@@Chartley1983sadly it’ll likely be too little too late with the chaos and problems they’re facing externally now, reading will be relegated to league 2 if they don’t get dissolved and with championship debts and league 2 incomes for a small club reading will die
A special report in the athletic by Philip Buckingham and others a couple of years ago stated his sister was the owner at the time they folded. They state, " Roeselare were owned by Dai Xiu Li, who bought the club in 2016"
I must add that Luton Town were a reverse Luton Town and are now a reverse reverse Luton Town. Basically, in the early 1990s Luton Town were in the top flight (along with Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal etc) and got relegated. They then began a slow decline down the football league before ending up in the non-league. Then Luton started going up the leagues again and are now in the Premier League.
I’m a reading fan and the situation in the last week had gotten worse with a rumour coming out that the owner doesn’t actually want to sell and that instead he wants to asset strip the club Part of this involves them selling a couple of players (one of whom has arguably been our best this season) to Luton, which is being done by ownership behind the back of our manager and DoF… We’d be surprised if we made it to the end of the season #sellbeforewedai
Asset stripping would be selling the stadium or training ground, which he hasn't done as yet. He can't sell the stadium quickly because the supporters trust applied for it to be registered as an asset of community interest.
Lifetime Reading fan here, really well covered topic and I’m happy to see more videos coming out about our situation. From our CEO Dayong Pang to super agents like Kia Joorabchian, the club has been mismanaged in the most unbelievable way possible. I honestly think it’s easier to run a club well than to run a club this poorly. We just got our game abandoned today with rumours of a January fire sale of our players circling around. I’m fine to be in League One or Two but what I’m not fine about is losing the club I’ve supported my whole life. Fingers crossed that good times are around the corner because we need a bit of hope more than ever 🔵⚪️
Never would have thought I would see one of my favourite content creators make a video about my club, it is just a shame it is happening around such a terrible subject. Few extra things that are happening at the moment. Players are eating microwave meals after games as the catering staff have been sacked. We cannot afford accommodation for travelling to away games. Staff are wearing coats in the offices due to the working conditions being so cold. Rumours are beginning to start that he has no intention to sell before stripping our assets to avoid as much loss as he possibly can. No team, since Dai Yongge has taken ownership, have taken more points off of us than the deductions we have faced due to his mismanagement. He is our worst enemy. Thanks Z, anyone who takes the time to highlight the situation is really appreciated right now.
I feel really bad for you guys, it's terrible to read. I can't imagine to have a big part of my life getting teared down, just because some rich guy from the other side of the world doesn't care enough to take care of it and only worries about his net worth. I'm Real Madrid fan for 14 years now (since I was 6) and I just can't imagine my club falling apart just because the most important person in the club isn't competent enough to take good care of it. I have no idea how bad you are feeling rn. I hope everything will end good for you guys and that some day fans around the world will be able to see your club play in Prem again.
Thanks Zealand and great video to bring light to our situation as a Reading season ticket holder for over 10 years and its really sad too see my great club being ripped apart by one man who clearly has just given up. Something need to be done with ownership in this country, this should never happen to any club 😞
I’ve bee a Reading fan since I was a kid, they made me fall in love with football, it just hurts to see my club fall like this, and it seems as soon as I think we’ve hit rock bottom, we keep finding new lows. Really hoping someone buys us and we can just be stable, if course I’d love premier league, but I’d just be happy with stability.
Hi! Reading fan here! Great video, but I feel you left out a couple of important details. Dai has refused to sell unless it's for an extortionate fee, completely turning off other potential investors. Also, Renhe isn't the only club he's dissolved. Dutch second tier club Rosalare (not sure on my spelling) has also had the exact same story and has dissolved in the exact same way
It's exactly what we had at Birmingham. Chinese owners who ran the club into the ground and refused to even consider a sale. Eventually they ran into legal and financial trouble and that allowed our new owners to turn the screw on them and force a sale. Yours are clearly as bad at running a business as ours were so eventually, something will go wrong for them and the hope is that when that happens, someone clever comes along and aggressively forces their way in. It'll happen eventually but it'll never be because your current owners decide to sell the club.
It's crazy that this guy already ruined 3 clubs and is ruining another one. Maybe it's like hobby lmao But seriously I wish you all the best, and hope that he'll be forced to sell Reading, just like the person before me has said
A couple of years ago, Danny Loader was about to sign for Wolves from Reading. He had passed his medical and was literally about to sign his Wolves contract when Dai Yongge on a whim decided he wasn't going to sell and called Loader back to Reading. That transfer could've eventually risen to £9m. Loader left for FC Porto at the end of his contract the following summer, and Reading lost the player for absolutely nothing.
I worked at the club until recently, since I joined it’s been sad to see the spiral the club is on. Unfortunately like many others I decided enough was enough and left when pay became an issue, people inside the club go above and beyond on a daily basis and continue to do so despite the mess in ownership
A good friend of mine also left his job at the club after working there for more than a decade. He basically saw all this coming after the playoff final loss.
