Royals' effort angers Hahnemann

Reading keeper questions commitment

By Ben Collins   Last updated: 13th May 2008

marcus hahnemann reading

Hahnemann: Devastated by the drop

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Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann believes that some of his Reading team-mates were not fully committed to keeping the club in the Premier League.

The Royals were relegated back to the Championship on Sunday after two years in the top flight and Hahnemann feels some of the players were not fully focused on securing survival as they were already looking at leaving the Madejski Stadium this summer.

"I think some people might not be as devastated as I am," he told Radio Berkshire. "It might be because of personal situations with some guys leaving.

"But you have to play well to leave and I don't know if a lot of guys did themselves any favours."

Coppell support

The 35-year-old American keeper, who has now spent six years at Reading, also insisted Steve Coppell must remain as manager.

A 4-0 victory at Derby on the final day was not enough to avoid the drop as Fulham won 1-0 at Portsmouth, and Hahnemann felt the Royals let themselves down during the relegation run-in.

"We all want Steve to stay," he added. "We got into the Premier League and we had a great season in the Premier League with him, so of course we want him to stay.

"You don't need to look at the beginning of the year, you have to look at the last couple of months of the season when we just didn't perform well enough - we lost to Fulham at home, drew with Wigan and lost to Spurs.

"Yes, we beat Derby, but Fulham won four out of five so they deserve to stay up and we deserve to go down."