I think Coventry City deserve a video, played at 4 different stadiums in the last 10 years, multiple administrations, falling to league 2, still receiving threats to be kicked out the ground as recently as December, but now fighting for the playoffs

With the way things are going for Reading FC atm looks like HITC Sevens need to do a Part 2!

'Funny old life, isn't it?' - I just love that. It read, to me at least, very much as 'yeah, that prick's dead, what a shame, oh well, moving on'. I always considered Madejski the classic benevolent chairman, and one of the few examples I could think of where a person actually deserved a stadium being named in his honour.

I kept Reading about it and wondered the same thing! Without much Freddy Adu, Alfie will now enlighten us! 🥳

I was signed to Reading as a youth from 84-89... You think it's bad nowadays?!! 😂👍

Watched my first match at Elm Park back in 1954 and been through the ebb and flow of my beloved club ever since. Very good video, heartbreaking though it is.

Profoundly depressing but very well made video Alfie. As someone who has lived through all of this it's easy to lose perspective. We've become a joke of a club, with dwindling attendences, and wildly inconsistent performances on the pitch. And that was before the expected points deduction. As ever, it's us, the fans, who suffer. I'll still be there even if we end up in the National League, just as long as the club survives. Just how many more clubs need to go through what we and others have before someone finally takes control of English football and returns it to us? Still, as we like to say around here, Cmn URZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ayyy! A Vito Mannone reference! That man is a Minnesota United legend for what he did for us in 2019. That was a year that was crazy, exhilarating, and almost perfect. What I would give to bring it back.

I'm not a Reading fan but live near Reading and It is a shame to see they are going through hard times. It has always been a great club from a community point of view and have always had that feeling whenever I've been to the stadium.

As an Irish Reading fan, I've found your last two videos even more interesting than normal

Alfie, any chance of a video on how Mark Robins has taken Coventry from League 2 to chasing promotion to the Premier League? All on a shoe string budget and having to play outside of the city etc

As a Reading Fan I have been waiting for this video and thank you for putting your eyes over our club. It's difficult to describe the fall of our club and how it has been so badly run by many different owners since Madjeski moved on. While we broke the rules, and we needed to be reigned in and my hope is that we can move on from this and become a club that again has a structure to build. a sustainable team. I do feel that these owners need to move on though for that to be achieved. I guess what I want from this is a club to support and care for. We are a club that has lost it's way but seeing the examples of other clubs like Coventry, Bolton and others it can be done. Plus I prefer a good scouting and young players with something to prove is best. However we are living in the age of people with large amounts of money but seemingly have no clue as to how to us that money in a way that is structured and wise. We need another owner in the style of Madjeski, someone who understands business and who is wise in their investments. However when Madjeski came along they were few and far between then and the same is true now. I am also glad that you put this in context. The EFL have enabled these owners and the owners at Birmingham to take control of the club and as an organisation I do not trust them. As you said the EFL have had a close eye on our finances, and they know our situation, so until the EFL actually say why they felt it necessary to dock us the 6 points this season, I will not comment but what I find interesting is the timing of this. Could this be due to the financial year but that does not make sense as the original ruling was mid season. It is a mess that will take time to unravel and I fear that it will take a long time to do so. We are in such a mess.

My favourite thing about Reading in general is how Americans pronounce it 💀

I'd love to see a video on Vitesse over here in the Netherlands. After being succesful for a few years as a Chelsea "satellite club" they've been in a rollercoaster the last few years with multiple owners and are now at the point where they basically can't exist without external funding and are possibly losing their stadium (and license) soon.

As an Oxford Utd fan I can say the Robert Maxwell era could be a 30 minute video on its own. Interesting due to the Thames Valley royals saga most older Oxford fans dislike Reading however this has cooled for younger fans as we haven’t played in the same division for more than 30 years.

Still hoping for a documentary about Gretna or the Nigerian Premier League too. Thanks for all the quality content though Alfie :)

Been waiting for this one for ages. Reading are my team and it’s heartbreaking how they used to be such a well run club to where they are now

Thanks for putting this all together. As a Reading fan I appreciate seeing the information all linked together in one place, helps make sense of the current shit show. Under Madejski, we always had the confidence that the club would be well run financially (post Tommy Burns anyway)

