Paul Ince vows to "build confidence" in first Reading FC interview

Paul Ince has been named interim manager of Reading FC and has vowed to build up the confidence of the side as they bid to avoid relegation.

The former Manchester United and England midfielder replaced the under pressure, Veljko Paunovic following his departure from the club on Saturday. Despite The Royals 3-2 win away to Preston, Paunovic left the club by "mutual consent."

Ince joins his son Tom, who is on loan at Reading from Stoke FC.

Speaking to the Press on Monday, 55 times capped, former England captain, Ince said no one should underestimate the scale of the task ahead: “We are in a relegation battle. Everyone’s job is on the line here, everyone should be aware of this. Job losses follow relegation.

“We avoid that by building confidence, winning games and climbing up that table.”

Reading were deducted six points earlier this season due to a breach of financial regulations. Their highest earners were then removed from the payroll in a cost cutting exercise.

Ince will be thrust into the action with Reading’s games against Birmingham at home tomorrow (Tuesday) evening and Blackpool away this weekend.

“I am here to help the team. I am here to get results,” said Ince.

“The games are coming thick and fast. It is all about getting points.

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“Points on the board are the most important thing. You can’t really think long term in this game.

"It is about winning games, we have ten weeks to go and a lot of football to be played.”

Owners asked me to come and help the club, I have my standards and we have ten weeks to go, a lot of things can happen in that time so hopefully we can get the job done.

Ince said he is familiar with the team and has identified areas for improvement: “There is not a lot needs to be done but there are tweaks that need to be made. We need to stop conceding goals. In the first half on Saturday we played like Barcelona but we ended up conceding twice.

“We must stop conceding goals, we need to address that quickly. If we can do that, we have talented players upfront to cause problems but we need to shut the back door or we will struggle.”

Ince also spoke of the importance of bringing in one or two backroom staff in the next 48 hours in order to get his own team in place, concluding: “We need one big push for ten weeks, get a few wins and let's see how far we can go.”

Reading currently sit 21st in the Championship five points above the relegation places.

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