Adkins Denies West Brom Move

07 January 2014
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading manager Nigel Adkins has denied he is set to move to Premier League strugglers West Bromwich Albion. Adkins is currently one of the favourites to get the job that has been vacant since December. It does appear to be a classic "no smoke without fire" but Adkins denies that he has had any contact with the club and puts it down to purely "bookies speculation". He insists he wants to stay at Reading and get our average season back on track. After dropping out of the FA Cup at the first attempt at the weekend, losing 0-1 at Brighton, Adkins can concentrate on reviving what has been a very lacklustre league campaign.

Things aren't amazing on the pitch right now, but the turmoil off the pitch continues with the club trying to find a buyer to replace the AWOL Anton Zingarevich who is unlikely to make a re-appearance at Reading. It seems Anton's only real impact on the club, despite all the initial hype, was the throwing out of one of the club's true loyal servants, former manager Brian McDermott. The jury is still out on if that was a wise move or not. Anton has wanted out for many months after failing to complete his purchase after owning 51 percent since May 2012.

The club continue to discuss another sale to a new buyer. It could potentially be a bigger deal with Anton's assigned share and Madejski's remaining holding up for grabs together. Madejski has spent plenty of time building links with contacts in Oman but that deal seems to have slipped with a new offer from an American group on the table. Madejski will be happy to see the possibility of rival bids driving the price up, but it's unclear if and when the club will benefit.

Meanwhile it's transfer window time once again. It looks increasingly likely that no money will be made available as negotiations about the ownership of the club continue. However offers for players might come in with goalkeeper Alex McCarthy remaining hot property, and Adam Le Fondre keen on a move to get more action. Transfer windows have been disappointing before but this looks set to be worse. It feels like it might be a weaker squad, and possibly management, at the end of January with Reading struggling in mid-table.

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