DEAN Wilkins believes he can take the Reading FC squad to a new level next season.

Wilkins joined Royals' backroom staff earlier this month as first-team coach and he will work directly alongside manager Nigel Adkins and assistant Andy Crosby.

The trio boast an outstanding track record having won back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League with Southampton.

After all three were discarded by Saints midway through last season, they have now been reunited at Madejski Stadium.

And the forward-thinking Wilkins is confident he can eke out every last ounce of talent from the players at his disposal.

Speaking exclusively to the Chronicle, he said: "This pre-season has given me time to learn about the characters of the players we've got at Reading and find out what makes them tick.

"It's my job then to make sure every player maximises his potential. That's what I see my role as, to bring out the very best of them from now on and make them strive to attain new levels of performance.

"I will always keep working toward that goal. If we can do that with every individual and get maximum performances out of them, I believe we will be in for a great season."

Adkins won an army of admirers for the improvement Reading showed towards the end of last season when he replaced Brian McDermott.

He was quick to add Wilkins to his coaching staff - as soon as the ex-Brighton manager had recovered from surgery.

"When I left Southampton I had an operation on my foot which meant I was out of action for a while," explained Wilkins. "It was something I should have sorted ages ago.

"But we're back together now and it's going fantastically well. I have loved every minute of it. I'm used to working with Nigel and Andy and we are carrying out similar work to what we've done in the past.

"From that respect it's made settling in incredibly easy and the players have been brilliant. I've been made to feel extremely welcome, it's been the smoothest transition.

"We've been on a couple of trips to Leicester and now Portugal where I've got to know the players one-on-one.

"I try and get as close as I can to a player and improve them individually. I'd say that's my main strength. I use a lot of video analysis to show them technical things and they enjoy that.

"I don't really need to criticise because they can see things for themselves. Not one Reading player will make a mistake on purpose this season, you always have to remember that."

** READING FC target Gary Hooper is poised to sign for Norwich City. Both the Canaries and QPR have had bids of around �5 million accepted by Celtic. **

** READING FC lost 1-0 at Bristol City in a friendly on Wednesday night. Albert Adomah scored a late winner for the Robins at Ashton Gate. **