Former Reading striker Dave Kitson believes the club 'wasted talent' in the past behind-the-scenes as the club suffers a first relegation in over a decade.

Kitson played over 150 times and is one of the best forwards in the club's history, a key member of the record-breaking side of 2006.

Departing in 2009, the Stoke City and Portsmouth forward remains outspoken on the Royals- not taking part in last year's legends match due to his feeling toward the current hierarchy.

Speaking on BBC Berkshire, Kitson explained his thoughts behind the club's demise and return to the third tier.

Reading Chronicle:

"The hope is you leave something in a better position than you found it- and I felt we did. We had a cracking academy with players that came through and were able to get the club back to the Premier League, we had a lot of older lads who were able to help as well, and we had a lot of lads who are still in the area and wanted to come back and help but weren’t allowed or passed over. I always think it was such a waste of talent. It is indicative of where it has ended up in that when you abandon your principles, and lay waste all the good things you have that are already in your door and costing you nothing, you’re really at the mercy of one person’s decision. If that one person comes in and doesn’t fully understand what’s going on, decides it’s going in another direction and won’t listen to anyone else, this is the danger."

An advocate for former teammates returning to help the club, Kitson believes there is talent being under-utilised.

Reading Chronicle:

"We had round pegs in round holes. We had the chairman, the chief executive, the director of football, the head of recruitment, the manager, coaches, the defensive coach and all of the players in the right places. All of those people, from Sir John down to whoever the third-choice goalkeeper was, were so hungry to put their names on the map and put Reading on the map. They did it in the most spectacular way.

"You would think we invented this model largely, there’s no reason why we can’t do it, but to just abandon it and let all that knowledge and experience leave- the Murty’s, myself, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Ivar Ingimarsson- these are smart people that have a world view on football and care about the football club. A lot of those lads have thankfully put their knowledge elsewhere, but that could have been us."