Reading legend Mick Gooding admitted he is 'so sad' and 'gobsmacked' as relegation to League One looms.

Gooding played over 200 times and managed the club in the 1990s, and has worked as a pundit for BBC Berkshire for over a decade.

Losing to Coventry City on Saturday, Queens Park Rangers beat league leaders Burnley and left the club needing a miracle to survive in the Championship.

Two matches remain, Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield Town, to save the season.

However, Gooding believes the race has been run.

Reading Chronicle:

"It is so sad. I said last week that I thought they would get relegated, and I think even more so now," he told BBC Berkshire. "I think it will take a miracle for them not to go down. It’s going to be a tragedy for the football club. People will lose their jobs. I don’t think it’ll be a case of going to Division One and spending a season there rebuilding and coming up at the end of next season, it’s horrendous. If the owner’s decided that’s not what we were looking for, they could be in a huge amount of trouble. Who’s going to buy the football club?

"I think the damage is done. I said last week that I thought Reading would need at least a win. I thought they would need five points, because I was convinced that Queens Park Rangers would win a game before the end of the season, which they’ve done today unbelievably. I think Huddersfield will win another game before the end of the season. That leaves us relegated, pretty much. I can’t get my words out, it’s so sad."

Now an estate agent in the local area, the former Rotherham United favourite feels the issue has been simmering for a long time.

"The club’s been mismanaged from top to bottom. The appointments, the last five or six years, the number of managers that have come in and been given this job- it’s been ridiculous, so so bad. All that’s happened is that the club have got lower and lower and lower. The owners might have lots of money to spend, but they need to spend it the right way otherwise we wouldn’t be in this situation.

"Who’s been making the decisions on the management? It’s ridiculous, and that’s no slight on Noel whatsoever. He’s had three games to turn around what was a shocking season. The six points sent us further down the league, but it’s been shocking. The football has been at best mediocre, at worst it’s been some of the worst football I’ve watched. I’ve lived in the Reading area for 30-odd years now, watching Reading, playing for Reading or managing them. Honestly, I’m gobsmacked that it’s come to this."