I’ve been an American Reading fan since 2009 and every time someone finds out I’m a reading fan they looking at me all confused like “who’s reading?” Seeing my club suffer a slow and painful death has been heart breaking. I hate seeing this and I pray we can find our way out of this pit that we found ourselves in
@@vin2676 when I was a kid I grew up in a city in Pennsylvania called Reading. So I found them in fifa and just decided “this is the club I’ll support”. I did what I could to follow them but following them outside of the premier league back then was extremely hard so I just had to look up their scores online for a few years. Then they made it into the premier league and that same year I did another fifa save with them and it was so cool to finally be able to see the team I support be the one I can watch on tv. Well also that year my brother was in the marines at this point and he’d be my “assistant manager” in the save and we spent hours when he was home on leave playing that save, finding players, and just taking turns on and off playing that save. He was able to watch the matches with me too and it was a great bonding experience for us and to this day the most fun I’ve ever had playing fifa. Pair those things all together and Reading is much more than a club to me because it goes way past football to me, it’s a way that I connect with my brother
@@vin2676 kind of a long story but it was because of FIFA and my brother. He was a marine at the time and home on leave and I was playing a fifa save with them and when he was home he’d act as my assistant manager, we played that together all day for several days and it was just one of my favorite gaming memories. My brother is my best friend so when I think of Reading I think of the memories with him. So it exceeds football to me. Also I grew up in a town just outside Reading Pennsylvania so that’s how I initially found them
With news in recent weeks coming out, I think it would be a great part two video to make covering fan protests, asset stripping etc. great video and thank you for the coverage we need! Urz 💙
Great video, very informative, as a Reading fan, those 20 years not in league 1, I think we where punching above are weight, now I hope we can be more stable soon and hope we can get back to being competitive
As a Portsmouth fan, I'm sadly very familiar with poor ownership and a lack of guardrails by the FA and EFL. It would be nice if they could finally put systems in place to prevent poor owners from ruining storied clubs, but I've seen this story too much to think anything will actually change.
Good video, some additional information. Dai Yongge came in and a lot of our new transfers seemed to be done through Kia Joorabchian, who was a friend of the owner. Ron Gourlay was also in charge of a lot of the contracts, leading to Kia players being signed on massive contracts, it didn't matter if they fit the teams play style or not. Last year there was a twitter account about how Liam Moore was on more money than premier league starters.
Ron went from us to West Brom, and nearly put them into administration. Luckily they got rid of him early enough and are back to fighting for playoffs. Meanwhile Dai is verging on destroying the 3rd club he has owned, and there is little the EFL or Reading fans can do to stop it, especially after he has recently sabotaged all the potential sales of the club
Well done Zealand. Thank you for covering the story of the club that used to bring me so much joy but now it's disaster after disaster. This week fresh reports have claimed that we're nowhere near close to being sold and it is becoming clear that Dai simply doesn't care. They've had to fire multiple staff at the training ground just to cut costs and matchday experience has been scaled back massively. I really believe we're going to need saving within the next month otherwise the club is going to the wall. Very sad times to be a Reading fan!
Superbly researched and out together, thank you Zealand. I don't know when you finished making this video, but Dai isn't even looking to sell. He's hell bent on asset stripping the club till it dies. We just got our game vs Port Vale abandoned after invaded the pitch and stayed put. One day we'll get our club back, but we will fight every step to get rid of this slimy shit.
A Reading fan for 35yrs since I was 6. It’s saddening and sickening to see what is being done to the club. Thanks for taking the time to cast some light on it to a wider audience
Im a Manchester United fan, but i spent a huge part of my childhood and my early adult years living in Berkshire, so Reading FC has always held a special place in my heart. So, to see the club in such disarray saddens me. I hope that once they are rid of this deplorable ownership, Reading can turn things around.
Really good video, Zealand. Only point I’d make, as an Everton fan, is that our predicament is also due to the actions of our CURRENT owner, not “previous,” as no sale has been approved yet. Hopefully for us soon, too, though 777 scares me, too
I moved to Reading in 2016 for a year and saw all the hope and optimism of the lead up, and followed the fall since. Absolute shame for a club and fanbase that deserve more #sellbeforewedai
This is a worse version of the issue we (Derby) found ourselves in just a couple of years ago. We now have a stable sensible owner and are building back towards the Championship
Thank you for raising awareness on this topic! We are going through something no club should go through but we won’t go down without a fight. EFL are not fit for purpose
Match this afternoon against Port Vale abandoned due to fan protests, after the latest rock bottom of many rock bottoms in the last 24 hours with reports of asset stripping and our starting CB partnership being sold behind the manager and DOF backs. Not convinced this is the end of the saga with Reading FC but no matter what the fans aren't going to give up on this club no matter what happens.
As a stateside diehard fan of Reading, these last few years have been emotionally abusive. The passion for the club is felt by the fans, players and staff but never reciprocated by ownership, and not an ounce of care shown by the EFL as they continue to hand down point deductions and fines to a club who fights everyday to just make it to the next fixture. While our owner tries to strip the club of all its assets. Today we invaded the pitch against Port Vale and forced a match abandonment. I hope to not see this club die because of an ownership who cares just as little as the EFL do. Thank you Zealand for sharing about Reading football club. #sellbeforewedai
Thankyou for adding to the coverage of the clubs situation ❤ Other's have mentioned here too, but Kia Joorabchian would make a VERY interesting video. Links to such well run clubs as Reading, Everton & Portsmouth - as well as 3rd party player ownership including Tevez & Mascherano.
As someone who loves in portsmouth and considering their recent excellent start to the season you should make a video on portsmouth who also had a downwards slide due to poor ownership.
I think as a club we are finished. Dai Yongge has us where he wants us....he has our assets and wont sell. Administration is our best hope but who wants a debt ridden club with no stadium and no training ground and an expensive rent/lease that we will be charged.. It also means League 2 with a big infrastructure.....just dont see anyway out of this. We are staring liquidation in the face. Ive supported the club 59 years.....never in my wildest dreams was this ever going to happen. When Dai started spending fortunes on João and Puscas etc we knew it was ending badly. Blowing money has never been the Reading way..always been youth and cheap experience.
