It's fair to say that this season has not gone to plan for Jaap Stam's Reading.

Tipped by many bookmakers before the season to be in contention for the top six, the Royals find themselves languishing in 18th spot in the Sky Bet Championship table, after 27 league games.

The Berkshire outfit finished third last season and reached the play-off final, in what turned out to be an amazing first season in charge for manager Jaap Stam.

Stam's possession style of football, which was criticised by many Royals fans at the start of last season, soon started to work, and the Royals were playing some exceptional football, and winning games week in, week out.

But this season, Reading have looked a shadow of their former self, and are in the midst of a relegation battle as they sit five points away from the dreaded drop zone.

Kaspars Gorkss is a man that knows what it takes to win promotion from the Championship, having achieved it with both QPR and Reading.

The Latvian centre-half became a fan favourite at the Madejski Stadium for his commanding displays at the back, and he turned out to be an influential figure in Reading's title winning season in the 2011/12 campaign.

FLW Chief Editor Sam Rourke caught up with the player in an exclusive phone interview to talk about the current state of his former club.

"I always look out for Reading's results, I still have every application on my phone for Reading, I follow them very closely" Gorkss said.

"The Championship is a funny league, and it's not always the best squads and teams that go on to win, i've been in two promotion sides, and we didn't necessarily have the best team but we just gelled and played great football"

"With Jaap Stam, everyone knows that he's a very good manager and you could see last season that the team was doing very well, it just looks like a bit of a hangover season for Reading this year"

"I do think Reading have great players, some real quality players that play some excellent football at times, but the Championship is not a division where a team that plays the nicest football always wins".

Reading fans.... Are you disappointed with how this season has gone? Let us know below!

This is the first part of our chat with Kaspars Gorkss, expect more articles to follow in the coming days.