Reading owner Anton Zingarevich has 'total faith' in Brian McDermott
Last updated on .From the section Football
Reading owner Anton Zingarevich says he has "total faith" in manager Brian McDermott and believes he is the right man to keep them in the Premier League.
The Royals beat Everton 2-1 on Saturday for their first win of the season after an indifferent start to the campaign.
But despite reports linking PSV Eindhoven coach Dick Advocaat with McDermott's job, Zingarevich remains confident in his manager's ability.
"I have total faith in him. I'm sure he is the man for the job," he said.
"I'm sure he can become a very good manager in the Premier League."
Zingarevich dismissed the Advocaat link as just "speculation", calling it "nonsense" and revealed McDermott had been "irritated" by the story.
He added how much he admired and respected his manager - who last season guided the Royals into the Premier League following their play-off defeat the season before.
"I think he has the right characteristics to be a manager," he continued.
"You can be a good coach but it's about being the right manager. The way he handles the group and the spirit they have, the manager is a key person in all of that process.
"To be a good manager you need to be a good psychologist and he is, that's the key. From the first meeting I understood that."
Russian businessman Zingarevich completed his takeover of Reading in the summer and has already invested heavily in player recruitment.
But despite his financial backing the 29-year-old says he has realistic expectations for this season and will be patient in waiting for success.
However, he has promised there will be funds available in January should McDermott want to add to the squad.
"We've showed like last season, when we needed to strengthen, we know what we needed to strengthen and we did so," he said.
There were reports in Russia that Zingarevich was preparing to bring in up to 10 new players in January, one of which was Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin.
But Zingarevich says his comments were taken out of context and lost in translation.
"What I really said is that I was asked the question about Arshavin, 'what do you think of him as a player?'," he said.
"I said he's a good player. I was asked if we'd be interested in him and I said if he's available like 10 or 15 other players who will be in the winter, we'll sit down and discuss. But I never actually said that we are interested in signing him.
"In terms of players, it's a collective decision but it's the manager who has the last word."
Despite being in control at the Royals for just over six months, Zingarevich says he has a clear vision of how he wants to expand the Berkshire club - who on Saturday welcomed a record crowd to the Madejski Stadium.
"Today the stadium is full so at some point we need to expand it. It won't be tomorrow, but within five years we need to," he said.
"Also we need to improve some of our internal infrastructure, our training ground, so there are those basic things. Lately all the clubs are into that."
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Genuinely couldn't see another manager coming in and doing a better job with the current squad.
I am happy with things and do not want a change.
Fans with heads screwed on always helps a manager. I expect (and predict) Reading FC to stay up despite the lack of quality in the squad. Solid teams built on financial reality is what the PL needs - look at expectations for Stoke this season, no-one expects them to go down because they're a well run club with faith in the manager. QPR however..lucky last season and dropping this one.Fo Shu!
The first part of that sentence is true. Where the second part come from? Anyone who follows Reading will know there has been only very limited investment in new players. Many that arrived over the summer were on free transfer.
No Probs :)
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Perhaps BM and Reading need to adopt the old Arsenal method as in
1-0 to the Reading, playing expansive and attractive football can backfire
as the saying goes where there is a will there is way, scoring 4 goals against Arsenal shows they have what it takes to compete with the big boys. Arsenal were indeed fortunate to win that encounter.
Adkins. Late 2012 - apparently nearing the sack. 2011/2012 - Southampton unexpectedly promoted to Premier League, 2nd promotion in 2 seasons.
Why get rid of the manager? They've got their team promoted with inferior players anyway, no-one expected them in the PL this season.
Thank you for demonstrating you have no idea what a fact is. Here's a clue - just because something is your opinion doesn't automatically make it a fact. Maybe you'd like to comment on the 'luck' that Reading had when Torres scored an offside goal against them and Demba Ba equalised with an obvious handball.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Fact.
"Good to see the owner confirm this, but his comments about a new stadium are a bit dream-laden I think! Only 24k to make the record crowd and it's not often full."
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What a clueless statement, shows you know nothing about Reading /football in general-24K is the CAPACITY of the ground & its been a sell out all season,38K is minimum, massive catchment within 10ish miles, uk's biggest town
We may buy one or two players if they are the right price. Most reading fans would welcome Long and Sigursson back but i cant see either happening
West Brom wont let Long go the way he is playing and sig would cost too much, though a load would be nice
Next season we lost in the playoff final after a farily slow start, following season we were promoted