Fans stormed the pitch and got a game cancelled the other day. Even their opponents (port vale) were chanting “get out of their club”. Kinda tell you all you need to know really
It's important to share these stories to make it clear that things like Manchester City or Abramovich's Chelsea are exceptions, not the rule. Because some want to plant the idea that being privately owned can only bring success, when there are more examples of failures than of successes.
I always feel like i support a quiet little nothing club who go under the radar, overachieved once or twice by getting to the prem, expectedly coming back down, and then just being steadily run. That was always the way it was. Feels surreal to see youtubers who i have red bars under every video theyve ever done, half way across the world some of them, doing videos on my little club. Thanks for doing this
As a Swindon fan I truly feel for Reading. I can kind of relate as our owner is ass (albeit not as bad as Yongge) We may be bitter rivals but I absolutely hate seeing the death of a football club. It's so sad.
A few days ago a whistleblower told our protest group that Dai has been lying about wanting to sell and is actually just intending to asset strip us so he doesn't have to pay back his debts. Coaches at all levels including our assistant manager have been let go, and other staff made redundant. The most recent news is that our 2 starting CBs, both local lads, 2nd and 3rd choice captains are being sold (to Luton!) behind our manager and DOFs back to pay the bills.
It should also be noted that neither player wanted to leave.. Nelson Abbey even offered to stay for free, but Dai Yongge insisted on getting rid of him
thats what i thought ive been watching reading since 1973 ,i have never felt so sick about my club ,i know people were angry about the match being abandoned but this is what we had to do ,because he and the EFL have got to listen and accept part of this ,and get him out now ,no fines just get him out of football for good
As a Wigan fan who lives in Reading, I really feel for the team. Us Latics have had a rough go of it, but we seemed to be on the right path now (even if I've heard our old poss could be apart of a group to buy Reading now...). I really hope Reading can turn it around and get back to the best they can be.
The insane wage bill kind of sounds like one of these "i gave a club 100m $ in Football Manager" experiments where everyone thinks surely in real life you couldnt pay such wages and not be successful :D
The wages aren't just for the playing staff, it's all of the coaches, admin and matchday staff as well. Somehow a club the size of Reading employs around 250 people on a full or part time basis - from their accounts in 2023: Costs Staff category 2022 Number Players 39 Football management & coaching staff 74 Admin staff 60 Match day staff 53 Staff employed under training schemes 23 Total wage costs £25.3m
@@ZealandonYT I used to work there 😉 They just dropped an excellent article about Reading two days ago called 'Reading - the club with an absent owner and unable to break a cycle of financial crisis' hahaha
@@theomniscientidiot6667 Hell maybe there's a leak in our research team because I recorded this like 2 weeks ago lol I would say if there's a story to tell in the football world I hope I'll make a video on it, and the Athletic will probably write an article about it, the more the merrier
As a Derby fan I do hope they can somehow get control of the club before it completely diminishes. I understand how a terrible owner can do to your club and the pain of trying to get back top of the shit like afterwards. I don’t think people understand how much history this club has and that it doesn’t deserve to get the treatment it’s currently receiving. Hope you all get some positive news in the near future ✊
The EFL needed to change their rules on owners 20 years ago. How people like Yongge and Chansiri can be allowed to own football clubs with tens of thousands of supporters is ridiculous. If we don’t these owners out of the EFL we’re gonna start losing clubs.
A very sad story but unfortunately way too common. Look at Southend, Scunthorpe, Bolton and Bury as examples of when owners almost (and in Bury's case, actually did) bring clubs to ruin. The EFL Fit & Proper Persons test continues to fail clubs time and time again and change is desperately needed. Good luck to the Reading fans trying to save their club. From a QPR fan.
What's happening in European football is a microcosm of the West as a whole. They aren't clubs (countries) anymore with a history and supporters (a people), they are economic opportunities (zones) where everything is for sale and the only thing that matters is how much and how quickly you can profit or buy glory if you're one of those infinite money owners at the expense of anything else.
We have said it before but it needs repeating. There's something wrong with the Championship League. 75% of the clubs are underwater financially. I think they just don't make enough money to run the clubs efficiently. It's where dreams go to die.
The whole of football is reliant too heavily on a wealthy benefactor. Players are paid too much, debt is a constant for most clubs. Factor in overseas owners like Dai Yongge who can saddle a club with insurmountable debt and can walk away without any financial recourse. Football is in deep trouble financially and the Governing Bodies have little powers to stop this. The Fit and Proper Persons Test is a farce. He’s destroyed two Football Clubs already. Save Our Football Clubs from dying.
And yet, despite all their troubles, Reading are still ahead of my team, Carlisle. ☹ I hope this has a happy ending for all Reading fans, the last four or five years has seen a number of Football League clubs get into real trouble and fallen out of the EFL (Southend, Oldham & Scunthorpe to name a few) or gone in liquidation (Bury) and it would be terrible to see it happen to another club. All the best.
Z! Dai bought a property next to King Charles at Buckingham palace recently so getting money out of china isn’t the issue. Also look at the agent that advised all transfers for him, we were paying crazy wages for poor players hence the 234% wage over revenue. It’s a crazy rabbit hole and explains a lot, love your videos keep it up pal 👍
To be honest we are lucky to have football as it is , this has happened to nearly every football club relegated from the Premier league. There isn't really any profit in a football club , if you want to become a millionaire just be a billionaire and buy a football club. Have a rich owner who knows nothing about football and you have a problem. As a villa fan we almost went the same way , he couldn't get money out of China and we had a 4 million tax bill and were warned with a winding up order. We had 15 years of depression because of Lerner cutting spending , then relegated. We got lucky we had new owners , but who is to say it won't go wrong again , if they stop spending we couldn't afford the wages without champions league so it's back to selling and the inevitable decline. The worst thing that happened to football is also the thing that makes it rich and that's premier league money , if something happened to Sky then every club could be in trouble except the top 4 or 5. Every club outside of that are spending above their means to get to the prem , its not substantianable.
