‘Affects mental health’ – EFL fan protest group appeals for Wrexham-style documentary
Reading fans have called on documentary producers to help the club after admitting the current situation is affecting their mental health. The Royals have until April 22 for controversial owner Dai Yongge to divest his interest in the club or risk being disqualified from the EFL. Reading are at serious risk of being booted out of the EFLGetty Last month, the EFL also announced that the Chinese businessman had been officially disqualified as a director of Reading. He now has just weeks to sell his shares, at which point Reading, seventh in the third tier, could be suspended from the league. Fans have continuously protested against the ownership amid failed takeover attempts and even caused a match to be abandoned after they stormed the pitch in January 2024. At the time, Reading chief executive Dayong Pang called for patience and told talkSPORT that the supporters’ actions have ‘done nothing good for the club‘. Over a year on, the situation has only worsened, and campaigner Caroline Parker joined Sunday Session to share his frustrations. ‘Sell Before We Dai’ is a Royals fan-led pressure group campaigning for owner Yongge to sell the club, and previously offered to pay an over-the-odds £3,5000 matchday sponsorship to help the financially stricken team. On Pang’s comments, Parker told talkSPORT: “I mean, if that is the chief executive of a club like Reading, then what chance have we got of actually getting a sale conducted properly? “It speaks volumes, and all of us fans remember that interview well – the sale has been pretty much mishandled from the get-go. “The fans haven’t been told what’s going on, I think we’re on exclusivity period number five. A judge has ruled that the club can be sold despite any action with [prospective buyer of Reading] Rob Couhig; the judge has cleared a pathway; they need to now get on with it. “The fans have heard Dai is committed to a sale, they’ve been hearing this for 527 days, and they’ve had enough – We’ve all had enough. Pang insisted that the fan protests were doing nothing to help the club Reading fans stormed the pitch at their Madejski Stadium last year@JacobsBen X “I just cannot understand for the life of me why he wants these problems to continue, he doesn’t want to fund the club, he doesn’t seem to want to be involved in operating the club, he’s pretty much a ghost these days. “I know we are a small fish in an ocean of wider problems to Dai; he’s got multiple debts in China, and he’s in a lot of trouble, but fundamentally, just get one of these things off your list and just go – Please, just leave. Yongge, alongside his sister Dai Xiu Li, acquired a 75 per cent stake in the EFL club in 2017 but has since overseen financial troubles. Wages have not been paid in full and on time on numerous occasions, and failed payments to HMRC have led to transfer embargoes. Reading have faced points deductions as a result, with one instance leading to their relegation from the Championship in 2023. Asked why someone like Dai is involved in English football, having been officially disqualified by the EFL as a director of the club, Caroline replied: “Well I mean there are lots of question marks around this and I would urge any Netflix or Disney Plus producers to come forward because we have got a multi-season content drama special espionage for you if anyone wants it. Reading fans have made their feelings clear regarding current owner Dai YonggeGetty “Joking aside, you could not make this stuff up. “How he got into Reading when we never would have been able to do the due diligence around his finances in China, everybody knows that now. “We’re all left to pick up the pieces when everybody knows this guy should not have been let anywhere near the club. “I don’t want to underplay the mental health point, it really affects people’s mental health. “This is a community club, people go with their children, they’ve been going for decades, and we are on the brink, we are on the precipice now, it affects everybody. “All the fans have engaged in a lot of the campaign work, everybody is involved in this, and everyone’s affected, not least the staff and the players and everyone working at the club. Yongge first purchased Reading in May 2017 and is very unpopular among fansRex Features “They don’t know from one month to the next if they’re going to be paid on time. “We’ve been going through this for too long now, and I think the wider fan base in football is really educated now in terms of we have a massive regulatory gap between UK company law and the competition regulations. “So whilst they can ask him to divest, they can’t make him divest, and there really has got to be some consideration for some carve-outs in company law for community assets such as sports clubs where there’s specific licensing conditions that need to be met, and they must
Reading fans have called on documentary producers to help the club after admitting the current situation is affecting their mental health.
