Ron Gourlay says Reading could not have spent any more money on players over the summer, without risking the club’s overall finances.
There was some criticism after the transfer window closed with the Royals having spent a total figure believed to be under £5 million, with the majority of the eight new senior arrivals coming in on free deals or on loan.
The only money spent went on strike duo Marc McNulty and Sam Baldock, while the club also generated some funds with the sale of George Evans to Derby County.
But Gourlay says the relatively low net spend was not down to a lack of desire from the Chinese owners Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li.
“We’ve got to work within our means,” explained the Royals chief executive.
“I’m sure you understand the profit and sustainability. We have an owner who is very supportive.
“If he was able to put more money into the playing side then he would put more money into the playing side.
“But we’ve got to work like every other football club in the league.
“There are rules there and we’ve got to work between that.
“We’re now looking for that first batch of players (last summer) that were brought in to do a job over the next five seasons. They’re still there and we’re looking for them to step up to the bar and be honest.”
PART ONE: Gourlay admits his first year in charge was more of a challenge than he expected
When former boss Jaap Stam first joined the club in 2016 and reunited with technical director Brian Tevreden, a former colleague at Ajax, a lot of Dutch players such as Joey van den Berg and Roy Beerens or younger prospects were added to the squad.
That focus switched last summer to more experienced Championship players, with significant investment made on Sone Aluko, Leandro Bacuna and Vito Mannone, in the biggest summer of spending in Reading’s history.
And Gourlay says the manager has always had the final say on new arrivals.
“I think the bulk of players (brought in since I joined) have been a success,” said the CEO.
“What defines success? If you look at the start of last season, we strengthened the team, everybody felt we put the right strength in the right positions, but we had horrendous injuries from day one.
“There is no player who has been brought to the football club in my time that hasn’t been agreed by the coach or recommended by the coach as well.
“The buck stops really with myself and the owner.
“Brian (Tevreden) works very, very hard with Paul (Clement) as he worked very, very hard with Jaap and his team.
“Brian is very, very important to the football club. He’s got the knowledge on the footballing side.
“I’ve been around football for a long time but I’m the administrative support there and the challenges that we have are on and off the field.
“I’m certainly not pointing any fingers or making excuses, but there are scars there from having three or four different owners in the last five years.
“It’s only when you get into the business that you start to realise what they are.”
Liam Moore calls on teammates to “look in the mirror”
When speaking to the media in May, Gourlay expressed the need for a strong start to the season to shake off the malaise of a disappointing 2017/18 campaign.
But six games in, Reading sit bottom of the Championship with just two points.
And when asked to sum up the first month of the season, Gourlay said: “If I’m honest, disappointing.
“I think everybody at the club expected more.
“That’s from the owners right through to myself, the board, the players and the manager.
“We’re disappointed because we had a very intense pre-season and we were looking for a better start.
“But it is fine margins. I’m learning every day in this Championship that there’s very fine margins.
“But we’ve got to start picking up the points because we don’t want to find ourselves in a similar situation as last season.
“I thought we were (starting well) against Derby (a 2-1 defeat) to be honest. There’s a game there that I and the fans felt we should’ve at least taken one point from.
We played very, very well.
“The Blackburn game (2-2 draw) was quite difficult to take.
“These are the small margins when you look at the first six games that could have gone the other way.”
