⚽ Reading FC's Troubles
On Saturday 30th September, my beloved Reading faced Burton Albion at the Select Car Leasing Stadium (formerly the Madejski Stadium) in front of a crowd of just 13,554. With fans dressed in black to mourn the death of the football club that was so sensibly run for so many years, the 16th minute protest occurring once again, in the hope of bringing attention to the demise of one of England's oldest football clubs.
Having been unable to buy Hull City in 2016 because he was expected to fail the Premier Leagues "Fit and Proper" owner tests, the EFL had no issues with Dai Yongge buying Reading FC less than 12 months later. At the time, he was one of a handful of Chinese owners encouraged to buy English football clubs with the backing of the Chinese government.
The Chinese government soon reversing their support, after seeing too much money leaking out to foreign entities.
Who Is Dai Yongge?
Dai Yongge had experience owning football clubs before Reading.
In 2007, he acquired Chinese club Shaanxi Baorong Chanba, successfully leading them into oblivion and non-existence by 2021.
He's also had experience of club ownership in Belgium having bought KSV Roselare in 2016, shortly before trying to buy Hull City. He repeated his success in China, with Roselare declared bankrupt and ceasing to exist in 2019.
So is Dai Yongge a fraudster?
Apparently not. In 2016, Forbes estimated his worth to be around $931m (Source).
So is he just incompetent?
Undoubtedly.
Having been late to pay the players on multiple occasions and also failing to pay HMRC in full and on time, Reading have suffered 16 points deductions since his ownership began. 6 points of which occurred in last season's campaign, resulting in Reading getting relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in over 20 years - missing out on survival... by exactly 6 points.
2023/24
Despite the relegation and an increase in ticket prices (!!!!!!) ... Over the summer Reading fans could finally breathe a sigh of relief - the club had done enough to have the transfer embargo lifted and we could finally make some new signings... 2 weeks later and another unpaid tax bill saw the embargo imposed again... along with another 3 points deduction. Subsequently failing to pay the players on time, to incur yet another 1 point deduction, once again putting us in the relegation zone as a result of non-football related matters.
We've still not paid HMRC (and are expecting another punishment to be imposed upon the club) and whether it's this time, the next time or the time after, HMRC will eventually succeed with one of their Winding up orders and a club that celebrated its 150th anniversary a couple of years ago will undoubtedly be his greatest failure yet.
Dai Yongge will have achieved his hat-trick of destroying football clubs. And it will be my club, that I've followed my entire life to be his latest victim. Thank you EFL.
This story reminds me a bit of what is happening to Inter in Serie A. Chinese owners, the central government which at a certain point put a stop to investments, other failed local teams (Guangzu Evergrande) and a mountain of debt...
But... Here we are in Italy, and a hand is always extended to friends of friends! We became aware of Inter's billions in debt thanks to an article in the Financial Times, not reported by any local newspaper.
Inter are perhaps simply too big to fail, the Italian Serie A would not bear the shock, but they are also the most protected team on a political and sporting level.
If Reading were to fail, which of course, from fan to fan, I hope that doesn't happen, they can be reborn, perhaps starting from the lower categories, in the hands of competent and good people.
Inter can’t fail. The mere possibility seems absurd and global football would be in uproar. But that’s a lot of debt!
Little old Reading though…
An article in The Athletic recently suggested that the owners would sell for £70m - £80m which is the debt that the club currently owes Dai Yongge. When other clubs in a higher division are being sold for less, I fear… I genuinely fear for our existence 😔
It is very sad. It is very unfortunate that this happened to your club.
Sometime in 2005 or 2006, FC Kalush was bought by a new owner. It was a Russian company. At first everything was fine. The following season saw many victories and FC Kalush moved from the second league to the first. It was an unprecedented success for a small city of 70,000 people.
But in the same season, the team from the regional center was relegated from the first league to the second. An incomprehensible agreement took place and our club suddenly became a club of the regional center, and their club became FC Kalush. It was the moment when I and thousands of our fans stopped going to the stadium. A year later, this club, which also had a long history (though without great achievements), ceased to exist.
Perhaps this story did not console you :) Sorry.
You've always told me that there have been strange goings-on in Ukrainian football so this story doesn't really surprise me at all!
I'm hopeful that somebody with a bit of financial acumen (by this I don't mean somebody who wants to spend fuck-tons of money) is able to buy the club. Sir John Madejski was an extremely shrewd operator so this farcical management is very difficult to accept.
I'll have Eastbourne Borough though - they're a nice club and I met the Chairman in the stands the first time that I went... completely contrasting colours though - instead of blue and white, they're red and black - so I think the scarf looks cool 🙂
It's good that there are really many good clubs in England :)
TEAM 1
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