Clement eyes Premier League for Reading but prioritises Championship survival

New Reading boss Paul Clement wants to take the club back to the Premier League but knows his immediate priority is to make sure they do not leave the Championship at the other end.

Clement has signed an unspecified long-term contract at the Royals, taking over from Jaap Stam, who left the club on Tuesday.

He inherits a team that have grand ambition to return to the top flight, but are in more imminent danger of dropping into League One as they sit just three points above the relegation zone with eight games to go.

Clement, who was sacked as Swansea boss in December, is confident of not only answering the Royals’ SOS but helping them achieve their loftier targets.

“The immediate aim is to secure the club in the Championship – eight games to go,” Clement said at his unveiling press conference.

“But then beyond that I think there is a lot of ambition to take the club further forward.

“They were very close obviously last season, just penalty kicks away from the Premier League and that is where the club want to be and that is the ambition I have to coach at that level again.”

Stam left after overseeing a difficult campaign in the Championship, having lost last season’s play-off final to Huddersfield on penalties.

They are three points above 22nd-placed Birmingham having won just one league game since December 2 and have promotion-chasing Fulham, Aston Villa, Cardiff and Preston to play in their final eight games.

Clement’s first match at the helm will be at home to QPR next Friday and the 46-year-old is backing himself to deliver safety.

“It is difficult, but all games are difficult, at Premier League level and the Championship level, I have experience of working in both,” he added.

“I look at these eight games and look at it that if the players play to their potential and I manage to get some ideas across early, they are all winnable games. That’s the way I look at it.

“The objective is to work with the players we have got, not to think overly about the opposition, but I will look more at the Reading squad and say it is a team that has under-achieved this season.

“Now we have to get them playing to their potential and if we do that we will be competitive against anybody.”

Clement has an impressive coaching CV having worked at Chelsea, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, while also managing the Swans and Derby.

He kept the Welsh club in the Premier League last season after a strong run of form but lost his job in December following a tough start to the new term.

Royals chief executive Ron Gourlay said: “I am delighted to have secured the services of a hugely experienced forward-thinking manager like Paul, who I have personally worked alongside during our time spent at Chelsea.

“Now, everyone at Reading is fully behind Paul and his squad of players as, together, we initially set our sights on an eight-game battle and continue to strive to then take this club forward.”