Reading boss Steve Coppell admits his side wouldn't have coped with UEFA Cup football this season.

The Royals travel to Blackburn on Saturday in a repeat of their final Barclays Premier League fixture of last season - a 3-3 draw that saw the top-flight newcomers fall just a single goal short of a place in the UEFA Cup.

Coppell said: "The last time we went to Blackburn, it was a terrific game that epitomised what we were about - we were behind three times and came back three times.

"It was a really entertaining fixture but my agenda had been set before then anyway.

"And my thoughts on European qualification would have been proved true by now. I had said before I wasn't bothered about Europe and literally I wasn't.

"I was delighted we were where we were - we had made history for the club and that was enough. I'm never one to be greedy."

Rovers finished behind Reading last season but did qualify for the UEFA Cup, via the Intertoto Cup, and Coppell hailed Mark Hughes's side as a role model for his own outfit.

He said: "In many ways, Blackburn are a club we admire immensely because they are a similar sized club to ourselves and based on the background of a local man (Jack Walker) who has helped the club and who I believe still is from beyond the grave.

"They are a very sound footballing outfit. They work the market well in acquiring players who come up trumps for them. They are very much the model of what we aspire to be."