Stephen Hunt Opens Up On Petr Cech Incident

It's important to close the book on what was a dark episode for Reading FC, with many Royals fans still feeling very harshly dealt with by the media, who placed far too much onus on the comments of Jose Mourinho- with certain allegations turning out to be completely false.

This puts into context Hunt's actions, with the Chelsea defeat being his first Premier League start for the Royals, and the whole incident being a sour moment in an otherwise wonderful season.

The whole article can be found here, but here are some selected quotes from the 33-year-old.

"I wouldn't say I left my leg in there, I would say that I have gone in for the tackle. I have gone in for the impact.

"If I avoid contact, I ­probably would have had a screaming manager. Well... not so much Steve Coppell, but the coaches. In my mind, the coaches would have expected me to go into that tackle with Cech.

"I may have been a little bit giddy. My knee was down there but I am out of position for sure. It wasn't natural. I'm trying to make sense of it. I haven't had too much deep thinking about it or conversation.

"I couldn't afford for it to affect my commitment. That is my game. My game is energy."

"It haunts me," Hunt said. "I had a lot of years at Palace and ­Brentford before I even touched the limelight. No one in Ireland knew who I was. When I was picked to start against Chelsea, I was thinking ‘my day has arrived’.

"All of a sudden everyone knew me but I wanted people to know me for the right reasons, not for the wrong reasons.

"Even to this day, ‘you’re the guy who did that’. There is no ­forgetting it because he wears the helmet. Everyone is reminded of it every time they see him.

"I wish it had never happened. Of course I do. But I don’t have any guilt. I have a clear conscience. I didn’t mean to fracture his skull. That’s one thing for sure."

"I wouldn’t say my heart rate has gone up talking about it, I feel like I am unbreakable in that kind of way. Mentally strong."

What do you make of Hunt's comments? What are your memories of the Cech incident and the aftermath? Comment below.