Very good reading on the Reading situation 👏

Reading fan here and the biggest thing that drives me crazy is how we went from one extreme to another spending-wise, from being very very tight on finances but finding some gems, to throwing cash around aimlessly over and over. Consider that back in the Summer of '07 our biggest EVER Transfer was for Emerse Faé for £2.5m and he played 6 games for us... THAT WAS HOW TIGHT ON FINANCES THEY WERE, our first season in the Premier League and THAT was our biggest transfer! We got Kevin Doyle and Shane Long together from Cork City for less than £100,000. A decade ago I wondered what would happen if we spent more, we must do so much better right? 2015 onwards? We're blowing that kind of cash to LOAN Matěj Vydra and some of the other signings featured in this video. I feel like we've been cursed, yes, finally, Reading will pay out some more for players, that's great news, but dropping £7.5m for Aluko... a forward that scored 6 goals for us in 93 appearances was NOT what I meant. Compare that to our past: Dave Kitson cost us £150,000 and got 54 goals in 135 appearances Kevin Doyle cost us £78,000 and got 55 goals in 157 appearances Heck, Gylfi Sigurdsson was part of our Youth Academy (so basically free) and they scored more goals in less appearances than Aluko and they were an attacking midfielder!

The Maxwell part creeped me the hell out. I didn’t know that family was even part of football history.

Hey Alfie, I have been a subscriber for a long time and love a deep dive on a club like this. If you ever get time, the downward spiral of Birmingham City since winning the league cup 10 years ago would be a great topic. There's dodgy finances, failed takeovers, points deductions, protests and even an ongoing suspected arson case. I support them and have no idea what's happening or how we got here, so if you could help me out that would be great!

As someone used to following North American sports leagues, what's going on over there is mind-blowing. 🤯 This video is a real eye-opener. Great job! I want to look up a few of those names you mentioned, but I don't know how to spell them. I'll take a look around the webs to try to find out. Ooh, I think I got one of the more obscure ones!28:09 Kia Joorabchian? I guessed at the spelling of the surname, and this popped up and the picture confirmed it. I had no idea UEFA had spending rules for clubs. This video must've taken many, many hours to put together. A lot of your photo selections were absolutely fantastic. Wonderful job, thank you! I'm forwarding this to my soon-to-be-equally-astonished friends! Subscribed to this and to your alternate channel 2 (look, a pun!). 😄

Thanks Alfie, brilliant summary. I am sure there was not space for it, but you also missed out the role of Chris Samuelson, who may be worth a video in his own right given his involvements elsewhere.

You know your in serious trouble when you appear on here ☹️

Speaking as a Reading fan, I'm just glad he spared us the pop song.

a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel

Thanks for the compilation/up date, we just don’t have access to that type of info here in Colorado USA

Make a video on that Brazillian con footballer Carlos Kaiser. It's a remarkably absurd tale. Schedule it for April 1st. 😄

Please do Birmingham City, don’t even know who the owners are

Preston, Hull, Reading, Stoke, Bristol City, Cardiff, Etc. Have no chance of going down, it will stay how it is

NGL I'm a Reading fan and I'm probably in the minority here, but I hate that we replaced the Biscuitmen with the Royals. Sure, we're in the Royal County of Berkshire, but that's mostly because of Windsor having Windsor castle. We've named ourselves after something another town with their own football club is responsible for. Meanwhile, the Biscuitmen was named after something the town of Reading was genuinely notable for. Huntley & Palmer's were a huge biscuit company, based in Reading, and the factory was a large part of the town's life. We invented Nice biscuits, dammit! I'd much rather we were named after something the town was actually responsible for as opposed to a different nearby town, ya know? Us being called the Royals would be like Tranmere Rovers being called The Beatles or a team from Sevenoaks calling themselves the Bishops

I remember when Reading used to be in the Premier League 10 years ago.

Now do: What the hell is going on with Birmingham City.

Well done paul ince for knowing when this video was going to come out

That Dai Yongge pun had me unintentionally booing at the screen

Another cracking vid Alfie 👏🏻 given this is becoming a bit of a series I’d love to her your thoughts on my beloved Birmingham City - another basket case of a championship club 😂

Great video - are you planning to do one on what’s going on at Crawley town??

Unfortunately over spending, mismanagement and bankruptcy has been a hallmark of numerous teams within the pyramid and don't forget that once established EPL clubs like Bolton and Portsmouth have at one stage falling all the way to the basement of the football league and Bury who were one of the original founders of the football league were dissolved entirely so Reading are far from the only team struggling with this issue

Would be interested to hear about Huddersfield and why they went the Prem to looking like League 1 with Neil Warrnock coming out of retirement!

blues fan here, really hope you get around to doing a video like this around Birmingham city since they find themselves in a similar situation to reading over recent years.

