Thank you for covering our car crash of a football club. For context he has already killed clubs in China and Belgium so we see this only ending one way. We have tried to persuade him to sell the club but instead he is asset stripping. 152 years of history. 10th oldest club in the world. On the brink of promotion to the Premier League when he took over. Now we are on the point of ceasing to exist.
It's so sad and just absolutely mind-blowing that was even allowed to happen. I read he also tried to buy Hull but was rejected because of the Prem 's "fit and proper test." So...why was he allowed to buy Reading shortly after failing that?
I know Reading are in bad state but even as an English football supporter I didn't know about the training facilities sale - astonishing. This just proves once again that one bad owner can ruin a club. I hope Reading can find a way out of this.
It happened to Bury (who once won the F.A. Cup...), happened to Wimbledon, almost happened to Bolton (saved by a businesswoman who managed to purchase it at the last minute), and it's happened to more than a few others over the last twenty years. As a Bolton fan myself it was heart wrenching watching a founding team of professional football (that had challenged the top teams in England, and made it into the European Cup twice) fade almost into oblivion and fall into League two within a decade of those lofty heights. Reading have my upmost sympathy.
It’s so good to see that our story is being covered across the globe as it show the huge problem we have in the biggest sport in the world. As A Reading fan born and bred honestly it so depressing to think that we may not have a club next year. I believe we are the 10th oldest club in the world (which is still in business) and we may be out of business. Mr Dai has blood on his hands so does the EFL (English Football League). I could go on all day about the wrong doings that this owner has done and what the EFL hasn’t done but there’s way too much. But thank you for covering are situation 🙏🏻
I agree, how this was ever allowed in the first place…. I really do wish Reading all the best… I don’t want you to go down, I want you to survive - a Bristol Rovers fan x
As a Reading FC fan who spent 4 years living in the US and following NYRB, I appreciate this article. The Americans I discussed “soccer” with were always a bit mystified as to the depth, richness and passion of the smaller regional English clubs and their fans.
Lifelong Reading fan here, was born and raised in Reading, but now live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Been going to see Reading since the Elm Park days and this is beyond tragic. Hopeful that some sort of Phoenix will rise from the ashes, but the EFL needs to be held accountable for what they are doing. The constant points deductions are just rubbing salt in the wound and hastening the end.
No other club was there to act like "football family" when Wycombe were on the edge of going out of existence and had to sell our own training ground. That being said, I sympathize with Reading and hope they both stay up and stay in business. I think all lower league clubs are in trouble long term, and as a Wycombe fan I have no confidence we will be around for too many more years. The greatest sport on earth, run the most terribly.
Yeah, talk is talk but walking the walk is a completely different thing. That's why I kept asking "who will help" in the video because I knew it was almost futile.
Bad owners have been a plight on English football for decades now unfortunately. My own club (Coventry City FC) were owned by a dodgy hedge fund for years, they managed to get the club evicted from their stadium twice, went into administration twice, drained every penny out of the club possible, and took us all the way down to the fourth tier. What's happening at Reading is a disgrace and this latest act of asset stripping is some of the worst I've seen in the English game. It's amazing how a single bad owner, in just a few short years, can completely destroy a legacy built out of decades of hard work and progression. The worst part is that it's not even an uncommon event, the EFL is full of bad owners who gamble big sums of money, burying their clubs under a mountain of debt, in pursuit of instant success and a fast return on their high-risk investment; clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth, Derby, Bury, Bolton, Wimbledon to name a few of an almost endless list to have experienced this in my lifetime. The various associations in charge of the game in this country need to do something to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future.
Another Cov fan here and yes our club went through the ringer for years dealing with Joy Seppala and her cronies. Sad to see another club going through the same thing and even sadder is that yet again the FL will not help and even punish Reading for the actions of their unfit for purpose owner.
You also have to look at the fans in this though - Hull's previous owners were constantly harassed for not spending enough! You can't just blame the owners for something the fans are begging them to do. If an owner tries to say they're trying to break even, they get whined at for not investing. The fact that the average wage/turnover ratio for the Championship is over 100% should be a warning to everyone to cut the spending, instead the fans keep celebrating owners for plowing money in, not realising what happens when they stop throwing good money after bad
Being a Bristol Rovers - being taken over by Saudis - I’m scared to death of losing the club I adore. A team as big as Reading and the potential to be where they are is just frightening. I did see Rivers beat Reading 6-0 back in 1999, however Reading have since touched the premiership…. the sale of Bearwood is a tragedy, Reading should never be in this position… however I hope we beat you in April! Sorry…. But seriously wish Reading all the best and unfortunately representing how badly English football is looked after and regulated
They sang "Pay Up Pompey" when we were in their position. They had the nerve to gloat. They actually gloated as we faced extinction. I've got time for any club in this huge family. Every club except this one.
