NEW Reading FC boss Jose Gomes is confident he can repay the club’s owners by turning them back into promotion contenders.

Gomes’ appointment was finally confirmed after the 1-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough today.

The 48-year-old Portuguese penned a two-and-a-half year contract and brought his backroom staff from Rio Ave with him – sparking more Royals’ coaching departures.

It is believed Reading paid around 1m euro to release former Porto coach Gomes from his contract at Rio Ave.

It is thought he has earned a significant pay rise amid reports of an eye-watering 11m salary package and will receive a huge transfer kitty in January from Chinese co-owner Dai Yongge.

Speaking to the Reading press for the first time tonight, he said: “All coaches in the world dream to work in English football. I’m completely excited with this idea, this project.

“Mr Dai believes in it a lot and he made a big effort to take me away from my previous club.

“He explained the big amount of money he is investing and we need to get results and put Reading in the right place.”

He added: “Everyone has been friendly to me, I have been introduced to the people who work daily at the club, I feel everyone wants to help.

“I felt the passion from the stands. We must achieve our goals, there is no other way of finishing this project.

“We must return Mr Dai’s investment with good results and take Reading back to the Premier League again. If not this season – which is obviously going to be difficult - then next season. We want to put the club in the Premier League.”

Reading were initially knocked back by fellow Portuguese Luis Castro of Vito Guimaraes before landing Gomes from Rio Ave, having only joined them in June after 14 months as coach of Al-Taawoun in Saudi Arabia.

“It was a completely new squad with 17 new players, some the first time in Portugal,” he explained.

“We started playing very good football and a lot of scouts around the world were talking about my new team.

“Mr Dai invested a lot to bring me here and that’s how it happened.

“To tell you the truth I wasn’t expecting it.

“But a lot of Portuguese coaches told me I was changing a club in Portuguese first division that can push for European competitions for a club not in a good position right now.

“But no, I said I’m not changing clubs, I just believe in the Reading project, it’s a different thing, so here I am.”

He continued: “I love football. When you play football as a kid, you ask your friends to play. The idea is to score goals, but we have to pass to each other.

“That’s what I like, to play from our goalkeeper, pass the ball and control the game.

“We try and recover the ball, create space and gaps in the defensive line to use with fast players and strikers. But basically creating and finding the opponents’ goal by controlling the ball.

“From what I have seen, we have players with enough technical ability to follow my ideas, I have no doubt about it.”

Gomes’ first task will be to trim the first-team squad to around “16 very good players plus Under 23s” which inevitably means January departures.

However, he says he is ready to give every player a fair crack at the whip.

“We want to reduce the number of players, we have too many,” he added. “We need to check who the best players are and reduce the numbers.

“You can be a champion in the Under 23s or Under 18s, but you cannot use these players in the first team because the squad is full, you cannot bring anyone through.

“I like to work with young players and if they deserve a chance I will give it.

“But now we must to put things in place and then make decisions.”

He continued: “Everyone will talk now, the January market is arriving so what player do we want to bring in.

“Now, we must give stability to our players, give them confidence. We don’t deserve to be in the position we are in.

“We must be stronger on the pitch and the players must believe they can do it.

“We need to give them confidence and I’m sure they will like my ideas and football philosophy.”