Reading legend Adam Le Fondre has admitted that he 'wanted to stay for longer' than his successful three-year stint.

The 37-year-old fan favourite spent three years in Berkshire and hit double figures in each, ending with 41 goals in 110 appearances.

After a successful individual spell in the Premier League- still holding the record for the most goals as a substitute- Le Fondre hit 15 goals in 2013/14 as Nigel Adkins' men finished seventh in the Championship.

Sold in the summer of 2014, with the club in financial difficulty after the departure of Anton Zingarevich, the striker is still playing professionally more than a decade on.

Speaking on the podcast 'I Had Trials Once', the forward said: "I love Reading as a club, they’re amazing. Such a family-orientated club. We loved it where we lived, and my daughter had just started preschool. I wanted to stay there for longer- I felt like I was the player who would shoot them back up into the Premier League."

He is perhaps best remembered for his debut campaign, finishing top scorer as Brian McDermott led the club into the top flight.

Replacing Shane Long after his exit in 2011, the Royals struggled to recover from the 2010/11 play-off defeat.

However, a run of 14 wins in 16 matches took the club from mid-table to the title.

Spearheaded by the January arrival of former Premier League star Jason Roberts, who scored six goals in 17 appearances, Reading returned to the Premier League for the first time since 2008.

"He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen in the Championship," Le Fondre commented. "I’ve never seen someone hold off a whole back four on their own and running through people. He’s like the Mayor of Greneda now- the sickest bloke ever. He came in and was a star compared to the boys we had in the dressing room, the boys we had were a workmanlike team with everyone grafting.

"He came in and he galvanised the whole group. We went on a mad run, and he was the catalyst to it all. People had no answer to him, I’ve never seen anyone like him. I was in awe of him as a player and what he could do. Technically, he wasn’t amazing, but it was what he could do with his body and how he could manipulate the ball.

"He wasn’t the most clean-cut finisher, but he would score goals. He’d effect the game so much, which made us 100 times better as a team."