Went to my first Reading match when I was 8 days old and enjoyed so many years supporting a shrewd, well-run football club. To see the 10th oldest club in the world now staring the abyss in the face is deeply upsetting. I will keep going to the games until the club is truly gone but I have no idea what to expect anymore
It's good that you're still supporting the people at the club that have nothing to do with Dai Yongge's soulless homicide of the club. Hopefully this story ends like Leyton Orient's and you do find good ownership before having to resort to the phoenix club route.
English clubs only talk about 'the football family' when the money runs out. When things are going well they couldn't give a shit about other clubs. Wycombe''s American owners appear to have brought a Kazakhstan Billionaire on board and he is going to do to Reading what they would have done to Wycombe if the tables were reversed. It's not personal. It's just business.
As a Reading fan I agree with the lst bit of your statement....however...the moment Dai came in and went through FFP in his first summer when he hired a super agent, the red flags came up. Two signings alone Puscas and Joao destroyed our transfer records....then signing Baldock for 5 Mill who was dreadful. We never spent money like this and were baffled and worried...and of course our fears came true. Our academy' and scouting have been the Reading way. Our 106 record championship winning side cost nothing.
This sale is a disaster for both clubs and is all about billionaires and nothing to do with the fans. If a new training ground, stadium, manager and squad dragged Wycombe into the Premier League it would cease to exist in a different way to what's going on at Reading.@@Clem_Fandango11
@@SoccerZombieSTL Olise was nothing compared to the sale of Caylan Vickers and Nelson Abbey behind the managers back in January. Vickers, who was only 18 was being looked at by Arsenal and the papers were also reporting Real Madrid. We got a couple of hundred grand from Luton....Abbey who was captain at 19 and England Is nder 20 is a beast of a central defender, quick and strong. Sold to Forest via Olympiakos for 500k....Forest owner snapped him up but because of FFP bought him through the greek club to avoid him on the being on the forest books.
Well done , great vlog from an English football fan. It's the united world collective of football/soccer lovers that should be nurtured and will matter more and more in the future whilst the authorities allow clubs to be run into the ground. The lack of concern, vision and application of league management from the English football authorities is shocking.
It really is. I was aware of the Reading situation months before making this, but the whole thing with the training ground just absolutely blew my mind. I had a quick followup to this yesterday on my channel talking about how the training ground sale is off and discussing some of the possible new buyers, but I'm going to do something more indepth either tonight or tomorrow about Genevra Associaties...the North American/Saudi consortium that's been revealed as the club in the lead for buying the club. They're a bit dodgy from the looks of things but unlike Dai, they actually DO have money.
Just over a decade ago, Reading were a Premiership club, owned by John Madejski and things were looking good. Fast forward to 2024 and Reading are facing possible relegation to League 2. I am not a Reading fan or follower, but there are comparisons to what Wigan Athletic have been through in the last four years. Dave Whelan sold up, a Chinese consortium took over, sold it on another a dodgy Hong Kong group and then relegation and free fall set in. It took a local Businessman Billionaire Mike Danson to save the club from going out of business. Reading looked doomed if they cannot find a generous benefactor:
As a Posh supporter, so sad at Reading FC’s plight, not least because my son went to the University of Reading. I think you can stay up and rebuild like Derby have done. Shame there isn’t a cash-rich American available to buy your club from your failed Chinese owner.
yeah i think we (derby) were quite lucky that we managed to get a decent owner who actually cares about the club after what happened. It was a scary time but being in the marches and going to the game where we thought it would be the last one in pride park will always stay with me I think. I really do hope reading some how survives this. it’ll be quite sad to see it completely dissolve.
Sadly this is happening to quite a lot of English clubs right across the EFL, too many clubs are owned by ‘non fans’ all they see is £ signs! My club (Blackburn Rovers) is heading this way.
@@SoccerZombieSTL not really, there’s no money to fund the club because of what’s going on with the Indian government. The owners have not been to Ewood park for over 11 years, that itself shown their disinterest in the club or its fans.
To be fair, the operational records of fans as owners is quite bad. Realistically, you would want either fanbase ownership/50+1 (although that has its own issues) or a competent, well-funded operator who wasn't a fan and is going to make rational decisions.
Absolutely, bud. I just did a new video on Reading last night you might want to check out. Are you going to be at the Bolton game next week? I'll be in the Reading away section.
I was NOT expecting this at all, but it just goes to show you how emotional this topic is. Maybe Brits do care what us dumb yanks think after all lol (just kidding, lads!)
