Reading FC in 'advanced talks' over takeover deal to end Dai Yongge 'nightmare'

League One football club Reading are in 'advanced talks' with potential North American buyers to end the financially blighted tenure of unpopular current owner Dai Yongge.

A number of outlets, including talkSPORT, report that a consortium hoping to buy the club from Yongge - with the Select Car Leasing Stadium included in the deal - could enter into a 'period of exclusivity' early next week. The news comes after last week's confirmation that a deal to sell the club's Bearwood Park training ground to local rivals Wycombe Wanderers had been completed.

Reading supporters will welcome the latest update but not get their hopes up yet having been burnt in a similar situation before. Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley and American businessman William Storey had both also been linked with buying the club from Yongge previously. Reading have lost 18 points in just over two years due to Yongge's financial mismanagement.

Staff at the football club have been made redundant in recent months with deals for first-team players being agreed upon without the prior approval of manager Ruben Selles or head of football operations Mark Bowen. The Athletic has also detailed how catering has been stripped back at the training ground, hotel stays for away games scrapped and found a lack of heating for office staff.

Supporters at the club, which was in the Premier League as recently as 2013, have formed a group known as Sell Before We Dai to protest the ownership and demand the businessman to sell the club. Fans protested on the pitch against Port Vale earlier this year, causing the match to be abandoned, and have thrown tennis balls onto the turf, held up red cards and dressed up as clowns to demand change.

The group said: "The first fan-led match abandonment in our 152-year history should not be celebrated, but the spontaneous, unfiltered passion, as well as the will and determination of our fans, should be. We understand that we will be punished by the EFL, but what we really need is help. Today was an outpouring of emotion from a fanbase not known for its hostility. We are scared for the future of our football club and the threat could not be more real. We want this to be our last abandoned match, but it is just the start of this elevated protest action.”

In a statement, the EFL said: “As Reading FC supporters are only too aware, it has in recent months become increasingly clear that Mr Dai Yongge is no longer in a position - or does not have the motivation - to support the club financially as he did following the change of control in 2017.

“His continued failings mean that once again the club’s hardworking staff have no reassurance as to payment of wages and demonstrates a clear disregard for his obligations as a director of the club. In respect of this issue, the League will now consider all available options it has under the Regulations and will have no hesitation in bringing further charges against Mr Dai.

“In the meantime, and for the sake of the future of Reading FC, its staff, supporters, and local community we urge Mr Dai either to fund the club adequately or to make immediate arrangements to sell his majority shareholding to appropriate new owners so everyone can move forward with renewed optimism.”