This season is looking much, much better for Reading after two years of fairly miserable viewing.

Despite consecutively disappointing seasons the Royals have bathed in a golden-era of football at the club for the last ten years or so that have seen the club break new ground in the Premier League in two flutters with the top flight.

Part of their success has been through what is now known as 'the Reading way.' This is generally seen as recruitment through developing players in the infamous academy set up in Berkshire or signing players from smaller clubs and gelling them into a formidable first eleven.

Either way it's seen the Royals pull off some brilliant signings in recent times for fairly nominal fees, all of which have helped the club in their aim to become an established Premier League side, which remains the eventual target for current manager Jaap Stam:

Here are the three best bargain buys from the last 10 years at Reading in the opinion of FLW writer Charlie Firth...

Jason Roberts

A bit of cult hero at Reading, Jason Roberts made the move to Reading after falling down the pecking order at Blackburn Rovers and getting into a contract dispute with the club, seeing him sold off quickly to Reading, who'd just been taken over at the time.

This looked like an uninspiring move all round, but Roberts hit a fabulous vein of form at the club, scoring six goals after signing in January and was accredited as being one of the catalysts to the clubs shock promotion.

With such a small fee for such an effective signings, there's little doubt that Roberts is one of Reading's best bargain signings.

Jobi McAnuff

One of the few good things Brendan Rodgers did whilst at Reading was sign one Jobi McAnuff from Watford for an undisclosed, but no doubt small, fee.

The winger spent five years at the club making over 200 appearances for the club and captaining the side to promotion in 2012. He was released at the end of the 2013/14 season and surprisingly signed for Leyton Orient - we all thought he was good enough to stay with us.

It's not coincidental that as soon as Jobi left the club began to under-perform, he was a huge figure at Reading, a wonderful player and a wonderful captain.

Garath McCleary

What a bargain Garath McCleary has been for Reading. The Royals barged in front of several clubs to win McCleary's signature in 2012 as he signed on a free after rejecting a new deal at Nottingham Forest.

Over 150 appearances later and he's still here, and despite a dip in form over the last couple of years he's still been a tremendous servant for the club, and a wonderful player given he arrived on a free.

He's shown signs of reigniting his explosive form this season and hopefully a return from suspension and a rest will see him stay injury free and at the top of his game this year.

Reading fans... Do you agree with these signings? Are they the three best bargains? Let us know in the comments below.