Reading owner John Madejski hopes that Steve Coppell will remain in charge of the club next season despite being relegated.

The Royals dropped into the Championship on Sunday despite an impressive 4-0 win over rock-bottom Derby.

Coppell has been in charge of the club for almost five years, and despite taking them back into the second tier, he remains the popular choice for both the owner and the club's supporters.

"Obviously I'd like Steve Coppell to stay," Madejski told Sky Sports News.

"He has a year left on his contract, there's a ground swell of fans who would also like him to stay, but at the end of the day if Steve decides he needs a break then that's up to Steve.

"But I haven't heard anything, and as far as I'm concerned it's business as usual and he's my manager.

"I don't think anyone wants him to leave."

But Madejski did admit that he would be powerless to stop Coppell walking away should he decide it is time for a change.

"I can't, can I?" he said.

"If Steve Coppell decides he's going to go, and he's his own man, then he'll go but I will obviously try and persuade him to stay, but it's his decision."

Madejski admitted that the club had been in trouble for some time and that relegation had not come as much of a surprise.

"Obviously it was on the cards, you can't put everything on yesterday's game (with Derby)," he said.

"Things haven't been looking rosy for a while so, it's not a very nice thing to happen, but you have to be philosophical about it - there's no point crying over spilt milk, nothing is going to change.

"So as far as I'm concerned for the sake of the fans we have to get things right and move on.

"I think that everyone's culpable, including myself, certainly the players are.

"It's interesting that they go and win 4-0 away, scoring goals left, right and centre and yet we had this goal famine for nine hours - but that's football.

"Anyway, the point is we have to move forward. We can't dwell on what's happened, we just have to kick on and try and get things right this upcoming season."