And breathe…359 days on from Championship relegation, who would have thought that there would be parties in the street and in the bars of the town for finishing 17th in League One- statistically the club’s lowest finish since 1989?

It felt very apt that hundreds of supporters, players and members of staff ended the season where it had begun during a pre-season social event, mingling and enjoying themselves at the iconic Purple Turtle.

With scenes reminiscent of the glory years, other clubs and other supporters simply won’t get it. This was not ‘celebrating’ a bottom-half finish or celebrating a victory over Blackpool as some have mocked. This weekend was the much-needed letting off of steam that had been building in the bubbling inferno of Reading Football Club throughout 2023/24.

The fact the the club even made it to matchday 46 would have surprised many during the depths of winter when the EFL were on the club’s back, wages and tax payments were being missed and, even in the last couple of months, the training ground was set to be sold from beneath the club to Wycombe Wanderers.

From sit-ins to tennis ball protests, historic marches to a match abandonment, this town and its football club have crashed from pillar to post, as if the emotion of suffering relegation to the third tier wasn’t a hard enough pill to swallow on its own.

This celebration was a collective cry of relief and a cry of defiance. This club, despite constantly being dragged through the mire, stuck together and hauled itself back from the brink.

The first half of the season feels like a different lifetime ago, with the Royals sat as many as 10 points adrift of safety in November but going on to finish a very comfortable nine points above the dotted line.

As Harvey Knibbs said last month, if the fans keep fighting for the club off the field, the players will do so on it. Neither side broke their part of the deal and here we are, still alive and kicking.

With the news in March that exclusivity had been granted and the deal seemingly progressing with new potential owners off the field, this could be the beginning of the end for Reading, and it needs to be.

Ruben Selles has already said that he will find it hard to stay at the club if its future has not been secured sooner rather than later, and there will no doubt be many from the popular crop of players that will feel the same way.

Reading Chronicle:

This summer has to dawn a new era for the Royals because this cannot be repeated.

The supporters are there, ready to back the club to the hilt no matter what. The players are there, ready to fight for the badge and those who love it so dearly.

The staff, many long-serving and worrying monthly if they can pay their mortgage, are still there and going above and beyond their title to ensure the wheels remain in motion.

However, as things stand, one man and his sister remain there too, and if the club are to return to where Dai Yongge inherited it, they cannot be there any longer.