I’m not a Reading fan but my club have been in a similar position - owner losing interest, bills not being paid, close to oblivion. We were saved by an owner prepared to pay over the odds. We had no help from the football authorities in england - the EFL run the league, the FA (supposedly) run English football. Both are feckless, incompetent, hand wringing organisations with no leadership, no power, no vision and no substance. Reading shouldn’t expect any assistance from either. Neither should they expect anything from Wycombe other than to be shafted. A club with zero morals, a club all about self rather than anything vaguely collegiate. Neither should they expect any help from the source of all the problems - Sky TV and the Premier League - who will continue to believe that English football is all about 6 clubs and hang the rest and who do not care one iota for any of the other clubs in the so called football pyramid. English football is a total car crash whatever the glossy marketing may say to the contrary and Reading is just the latest victim. There will be more, fear not. Reading - you can survive but it will take luck and generosity (or stupidity) and an owner who can be persuaded to do something he doesn’t want to do. I wouldn’t be hopeful but don’t give up trying.
Stories like this have me even more interested in England's lower leagues than fairy tales (or similar) like Ted Lasso and the Wrexham story. You guys really are the underdogs in the footy world. It's a shame I can't watch more lower league games...not just because of where I live, but because of the broadcasting rules in England where they're hardly on!
@@SoccerZombieSTLmy team has occupied the non-Premier League leagues for many years, though was one of the founders of the English professional game. An historically important club. Take it from me as a watcher of live football in this country for over 60 years that there is far more interesting sport and competition to be had outside the PL in England nowadays. It wasn’t always like that until Sky TV came along, the PL broke away from the football league (now the EFL) and the FA sat back, watched it all happen and did nothing. The FA are about the most useless organisation known to mankind and the EFL not far behind. You probably can find weekly highlight packages on English TV but you may need a VPN and some ingenuity from America. The utter uselessness of the EFL in negotiating successive TV packages is an underlying reason why Reading are just the latest football club in difficulty. The odds are against them surviving but it’s not impossible.
And you could argue it's that way here in the US, too. The MLS is a plastic league, I hate to say. But they're trying to kill off our equivalent of the FA/Carabao Cup and replace it with one of their own with Mexican teams involved because they want to control everything and they can't control the US Open Cup. They've basically even come out this week and admitted as such. But seeing lower league teams like Macclesfield Town in England and Saarbrucken in Germany this year are EXACTLY why we love this game. It's a game by the people, for the people.
Spot on. If anything The EFL are complicit in this. Hastening RFC demise by points deductions and ensuring that their poor judgement in allowing Mr Dai to take ownership is buried with our ashes!
Hiya, thanks for pointing this fact out I’m a Reading fan through and through I’ve just can’t get over it so sad. I’ve been supporting this club for almost 35 years and I’ve never ever seen it in a state like this is unbelievable how one man can get away and destroying a clubis previous adventures he did exactly the same is die young guy needs to be found I found quick
I'm so sorry you're going through this. Even as a yank that has dealt with teams moving into and out of my own city along with others, not even those situations hurt as much as what you're going through...watching the slow death of your own club like this. I did this video hoping to get some awareness here in the States about what's going on...though I'm not sure there's anything more that can be done. Just sad. So sad.
Every football club in the EFL, outside of a few of biggest, are on the edge of financial ruin. It’s the game. It’s how it works. You can blame foreign owners with no historical links to the clubs, but there are enough examples of local owners bleeding clubs dry, the Oystens of Blackpool being a classic example. The football model here is basically unsustainable. You can’t generate enough income to pay the wages demanded in order to be competitive.
The issue goes back to 1992 and the creation of the FA Premier League. That was a grab for the TV rights by the top clubs at the time (Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton and Man United). Before this TV revenue was spread across the league structure to make the football pyramid more sustainable. That TV revenue also has made English clubs attractive to predatory foreign ownership. Prior to this onwers were mainly local business people with a love and connection to the club.
@@SoccerZombieSTLAs a Pompey fan, I don't agree, that Reading is dying. It is more a case of Wycombe us gaining equal gate money, in them becoming good rivals. You are in a good position, and you have been winning a few matches. You should hold your heads up high, because you won't be relegated, for a long while.
The owner has got bored with the club and got fed up with putting money in and the team getting relegated from the championship and fighting relegation from league one
@@SoccerZombieSTL if we compare it to walsall fc in league2 walsall had a owner who sold it to trivella llc which is a american owned sports management company benjamin boycott is the chairman they are now doing ok
Football is a business, The governing bodies can't step in once they have given ownership the go ahead (You can't shut down a store because it sell crappy products legally) which is why we need stricter laws on who can own a football club. The fact is even billionaires can run a club into the ground, and once they get the nod you better hope they have good intentions.
That's fair. There's a bit of a precedent in America with the NHL's Coyotes and MLB's Miami Marlins. But Dai Yongge should never have been allowed to buy the club after what he and his sister did in China and Belgium respectively.
The FA can't step in as it would open the flood gates to other clubs in the same situation. It would also give potential shithouse owners a get out of jail free card to rinse other clubs. There is a body that controls the sale of clubs in England called the Owners and Directors Test. This is used to look into the background of any potential buyer of a club. Clearly this has failed and/or circumvented. It's quite possible for a potential buyer to be of good standing when taking the test, and yet after some time may fall on hard times. Its then when the FA need to step in (not with financial support) and make sure the clubs sale is handled correctly. For Reading though I fear this is now no longer possible as it too far down the river. I live in Maidenhead around 12 miles from Reading FC so have a soft spot for the club, although I am a West Ham fan.
