FORMER READING FC manager Paul Ince believes that he would have kept the club in the Championship had he been given the chance.
Ince was sacked by the Royals with just five games to go in the Championship season which eventually saw them relegated under interim boss Noel Hunt.
Reading had been on a torrid run under Ince after the World Cup break which had seen his side win just two of their last 18 matches before he was dismissed by the club.
Reading were deducted six points, but Ince believes that he and his management team would have been able to fend off relegation had they not been sacked.
“I look back at the job Alex Rae and I did at Reading and it was phenomenal,” Ince said when speaking to Luckyblock.
“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 injured [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.”
Ince is determined to return to management after his stint with Reading.
He continued: “I definitely want to return to management. The ending at Reading left a bitter taste in the mouth, but I loved the fans.
“They were great and I’m glad we managed to give them experiences like going up to Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
“I’ve proven I can still manage and I’ve got my thirst back for that side of the game. I don’t care about what level I manage at, I just believe in the individual projects.
“I want a project but it’s hard to work under an impatient owner. Sir Alex always said to me, don’t pick the club, pick the owner.”
