Brian was appointed first team manager in January 2010, signing a rolling 12-month contract.
He had already been at the club for close to ten years, having joined as Chief Scout in September 2000, taking over from the late Maurice Evans. In addition to his role as Chief Scout, he also took charge of our u17s, u19s and then reserves.
He was very successful as reserves boss, guiding us to the regional and national titles in our debut Premiership season, above the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea.
After playing at Arsenal, Brian spent time in Sweden and was named player of the year in 1984. He went on to spend time with a number of clubs including Oxford, Cardiff, Exeter and South China, before taking over as manager of Slough Town & Woking and moving to Madejski Stadium.
After taking over as boss at Madejski Stadium, he guided the Royals to the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 83 years and only lost one home league game to eventual Champions Newcastle United - all in his first season.
The success didn't stop there - the following campaign brought another F.A Cup quarter final, with the Royals only stopped in their tracks with a narrow defeat to big spending Manchester City, before a storming finish to the Championship season took his charges to fifth spot and a play-off place.
A magnificent 3-0 aggregate win over Cardiff City set up a mouth-watering sold out Wembley clash with Swansea, and although Reading would come out on the wrong side of a 4-2 thriller - the brave display epitomised just how far the squad had come under McDermott's leadership.
