Ivar Ingimarsson leaves Reading
Anthony Smith • Published 2 Jun 2011 15:30
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Talisman: Club captain Ivar Ingimarsson is looking for a new club following his release by Reading today.
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IVAR Ingimarsson's Reading career is over after the ex-skipper was told his contract will not be renewed.
The former skipper and talismanic defender had been on a rolling 12-month contract for the past few seasons but Royals will not be extending it any further.
The 33-year-old Icelandic ace is now available on a free transfer and is likely to have plenty of offers from rival clubs this season.
Speaking exclusively to the Chronicle, manager Brian McDermott revealed: "Ivar is going. He's been a fantastic servant to this club and he's had a very successful career here.
"Obviously it was a hard decision but we feel it is in the best interests of both parties to let Ivar go."
He added: "Ivar wants to play every game, but we can't give him that guarantee, especially when we have centre backs like Matt Mills, Alex Pearce and Shaun Morrison while Zurab Khizanishvili may also come back.
"Ivar has reached the point in his career when a move is probably best. He's been a fantastic player and everyone wishes him well."
Ingimarsson was former boss Steve Coppell's first Reading signing when he arrived from Wolves for a bargain £150,000 in October 2003.
He has made 282 appearances scoring 12 goals and was a mainstay in defence during the club's Premier League years between 2006 amd 2008.
However, he has been hampered by injuries for the past two seasons and featured only 14 times during the last campaign, which ended in heartache at Wembley Stadium on Monday.
However, Ingimarsson's Icelandic team-mate Brynjar Gunnarsson has been offered a new one-year deal and Wales winger Hal Robson-Kanu is in talks over a new contract.
Royals are also keen to bring former Blackburn Rovers loan defender Zurab Khizanishvili back to the club, though the Georgia skipper looks likely to move abroad.
McDermott admitted: "Zurab can talk to any club he likes now. We will be speaking to him and will offer him something.
"The same goes for Brynjar Gunnarsson. We will see what they decide then go from there."
Reading are already counting the cost of their Championship play-off final defeat to Brendan Rodgers' Swansea City, with chairman Sir John Madejski likely to introduce strict cost-cutting measures.
That could include the sale of leading goalscorer Shane Long who has been strongly linked with Scottish giants Celtic and Alan Pardew's Newcastle United. McDermott, though, wants to keep his star striker.
Royals' boss was due to sit down with the board last night (Wednesday) to discuss the budget for next season.
McDermott explained: "I don't know what our budget is yet, but we made money from two FA Cup quarter finals in a row and Wembley was also very useful in that respect.
"We're trying to run the club in the black, we won't get ourselves into trouble like a lot of clubs have in this division in recent years.
"We'll do the best we can with the bunch of players we've got. Other clubs look at us with envy because we're the model of how all clubs should be run."
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 02 Jun 11
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