That's a good point that I hadn't considered. It does setup a precedent for possible abuse down the road. And it remains hard to believe that Dai Yongge somehow passed this test given what he and his sister did to China and Belgium clubs respectively. Just mental to me and I will say that despite MLS's many, many flaws here in the States, Dai Yongge would get laughed out of the meeting if he tried that here. Hopefully these rumored new North American buyers can rescue the club but this is like the third time supporters have been told this, and given the timing of it right after hawking the training ground, I'm suspicious.
If clubs don't take FFP etc responsibly, the EFL can't do much beyond punishing them. Maybe FFP needs to be done in a year on year cashflow basis, and assessed in May so a club that breaches it can't get promoted? It's up to the clubs to start behaving responsibly, anything else will be a sticking plaster
As much as I detest MLS and the way it goes business, I do feel confident that a Reading situation simply couldn't happen here. MLS is a single entity league, which basically means it's run like a bank: each team is a franchise location but MLS owns and runs things. Hope the best for you guys in Reading.
I'm a Coventry City fan who lived in and around Reading in the sixties and seventies. I watched many games at Elm Park. Never give up on your club. Lots of clubs have gone into non-league and survived and some have made it back. Never underestimate the costs of running a club, beyond even the wealthiest of individuals. You don't see many rich local businessmen having the required finance these days. Your owner has put in lots of money, but he is being hampered by the Chinese government refusing to let individuals remove money from the country. Selling the training ground is an unfortunate decision faced by companies everywhere to solve short term cashflow issues. It's the way of the world. Don't expect the elite to help out the grassroots game either. Foreign influence in the Premier don't need the lower league teams, they want a monopoly, here and across Europe, hence the possibility of a super league. If Coventry can survive and prosper on a tight budget, so can Reading. Chin up, keep the faith.
Coventry is a great example of why you should never give up hope as a fan. The Sky Blues almost went homeless last season after Mike Ashley bought the stadium and by the end of the season, they were a whisker hair's away from being promoted to the Prem. In fact, I'm reading Ashley is now considering buying Reading's stadium. FFS.
Speaking of bad and crooked owners,I guess your friend who supports Doncaster must have told you about their nightmare former owner/chairman Ken Richardson.
Madjeski shame on you. A gross charlatan. Sure he rode the glory but sold the club down the river. Terrible owner, ultimately. Hollow concerns for the legacy of the club. The football family died a while back. It's dog eat dog out there since the the formation of the greed is good league. Just another clown show. Sill the beautiful game. Reading will rise again.
Did everyone see this article today about possible buyers in the club? www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport/24189374.reading-fc-advanced-exclusivity-talks-fresh-buyers/#p2bu0t6k79
Thank you for covering our car crash of a football club.
For context he has already killed clubs in China and Belgium so we see this only ending one way. We have tried to persuade him to sell the club but instead he is asset stripping.
152 years of history. 10th oldest club in the world. On the brink of promotion to the Premier League when he took over. Now we are on the point of ceasing to exist.
It's so sad and just absolutely mind-blowing that was even allowed to happen. I read he also tried to buy Hull but was rejected because of the Prem 's "fit and proper test."
So...why was he allowed to buy Reading shortly after failing that?
@@SoccerZombieSTL This is something the EFL need to be investigated for....im sure some palms were greased!
Absolutely wild how corrupt this game can be.
I really wish Reading all the best…. I hate that this is even allowed to happen
I know Reading are in bad state but even as an English football supporter I didn't know about the training facilities sale - astonishing. This just proves once again that one bad owner can ruin a club. I hope Reading can find a way out of this.
It happened to Bury (who once won the F.A. Cup...), happened to Wimbledon, almost happened to Bolton (saved by a businesswoman who managed to purchase it at the last minute), and it's happened to more than a few others over the last twenty years.
As a Bolton fan myself it was heart wrenching watching a founding team of professional football (that had challenged the top teams in England, and made it into the European Cup twice) fade almost into oblivion and fall into League two within a decade of those lofty heights. Reading have my upmost sympathy.
Good call on Bury and yeah, the Bolton/Reading game was a bit poetic yesterday because of Bolton's recent history.
It’s so good to see that our story is being covered across the globe as it show the huge problem we have in the biggest sport in the world. As A Reading fan born and bred honestly it so depressing to think that we may not have a club next year. I believe we are the 10th oldest club in the world (which is still in business) and we may be out of business. Mr Dai has blood on his hands so does the EFL (English Football League). I could go on all day about the wrong doings that this owner has done and what the EFL hasn’t done but there’s way too much. But thank you for covering are situation 🙏🏻
I just wish I said something sooner and that there was more we can do. Maybe these new rumored North American owners can turn the tide.
