Turf Talk, with DARREN BENTLEY

THE Madejski Stadium offers a stark reminder that Burnley are not alone.

The rows and rows of empty seats for last night's First Division clash illuminate the problems First Division clubs, and indeed their Nationwide counterparts lower down the League ladder, are encountering at present.

Here we have a Reading side, in a pretty decent catchment area, vying for the play-offs, the promised land and all the riches it entails.

Yet just over 10,000 supporters can be bothered to leave the Champions League and the cosy armchair behind to cheer on their team.

And this is despite have a bona-fide sugar daddy not only willing to throw money into the playing side, but also building a stadium fit to host top flight football.

After that investment, sticking your own name over the door - as John Madejski has done - is the least he deserves. But those rows and rows of empty seats speak volumes, as they do at Burnley, Sunderland, Millwall, Crystal Palace, Stoke and others.

In the last few weeks, Nationwide clubs have once again lobbied Premiership clubs and Parliament for a greater share of the income generated by the game as a whole.

The new approach to the big boys comes as the rich continue to get richer, while the rest cut their cloth accordingly. You only need to put the words 'Nationwide League' and 'cash' into an internet search engine to grasp the nettle.

'Nationwide League in crisis; Cash-starved Ipswich lash greed at top; The state of the nation as up to 30 league clubs face possible bankruptcy; Hundreds of footballers prepare for the dole; Bradford face possible extinction.' Just some of the headlines.

The chairmen may win their latest battle; they may not. But I am beginning to wonder, taking the whole picture into account, whether a whopping great injection of cash would make such a massive difference anyhow.

Apathy appears to be the one thing keeping First Division grounds half empty at this juncture. Burnley showed that bringing in the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Ian Wright brings the fans flooding back - in the short term.

In the long-term, without a promotion to the Premiership that is only open to three teams each season, I wonder what the gates at Turf Moor might have been the following season had either player signed on for another year?

Many First Division grounds would sell out in an instant if tasty Premiership clubs were on the menu. The Nationwide League is perceived more as pub grub than a la carte, so it's out with the prawn sandwiches and settle back into that cosy armchair as top flight football is beamed into the living room on tap.

I wish the Nationwide well in trying to redistribute the money pot. Until more fans get off their backsides and support their club, I'm not holding my breath.