Just a matter of months after I began a new chapter in my career with the move to Reading, I feel like I'm starting all over again.

Last week Steve Coppell took over as manager, replacing Alan Pardew who left for West Ham United some time ago now.

It was Alan who convinced me to make the move south and so, once I had arrived, I had to ensure I lived up to his expectations.

Having felt like I had done that, he then resigned after West Ham approached him and we spent several weeks without a full-time gaffer.

Now, with a new manager in place, it feels like another fresh start.

He officially took over the team last Thursday after formerly leaving his old club, Brighton and we met him briefly on Friday and then had a training session on Saturday ahead of our game with Gillingham tonight.

When he introduced himself to us, one of the first things he said was that the backroom staff would continue with what they were doing and that he would begin to implement his own ideas over the next few days, weeks and months.

He told us that he was looking forward to the challenge and to working with us.

That was all he said on the first day, before the last 15 minutes of the training session when he wanted us to play a match between ourselves.

On the Saturday he again said very little, preferring to observe us instead.

Over the two days he probably spoke to us for three or four minutes in total. What I think he was doing was looking to see who were the loud ones, who were the quiet ones and how we gelled together.

The fact we didn't have a match on Saturday because of the internationals gave him the time to do that, rather than having to impose himself on us from the off.

All this makes me think that in a match situation he is not going to be the type of manager to shout and scream at us in the dressing room. I think he will be more constructive and analytical.

The gaffer has an early opportunity to see just how we perform under match conditions tonight when we take on Gillingham.

Yesterday, he gave us an indication of how he will approach matches when he showed us a video on the opposition and pointed out what he believed to be one of their weaknesses.

He said that when Gillingham play away from home they play with a 4-4-2 formation, but that their midfield is very compact - they very seldom spread the ball out wide. While that makes it difficult for us to penetrate through the centre, the gaffer thought we would have a lot of joy getting the ball down the sides.

From a personal point of view, tonight's game is very important. It's imperative that I get off to a good start under his leadership, show him what I am capable of and that I deserve to be in his starting line-up.

The goals have not been there for me in recent weeks, but I expect to start alongside Nicky Forster and hopefully I can take whatever chances come along.

I have said previously that I feel I will have to adapt my style of play to suit the players we have at Reading and with that in mind I am looking to build a good relationship with Andy Hughes. I like it whenever he plays in midfield as he is more direct and keeps me in the game rather than pushing the play out wide. Hopefully, we can link up well this evening and Reading will reap the rewards.

There is no more room for excuses in terms of our performances.

I believe we have turned a corner, we now have a captain in charge of the ship and it's full speed ahead.