Reading Head of Football Operations believes the club should look to emluate Premier League sides Brighton and Hove Albion or Southampton.
The Welshman managed the club from 2019-2020 but was removed in favour of Veljko Paunovic ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
Returning this summer in his new backroom role, the former full-back has looked to improve links between the club and supporters, as well as working with manager Paul Ince with transfers in and out of Berkshire.
Speaking alongside Ince and coach Alex Rae at a recent Supporters Trust at Reading fans' forum, the former QPR and Manchester City coach described the pain he felt hearing the club tarnished in certain circles and his aspirations for the future.
Thank you to all those who attended our Fans Forum with @PaulInce & Mark Bowen last week!
— Supporters’ Trust At Reading (@STARReading) August 16, 2022
Over the next few days we’ll be putting out a few teaser clips from the event.
Starting with this one, Mark’s vision for where he’d like the club to be👇🏼#ReadingFC pic.twitter.com/lXGuMkWwBK
"In the 18 months I spent away from the club, it hurt me as well, the things you would hear in football circles about Reading Football Club," he started. "Only because the communication wasn’t there, you’d hear things like ‘the club’s a shambles.’ Why is it a shambles? It shouldn’t be a shambles. Reading Football Club, to me, we have got a fantastic stadium, a fantastic training ground, a very wealthy owner. At the very least I think we should be like a Brighton and Hove Albion or a Southampton- that type of club we should be because we’ve got everything else in place."
The former Norwich City defender spoke to the media at legnth about his new role before the season started, explaining exactly what it will entail.
"My role is to oversee all operations at the football club. I’m across everything that goes on at the football club and in doing so it is important that I get the right people around to support and drive the club going forward to try and make it stronger and better. We have to go about creating and setting a better culture at the club, a strategy of where we want to go in the upcoming years and a vision for the club which maybe has been lacking over the last few years.
"The most important aspect at the moment is making sure we are helping Paul to have a squad that is at the very least competitive for the first game of the season."
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