually deliver the message that we, as fans, were not (and will not) stop until Dai Yongge is out of our club. What has been achieved by our public shows of emotion, strength and tenacity is nothing short of miraculous. They have been the true powers behind everything that SBWD stands for. I’m so proud of all of them.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
We have superb public-relations people who know how to deliver a message powerfully and with purpose. We have superb analytical minds that know how to get ideas made real and to get under the skin of people who need to illicit change. And then there’s a few wordsmiths, like me, who generally support and keep people sane or we try to! Every group needs some cheerleaders, right? I could go on, there’s so many different areas of expertise. They are all, to a man and woman, legends.
At the core of everything, we have tried to be the voice of what most hearts and minds of the fans are feeling, because we’re just the same as you; we just love the football club to the very bones of its existence.
During our continuous drinking, I sat and admired all these like-minded souls for all their achievements and, like Brian Carey once said, “no dickheads” in relation to the make-up of the squad, and it’s the same with SBWD. They are all great people to get drunk with, we had an absolute blast!
Turtle
And so, the party continued well into the night with amazing scenes at the Purple Turtle. It’s these memories that fans will hold onto and believe that there are much, much better times ahead. The bond between the management, players and fans is at an all-time high. The love and admiration of this group has grown over the course of the season as everyone has pulled together to be resolute in the fight to save our club and to stay on being the beating heart of Reading.
The fans have shown time and time again their resilience and refusal to give up on the club. We never gave up; the manager never gave up and the players certainly did not either. It’s this united feeling that you can’t manufacture or replicate. When players and the manager, no less, come to party it confirms that there’s just so much to love with this group that’s reciprocated by all.
For a team that’s just finished 17th after 46 games, we get it: we may not have seen it on a daily basis, but we still understand the hardships and mental strain that the players, management and staff must have been under.
To everyone that is at the club or has had to leave, we appreciate what you have achieved and we’re immensely proud of everything that you have done for us fans. We cannot thank you enough for enduring all of that nonsense from above in the club. We love you, we love our club, we will cherish these moments for a very, very long time indeed.
Oh, and the new kit looks nice, doesn’t it!
UTFD.
