Derby County old-boy Andy Griffin can’t help but crack a smile every time he hears the Royals faithful chant: Griffin for England.

The Stoke City loanee has impressed at right-back for Reading, featuring in all 12 of the Championship and FA Cup games he’s been available for since coming to Madejski Stadium at the end of January.

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And as he prepares to face one of his former clubs tonight, Griffin has revealed that he is loving the banter and admiration from the terraces once again, having been frozen out at Britannia Stadium under Tony Pulis.

The 31-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Saturday, said: “I must be doing something right to get those chants and things are going well. It’s all a bit tongue in cheek.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had those chants before.

“But I’ll be watching England as any supporter will be at the World Cup this summer, not playing. It puts a smile on my face though.”

Griffin, who has also played for Newcastle United and Portsmouth, admitted that he has more than likely played his last game for Stoke and could be looking for a new club in the summer.

And if Royals manage to come to an agreement for the experienced defender then they will have certainly pulled off a major coup.

But Griffin remainsg coy about next season, but hasn’t ruled out signing for Reading.

“It’s just a case of me coming down, playing and hopefully I can do a job for Reading,” he said.

“I want to play my part in the club staying up and building from that. We’re playing attractive football and we’re confident about it. It’s still very close down at the bottom.

“Even though we’ve been on a good run we’re still not out of it whatsoever, because other teams have been winning too.

“We’ve got confidence and belief at home, which wasn’t the case last year.

“We’ve got three home games coming up (against Derby, Bristol City and then QPR) and why can’t we win those three and keep going?”

Another ex-Derby player, Grzegorz Rasiak could also feature tonight after coming off the bench against Aston Villa at Madejski Stadium in the FA Cup quarter-finals last Sunday.

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