The Royals' new loan signing
Andy Griffin was delighted to be training with his new teammates at Madejski Stadium ahead of completing a loan switch from Stoke.
"I'm very pleased to be here," he told our online TV service
Reading FC Player. "This is an opportunity for me to get back out on the pitch and to start playing football again.
"It's been far too long and I'm trying to get back on the football radar and I just want to play and enjoy training.
"That's what I'm getting paid for and I've not been able to do enough of that. So hopefully, in coming down here, I can get some games under the belt."
The former Derby, Portsmouth and Newcastle full back has played top flight domestic football and in Europe during his days as a Magpie and he arrives at Madejski Stadium with more than 300 appearances to his name.
"I'm certainly not getting any younger," joked Griffin. "I'm 30 years of age and I've been around a little bit - so hopefully I can add something to the team.
"I came from Derby to Stoke and captained them to promotion and then in the Premiership. I feel good about myself. I'll train properly tomorrow and then I'll be raring to go for the Forest game. I'm just looking forward to it and I'm excited about playing football again.
"It's a chance for me to get back out on the pitch and do something that I love - something I've not been able to do for a long period of time. So this move ticked all the boxes.
"I spoke to the manager and he basically wanted me to come down to add my experience and tenacity on the pitch.
"It's a little bit of a young squad here - hopefully I can do well and we can start pushing our way back up the table."
The Royals' new signing will have to wait until the weekend to make his debut though - Griffin is not eligible for our FA Cup replay at Liverpool because he hadn't signed in time for the first fixture.
"It would've been nice to make my debut at Anfield. I played against Liverpool in one of Stoke's first games in the Premier League - we got a 0-0 draw.
"So it would've been nice because those games don't come along too often. But it's not meant to be."
Subscribers to
Reading FC Player can now watch the interview in full as Andy puts pen to paper on his move.
