Reading chairman John Madejski says he never considered axing Steve Coppell despite their disastrous run of form.

The Royals suffered club record run of eight straight defeats to send them tumbling down the table into the relegation drop zone.

Reading have eased their relegation fears by winning three of their last four matches and Madejski insists he never lost faith with Coppell and was always confident he was the right man to lead them to safety

"Even when we went through that glitch of eight league defeats on the spin, nobody ever questioned Steve's ability as a manager," Madejski told The Mirror.

"It would have been complete lunacy to even consider changing the manager. Changing managers is not necessarily the answer to anything.

"You've got to stick with him. It's not as if we were losing by a mile the whole time. It was just the odd goal here and there.

"I was totally happy with the manager and, hopefully, we've been proved right, which is great."

"As I keep repeating, no one has ever questioned Steve Coppell's credentials or, indeed, his tactics. What we are seeing now is the upward swing of something that inevitably happens in football throughout a season.

Meanwhile, Reading defender Nicky Shorey says he is more worried about keeping his club in the Premier League than getting his England place back.

Shorey has not been included of Fabio Capello's first two England squads after being involved under former boss Steve McClaren, but the full-back says securing Premier League safety is his main priority at present.

"Of course, you're always disappointed, but not majorly. At this moment in time, I've got bigger concerns in trying to stay in this division with Reading," said Shorey.

"It's an honour to represent your country and hopefully I'll do it again in the future."

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