Former Reading manager Alan Pardew spoke out against current owner Dai Yongge, and has sent his support to 'distraught' fans.

Pardew got his managerial break in Berkshire back in 1999 and took the Royals out of the third tier in 2002.

Departing in controversial circumstances to join West Ham, the former Crystal Palace and Newcastle United boss has not enjoyed the best receptions when returning to the SCL Stadium.

However, he has shown support for his former employers as the club battles to get rid of owner Dai Yongge.

This saw a fan protest get Saturday's match with Port Vale abandoned after 16 minutes when over 1,000 supporters invaded the pitch.

"The year I went there they were bottom and where they are now, League One. We put a process in place, the team that I took there, to get us out of the division," he told TalkSPORT. "Then it was taken on by Steve Coppell, who took them out of the Championship. They built an academy and a training ground that was state-of-the-art and owned the ground and got in the Premier League.

"It’s almost unimaginable that they can mismanage that situation. The infrastructure was all in place. The bad feeling is from the bad ownership and bad management of the football club.

"The fans there must be so angry. I know the fans there can be radical. When I first went there a caretaker manager they had PANTS Day because they were so disappointed with performances- they put pants on their heads. I know the fans there and they are an intelligent group who get together, get organised and care about their club. They must be absolutely distraught. I have seen Mike Ashley, who owned Newcastle, has been involved in maybe taking Reading, so they must have had serious offers. There must be an avenue for that guy to move away from that football club, because he has not done the job. He isn’t fit and proper, he can’t be.

"Where they are now, they look like they could go down another division with all the infrastructure they have in place. Reading is right next to an airport and right outside of London, the catchment area is massive. It is a Premier League club, it can be a Premier League club again no problems. It’s perfectly positioned. Most people with a lot of money would like to live in Sonning, it is a lovely part of the world. There is no reason for them to be in this situation. It isn’t just this owner, the one before wasn’t particularly good and the Russian who owned it before him didn’t do a very good job."