New Reading boss Richardson stresses transfers key

Leam Richardson manages his first League One game for the Royals on Thursday night

New Reading boss Leam Richardson has already started to plan his recruitment and described the next two years of transfer windows as "everything" for the club.

It is still early days for the Royals under their new owner Rob Couhig, with Richardson the first managerial appointment by the ex-Wycombe owner.

In recent times under controversial previous owner Dai Yongge, transfers were not a luxury the club were able to afford.

But things now look very different and Richardson is keen to make the upcoming windows count.

"The next three to four transfer windows are everything for this football club in my opinion," Richardson told BBC Sport.

"We will do things in the right, methodical and sustainable way but I believe that every transfer window you could come out of it stronger than you were before.

"That doesn't mean you have to have loads of additions, but coming out of the January transfer window when we get there, our sole aim will be to be in a better place than we are now."

Last week, Richardson took over from Noel Hunt, who was appointed in 2024 following the departure of Ruben Selles.

Following a disappointing loss to non-league Carlisle in the FA Cup last weekend, Richardson will now get his first taste of League One action with the Royals when they take on Stevenage on Thursday night.

Richardson was most recently in charge at Rotherham and has previously won promotion with Wigan from League One.

"Every place I've been to so far we've been able to leave the place in a better state than we found it and had success along the way," he added.

"Hopefully this is no different, we're trying to build an elite working environment to try and win.

"We are putting in place habits and non-negotiable fundamentals that you need to have to represent [the] football club."