The club has appointed U21 manager and former striker Noel Hunt as interim manager until the end of the season while assistant manager Alex Rae has also departed.

A 2-1 defeat at Preston on Monday left Reading a point from safety with five games to go and winless in their last eight.

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Reading dropped from 18th to 20th last week after being handed an immediate six-point deduction for violating agreed budget restrictions after a previous breach of the EFL's profitability and sustainability rules.

Hunt's first game in charge is at home to already-promoted Burnley on Saturday and he will be assisted by director of player development Eddie Niedzwiecki and first-team coach James Oliver-Pearce.

Reading's head of football operations Mark Bowen said: "I would like to thank Paul and Alex for their efforts throughout what has admittedly been a frustrating and exceptionally challenging season so far. We would like to wish them well in their future endeavours.

"The board will work diligently to identify the manager who is the best fit for this football club going forward - a candidate capable of driving it towards a healthier, brighter future.

"However, for the next five games, our only focus is on doing everything we can to survive this season. Put simply, that means everyone - from myself, to the staff, to the supporters - lending all their support to Noel, Eddie, James and the first team players as we go into five crucially important games at the end of our 2022-23 campaign."

Ince was appointed initially on an interim basis in February 2022 and helped the club stave off the threat of relegation with four wins from the final 14 fixtures last season.

He was appointed permanent manager in the summer, putting together a new-look squad on a much-reduced wage budget while working under a transfer embargo.

Explained: Why Reading were deducted six points

Reading were handed an immediate six-point deduction for violating agreed budget restrictions after a previous breach of the EFL's profitability and sustainability rules.

The sanction relates to the club's failure to meet the terms of a business plan agreed following a breach of the profit and sustainability limits in 2021. The initial breach carried a six-point penalty with a further six points suspended until the current campaign, and that has now been enforced.

The Royals have also been under a transfer embargo since the summer of 2021 because of the breach.

A statement from the independent Club Financial Reporting Unit read: "Reading Football Club will be deducted six points from the 2022/23 Championship table, after the club admitted that it has failed to comply with the budget restrictions imposed, following a previous breach of the EFL's profitability and sustainability rules (P&S).

"The points deduction is an activation of a suspended six-point penalty, which was set out in the terms of an agreed decision between Reading and the EFL in November 2021."

A Reading statement said: "Despite radical changes implemented at first team level and right across the structure of the business to its very core - and a rigid adherence to a strict league-monitored wage structure and transfer

embargo, the club accepts that it has not sufficiently satisfied certain elements of the planned budget and that, as a result, the independent club financial review panel has been unable to ratify that the club has met its forecast for compliance.

"We have worked closely with the EFL and the independent club financial review unit throughout the process in our aims to achieve the targets set out in the agreed business plan and every reasonable effort has been made to construct a competitive squad of players whilst avoiding further punishment.

"However, despite the substantial progress we have undeniably made and the lessons that have indeed been learned, as promised, we accept that the situation was never going to be easily or quickly fixed."

Reading's remaining fixtures

April 15: Burnley (H) - Championship, kick-off 3pm

April 19: Luton (H) - Championship, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports Football Red Button

April 22: Coventry (A) - Championship, kick-off 3pm

April 29: Wigan (H) - Championship, kick-off 3pm

May 8: Huddersfield (A) - Championship, kick-off 3pm