Thank you for highlighting the issues at our club. The owner is a crook & would rather fold the club than sell it. He’s slowly asset stripping us without a care for us fans.
You mentioned Man City's alleged malfeasance briefly but I'd love for you to do a longer video on that. IIRC, the Everton points deduction was for a *much less* serious set of rules violations and it feels to me like we're all just waiting for Man City to get relegated, dissolved by the FA, or fined so much that they'll have to sell. Or nothing will happen? What's happening there?
Great video, couple of things to add. A lot of the bad financial decisions made under Dai's tenure have been as a result of advice from super agent Kia Joorabchian. Some of the players Reading bought and they money they spent were ridiculous, and a lot of that was down to Kia. While it looked like a takeover was imminent a month or so ago, most of the recent rumours have indicated the original deal fell through and that Dai doesn't really intend to sell, preferring to asset-strip and take it to liquidation to avoid paying debts. We're also expecting our Cat 1 academy to be downgraded, making it incredibly hard to turn things around, and the catering company supplying players meals haven't been paid in 9 months so players are now reportedly being given microwave meals. There's also the fact that in December he decided to pay the players but not backroom staff, just before Christmas. Ultimately it's very hard to feel any kind of optimism as a Reading fan atm
ffs Kia again, as an Arsenal fan even we had some troubles cuz of him, can't imagine what kinda devastation he could be for a club like yours. Hope you guys stay up this season at least, the fans deserve better
I'm with Spartans in Scotland I had 2 back to back promotions, into the Scottish championships my last 2 seasons I've finished 2nd losing twice in the play offs, my 3rd season in the scottish championship I am bottom, I've not changed my tactics, in the game they are working well, more possession, more XG, more shots on goal than every team I play, but I constantly keep getting FMed!
our whole canteen chefs are gone players having microwavable meals and staff are putting extra clothing on to keep warm as we have issues with our heating, live fast dia young
Southampton FC also had the same problem under the ownership of Gao Jisheng regarding getting money out of China and into the club and hence he also dried up funding of the club and listed it for sale subsequently selling it off, although the club was in a much more stable position when he sold, with Southampton being in the Prem at the time and having a multitude of suitors willing to buy, whereas Dai does not have that liberty due to the clubs huge debt and lack of adherence to FFP. Overall, if you get Chinese investors in UK for football clubs, they're likely unable to financially support them, not due to a lack of wealth but rather because they have no means to inject the wealth into the club due to the strained relationship between China and the UK.
My club has been ripped apart and its heartbreaking to be honest. When you see the contrast of the way we rose to prominence in the late 90s through the naughties, it's crazy that we've ended up here. He's turning down offers for the club and deliberately making things difficult for suitors to buy. The latest thing coming out within the last day or so is his little crony dayong pang has essentially put the whole team or the best assests young players i.e Nelson Abbey & Tom Holmes up for sale behind Ruben selles and mark bowen (D.o.f)'s back. Its fucked. My club is dead and I'm honestly gutted about it. Thank you Zealand for bringing abit more attention to this cause the english press have been nothing but radio silent, and it's embarrassing. Keep up the content my man.
He also owned KSV Roeselare in Belgium. Relegated to the third tier and liquidated. Reading are in serious trouble
I didn’t add this to the video because I actually couldn’t confirm it, but I read rumors he was involved, scary stuff
@@ZealandonYT He was involved. He and his sister owned it. This is an owner who has history. The EFL need to disqualify him and force a sale.
@@Chartley1983sadly it’ll likely be too little too late with the chaos and problems they’re facing externally now, reading will be relegated to league 2 if they don’t get dissolved and with championship debts and league 2 incomes for a small club reading will die
A special report in the athletic by Philip Buckingham and others a couple of years ago stated his sister was the owner at the time they folded. They state, " Roeselare were owned by Dai Xiu Li, who bought the club in 2016"
good. english football wins too much💶, they gotta lose some too
Live fast, Dai Yongge.
Underrated comment
Some Dai Yongge
I would never want to Dai Yongge… 😢
I can't wrap my head around the fact Z didn't make this pun, it literally writes itself.
*drums*
As a Portsmouth fan I fully understand the Reading fans frustration from our own experience a few years ago
Look at your side now!
@@DBSG1976 yeah man we’re doing well now thankfully
@@rhyswilliams7113you have 3 fake sheikh ownership in just 60 days
same as a derby fan, hopefully we'll be up their with you by the end of the season!
@@brucewaynereal1 fingers crossed for you
I must add that Luton Town were a reverse Luton Town and are now a reverse reverse Luton Town.
Basically, in the early 1990s Luton Town were in the top flight (along with Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal etc) and got relegated. They then began a slow decline down the football league before ending up in the non-league. Then Luton started going up the leagues again and are now in the Premier League.
the ultimate yo-yo
@@owensiegel8386Norwich Complex
I’m a reading fan and the situation in the last week had gotten worse with a rumour coming out that the owner doesn’t actually want to sell and that instead he wants to asset strip the club
Part of this involves them selling a couple of players (one of whom has arguably been our best this season) to Luton, which is being done by ownership behind the back of our manager and DoF…
We’d be surprised if we made it to the end of the season #sellbeforewedai
Uh oh
Asset stripping would be selling the stadium or training ground, which he hasn't done as yet. He can't sell the stadium quickly because the supporters trust applied for it to be registered as an asset of community interest.