I agree, how this was ever allowed in the first place…. I really do wish Reading all the best… I don’t want you to go down, I want you to survive - a Bristol Rovers fan x
As a Reading FC fan who spent 4 years living in the US and following NYRB, I appreciate this article. The Americans I discussed “soccer” with were always a bit mystified as to the depth, richness and passion of the smaller regional English clubs and their fans.
Lifelong Reading fan here, was born and raised in Reading, but now live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Been going to see Reading since the Elm Park days and this is beyond tragic. Hopeful that some sort of Phoenix will rise from the ashes, but the EFL needs to be held accountable for what they are doing. The constant points deductions are just rubbing salt in the wound and hastening the end.
It's downright malicious.
No other club was there to act like "football family" when Wycombe were on the edge of going out of existence and had to sell our own training ground. That being said, I sympathize with Reading and hope they both stay up and stay in business. I think all lower league clubs are in trouble long term, and as a Wycombe fan I have no confidence we will be around for too many more years. The greatest sport on earth, run the most terribly.
Yeah, talk is talk but walking the walk is a completely different thing. That's why I kept asking "who will help" in the video because I knew it was almost futile.
Bad owners have been a plight on English football for decades now unfortunately. My own club (Coventry City FC) were owned by a dodgy hedge fund for years, they managed to get the club evicted from their stadium twice, went into administration twice, drained every penny out of the club possible, and took us all the way down to the fourth tier. What's happening at Reading is a disgrace and this latest act of asset stripping is some of the worst I've seen in the English game. It's amazing how a single bad owner, in just a few short years, can completely destroy a legacy built out of decades of hard work and progression.
The worst part is that it's not even an uncommon event, the EFL is full of bad owners who gamble big sums of money, burying their clubs under a mountain of debt, in pursuit of instant success and a fast return on their high-risk investment; clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth, Derby, Bury, Bolton, Wimbledon to name a few of an almost endless list to have experienced this in my lifetime. The various associations in charge of the game in this country need to do something to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future.
Hear,hear!
Another Cov fan here and yes our club went through the ringer for years dealing with Joy Seppala and her cronies. Sad to see another club going through the same thing and even sadder is that yet again the FL will not help and even punish Reading for the actions of their unfit for purpose owner.
You also have to look at the fans in this though - Hull's previous owners were constantly harassed for not spending enough! You can't just blame the owners for something the fans are begging them to do. If an owner tries to say they're trying to break even, they get whined at for not investing. The fact that the average wage/turnover ratio for the Championship is over 100% should be a warning to everyone to cut the spending, instead the fans keep celebrating owners for plowing money in, not realising what happens when they stop throwing good money after bad
Being a Bristol Rovers - being taken over by Saudis - I’m scared to death of losing the club I adore. A team as big as Reading and the potential to be where they are is just frightening. I did see Rivers beat Reading 6-0 back in 1999, however Reading have since touched the premiership…. the sale of Bearwood is a tragedy, Reading should never be in this position… however I hope we beat you in April! Sorry…. But seriously wish Reading all the best and unfortunately representing how badly English football is looked after and regulated
I just hope this situation and our push back forces real change to prevent these tragedies from happening in the future.
They sang "Pay Up Pompey" when we were in their position. They had the nerve to gloat. They actually gloated as we faced extinction.
I've got time for any club in this huge family. Every club except this one.
Totally fair. Disgusting behavior accentuated by then vulturing Bearwood Park.
Portsmouth should have been a lesson and a warning, not a model to copy...
Went to my first Reading match when I was 8 days old and enjoyed so many years supporting a shrewd, well-run football club. To see the 10th oldest club in the world now staring the abyss in the face is deeply upsetting. I will keep going to the games until the club is truly gone but I have no idea what to expect anymore
It's good that you're still supporting the people at the club that have nothing to do with Dai Yongge's soulless homicide of the club. Hopefully this story ends like Leyton Orient's and you do find good ownership before having to resort to the phoenix club route.
English clubs only talk about 'the football family' when the money runs out. When things are going well they couldn't give a shit about other clubs. Wycombe''s American owners appear to have brought a Kazakhstan Billionaire on board and he is going to do to Reading what they would have done to Wycombe if the tables were reversed. It's not personal. It's just business.
As a Reading fan I agree with the lst bit of your statement....however...the moment Dai came in and went through FFP in his first summer when he hired a super agent, the red flags came up. Two signings alone Puscas and Joao destroyed our transfer records....then signing Baldock for 5 Mill who was dreadful. We never spent money like this and were baffled and worried...and of course our fears came true. Our academy' and scouting have been the Reading way. Our 106 record championship winning side cost nothing.
