Reading boss Paul Ince has hinted that fans can expect change over the summer, should the side retain Championship status.

With just one win since December, a section of supporters are turning on the former England captain, citing his brand of football as 'negative.'

When quizzed on his tactics in the media, especially his use of the phrase "stay in the game" and the connotations of such phrases, the former Manchester United legend had his say.

"It's not negative at all. Are we good enough? Look at where we are with the embargo. Can we compete? Yes, for sure. When I say stay in the game, I mean that if we stay in the game then we have a good chance of winning the game. If we do what we did against Stoke, 3-0 down, then the game’s finished. That’s not negative, every manager says it. If you don’t stay in the game you have no chance of winning it. Yes we want to go and win the game, but you don’t want to be 2-0 down at half-time.

Reading Chronicle:

"I always say to my players stay in the game, and if you’re losing make sure it’s only by 1-0 and not 2-0 or 3-0 because we’ve got a spirit and togetherness to fight back, you can’t fight back from 2-0 or 3-0 down every week. Our record is to go and win games, look at our home record, but I still feel that the Cardiff  game- even though it’s a poor performance- we could nick a point, Sunderland we were still in the game and yet we make a mistake in the 85th minute."

Crowds have dipped year-on-year since the club's return to the second tier and some believe this is down to sentiment regarding the brand of football.

Giving his verdict on the supporters, Ince added: "I love the fans. I remember watching an Arsenal game and there were two fans with a ‘Wenger Out’ board, the next minute it’s back pages. This is how football is, two people have to say something and suddenly it’s in the headlines. We love the support we get from the fans, home and away. You could sense in the Rotherham game that there was a bit of frustration, and rightly so, but it’s important that they stick with us.

"This season we need to get to 50 points, by hook or by crook, and then next year we can start bringing players in and things will change. Fans will all have their opinions and you need to understand that as a manager, you have to have broad shoulders and deal with it. Rome wasn’t built in a day."