Boss gives honest assessment

Nigel Adkins admits the Royals probably got what they deserved in the end, but feels that injuries, home form and ownership issues certainly affected things.

After final day heartbreak last week, Reading missed out on the play-off spots and finished in a disappointing seventh position. The former Southampton boss had aspirations to get the club back in the Premier League at the first time of asking, but due to various constraints put on him, was unable to achieve these aims.

Speaking to the Reading Chronicle, he said: ‘At the end of 46 games, we`ve ended up in the division where you deserve to end up. Life is a rollercoaster and we`ve missed out on the play-offs in the final minutes of the season. Have we drawn too many games? Yes. Have we not won enough games at home? Yes. Have we had too many injuries? Yes.’

‘Have we not been able to strengthen maybe in the areas we want? Yes. That`s the reality and what we have to do is get ourselves ready and prepare for the future. We`ll be back with the grit and hunger and required. I want us all to be in the Premier League.’

Good, honest and fair assessment from Adkins, who is far from making excuses – he is simply stating the obvious. The feeling could have been a lot different this week had we have got a winner against Burnley, but we have to face the reality we didn’t and that we have a turbulent summer ahead of us in the coming months.