This sale is a disaster for both clubs and is all about billionaires and nothing to do with the fans. If a new training ground, stadium, manager and squad dragged Wycombe into the Premier League it would cease to exist in a different way to what's going on at Reading.@@Clem_Fandango11
As an American, I'm all too familiar with predatory capitalism in sports (fuck Stan Kroenke with a cactus). Sad it's happening everywhere.
Then selling Olise for way less than he's worth...his sale should have transformed the club for the better. Instead, it's a footnote.
@@SoccerZombieSTL Olise was nothing compared to the sale of Caylan Vickers and Nelson Abbey behind the managers back in January. Vickers, who was only 18 was being looked at by Arsenal and the papers were also reporting Real Madrid. We got a couple of hundred grand from Luton....Abbey who was captain at 19 and England Is nder 20 is a beast of a central defender, quick and strong. Sold to Forest via Olympiakos for 500k....Forest owner snapped him up but because of FFP bought him through the greek club to avoid him on the being on the forest books.
Well done , great vlog from an English football fan. It's the united world collective of football/soccer lovers that should be nurtured and will matter more and more in the future whilst the authorities allow clubs to be run into the ground. The lack of concern, vision and application of league management from the English football authorities is shocking.
It really is. I was aware of the Reading situation months before making this, but the whole thing with the training ground just absolutely blew my mind. I had a quick followup to this yesterday on my channel talking about how the training ground sale is off and discussing some of the possible new buyers, but I'm going to do something more indepth either tonight or tomorrow about Genevra Associaties...the North American/Saudi consortium that's been revealed as the club in the lead for buying the club. They're a bit dodgy from the looks of things but unlike Dai, they actually DO have money.
Just over a decade ago, Reading were a Premiership club, owned by John Madejski and things were looking good. Fast forward to 2024 and Reading are facing possible relegation to League 2. I am not a Reading fan or follower, but there are comparisons to what Wigan Athletic have been through in the last four years. Dave Whelan sold up, a Chinese consortium took over, sold it on another a dodgy Hong Kong group and then relegation and free fall set in. It took a local Businessman Billionaire Mike Danson to save the club from going out of business. Reading looked doomed if they cannot find a generous benefactor:
As a Posh supporter, so sad at Reading FC’s plight, not least because my son went to the University of Reading. I think you can stay up and rebuild like Derby have done. Shame there isn’t a cash-rich American available to buy your club from your failed Chinese owner.
Sadly, it seems like this club is going to have to re-emerge as a phoenix club at this rate.
@@SoccerZombieSTL Hang on in there. Your time will come.
yeah i think we (derby) were quite lucky that we managed to get a decent owner who actually cares about the club after what happened. It was a scary time but being in the marches and going to the game where we thought it would be the last one in pride park will always stay with me I think. I really do hope reading some how survives this. it’ll be quite sad to see it completely dissolve.
@@PointonMedia yeah felt bad for you guys...you fought bravely against relegation.
Excellent video as a Brit, well made. Better than a lot of English content creators, I'll stick around for anymore vids
Thanks bud! I appreciate it!
Sadly this is happening to quite a lot of English clubs right across the EFL, too many clubs are owned by ‘non fans’ all they see is £ signs! My club (Blackburn Rovers) is heading this way.
A shame. I thought things were looking brighter for Blackburn after some rough times.
@@SoccerZombieSTL not really, there’s no money to fund the club because of what’s going on with the Indian government. The owners have not been to Ewood park for over 11 years, that itself shown their disinterest in the club or its fans.
Unfortunate.
To be fair, the operational records of fans as owners is quite bad. Realistically, you would want either fanbase ownership/50+1 (although that has its own issues) or a competent, well-funded operator who wasn't a fan and is going to make rational decisions.
@@paulie-g somewhat agree, Jack walker was a good example of Fan ownership but I get your point
Thank you for making a video about my club
thanks for covering it
Absolutely, bud. I just did a new video on Reading last night you might want to check out.
Are you going to be at the Bolton game next week? I'll be in the Reading away section.
Holy this video blew up. Nice!
I was NOT expecting this at all, but it just goes to show you how emotional this topic is. Maybe Brits do care what us dumb yanks think after all lol (just kidding, lads!)
@@SoccerZombieSTL honestly every football fan should be interested in this topic. Good stuff mate!
Thanks bud!
I’m not a Reading fan but my club have been in a similar position - owner losing interest, bills not being paid, close to oblivion. We were saved by an owner prepared to pay over the odds. We had no help from the football authorities in england - the EFL run the league, the FA (supposedly) run English football. Both are feckless, incompetent, hand wringing organisations with no leadership, no power, no vision and no substance. Reading shouldn’t expect any assistance from either. Neither should they expect anything from Wycombe other than to be shafted. A club with zero morals, a club all about self rather than anything vaguely collegiate. Neither should they expect any help from the source of all the problems - Sky TV and the Premier League - who will continue to believe that English football is all about 6 clubs and hang the rest and who do not care one iota for any of the other clubs in the so called football pyramid. English football is a total car crash whatever the glossy marketing may say to the contrary and Reading is just the latest victim. There will be more, fear not. Reading - you can survive but it will take luck and generosity (or stupidity) and an owner who can be persuaded to do something he doesn’t want to do. I wouldn’t be hopeful but don’t give up trying.