@@michaelfarrow5817He has. He sold the stadium and training ground to a company he set up and owns. Reading technically just own the players.
@@michaelfarrow5817about that training…
Lifetime Reading fan here, really well covered topic and I’m happy to see more videos coming out about our situation. From our CEO Dayong Pang to super agents like Kia Joorabchian, the club has been mismanaged in the most unbelievable way possible. I honestly think it’s easier to run a club well than to run a club this poorly.
We just got our game abandoned today with rumours of a January fire sale of our players circling around. I’m fine to be in League One or Two but what I’m not fine about is losing the club I’ve supported my whole life. Fingers crossed that good times are around the corner because we need a bit of hope more than ever 🔵⚪️
Never would have thought I would see one of my favourite content creators make a video about my club, it is just a shame it is happening around such a terrible subject.
Few extra things that are happening at the moment. Players are eating microwave meals after games as the catering staff have been sacked. We cannot afford accommodation for travelling to away games. Staff are wearing coats in the offices due to the working conditions being so cold. Rumours are beginning to start that he has no intention to sell before stripping our assets to avoid as much loss as he possibly can. No team, since Dai Yongge has taken ownership, have taken more points off of us than the deductions we have faced due to his mismanagement. He is our worst enemy.
Thanks Z, anyone who takes the time to highlight the situation is really appreciated right now.
I feel really bad for you guys, it's terrible to read. I can't imagine to have a big part of my life getting teared down, just because some rich guy from the other side of the world doesn't care enough to take care of it and only worries about his net worth. I'm Real Madrid fan for 14 years now (since I was 6) and I just can't imagine my club falling apart just because the most important person in the club isn't competent enough to take good care of it. I have no idea how bad you are feeling rn. I hope everything will end good for you guys and that some day fans around the world will be able to see your club play in Prem again.
As a Reading fan, I can't thank you enough for bringing this issue to light. 🔵⚪️
Thanks Zealand and great video to bring light to our situation as a Reading season ticket holder for over 10 years and its really sad too see my great club being ripped apart by one man who clearly has just given up. Something need to be done with ownership in this country, this should never happen to any club 😞
I’ve bee a Reading fan since I was a kid, they made me fall in love with football, it just hurts to see my club fall like this, and it seems as soon as I think we’ve hit rock bottom, we keep finding new lows. Really hoping someone buys us and we can just be stable, if course I’d love premier league, but I’d just be happy with stability.
Hi! Reading fan here! Great video, but I feel you left out a couple of important details. Dai has refused to sell unless it's for an extortionate fee, completely turning off other potential investors. Also, Renhe isn't the only club he's dissolved. Dutch second tier club Rosalare (not sure on my spelling) has also had the exact same story and has dissolved in the exact same way
It's exactly what we had at Birmingham. Chinese owners who ran the club into the ground and refused to even consider a sale. Eventually they ran into legal and financial trouble and that allowed our new owners to turn the screw on them and force a sale. Yours are clearly as bad at running a business as ours were so eventually, something will go wrong for them and the hope is that when that happens, someone clever comes along and aggressively forces their way in. It'll happen eventually but it'll never be because your current owners decide to sell the club.
It's crazy that this guy already ruined 3 clubs and is ruining another one. Maybe it's like hobby lmao
But seriously I wish you all the best, and hope that he'll be forced to sell Reading, just like the person before me has said
A couple of years ago, Danny Loader was about to sign for Wolves from Reading. He had passed his medical and was literally about to sign his Wolves contract when Dai Yongge on a whim decided he wasn't going to sell and called Loader back to Reading.
That transfer could've eventually risen to £9m. Loader left for FC Porto at the end of his contract the following summer, and Reading lost the player for absolutely nothing.
I worked at the club until recently, since I joined it’s been sad to see the spiral the club is on. Unfortunately like many others I decided enough was enough and left when pay became an issue, people inside the club go above and beyond on a daily basis and continue to do so despite the mess in ownership
A good friend of mine also left his job at the club after working there for more than a decade. He basically saw all this coming after the playoff final loss.
As a Reading fan I’m glad you’re highlighting the issues! It’s crazy how Dai was allowed to buy the club
I’ve been an American Reading fan since 2009 and every time someone finds out I’m a reading fan they looking at me all confused like “who’s reading?” Seeing my club suffer a slow and painful death has been heart breaking. I hate seeing this and I pray we can find our way out of this pit that we found ourselves in
What made you as an American decide to support reading asking out of curiosity
@@vin2676 when I was a kid I grew up in a city in Pennsylvania called Reading. So I found them in fifa and just decided “this is the club I’ll support”. I did what I could to follow them but following them outside of the premier league back then was extremely hard so I just had to look up their scores online for a few years. Then they made it into the premier league and that same year I did another fifa save with them and it was so cool to finally be able to see the team I support be the one I can watch on tv. Well also that year my brother was in the marines at this point and he’d be my “assistant manager” in the save and we spent hours when he was home on leave playing that save, finding players, and just taking turns on and off playing that save. He was able to watch the matches with me too and it was a great bonding experience for us and to this day the most fun I’ve ever had playing fifa. Pair those things all together and Reading is much more than a club to me because it goes way past football to me, it’s a way that I connect with my brother
respect to you brother
Kinda unique and so shocking to see an American support a team known to have little history.