You could do a video on Sheffield Wednesday as well they were a mainstay of the EPL until their relegation in 2000 and have suffered so much upheaval since and further relegation to the 3rd tier on a few occasions I'm honestly suprised they have struggled for so so long and have been outside the top flight for 23 years now because a club as big as that really should be playing in the EPL on a regular basis

Alfie, I understand it might not be as troubling or deep as many of the situations going on at the clubs in most of your other doc style videos but could you please make a video on the years since the champions league final and what's gone wrong since at spurs, i'd love to hear your in depth perspective

Great video. Birmingham city also deserve a ‘what on earth is going on at’ video.. although it would probably be 2 hours long!

What on earth is going on in the Midlands? Derby, West brom, blues, Walsall, Coventry all seem to be on the brink of sinking as a club despite all 5 looking completely stable 8-10 years ago

Great video. You already know what's coming next...Best XI from clubs in sub-Saharan Africa, please!!

31:48 Hearing Alfie laugh at his own joke made me very happy

🎶6 points down, who gives a f***, we are Reading and we're staying up! 🎶 Great video! Really hope we can stay afloat. It's frustrating to be landlocked in the Championship for so long, but I'd take another 10 years of 2nd tier football over relegation any day. Urrrzzzzzzzz

Did not expect to see a video on my club, but yeah, it's been obvious for years now that we're heading towards disaster with a string of dodgy owners who give zero shits about the club. Madejski, for all his flaws, still gave a shit about the club being a genuine fan. Being asset stripped by subsequent owners has taken a club with a solid financial base and plunged it into a precarious situation

Happy to say as a fan of this club since 1991, I have seen us go up to where we are now, which is the best moments of the clubs history, while things behind the scenes might not be too rosy right now, a lot of us know first hand, it could be worse. Up The Royals!

I knew for around a week ago,I was thinking when good friend Alfie would be uploading a video about what is going on at Reading and finally,he has done his task in an awesome manner,good friends!!!Reading are one of my favourite respective footballing clubs in my ancestrial nation and they have been a crisis club for more than thirty years because of mainly,some of the dodgy owners who have been treating the club just like a business entity and have made the club as a sorry based club much to their respective supporters' agony to recently hearing that Reading are going to be deducted six points by the English Football League,good friends!!!I just want to see the club progressing well by the end of the season's English Championship and get a new owner who knows how to manage the club fairly to end the ongoing crisis that have been going on at the club,good friends!!!LONG LIVE READING!!!🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️

If you think reading is a circus Alfie I highly recommend digging into Birmingham City and doing a video on that.

I miss Sir John

Very good Alfie...top nootch! 👍🖖✊️

As a Watford fan I laugh at your pitiful 15 different managers.

Rise and Fall of Bradford City would be a great documentary

We're gonna need your take on the 'Match of the day' drama and a exciting journey in to the depth of government etc... !! Please Alfie, only you can bring light to the madness !!

Additional info: Steve Clarke was doing well, but left due to causing upset after openly considering a PL vacancy. The player you're showing at 15:34 is Danny Williams, who actually left the club after Reading lost the Play Off final. The additional 6 point deduction hasn't been officially confirmed. You left out the worst moment in RFC history - this song: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ldigZtegr5_HcYU.html

Can’t believe you released a video about Reading. That’s home ❤

Every time you do a What On Earth... video, it always baffles me that you didn't cover the mess at Bury and Bolton in 2019

Awaiting one of these on my club WBA next season

Well, looks like you need to make a part 2 with everything happening (only know about the HMRC problem, and typed this after the cancelled game against Port Vale)

Reading appears to be one of those neutral clubs that it seems hard to get emotional about. I appreciate your efforts on the subject 🙏🏼😁

Cheers Alfie, glad to see my club get the publicity it needs. Even if it's not necessarily in the best circumstances haha

I honestly don’t think any other club compares to Birmingham city fc and there’s few that had it worse from training ground fires to having half a stadium open for over 3 years some video

Nice video 👍

Please do a video on Birmingham city. Ever since David gold and David Sullivan sold us our ownership has gone through controversy after controversy. Would be great for someone like yourself to dive into it and get more details than what the club are actually giving the fans

WOEIGOA Birmingham City?

When I was 16 we spent 3 weeks in Kent for an internship. We were working in a recording studio and the boss asked us what we would like to do. I suggested the Reading Festival but pronounced it with a w. He looked quite taken aback as to why we would like to attend a wedding Festival...

When charlton were relegated from the championship, many reading fans were out gloating as they felt we celebrated too much when we won away against them that season. I for one hope they plummet down the leagues and go out of business. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch!

That’s why 50+1 Bundesliga rule would be beneficial everywhere, would guarantee no dubious characters having complete control and destroying clubs. Oldham, Bury, Coventry, Derby and countless more fell because of these shady owners.