Stories like this have me even more interested in England's lower leagues than fairy tales (or similar) like Ted Lasso and the Wrexham story. You guys really are the underdogs in the footy world. It's a shame I can't watch more lower league games...not just because of where I live, but because of the broadcasting rules in England where they're hardly on!
@@SoccerZombieSTLmy team has occupied the non-Premier League leagues for many years, though was one of the founders of the English professional game. An historically important club. Take it from me as a watcher of live football in this country for over 60 years that there is far more interesting sport and competition to be had outside the PL in England nowadays. It wasn’t always like that until Sky TV came along, the PL broke away from the football league (now the EFL) and the FA sat back, watched it all happen and did nothing. The FA are about the most useless organisation known to mankind and the EFL not far behind. You probably can find weekly highlight packages on English TV but you may need a VPN and some ingenuity from America. The utter uselessness of the EFL in negotiating successive TV packages is an underlying reason why Reading are just the latest football club in difficulty. The odds are against them surviving but it’s not impossible.
And you could argue it's that way here in the US, too. The MLS is a plastic league, I hate to say. But they're trying to kill off our equivalent of the FA/Carabao Cup and replace it with one of their own with Mexican teams involved because they want to control everything and they can't control the US Open Cup. They've basically even come out this week and admitted as such. But seeing lower league teams like Macclesfield Town in England and Saarbrucken in Germany this year are EXACTLY why we love this game. It's a game by the people, for the people.
BBC reporting that Reading's sale of their Bearwood Park training ground to League One rivals Wycombe has been put "on hold"
The cost is mainly land, it is not state of the art, it is prime real estate.
Spot on. If anything The EFL are complicit in this. Hastening RFC demise by points deductions and ensuring that their poor judgement in allowing Mr Dai to take ownership is buried with our ashes!
I'd really like to see members of the EFL hooked up to lie detector machines about Dai Yongge and Reading.
Hiya, thanks for pointing this fact out I’m a Reading fan through and through I’ve just can’t get over it so sad. I’ve been supporting this club for almost 35 years and I’ve never ever seen it in a state like this is unbelievable how one man can get away and destroying a clubis previous adventures he did exactly the same is die young guy needs to be found I found quick
I'm so sorry you're going through this. Even as a yank that has dealt with teams moving into and out of my own city along with others, not even those situations hurt as much as what you're going through...watching the slow death of your own club like this. I did this video hoping to get some awareness here in the States about what's going on...though I'm not sure there's anything more that can be done. Just sad. So sad.
@@SoccerZombieSTL it’s all about money … nothing to do with football anymore …. Greedy businessmen try to make money 😱😡
@@StevestevewellsNo argument here.
Every football club in the EFL, outside of a few of biggest, are on the edge of financial ruin. It’s the game. It’s how it works. You can blame foreign owners with no historical links to the clubs, but there are enough examples of local owners bleeding clubs dry, the Oystens of Blackpool being a classic example. The football model here is basically unsustainable. You can’t generate enough income to pay the wages demanded in order to be competitive.
Not afc wimbledon they make a profit every year
The issue goes back to 1992 and the creation of the FA Premier League. That was a grab for the TV rights by the top clubs at the time (Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton and Man United). Before this TV revenue was spread across the league structure to make the football pyramid more sustainable. That TV revenue also has made English clubs attractive to predatory foreign ownership. Prior to this onwers were mainly local business people with a love and connection to the club.
Well done on this video doing well for you 😮
Thanks! Just wish it was about a happier subject. On the flip side, I'm happy there's some new awareness on the situation in Reading.
@@SoccerZombieSTL you’re welcome
The FA have nothing to do with Reading,it`s the EFL they have to deal with.
Sorry about that, I got them mixed up.
@@SoccerZombieSTLNo, you are right. EFL clubs are run by Football League, FA was senior body that ran all football and run FA Cup and England Team,.
@@SoccerZombieSTLAs a Pompey fan, I don't agree, that Reading is dying. It is more a case of Wycombe us gaining equal gate money, in them becoming good rivals. You are in a good position, and you have been winning a few matches. You should hold your heads up high, because you won't be relegated, for a long while.
what's with the electric neck shock collar
That's my wireless mic!
The owner has got bored with the club and got fed up with putting money in and the team getting relegated from the championship and fighting relegation from league one
So then he should sell the club instead of taking it to football's equivalent of a chop shop.
@@SoccerZombieSTL it has been up for sale for a while no one really wants a bootom halfof the table league one club
Or maybe the owner is lying through his teeth about trying to sell it. He did similar stripdown jobs in Belgium and China.