@@vin2676 kind of a long story but it was because of FIFA and my brother. He was a marine at the time and home on leave and I was playing a fifa save with them and when he was home he’d act as my assistant manager, we played that together all day for several days and it was just one of my favorite gaming memories. My brother is my best friend so when I think of Reading I think of the memories with him. So it exceeds football to me. Also I grew up in a town just outside Reading Pennsylvania so that’s how I initially found them
With news in recent weeks coming out, I think it would be a great part two video to make covering fan protests, asset stripping etc. great video and thank you for the coverage we need! Urz 💙
Great video, very informative, as a Reading fan, those 20 years not in league 1, I think we where punching above are weight, now I hope we can be more stable soon and hope we can get back to being competitive
As a Portsmouth fan, I'm sadly very familiar with poor ownership and a lack of guardrails by the FA and EFL. It would be nice if they could finally put systems in place to prevent poor owners from ruining storied clubs, but I've seen this story too much to think anything will actually change.
Good video, some additional information.
Dai Yongge came in and a lot of our new transfers seemed to be done through Kia Joorabchian, who was a friend of the owner. Ron Gourlay was also in charge of a lot of the contracts, leading to Kia players being signed on massive contracts, it didn't matter if they fit the teams play style or not. Last year there was a twitter account about how Liam Moore was on more money than premier league starters.
Ron went from us to West Brom, and nearly put them into administration. Luckily they got rid of him early enough and are back to fighting for playoffs.
Meanwhile Dai is verging on destroying the 3rd club he has owned, and there is little the EFL or Reading fans can do to stop it, especially after he has recently sabotaged all the potential sales of the club
Well done Zealand. Thank you for covering the story of the club that used to bring me so much joy but now it's disaster after disaster.
This week fresh reports have claimed that we're nowhere near close to being sold and it is becoming clear that Dai simply doesn't care. They've had to fire multiple staff at the training ground just to cut costs and matchday experience has been scaled back massively.
I really believe we're going to need saving within the next month otherwise the club is going to the wall. Very sad times to be a Reading fan!
As a Luton fan, this is an immense compliment, and I thank you very much for it XD
Superbly researched and out together, thank you Zealand. I don't know when you finished making this video, but Dai isn't even looking to sell. He's hell bent on asset stripping the club till it dies.
We just got our game vs Port Vale abandoned after invaded the pitch and stayed put. One day we'll get our club back, but we will fight every step to get rid of this slimy shit.
From Reading, a Reading FC supporter, and a Zealand sub.
Thank you for covering it!
Nailed the timing on this one given what has just happened!
Reading fans have STORMED THE FIELD at their game today. Great timing
A Reading fan for 35yrs since I was 6. It’s saddening and sickening to see what is being done to the club. Thanks for taking the time to cast some light on it to a wider audience
Im a Manchester United fan, but i spent a huge part of my childhood and my early adult years living in Berkshire, so Reading FC has always held a special place in my heart. So, to see the club in such disarray saddens me. I hope that once they are rid of this deplorable ownership, Reading can turn things around.
Really good video, Zealand. Only point I’d make, as an Everton fan, is that our predicament is also due to the actions of our CURRENT owner, not “previous,” as no sale has been approved yet. Hopefully for us soon, too, though 777 scares me, too
I moved to Reading in 2016 for a year and saw all the hope and optimism of the lead up, and followed the fall since. Absolute shame for a club and fanbase that deserve more #sellbeforewedai
Just discovered this channel. Brilliantly researched and presented
Well done for covering this Zealand, absolutely awful what that owner is doing to that club and needs more coverage in general.
love how you read his name as Die Young (while practically it should be Tye Yonger or rather like that)
Crazy timing the fans have just protested the owners by storming the pitch vs port vale
Zealand you’ve gotta do a whole series on this, have a look at Wigans story, it’s ludicrous.
This is a worse version of the issue we (Derby) found ourselves in just a couple of years ago. We now have a stable sensible owner and are building back towards the Championship
Just found this video mate I honestly can’t see anyway out of this for us being a fan for 22 years im gutted the way we’re being run at the moment
I really like when you do these videos, keep them coming.
Proud to be the face of a disgruntled Reading fan! Curious to know where you got that cover image from? I didn’t even know it existed
Thank you for raising awareness on this topic! We are going through something no club should go through but we won’t go down without a fight. EFL are not fit for purpose
Match this afternoon against Port Vale abandoned due to fan protests, after the latest rock bottom of many rock bottoms in the last 24 hours with reports of asset stripping and our starting CB partnership being sold behind the manager and DOF backs.
Not convinced this is the end of the saga with Reading FC but no matter what the fans aren't going to give up on this club no matter what happens.
No we're not. Reading till I die.
Love your Scotland shirt mate!
As a stateside diehard fan of Reading, these last few years have been emotionally abusive. The passion for the club is felt by the fans, players and staff but never reciprocated by ownership, and not an ounce of care shown by the EFL as they continue to hand down point deductions and fines to a club who fights everyday to just make it to the next fixture. While our owner tries to strip the club of all its assets. Today we invaded the pitch against Port Vale and forced a match abandonment. I hope to not see this club die because of an ownership who cares just as little as the EFL do. Thank you Zealand for sharing about Reading football club. #sellbeforewedai
Thankyou for adding to the coverage of the clubs situation ❤ Other's have mentioned here too, but Kia Joorabchian would make a VERY interesting video. Links to such well run clubs as Reading, Everton & Portsmouth - as well as 3rd party player ownership including Tevez & Mascherano.
Especially given his massive investment in British horseracing over the last few years...
And Arsenal in the post-Wenger era
A cancer at the club
As someone who loves in portsmouth and considering their recent excellent start to the season you should make a video on portsmouth who also had a downwards slide due to poor ownership.
