Former Reading defender John Halls admitted that he should not have joined the club in 2006.

A fan favourite with Stoke City, the defender was signed in January 2006 with the Royals already well on their way to the Championship record of 106 points and Premier League promotion.

Only 24 at the time, Halls spent the next season-and-a-half in Berkshire but played just eight times in all competitions.

Retiring in his early 30s over a decade ago and becoming a model, Halls spoke to the 1871 Podcast about his time in RG2.

"In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have joined a team where your right-back is the captain, he’s doing amazing, and the team isn’t losing a game. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have gone to a team like that, but I did, and I was told I would have to be patient until the end of the season," he said. 

"It was quite disheartening, it’s hard when you’re a footballer and not playing- it’s really difficult and I found that really difficult. I probably got myself into trouble a few times and whether Coppell liked me or not- I was a bit too dangerous for Copps. When I first went there as a right-back I had come from Arsenal. At Arsenal the last ball you play is in the channel- if you play a channel ball at Arsenal you probably get pulled off. I grew up playing football, whereas I went to Reading and he said, ‘your first ball is in the channel and the second ball is to your winger, and your last ball is into midfield- and if that midfielder loses the ball, then it’s my fault.’ I wasn’t going to change the way I played, I was more of a risk player. I don’t really know who signed me because if you’d have watched me at Stoke you would have realised what kind of player I was. I don’t want to talk bad about people because it was great, and they took a chance on me.

"It didn’t work and I did some silly things when I was there that probably didn’t help me- drinking and whatever- but it’s one of those things. Being in and around it, being involved with a team that won the league that convincingly was amazing. I loved it, it was great. I love the boys to bits and all the coaching staff, and Copps, but it wasn’t meant to be for me."