READING manager Ruben Selles described the January transfer window as ‘damage limitation’ which saw six players depart the club.
With the club in financial crisis under current owner Dai Yongge, several first-team assets were sold including Nelson Abbey, Tom Holmes and Tom McIntyre.
“When I was observing the entire situation and preparing for the press conference, I think we managed to be in a situation of damage limitation,” said Selles.
“We didn’t want to lose the places that we had in the dressing room. Unfortunately some of them left us.
“But I think we managed to keep some of the spine of the team and the line-up that has been competing for more than three months together so in that sense, I think we controlled or limited our damage.
“I think there have been some stages during the transfer window, that first bit with Tom Holmes and Nelson, I don’t think we managed properly inside the club.
“In the rest of the transfers we knew what was going on in different stages.
“We understand the situation that we are in as a club and that we needed to get some players out.
“We needed to make a balance with this cost cutting and that was a clear strategy from the beginning.
“I don’t think it can be a good window for Reading when you have a transfer embargo and you can’t sign any players even for a small amount and you are losing players.
“The players we let out, besides Nelson, didn’t have too much playing time in recent months for us. But we can’t qualify it as a good transfer window because the situation we are in is not good.”
Selles admitted that he believes the money generated from sales should be used to help fund the operating costs of the club in the next few months.
He continued: “Well, I think I think that’s that’s basically the the strategy just to reduce the cost of the the wages of the team and then to get some some cash in to pay salaries and the daily basics that that, that we need.
“I think we got enough to be safe for the next couple of months as you say. And I think that was the entire strategy.”
