New Reading first team assistant coach John O'Shea admitted he is loving his role having rejoined the staff this week.

O'Shea played his final club for the game in May but revealed that manager Jose Gomes was keen to have him as coach not long after the end of the season.

He said: "Initially I am going to be learning as much as I can the first couple of weeks but then I will be helping out as much as I can, getting to know the players and then I can get a more hands-on role

"It will be exciting and I am looking forward to it. It won't just be helping the defence out. If I can help the strikers or the wide men out then I will do.

"I spoke to the manager towards the end of last season and it was something I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to do.

"Thankfully the manager has given me this opportunity. This is my first coaching role at a team which has big ambitions and hopefully have a better season than last season and it was something I couldn't turn down."

O'Shea knows a lot of the players from his playing days and he hoped it would be an advantage having already got that relationship.

He added: "I hope it will be advantage as I have a good idea as to how the players work and what makes them tick but the manager will know that as well."

In terms of pre-season, O'Shea explained the players have done some fantastic work out in Spain but there was lots to improve on still, especially the lack of goals on that two-week tour.

He said: "It was a good test against Peterborough. You could say the quality they possessed as well and thankfully we showed our quality.

"Potentially the lack of goals was a concern coming into the Peterborough game. A lack of creating chances would have been a bigger worry but we have been creating those.

"Scoring four goals was great. Being greedy you want that clean sheet too. You want to make your job as easy as possible and not switch off."