Pardew urged to complete task with Reading

John Madejski, the Reading chairman, yesterday urged Alan Pardew to stay with the Royals despite speculation that his manager would soon be leaving for a top club.

Reading were beaten 1-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the First Division play-off semi-final second leg at the Madejski Stadium on Wednesday – going out 3-1 on aggregate. But the main fear at Reading, after another excellent season under Pardew's stewardship, is that he will be keen to make a quick departure to a Premiership club.

The manager, who guided Reading to second in the Second Division last term and fourth in the First Division this time around, signed a new three-and-a-half year contract in January – stretching to summer 2006 – but, crucially, is widely believed to have an escape clause allowing him to talk to top-flight clubs.

Bookmakers began offering odds on him succeeding Graham Taylor at Aston Villa and Pardew now wants to talk with Madejski about plans for next season.

The chairman said: "If the manager did want to go somewhere else, that's entirely up to him. We wouldn't let him go just like that as we have contractual arrangements. Of course I do not want him to go, but, when you have a good manager, there is always speculation about where he will go."

Madejski then urged Pardew to stay and take Reading up to the élite level of football. "I'm not going to pre-empt what might or might not happen, but the stories about Alan don't worry me in the slightest," he said.

"He's got something going here and I hope he stays with us. He's got a job to complete. He has long-term engagement with us and he and his family are very happy here, but then you never know in football.

"To be quite frank, I think the manager will stay but you never know."

Pardew spoke about the issue himself but, after initially appearing to commit, he then revealed he wanted a meeting with Madejski.

He said: "There is no doubt I'm staying here next year – in terms of sitting down with the chairman and working out exactly where we'll go from here.

"I haven't crossed that bridge with him yet and we all need to take stock of what's gone on this year.

"I'll have to sit down with the chairman and the board to make sure we move forward, which will cost money."

The Wolves manager, Dave Jones, who spent yesterday on a golf course, urged Wanderers fans not to get carried away with their team's success on Wednesday.

Alex Rae's 82nd-minute goal sparked scenes of wild celebration among the 4,000 travelling fans who contributed to a new record Madejski Stadium crowd of 24,060.

But, mindful of the heartache that three previous play-off failures have caused in the gold section of the Black Country, Jones emphasised the size of the task awaiting them in Cardiff.

"Last night was a great night for the fans but now we have another big hurdle to get over," he said. "We have a big, big chance but still have another massive hurdle to overcome."