Reading: Glen Little believes club had to let Jaap Stam go

Glen Little was part of the Reading side which won the Championship with a record 106 points in 2005-06

Reading had to make a managerial change after giving Jaap Stam plenty of time according to former winger Glen Little.

Stam parted company with the Royals on Monday after a run of just one win in 18 Championship matches with the club three points above the relegation zone.

"It almost seemed for the past six games the club were stringing it out," Little told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"It got to that stage where it just couldn't go on, but it's strange the club left it so long to decide."

Former Manchester United and Netherlands defender Stam led Reading to the Championship play-off final in his first season but the club are without a win in their past nine matches.

Reading are 20th in the Championship with eight matches remaining and return to action on Friday, 30 March against QPR at the Madejski Stadium.

No announcement has yet to be made about a caretaker manager.

"The good thing is there's some time for whoever comes in to get on the training pitch and understand where the players' minds are," Little, who played for the Royals between 2004 and 2008, said.

"There are bound to be at least 50 to 100 managers already showing an interest in the job even though things haven't been going well recently.

"It's a good club to join, maybe there's some young managers and a few in the lower leagues who have done well that would be attracted to it."