JOSE PLANS CLEAROUT

Gomes says he has a ‘clear picture’ of which players will move on as he prepares to make his mark

READING MANAGER Jose Gomes admitted that he has a clear picture of the players he wants to move on and keep ahead of next season.

“I have a clear picture of which players we must move on and which players we should bring if we can,” said Gomes.

“I already know which players I would like to bring. It’s step by step, first we must move the players and find space to bring in our targets.

“We have players that have finished their contracts, we have loan players that have finished and we don’t know if their clubs accept if they can return or not and we have players under contract, but we must find a way to resolve their problem if they can’t go on with us anymore.

“This is the reality. Tomorrow we will put everything on the table and make decisions will talk with all the players because they deserve respect but this is football.

“They (the players) know that we need to make money, reduce the budget and even if they aren’t happy with the decisions they will understand.”

The Royals drew their final league game of the season on Sunday 00 against Birmingham City at the Madejski Stadium as they finished 20th for a second consecutive season.

“I think for the way we controlled the game with the ball and the situations we create the players and fans deserved more than one point. It was a good football game in my opinion with two different styles.

“It was a nice football party with three young players starting the game. Teddy played for the first time and O’Shea finished his career so there were a lot of emotion.

Gomes was full of praise for the retiring John O’Shea who made his final appearance on Sunday before retiring from professional football which has seen the Irishman make over 800 club appearances in a career spanning 20 years.

“It means a lot the respect that he got. He’s conquered the respect, he’s a very intelligent person, a quiet person who doesn’t speak much but when he does everyone listens. He’s a footballer who has won everything, he’s had a fantastic career and he deserves it.

The Reading fans showed their appreciation for their manager by celebrating ‘Portugal Day’ as thousands wore red and green and sported Portugeuse flags.

“It was really emotional when I first received the news and I wasn’t expecting to see so many Portugal flags in the stand,” said Gomes.

“It was a big responsibility that they put on my shoulders but the level of this emotion and intention of the fans, the players answered with good football and we just needed to score and we deserved to.

“I would like to repeat that the achievement, although we didn’t win anything but considering the situation when I arrived it’s a really great thing to achieve. It’s a result of teamwork from everybody.

“We’ve got a big number of points at home, these points have been from the help of our fans so it’s their achievement as well.”