Love a video about where I live! My dads from Hull btw 😂😂

Can you do a part two?

Watford just sacked another manager, Please do us next

As an American you should do an MLS club for your next "What On Earth is Going On" video the SJ Earthquakes. When it comes to the Earthquakes, they were one of the most successful clubs in the first decade of MLS having won 2 MLS Cups in 2001 & 2003 with players such as Landon Donovan & Dwayne De Rosario. Then after the 2005 season, the original franchise was moved to Houston (and became the Dynamo) & MLS rebooted the Earthquakes in 2008. Apart from a brief run in the early 2010's with players like Chris Wondolowski & Alan Gordon, the rebooted Earthquakes have struggled massively having not made the playoffs since 2012 even though they have one of the nicer stadiums in MLS in PayPal Park.

What On Earth Is Going On At Crawley Town / Or Birmingham City is needed

Still hoping for that Austrian Wunderteam video 😇✌. btw, 8:18 that is not the Premier League tho, is it?

What about 7 teams who have only appeared in one major cup final? Not researched this but maybe Alaves in 2001 might qualify (Sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong)

Any possibilities of a video on Rayo Vallecano? There rise and fall over the years, to where they are now ⭐

The Sundays - feat sweetest voice & girl Harriet Wheeler were apparently from Reading hence the clever title of their 1990 album Reading Writing & Arithmetic ( their drummer was actually from the New Forest ) but 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. Wade Elliot scored a fantastic solo goal against Reading at Dean Ct back when Reading would routinely turn the Cherries over home & away ….

Can you make a video on skuthend. We literally nearly went under last week. And one of our best player left because they wasn't getting paid

By the way, the phrase you were looking for was "change of TACK", and not "change of tact". Tack is, in this instance, used as in the nautical term of tacking when sailing

Hiya Alfie, interesting video, just shows you what can happen if you suffer relegation, all the best players go, the owner pulls his money out, this would be a good club for Mike Ashley or The Glazers to own,I wonder if Mike Ashley would try to coax Steve Bruce out of retirement if Ashley bought the club, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England

As a Reading fan it is very depressing and worrying.

Please do What On Earth Is Going on at the Indonesia National Team? 1st day of asking, pre-empting purely hypothetical trouble ahead.

Christ, imagine having to drive to Didcot for a home game every week. I know it's not much but it's the roughest place in Oxfordshire, apart maybe from Abingdon.

Ahh, Select Car Leasing Stadium... the vibe is hard to miss. The stadium is pretty neat though.

I dont know if Autotrader in South Africa is linked or what but Ive brought two cars after seeing them on the website. Crazy

This video feels very appropriate for me personally, as it was a cold, wet, grey sky's and just generally amiserable day in Reading. Me and my mate were just shooting the shit, complaining about how shit and depressing Reading is as a place and how fed up we are of it after being born and bred here, with our football club doing no favours in making that better. I've never moaned and complained so much in day, all because of this town we call home and to get this video at the end of the day just to recitfy our misery. Thank's for making me feel more shit about my town.

As a Reading fan thanks for leaving no stone unturned. Any football fan should also watch the Al Jazeera Investigations (here on KZfaq) called “The Men Who Sell Football”. Chris Samuelson caught on camera trying to sell clubs to overseas Money Launderers and admitting to selling Reading to Zingaravch on behalf of his father who failed the EFL test.

live fast......dai yong, thats made my day

Oldham Athletic should give a big attention because they went from being Premier League founders to a non-league football on the last season after numerous administrations.

One solution to the Financial Issues in the Championship should be to expand the Premier League to 24 Teams. That way the bigger Championship Sides (i.e. the ones that want promotion) would find it easier to actually get promoted to the PL & remain in said PL. Admittedly it would make the Championship itself a lot less competitive, however unless the Government is willing to start subsidising Broadcast Deals, it's pretty much the only realistic way to improve the Financial State of the Championship.

Great watch 👍

Would love to see a similar video on Huddersfield Town, seems like we're the definition of a yo yo club

Omg yes finally a video about my team!!

Wish Ron Gourley had got a mention. He did so much damage putting these players on massive long term contracts.

Maybe you should make a video about Robert Maxwell & his various interests in Football. Which also included an attempt to buy Tottenham Hotspur as well.

There's a Reading, Pennsylvania as well, also pronounced not as reading a book Their hockey team is also called Reading Royals

Could you follow this up with one on Wigan Athletic? We're potentially facing a 2nd fall into administration in 5 years. Not looking good.