Reading favourite Shane Long has admitted that he is weighing up retirement following the club's relegation to League One.

The 36-year-old returned to the club last summer after a decade in the Premier League with West Brom and Southampton.

A popular figure from his first spell, from 2005 until 2011, the Republic of Ireland international has played over 200 times for the Royals.

Only scoring twice last season, the veteran has accepted that it may be time to hang up the boots.

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Speaking on BBC Berkshire, the forward said: "I doubt it. I’m going to speak to my family but in my head, I think enough is enough. I’m 37 next January. We’ll see. I’m going to spend time with my family over the summer and weigh up the pros and cons after that. I feel good, my body does feel good, but I suppose the older you get the more it’s about recovery and getting your body going again. When you’re playing Saturday-Tuesday- Saturday-Tuesday it takes its toll. I don’t want to come back for one more year and just be injured. I’ll see how I feel in the summer. If the club can buy in players and have a decent squad next year then brilliant, but if they’re struggling to get numbers in the door and they need more help then I’m always a phone call away."

Making his final appearance in the 2-0 defeat to Huddersfield Town, interim boss Noel Hunt hit the headlines after revealing Lucas Joao alerted him by text that he would not feature in the last match.

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Long, who has been battling injury for the past few months, hinted at individuals opting not to appear.

"There was me, Tmac [McIntyre] and Junior [Hoilett] carrying injuries but just trying to get ourselves onto the pitch to try and get a result, but sadly it wasn’t to be. There are a few lads at the training ground carrying injuries, but other guys just didn’t want to be here, so it was on us to go out and put in a performance. It wasn’t the performance that we wanted, but the positive we can take is getting young lads like Jay, Kelvin and Coniah minutes on the pitch and getting experience going into next year."