Former Reading owner, Sir John Madejski, revealed that he was not fully behind the 2009 sacking of Brendan Rodgers.

A Royals youth players in the 1990s, injury curtailed his playing career and he had spells in charge of the youth sides and reserve team.

Heading off to Chelsea, the Northern Irishman returned from Watford in 2009- taking over from the legendary Steve Coppell.

Just six wins in 23 matches saw him sacked in December- going on to lead clubs such as Swansea City, Liverpool and Celtic.

Speaking on BBC Berkshire about decisions to remove managers, Madejski said: " It is a very big, tough decision. Some of them [owners] bring it upon themselves. Brendan Rodgers, with his illustrious career since leaving Reading. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t keen on sacking him. But the board, and the fans, and the commentators were so vehemently opposed to him being here that he went- look how he succeeded ever since.

Reading Chronicle:

"It’s a strange thing, someone could come to one club and go to another and do extremely well. In his case, because he’d been brought up in Reading, I thought he would have grown legs. What he did wrong, in my humble opinion, was that his team that he brought here were not the right people, particularly the gentleman who came from Chelsea whose son was very famous."

Brian McDermott took over, leading the club to the 2012 Championship title one year on from play-off defeat to Rodgers' Swansea.

However, the 50-year-old has since gone on to win two league titles and six domestic cups in England and Scotland.