Trust us – that’s the message from owner Anton Zingarevich to Reading fans following his first year in charge of the club.

Zingarevich has been a hit since arriving at Madejski Stadium 12 months ago and by September 13 this year, he will complete his £50million buyout from chairman Sir John Madejski.

But some sections of supporters have questioned the 30-year-old’s lack of investment upon reaching the Premier League in the summer.

Royals star Jimmy Kebe even raised the issue in an interview with the Post last month.

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Although the entrepreneur has admitted that might have been a mistake, he has urged fans to put their faith in the club’s policies, manager Brian McDermott and director of football Nick Hammond.

“We could have probably done more, you can always spend more money,” admitted Zingarevich.

“Spending money is easy. We wanted to achieve something, which was to make the squad competitive and make sure that it was getting us over the line.

“The psychology doesn’t change. We could have bought big, big players, but that doesn’t ensure you success, like you see with other teams.

“What we wanted to do was to protect what we have and make sure that we progress.

“Maybe we could have done better, maybe it was a mistake.

“But we are in a better position right now. In terms of January we tried to sign some really good players, but January is difficult.

“We have added to the group, but people complain that we haven’t spent enough money or about getting Hope Akpan.

“But you saw against Chelsea that he produced. We know what we need to do in terms of progressing as a team.

“Over the years the staff have produced in terms of getting players and the fans need to trust what we are doing and what we think we need to be doing.

“Over time, it has proved to be right.”

Listen to the full Anton Zingarevich interview in the latest Royals Post podcast here

In recent weeks Royals have clawed their way out of the relegation zone.

They will be looking to extend the gap between themselves and the bottom three by picking up some points on the road when they travel to Stoke City on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

During the January transfer window McDermott signed four new players to bolster his squad and Zingarevich has revealed that plans are already in place as they look towards the summer.

“We won’t start today,” added Zingarevich.

“The difficulty last summer was that we didn’t have a big scouting budget over the last year when we were in the Championship. We knew the players, but we didn’t want to make a mistake.

“We stuck to what we knew and we could have done more, but there is no point looking back.

“We have done a lot of scouting over the past few months and we know pretty much every single player in Europe. So come the summer, it is much easier.

“It is easier for players to adapt as well as they have the whole pre-season in front of them.

“In the summer we can have a little bit more risk than in January.

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