Former Reading boss Brian McDermott says there will be some disappointment that his old club failed to make the play-offs but has hailed the “stability” at the Royals ahead of another promotion push next time around.
Leam Richardson’s side fell short in their bid to return to the Championship, with a 12th-place finish coming after a good run of form had catapulted them into the top six in April.
Just two points from their last five games saw Reading miss out on a play-off spot for the second season running but McDermott, who guided the side to the Premier League with a Championship title win in 2012, says it is important to remember how far the club has come after a challenging few years.
“I would imagine that the team, manager and staff would be disappointed they didn’t get in the play-offs and I understand that,” he told BBC Radio Berkshire.
“Having said that, if you look at where the club was a couple of years ago, it was in real trouble.”
“At least there is some stability there, which is great to see and that’s the most important thing and you can have another go next year.
“I don’t believe any of that [clubs sometimes are not ready for promotion]. Just try and win the next game and try to get yourself into a strong position and get promoted and worry about the division you are going to be in during the summer.”
Reading’s promotion hopes were seriously dented by conceding late on in key matches towards the end of the season, including stoppage-time goals in the defeat to Lincoln City and in their draw at Huddersfield.
McDermott remembers his side suffering with similar issues during his time in charge and says players have to do the “ugly stuff” in order to see games out.
“We had a spell when I was manager where we were losing goals in the 87th and 88th minute and we spent a lot of time in training working on the last five, six, seven minutes of what a game would look like to see it out,” he said.
“And we became a really strong team at seeing games out. If you remember that team, we’d keep the ball, we’d do what we had to do, put balls in corners. Do anything – block shots, block crosses and do all of the ugly stuff that no-one pats you on the back for to make sure you win a game 1-0.”