Fantastic video Zealand, More of these videos!!!
Perfect timing Z!
Good video, thanks. Note that at 8:31 and a few other spots you show transfer values in Euros, but verbally say Dollars.
As a Reading fan i appreciate this Zealand. We need awareness 👍🏻
I think as a club we are finished. Dai Yongge has us where he wants us....he has our assets and wont sell. Administration is our best hope but who wants a debt ridden club with no stadium and no training ground and an expensive rent/lease that we will be charged.. It also means League 2 with a big infrastructure.....just dont see anyway out of this. We are staring liquidation in the face. Ive supported the club 59 years.....never in my wildest dreams was this ever going to happen. When Dai started spending fortunes on João and Puscas etc we knew it was ending badly. Blowing money has never been the Reading way..always been youth and cheap experience.
Damn scrolling at 11:00 pm (NZT) and I get this vid within 10 minutes of upload, Also another great video. Keep up the great work
Fr, 9:00pm in Melbourne rn
It's 3 pm in Pakistan 😭💀
Haha 11 AM in central Europe
It’s 10am in the uk 🇬🇧
1pm in saudi
Fans stormed the pitch and got a game cancelled the other day. Even their opponents (port vale) were chanting “get out of their club”. Kinda tell you all you need to know really
Perfect timing. Todays game was abandoned due to fans refusing to leave the pitch.
If the club isn't sold it won't exist soon.
Well done on covering this subject Zealand!
It's important to share these stories to make it clear that things like Manchester City or Abramovich's Chelsea are exceptions, not the rule. Because some want to plant the idea that being privately owned can only bring success, when there are more examples of failures than of successes.
Reading are like us in the past. I hope they can get the club sorted with proper owners like ours and can get themselves back on track
I always feel like i support a quiet little nothing club who go under the radar, overachieved once or twice by getting to the prem, expectedly coming back down, and then just being steadily run. That was always the way it was. Feels surreal to see youtubers who i have red bars under every video theyve ever done, half way across the world some of them, doing videos on my little club. Thanks for doing this
As a Swindon fan I truly feel for Reading. I can kind of relate as our owner is ass (albeit not as bad as Yongge) We may be bitter rivals but I absolutely hate seeing the death of a football club. It's so sad.
A few days ago a whistleblower told our protest group that Dai has been lying about wanting to sell and is actually just intending to asset strip us so he doesn't have to pay back his debts.
Coaches at all levels including our assistant manager have been let go, and other staff made redundant.
The most recent news is that our 2 starting CBs, both local lads, 2nd and 3rd choice captains are being sold (to Luton!) behind our manager and DOFs back to pay the bills.
It should also be noted that neither player wanted to leave.. Nelson Abbey even offered to stay for free, but Dai Yongge insisted on getting rid of him
thats what i thought ive been watching reading since 1973 ,i have never felt so sick about my club ,i know people were angry about the match being abandoned but this is what we had to do ,because he and the EFL have got to listen and accept part of this ,and get him out now ,no fines just get him out of football for good
As a Wigan fan who lives in Reading, I really feel for the team. Us Latics have had a rough go of it, but we seemed to be on the right path now (even if I've heard our old poss could be apart of a group to buy Reading now...). I really hope Reading can turn it around and get back to the best they can be.
The insane wage bill kind of sounds like one of these "i gave a club 100m $ in Football Manager" experiments where everyone thinks surely in real life you couldnt pay such wages and not be successful :D
The wages aren't just for the playing staff, it's all of the coaches, admin and matchday staff as well. Somehow a club the size of Reading employs around 250 people on a full or part time basis - from their accounts in 2023:
Costs
Staff category 2022
Number
Players 39
Football management & coaching staff 74
Admin staff 60
Match day staff 53
Staff employed under training schemes 23
Total wage costs £25.3m
Remember's me the story of Joinville here in Brazil which in 2015 where in the top flight to now play regional divisions
always surprises me that english football fans never seem to want to question the wisdom of private ownership of football clubs in general
And hours after this their fans protest and invade the pitch at a home game. Just shows how badly wrong things have gone at Reading.
hey Zealand from New Zealand
About Huddersfield, they were one of the giants of the English game up until WW2, three consecutive league titles in the 30s.
You really make the most of your Athletic subscription
Love those people, but this is hilarious because it’s one of the few videos where they aren’t a source for a part of it
@@ZealandonYT I used to work there 😉 They just dropped an excellent article about Reading two days ago called 'Reading - the club with an absent owner and unable to break a cycle of financial crisis' hahaha
@@theomniscientidiot6667 Hell maybe there's a leak in our research team because I recorded this like 2 weeks ago lol
I would say if there's a story to tell in the football world I hope I'll make a video on it, and the Athletic will probably write an article about it, the more the merrier
As a Derby fan I do hope they can somehow get control of the club before it completely diminishes. I understand how a terrible owner can do to your club and the pain of trying to get back top of the shit like afterwards. I don’t think people understand how much history this club has and that it doesn’t deserve to get the treatment it’s currently receiving. Hope you all get some positive news in the near future ✊
The EFL needed to change their rules on owners 20 years ago. How people like Yongge and Chansiri can be allowed to own football clubs with tens of thousands of supporters is ridiculous. If we don’t these owners out of the EFL we’re gonna start losing clubs.
Sure feels a long time since that 1988 Simod Cup Final 🏆
A very sad story but unfortunately way too common. Look at Southend, Scunthorpe, Bolton and Bury as examples of when owners almost (and in Bury's case, actually did) bring clubs to ruin. The EFL Fit & Proper Persons test continues to fail clubs time and time again and change is desperately needed. Good luck to the Reading fans trying to save their club.