@@SoccerZombieSTL if we compare it to walsall fc in league2 walsall had a owner who sold it to trivella llc which is a american owned sports management company benjamin boycott is the chairman they are now doing ok
Fair point. I'll look them up.
Football is a business, The governing bodies can't step in once they have given ownership the go ahead (You can't shut down a store because it sell crappy products legally) which is why we need stricter laws on who can own a football club.
The fact is even billionaires can run a club into the ground, and once they get the nod you better hope they have good intentions.
That's fair. There's a bit of a precedent in America with the NHL's Coyotes and MLB's Miami Marlins. But Dai Yongge should never have been allowed to buy the club after what he and his sister did in China and Belgium respectively.
The FA can't step in as it would open the flood gates to other clubs in the same situation. It would also give potential shithouse owners a get out of jail free card to rinse other clubs.
There is a body that controls the sale of clubs in England called the Owners and Directors Test. This is used to look into the background of any potential buyer of a club. Clearly this has failed and/or circumvented. It's quite possible for a potential buyer to be of good standing when taking the test, and yet after some time may fall on hard times. Its then when the FA need to step in (not with financial support) and make sure the clubs sale is handled correctly.
For Reading though I fear this is now no longer possible as it too far down the river. I live in Maidenhead around 12 miles from Reading FC so have a soft spot for the club, although I am a West Ham fan.
That's a good point that I hadn't considered. It does setup a precedent for possible abuse down the road.
And it remains hard to believe that Dai Yongge somehow passed this test given what he and his sister did to China and Belgium clubs respectively. Just mental to me and I will say that despite MLS's many, many flaws here in the States, Dai Yongge would get laughed out of the meeting if he tried that here.
Hopefully these rumored new North American buyers can rescue the club but this is like the third time supporters have been told this, and given the timing of it right after hawking the training ground, I'm suspicious.
If clubs don't take FFP etc responsibly, the EFL can't do much beyond punishing them. Maybe FFP needs to be done in a year on year cashflow basis, and assessed in May so a club that breaches it can't get promoted? It's up to the clubs to start behaving responsibly, anything else will be a sticking plaster
Cheers for spreading the news sadly its too late really.
Just give up then. Good grief.
As much as I detest MLS and the way it goes business, I do feel confident that a Reading situation simply couldn't happen here. MLS is a single entity league, which basically means it's run like a bank: each team is a franchise location but MLS owns and runs things.
Hope the best for you guys in Reading.
I'm a Coventry City fan who lived in and around Reading in the sixties and seventies. I watched many games at Elm Park. Never give up on your club. Lots of clubs have gone into non-league and survived and some have made it back. Never underestimate the costs of running a club, beyond even the wealthiest of individuals. You don't see many rich local businessmen having the required finance these days. Your owner has put in lots of money, but he is being hampered by the Chinese government refusing to let individuals remove money from the country. Selling the training ground is an unfortunate decision faced by companies everywhere to solve short term cashflow issues. It's the way of the world. Don't expect the elite to help out the grassroots game either. Foreign influence in the Premier don't need the lower league teams, they want a monopoly, here and across Europe, hence the possibility of a super league. If Coventry can survive and prosper on a tight budget, so can Reading. Chin up, keep the faith.
Coventry is a great example of why you should never give up hope as a fan. The Sky Blues almost went homeless last season after Mike Ashley bought the stadium and by the end of the season, they were a whisker hair's away from being promoted to the Prem.
In fact, I'm reading Ashley is now considering buying Reading's stadium. FFS.
Speaking of bad and crooked owners,I guess your friend who supports Doncaster must have told you about their nightmare former owner/chairman Ken Richardson.
Yeah, I'm aware. Woof...
No Wycombe players will live in Wycombe so maybe their players may live closer 😂
Madjeski shame on you. A gross charlatan. Sure he rode the glory but sold the club down the river. Terrible owner, ultimately. Hollow concerns for the legacy of the club.
The football family died a while back. It's dog eat dog out there since the the formation of the greed is good league.
Just another clown show. Sill the beautiful game. Reading will rise again.
it has been confirmed Scott Parker is the new chelsea woman manager Matt Wells assistant coach staff ALASTAIR
HARRIS
Did everyone see this article today about possible buyers in the club? www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport/24189374.reading-fc-advanced-exclusivity-talks-fresh-buyers/#p2bu0t6k79
yank
big if true
I got as far as " Hi there, I'm an American soccer fan". That was enough.
Totally understandable. We can be an insufferable lot. I barely suffer myself at times.
Love that rovers shirt mate
Thanks bud! I'll be there in two weeks for the Wrexham game! UP THE ROVERS
@@SoccerZombieSTL Nice hope you enjoy yourself 👍
@@_jdr1I think I will!
Well first off, it's football not soccer ..and ended the video once he said this
I did qualify it by starting with "American soccer fan" and ending the sentence with "English football". But fair. *sighs in American*
who cares?
Shad UP.