Reading FC - What owner Dai Yongge has done wrong and latest on Port Vale pitch invasion punishment

The controversial owner of Reading Football Club, Dai Yongge, has been told to either sell the financially-ridden club or prove that he plans to fund it properly. The League One outfit has been hit with a series of points penalties and fines for failing to pay staff and taxes.

The businessman, whose wealth comes from investment holding company Renhe Commercial Holdings Company Limited and a Chinese shopping centre empire, has been sent a strong message by the EFL and hit with a £50,000 fine for failing to deposit money into a designated account. That penalty follows a £20,000 fine last month for a similar breach.

Reading were relegated from the Championship last season, although would have stayed up if not for the points penalty. The club now sits 21st in League One, three points adrift of safety.

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 - centre-back Tom Holmes today completed a move to Luton Town and has been loaned back until the end of the season. 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.

Reading fans unite in Sell Before We Dai against Dai Yongge

The plight of the football club, which was in the Premier League as recently as 2013, has become the talk of the sporting world after supporters invaded the pitch at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Saturday in protest of the situation. That League One fixture against Port Vale had to be abandoned due to the protest lead by the Sell Before We Dai group.

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.”

The EFL will discuss what to do about the pitch invasion at a board meeting later this week. In the past, authorities have used a case-by-case approach for pitch invasions with clubs facing anything between a warning or stadium closure to points deductions. In the time since the incident, Reading supporters have raised thousands of pounds for a Port Vale initiative to build a statue of a legendary former manager as a thank you for the away club's sympathy with the situation.

What action the EFL decide to take after the abandonment remains to be confirmed but the footballing body has turned up the heat on Yongge with a statement of their own. Reading have already been docked a huge 16 points over the past two years but that punishment has not prompted change at the Berkshire club.

EFL statement to Reading owner Dai Yongge

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.”

MP support for Reading pitch invasion

An estimated 1,000 Reading fans took to the Select Car Leasing Stadium pitch on Saturday and James Sunderland, MP for Bracknell backed the cause. The politician told BBC Radio Berkshire: "Going on the pitch and protesting in that way is not what I should be condoning as an MP. But I sympathise with the fans. If I'd been there I would have done it as well."

Speaking after the fixture, Royals boss Ruben Selles said: “We know that there could be repercussions. A points deduction is unlikely, but it can happen. It could be that we play with an empty stadium for one or two games or even the rest of the season. There could be a financial punishment, of course. It’s a big variety of things and it will be up to a panel of experts to decide.”

The EFL has confirmed that there are 'interested parties' in completing a takeover of Reading. Last year, Mike Ashley's Frasers Group and Formula 1 team backer William Storey had both been linked with bids but news on those has since cooled.