Reading fans dare to hope Dai’s rule is coming to an end

When the first tennis balls started raining on the pitch, much of English football sat up and took notice. Reading’s fight for survival has been as protracted as it has been painful. Two winding-up petitions for unpaid tax, failure to pay staff, relegation, a total of 18 points deducted – under Dai Yongge’s ownership, the club has been left on the brink and in desperate need of regime change.

Finally, in the week that marked the first day of spring, came green shoots of hope. First, the rubberstamping of the football regulator, though for the Royals and many like them it is too late. In the lower rungs of the pyramid they are incredulous it has taken so long. More pertinent is the prospect that Dai will at long last take the next step towards selling up. i understands exclusivity is set to be confirmed as early as next week and a preferred bidder for the club will be decided from two groups. Significant interest has come from a North American group, while there was also thought to be an approach from Saudi Arabia as investors there seek to make a further stamp on English football. Genevra Associates are understood to be back in contention after a £40m offer fell through in November, when they could not finalise an agreement with Dai. The hedge fund had previously mooted investing in Manchester United before Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s takeover. Five months ago, they appointed Talal Al-Hammad, the former Wigan chairman, as partner. AlHammad presided over the Latics when they were docked points for not paying players on time amid what he called a “cash flow issue”.

Reading’s former chief executive Nigel Howe is in charge of brokering the deal. Once involved in football matters, Howe is now property projects manager.

Seen as a steady pair of hands, he has estimated that eight parties have made approaches, including ex-Newcastle owner Mike Ashley. For some, a return for former chief John Madejski was a pipe dream, but he could not afford the project. Wealth alone will not be enough. The Dais are one of northern China’s richest families who made their wealth turning air raid shelters into shopping centres. Back in Berkshire, that has not translated. The lure of the Premier League enticed them into a familiar trap and it is estimated they have poured more than £200m into the club.

Initially, it was not clear whether Dai would just seek new investment. Under prolonged pressure from the EFL, he is now expected to be gone within months.

Yet Reading fans know better than to count their chickens. There was William Storey, the eccentric bearded drinks entrepreneur with a pet cheetah whose company, Rich Energy, had previously sponsored the Haas Formula One team. His £50m deal collapsed last year. In January, German investor Daniel Loitz made an offer understood to be in the region of £28m. Loitz is involved with a number of women’s football clubs from Halifax to Ukraine, and recently invested in Canada. His bid to resurrect London Irish would potentially have involved the rugby club playing matches at Reading’s home, the Select Car Leasing Stadium. i has been told that Loitz did not provide proof of funds to the EFL. Approached by i, Loitz said: “This is the wildest thing. I already went through a process of proof of funds with verification from banks and provided all the documents in January. I have signatures by account managers, signatures from JP Morgan, Revolut Business – the money is available.

“Mr Dai is the owner, he can decide if he wants to sell or not but he is making a mockery of this whole situation – he’s torturing the fans, the public and making a mockery of the EFL and other people who want to invest in football.”

There is little Reading fans can do, amidst this back and forth. The only true and eternal custodians of their football club, they burst onto the pitch against Port Vale, causing the match to be abandoned. Protest group “Sell Before We Dai” helped fund a truck bearing Dai’s face to drive outside the House of Commons leading calls for the independent football regulator. It bore the message “Pay the tax, pay the staff, sell the club”.

Nobody, least of all those fans who want change so desperately, are under any illusions about how complex a process the takeover will be. Wages have spiralled out of control. In a last-ditch bid to raise funds, Dai recently agreed to sell the Bearwood Park training ground to rivals Wycombe Wanderers. Those plans were, understandably, met with horror and have now been derailed by planning limitations on the ownership of the land.

Bidders are likely to ask for a “package” of the club, the stadium, the men’s team and the women’s team, and the training ground. That is a more complex process than at many other clubs because some of those assets are owned by other companies.

It is hoped that when a takeover is at least agreed, even if not completed, the new owners will be able to loan money to cover the immediate shortfall, as Everton have done with potential buyers 777 Partners. Manager Ruben Selles (left) says staff are asking to leave because they “don’t feel safe”. He has already lost close allies in assistant Andrew Sparkes and academy director Eddie Niedzwiecki.

Reading are 18th in League One, seven points clear of the relegation zone, and simply cannot afford to sink any lower. At any rate, it is hard to imagine things getting any worse. When Dai took over in 2017, many believed they would be back in the Premier League within two years.

Now, the only aspiration is for the nightmare which followed to come to an end.

FOOTBALL IN BRIEF

Mr Dai is making a mockery of this whole situation – torturing the fans, the public, making a mockery of the EFL