Former Reading boss Paul Ince believes he did a 'phenomenal' job in Berkshire, despite being sacked with the side on the cusp of relegation.
Initially taking charge on a temporary basis in February 2022, he kept the side up and took the club into the 2022/23 season under embargo with less than eight first-team players in pre-season.
Reading led the table for a spell, enjoying a productive first portion of the campaign until the World Cup break.
However, the club were hit with a six-point deduction for financial issues and failed to win any of his final eight matches.
The former England captain was sacked in April following a late 2-1 defeat at Preston North End.
He had won just twice in 18 matches, including heavy 4-0 and 5-0 defeats at Stoke City and Middlesbrough, as well as crucial defeats to Sunderland and Cardiff City.
"I look back at the job Alex Rae and I did at Reading and it was phenomenal," the former Manchester United and Liverpool star told LuckyBlock.com. "No one understands what an embargo actually entails. I look back and think that we did a fantastic job. If it wasn't for the six-point deduction, we'd have stayed in the Championship.
"We were decimated by injuries and had our main talisman [Tom Ince] for ten games. We had kids on the bench and we'd have still stayed up if it wasn't for the six-point deduction.
"We had five winnable games and it was disappointing to leave when we did. Leeds tried doing it with Big Sam and it didn't work.
"You can understand change with ten games to go and there's another manager in charge. I love Noel Hunt and no disrespect to him, but to bring in someone like that with the pressure of the position we were in was one of the reasons we went down.
"I believe, even with the points deduction, we'd have kept Reading up had we not been sacked."
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