Garath McCleary discusses his future, Chris Gunter and his best Reading memory

You can read part one of the interview by clicking here. 

After nearly 250 games for Reading and all the highlights, do you feel that you deserve more respect from a section of supporters?

“Sometimes I understand the stick, like with the Instagram posts. But sometimes I did that just for interaction.

“The day that Jose was sacked I put a post of me drinking a tea but I honestly did not know. The players usually find out after the news is announced or by Twitter.

“Me and Gunter would have been the last ones to know because we were so far away. I understand people might have thought I knew but I had no inkling.

“In terms of respect, as fans say they pay our wages so they can have whatever opinion they want.

“But if a player says something back I don’t understand why there’s such uproar.

“There was a tweet asking why we didn’t just leave. If it was right then I would go but obviously it wasn’t right for me and my family. That’s the same as anyone in any job, if it’s not right you don’t have to go.

“There are times when I want to bite but there’s no point because it fall back on me.

“I’ve played around 250 games now and I’ve enjoyed the majority of it. There has been a different class of people and the players have been welcoming. I do feel a part of the furniture but you never know how much longer that will go on for.”

You’ve got seven months left on your contract. What’s the plan now?

“The plan is the same, to keep ready for anything that happens. I’ve made no qualms about wanting to play abroad at some point. I definitely want to do that.

“I didn’t see it working out like this a few months ago. It’s worked out well where I’m playing games now.

“I’ve got two assists because that one against QPR was mine.

“I’m playing games and creating goals. I’m playing centre-mid which I haven’t played in too much but that’s good because it adds another string to my bow.

“We’ll see what happens. I’m still happy here for the moment but you never know what goes on in January or in the summer.”

Do you still feel bitterness? Would you sign a new deal if an acceptable one was offered to you?

“There is still bitterness, 100 per cent. I’m the sort of person that tries to forgive but I won’t forget what happened.

“That will drive me on to be a better person and a better player. As bad as it was for me, it has made me a better person. There were a lot of things I took for granted before which I’ve stopped doing now.

“I’m not thinking about my contract at the moment. I just want to keep playing, assisting, scoring and pushing Reading back up the Championship table.”

You’re 32 now and as fit as you’ve ever been. Do you have an idea of how long you’d like to play for?

“I’d like to keep playing for as long as possible. I came through non-league and went all the way up. I want to go all the way back down. Jamie Cureton has hit 1,000 games so I don’t know if I’ll be doing that but we’ll see.

“I’ve gone from Step 9 to playing international football and playing in the Premier League. I haven’t played in League 2 or the Conference so I want to play in those so that way I’ve played in every league.

“I’ll just keep going until I know it’s time to stop. I’m the fittest and quickest I’ve ever been.”

You’ve been doing a lot of coaching work recently. Is that something you’re looking into for the future?

“I never wanted to be a coach, it didn’t interest me. Sometimes I see coaches out there that get a lack of respect from players.

“But Jaap Stam made me look at football completely differently. I learned so much from him, little technical and tactical things which made me see that if I can transfer that to the younger generation or maybe a first-team in the future then that’s something I would like to do.

“At the moment I’m looking at coaching and nurturing the young players. We have some very good young players here.

“If there’s any way that I can influence them in the right way then that’s something I want to do.

“Even when we were playing with the Under 23s we would always be that shoulder if the players needed someone to speak to.

“I’ve seen people play in the Under 23s and not work as hard as they would in the first-team but we were always there if someone needed to speak to us about positioning or stuff going on outside then they could.

“If any of the young players need anything we’re here.”

You have a very close friendship with Chris Gunter and you’ve played together for around a decade now. There was a moment at the end of last season when you both sat down on the pitch, did you think that was your final game together?

“We thought that was our last one. We sat down and took it all in.

“Since Forest, my kids have been on the pitch, Chris has been there, I’ve been there. We’ve always had a very good relationship. "He’s my neighbour and the kids love him like a family member. Just sitting there it was more like this has been a long innings and this may be the end.

“Thankfully we’ve got a bit more time. We don’t know what will happen in January but at least we’ve got these couple of months and then we’ll see what happens.”

He gets the blame for a lot of things so in an unbiased way if you can, how good of a player is he?

“He does get the blame a lot but the Welsh fans love him.

“He’s a very, very good player. He’s played nearly 600 games, you don’t do that without being a good player.

“Gunts has played with some really stellar names for Wales and has played against some quality players. He was up against Hazard when they played Belgium.

“You don’t play against these players and don’t churn out games week in week out without being good.

“He’s a top professional and for what he’s done for Wales alone, the amount of games he’s played, he’s clearly a good player.

“It’s not just him. I see players get stick all the time but we all give 100 per cent and try our hardest.

“We all want to win but you have to remember there is another team out there trying to stop you from winning.”

Finally, there will come a time when you leave Reading. You’ll take this bitter period away from you but what’s the happiest memory you’ll take?

“It would either be captaining the side or the goal against Luton. Just because I proved to everyone, after being doubted so much, that I can still do it. I proved I’ve got everything I had and more.

“Coming through what we’ve gone through, just to contribute was a moment that I will never forget.”