At Long Last, A New Dawn Has Broken At Reading
Sim reflects on the week when we finally got our club back - and got our future back too.
Everything just feels lighter now, doesn’t it?
To have followed Reading Football Club in the last couple of years is to have been constantly weighed down. To have been unable to fully enjoy the ride - at any stage - due to the ever-present fear that something or someone could derail everything. To have always had an asterisk attached to any dose of optimism.
No longer.
The days since Reading’s takeover on May 14 have been some of the most refreshingly, wonderfully, marvellously, uniquely, purely joyous I’ve had as a fan. We’ve had amazing wins and exciting news before of course, but nothing quite hits like the realisation that everything is going to be OK. The realisation that existential dread is something which can be referred to solely using the past tense.
No fan of any club should ever get to enjoy this specific kind of happiness. While it’s joyful it’s also bittersweet, only existing in this particular form because of the trauma we’ve suffered for far too long. Still, while we’re here, let’s bask in it nonetheless.
Social media gets an awfully bad rap (deservedly) a lot of the time, but when you’re able to soak up the joy of thousands of Reading fans from across the world in real time, boy is it special. The eruption of relief on Wednesday when that club statement went live was something else. As were the celebrations, memes and poignant reflections in the subsequent hours when everything started to feel real. So too the extra doses of euphoria on Thursday when fans live-tweeted official updates being made on the Companies House website.
Appointment of Mr Robert Emmet Couhig as a director.
Appointment of Mr Todd Patrick Trosclair as a director.
Termination of appointment of Yongge Dai as a director.
Termination of appointment of Xiu Li Hawken as a director.
Termination of appointment of Dayong Pang as a director.
Notification of Redwood Holdings 1 Ltd as a person with significant control.
Cessation of Renhe Sports Management Ltd as a person with significant control.
“Cessation.” What a pleasingly blunt, efficient word with which to bring the curtain down on the Dai Yongge era in Berkshire. The Dai era is no more. It has ceased to be.
None of that is to say everything will immediately be amazing though, that there won’t be bumps in the road from here on in. Of course there will be. Reading will lose well-liked players this summer, miss out on transfer targets and probably look stodgy in some pre-season games. We’ll have gripes and complaints about matters on and off the pitch, that’s for certain.
The point though is that, for the first time in an awfully long while, Reading Football Club’s journey from here will be one of progress, not merely of fighting to survive. How good it feels to be able to think that, how good it feels for that to be our new reality.
Onwards and up the ‘Ding.
On a more personal note, if you’ll indulge me for a bit, I’m thrilled by the prospect of being able to cover a normal football club for a change. The last couple of years have been... shall we say... a not particularly fun time to be an editor/writer for a Reading Football Club website.
Actually no, sod that, let’s not beat around the bush: the last two years have been relentlessly bleak, infuriating, worrying or a mixture of all three. Working out the balance between a) rising above all of that to remain fair/balanced/good in our coverage and b) channelling those emotions into creating some relatable/valuable content has been quite the palaver.
I’m indebted to everyone who’s contributed in any way at all over the last couple of years towards keeping TTE going: Ben and Ross who are doing a top job on the podcast, regular columnists, semi-regular writers, everyone. It’s a wonderful reminder of just how positive and resilient this fanbase is that people still contribute their time, even in the club’s darkest hour. You’re all wonderful people and the absolute backbone of TTE - we couldn’t do this without you.
And thank you to all of you lovely people for reading the site, following our ramblings on social media and engaging with the content. Hopefully you’ll have some analysis, match reports and opinion pieces on a promotion charge to chew over next season.
URZ!