Reading's fate may no longer be in their own hands, but Steve Coppell says a last-gasp escape would be received warmly around the country.The Royals face Derby on Sunday hoping to better Fulham's result against Portsmouth in order to survive and the Reading manager said: "Most people like Reading. We don't rub people up the wrong way and there is an integrity about the club.

"The chairman (John Madejski) has been here 17 years and he is not like some who have come in hardly having seen a football game and just have a profit motive.

"He has devoted a lot of his wealth to construct this club, which is now self-sufficient.

"If there is a drop in a division or if he leaves then it is a healthy club. It is a different kind of club to a lot in the Premiership now. There is a Reading way of doing things, which I am pleased about.

"We are not fly-by-nights as the chairman has invested so much in trying to produce a local player.

"His spend might be more efficient trying to do it the other way but he has the dream of Reading boys playing for Reading in the future, which is a great credit to this town.

"When I am walking around I get a lot of people saying to me "I'm an Arsenal fan but all the best, you are a good club". I get that kind of sentiment and it is right - we are a good club.

"So it will be a celebration come what may. It is our second year in the top division after 130 years. We want to try to enjoy it.

"It's not a prison sentence playing in this division. Or if it is we want it to be a longer one."

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