Noel Hunt's surprising admission about Premier League's decision to downgrade Reading FC academy

Noel Hunt has admitted the Premier League's decision to downgrade Reading FC's academy over the summer could actually be a good thing for the club's youngsters.

Royals lost their category one status in July following an audit that took place last season. It means, among other things, the U21s are playing in the Professional Development League this campaign as opposed to Premier League Two Division Two.

Former Reading striker Hunt, who is now in charge of the U21s, says this change in division will be beneficial to the club's young talents.

"It [category two] is a status - we all want to be category one, absolutely, but I think it's a really good thing for our boys because the games are more direct and it's league realistic," the Irishman said. "Teams go more direct against you, play off the backline and it's like the Championship. It's a direct game, a quick game and you've got to be able to sprint around the pitch, get forward, sprint back and make tackles so it's a great introduction to league football for our boys."

He added: "We want to get back to category one as fast as we can, so we haven't dropped our standards because we've been downgraded. In fact, we've even made our standards higher. Michael Gilkes has been fantastic since he's come back - he was with the first team last year - but he's now got the U18s in place. Covid and the situation has killed us a bit in terms of where we've ended up but we're trying to do it right and get back to category one.

"It's a credit to the football club. It's a really big thing to come to the stadium and play - it's a dream to talk onto the pitch and play. Every time I walk onto the grass before we play I get goosebumps. That feeling will never change. I want the players to