Friday 29 September 2017 10:13, UK
Reading were just a penalty shoot-out away from reaching the Premier League last season, but things haven't quite gone according to plan so far in this campaign.
Jaap Stam's side were edged out by Huddersfield at Wembley in May, losing 4-3 on penalties after 120 minutes without a goal.
The Dutch boss has regularly played down their ambitions of going one better in 2017/18, but Reading are just a point above the drop zone heading into this weekend - although they have played a game fewer than most of the sides around them.
But how do teams normally get on the season after losing in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final? Is it a platform to push on from? Or is it such a damaging blow that ittakes a season or more to get over?
Ahead of their clash with Norwich on Saturday - which is live on Sky Sports Football - we've taken a closer look...
Out of the last 10 Championship play-off final losers, just three have gone on to achieve promotion the following season. Middlesbrough (beaten in 2014/15) went on to finish second the following season, while Reading themselves (2010/11) and West Brom (2006/07) went up a year later as champions.
Two further clubs have reached the play-offs again the next year in Sheffield Wednesday (2015/16) and Cardiff (2009/10) but both lost out at the semi-final stage after a fourth-placed finish in the league. Watford (2012/13) and Blackpool (2011/12) meanwhile, failed to even finish in the top half the following season.
Of the last 10 clubs, four have gone on to suffer relegation since their play-off final loss (Sheffield Wednesday, Blackpool, Sheffield United and Bristol City), with Blackpool even dropping further down to League Two at one stage.
Only two of the clubs found themselves in the Premier League at the start of the 2017/18 season in Watford and West Brom, and the Baggies have been relegated and promoted again since winning the Championship in 2007. Seven of the clubs are in this year's second tier, while Blackpool are in League One.
The average finish for clubs the season after losing in the play-off final is 6.6 - a number that leaves you just outside the all-important top six.
Reading are eight points short of where they were after nine games last season, but Stam remains committed to the project of gradual progression at Reading.
He has been ruling out automatic promotion all season and hopes to follow the model of Brighton, building a push slowly over the course of a period of time.
"Last season we did very well but everyone knows it's hard to stay up there," Stam told Sky Sports News earlier this month. "We're very happy with the owners' willingness to invest and it means everybody within the club has a certain ambition.
"But we're not saying this season we need to go up because everyone is realistic in what you can do, eventually [we want to] build something to get that chance to go up to the Premier League.
"If you look at Brighton last season they did very well in building up through a couple of seasons and creating a team that eventually can go up. Not many teams can do that."
That being said, Reading must improve quickly so that they're looking up, rather than over their shoulder, in the coming months.
Don't miss the Sky Bet Championship clash between Reading and Norwich on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Mix from 5.15pm, and Sky Sports Main Event from 5.30pm