The Royals have until April 22 for controversial owner Dai Yongge to divest his interest in the club or risk being disqualified from the EFL.
Last month, the EFL also announced that the Chinese businessman had been officially disqualified as a director of Reading.
He now has just weeks to sell his shares, at which point Reading, seventh in the third tier, could be suspended from the league.
Fans have continuously protested against the ownership amid failed takeover attempts and even caused a match to be abandoned after they stormed the pitch in January 2024.
At the time, Reading chief executive Dayong Pang called for patience and told talkSPORT that the supporters’ actions have ‘done nothing good for the club‘.
Over a year on, the situation has only worsened, and campaigner Caroline Parker joined Sunday Session to share his frustrations.
‘Sell Before We Dai’ is a Royals fan-led pressure group campaigning for owner Yongge to sell the club, and previously offered to pay an over-the-odds £3,5000 matchday sponsorship to help the financially stricken team.
On Pang’s comments, Parker told talkSPORT: “I mean, if that is the chief executive of a club like Reading, then what chance have we got of actually getting a sale conducted properly?
“It speaks volumes, and all of us fans remember that interview well – the sale has been pretty much mishandled from the get-go.
“The fans haven’t been told what’s going on, I think we’re on exclusivity period number five. A judge has ruled that the club can be sold despite any action with [prospective buyer of Reading] Rob Couhig; the judge has cleared a pathway; they need to now get on with it.
“The fans have heard Dai is committed to a sale, they’ve been hearing this for 527 days, and they’ve had enough – We’ve all had enough.
“I just cannot understand for the life of me why he wants these problems to continue, he doesn’t want to fund the club, he doesn’t seem to want to be involved in operating the club, he’s pretty much a ghost these days.
“I know we are a small fish in an ocean of wider problems to Dai; he’s got multiple debts in China, and he’s in a lot of trouble, but fundamentally, just get one of these things off your list and just go – Please, just leave.
Yongge, alongside his sister Dai Xiu Li, acquired a 75 per cent stake in the EFL club in 2017 but has since overseen financial troubles.
Wages have not been paid in full and on time on numerous occasions, and failed payments to HMRC have led to transfer embargoes.
Reading have faced points deductions as a result, with one instance leading to their relegation from the Championship in 2023.
Asked why someone like Dai is involved in English football, having been officially disqualified by the EFL as a director of the club, Caroline replied: “Well I mean there are lots of question marks around this and I would urge any Netflix or Disney Plus producers to come forward because we have got a multi-season content drama special espionage for you if anyone wants it.
“Joking aside, you could not make this stuff up.
“How he got into Reading when we never would have been able to do the due diligence around his finances in China, everybody knows that now.
“We’re all left to pick up the pieces when everybody knows this guy should not have been let anywhere near the club.
“I don’t want to underplay the mental health point, it really affects people’s mental health.
“This is a community club, people go with their children, they’ve been going for decades, and we are on the brink, we are on the precipice now, it affects everybody.
“All the fans have engaged in a lot of the campaign work, everybody is involved in this, and everyone’s affected, not least the staff and the players and everyone working at the club.
“They don’t know from one month to the next if they’re going to be paid on time.
“We’ve been going through this for too long now, and I think the wider fan base in football is really educated now in terms of we have a massive regulatory gap between UK company law and the competition regulations.
“So whilst they can ask him to divest, they can’t make him divest, and there really has got to be some consideration for some carve-outs in company law for community assets such as sports clubs where there’s specific licensing conditions that need to be met, and they must do that – they’ve got to do something.
“This football governance bill – if it can’t address existential threats of football club, I’d argue what is the point of it? Because you can argue about wealth distribution, parachutes and all of that all day.
“Really fundamentally, we need clubs to be saved, and that for me is numero uno point, and if regulation can’t solve that, they need to get back to the drawing board because they’ve got to sort this out.”
