Chairman John Madejski has heaped praise on the 3,000 Reading fans who made the trip to Pride Park this Sunday.

Our supporters were absolutely sensational, creating a fabulously positive atmosphere with constant singing and dozens of inflatables. Sadly though, results did not go to plan and we were relegated despite winning 4-0.

The Chairman told our online TV station Reading World after the game, "First of all I would like to say I think the fans were just brilliant.

"You could not ask for anything more, and they are one of the reasons we got the tremendous 4-0 result at Derby."

He continued, "I am proud of the squad that came out and played football in the way they did.

"But the results have conspired against us and we are in the Championship. There's nothing I can do about it, there's nothing you can do about it, that's life.

"We have to take it on the chin, get together, regroup and come out fighting for next season.

"We can be proud of how we played today, it's just a pity we didn't do it earlier, we wouldn't be in this stupid situation.

"But that's life, it has happened, I'm deeply disappointed we've been relegated but that's sport, it's football. There's nothing we can do."

The Chairman expects questions about boss Steve Coppell's future, but he will put that to one side for now.

"That's for another day, not an afternoon like this."