Following Reading Borough Council's decision to approve plans to develop the capacity of Madejski Stadium, the Club have confirmed that work will not begin this summer.

If work got underway now it would cause disruption to existing seats at the start of next season, so construction will begin in the summer of 2008.

Chief Executive Nigel Howe explained, "Although we initially hoped that building work would start this summer, a number of factors have to be addressed before work can begin and we want to make sure the project is carried out properly and not rushed.

"We have said all along that no final decisions had been made on the finer detail of the design, and we will now take our time to make sure that the right decisions are made.

"If we started now, the necessary enabling works would not be completed in time for the start of the season, which means there would be disruption to existing seats and that is something we have always been very keen to avoid.

"As always, we will ensure that our supporters are kept fully informed at every stage of the process."

Nigel added that a 'green' transport plan will be adopted to meet the additional travel implications.

"We will further increase the number of bus services running to Madejski Stadium on matchday and encourage people to use public transport whenever possible.

"Hopefully we'll also have the use of the new railway station which is planned for Green Park."