Reading to splash the cash

Reading could have spent more as they prepared for life in the Barclays Premier League but will be more active this summer, according to owner Anton Zingarevich.

Last Updated: 06/02/13 at 12:43 Post Comment

Anton Zingarevich: Hoping for an easier summer

Anton Zingarevich: Hoping for an easier summer

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The Royals looked a safe bet to make an instant return to the second tier as they struggled to adapt to life in the top flight but healthy movement in the January window and a six-game unbeaten run has pushed them out of the drop zone.

Zingarevich, who has been in control at the Madejski Stadium for a year now and will complete a total buyout of the club in September, accepts the poor start could have been down to a lack of investment, but has pledged to make sure nothing similar happens again in the future.

"The difficulty last summer was that we didn't have a big scouting budget over the last year when we were in the Championship. We knew the players, but we didn't want to make a mistake," he told the Reading Post.

"We stuck to what we knew and we could have done more, but there is no point looking back. We have done a lot of scouting over the past few months and we know pretty much every single player in Europe. So come the summer, it is much easier.

"It is easier for players to adapt as well as they have the whole pre-season in front of them. In the summer we can have a little bit more risk than in January."

Reading signed four players in January but were foiled in their attempts to sign Blackpool's Thomas Ince and Tottenham's Gylfi Sigurdsson. That frustrated Zingarevich, but he believes a hostile transfer window market means doing business can be tough,

"We could have probably done more, you can always spend more money," he said. "Spending money is easy. We wanted to achieve something, which was to make the squad competitive and make sure that it was getting us over the line.

"The psychology doesn't change. We could have bought big, big players, but that doesn't ensure you success, like you see with other teams.

"But we are in a better position right now. In terms of January we tried to sign some really good players, but January is difficult."

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