Southampton winger Jason Puncheon feels Nigel Adkins had taken the club as far as he could.
The new Reading boss will face his former team for the first time tomorrow.
Wide man Puncheon said: "Nigel took the club to where it wanted to get to but the club has ambitions to get into Europe and that is what we want to do.
"We have the players to do that. We have good young players and players getting into their prime. We have to take it to the next level."