From a QPR fan.
my dads side of the family are from reading and its actually sad what is happening to the club
What's happening in European football is a microcosm of the West as a whole. They aren't clubs (countries) anymore with a history and supporters (a people), they are economic opportunities (zones) where everything is for sale and the only thing that matters is how much and how quickly you can profit or buy glory if you're one of those infinite money owners at the expense of anything else.
We have said it before but it needs repeating. There's something wrong with the Championship League. 75% of the clubs are underwater financially. I think they just don't make enough money to run the clubs efficiently. It's where dreams go to die.
Parachute payments make it virtually impossible to compete with recently relegated teams, and honestly FFP does more harm than good for that
The whole of football is reliant too heavily on a wealthy benefactor. Players are paid too much, debt is a constant for most clubs. Factor in overseas owners like Dai Yongge who can saddle a club with insurmountable debt and can walk away without any financial recourse. Football is in deep trouble financially and the Governing Bodies have little powers to stop this. The Fit and Proper Persons Test is a farce. He’s destroyed two Football Clubs already. Save Our Football Clubs from dying.
As a Reading fan, I grieve for my hometown club. Spent more time watching my local team in the last few years - Taunton Town.
I told my wife to login to her RUclips and like this video just for the Scotland top. Love it.
and they just invaded the pitch lmao
And yet, despite all their troubles, Reading are still ahead of my team, Carlisle. ☹
I hope this has a happy ending for all Reading fans, the last four or five years has seen a number of Football League clubs get into real trouble and fallen out of the EFL (Southend, Oldham & Scunthorpe to name a few) or gone in liquidation (Bury) and it would be terrible to see it happen to another club. All the best.
Z! Dai bought a property next to King Charles at Buckingham palace recently so getting money out of china isn’t the issue. Also look at the agent that advised all transfers for him, we were paying crazy wages for poor players hence the 234% wage over revenue. It’s a crazy rabbit hole and explains a lot, love your videos keep it up pal 👍
Try Vitesse next. Interesting story as well about to burst. Much love.
I'm glad to hear my mate Professor Simon Chadwick get a mention
To be honest we are lucky to have football as it is , this has happened to nearly every football club relegated from the Premier league.
There isn't really any profit in a football club , if you want to become a millionaire just be a billionaire and buy a football club.
Have a rich owner who knows nothing about football and you have a problem.
As a villa fan we almost went the same way , he couldn't get money out of China and we had a 4 million tax bill and were warned with a winding up order.
We had 15 years of depression because of Lerner cutting spending , then relegated.
We got lucky we had new owners , but who is to say it won't go wrong again , if they stop spending we couldn't afford the wages without champions league so it's back to selling and the inevitable decline.
The worst thing that happened to football is also the thing that makes it rich and that's premier league money , if something happened to Sky then every club could be in trouble except the top 4 or 5.
Every club outside of that are spending above their means to get to the prem , its not substantianable.
Quite apt that this came out today tiven what happened literaly this afternoon.
As a chelsea fan (and Reading fan), i don't think i can take the pain anymore
What a day to put this video out lol
Thank you for highlighting the issues at our club. The owner is a crook & would rather fold the club than sell it. He’s slowly asset stripping us without a care for us fans.
You mentioned Man City's alleged malfeasance briefly but I'd love for you to do a longer video on that. IIRC, the Everton points deduction was for a *much less* serious set of rules violations and it feels to me like we're all just waiting for Man City to get relegated, dissolved by the FA, or fined so much that they'll have to sell. Or nothing will happen? What's happening there?
hi zealand, not to sound like a know it all but i’m fairly sure the £9m fee for olise was a release clause rather than bad negotiation in the transfer
Great video, couple of things to add.
A lot of the bad financial decisions made under Dai's tenure have been as a result of advice from super agent Kia Joorabchian. Some of the players Reading bought and they money they spent were ridiculous, and a lot of that was down to Kia.
While it looked like a takeover was imminent a month or so ago, most of the recent rumours have indicated the original deal fell through and that Dai doesn't really intend to sell, preferring to asset-strip and take it to liquidation to avoid paying debts.
We're also expecting our Cat 1 academy to be downgraded, making it incredibly hard to turn things around, and the catering company supplying players meals haven't been paid in 9 months so players are now reportedly being given microwave meals.
There's also the fact that in December he decided to pay the players but not backroom staff, just before Christmas.
Ultimately it's very hard to feel any kind of optimism as a Reading fan atm
ffs Kia again, as an Arsenal fan even we had some troubles cuz of him, can't imagine what kinda devastation he could be for a club like yours. Hope you guys stay up this season at least, the fans deserve better
The crossover I never expected as a Reading fan! Cheers Zealand
I'm with Spartans in Scotland I had 2 back to back promotions, into the Scottish championships my last 2 seasons I've finished 2nd losing twice in the play offs, my 3rd season in the scottish championship I am bottom, I've not changed my tactics, in the game they are working well, more possession, more XG, more shots on goal than every team I play, but I constantly keep getting FMed!
As a reading fan can confirm it sucks
our whole canteen chefs are gone players having microwavable meals and staff are putting extra clothing on to keep warm as we have issues with our heating, live fast dia young
Southampton FC also had the same problem under the ownership of Gao Jisheng regarding getting money out of China and into the club and hence he also dried up funding of the club and listed it for sale subsequently selling it off, although the club was in a much more stable position when he sold, with Southampton being in the Prem at the time and having a multitude of suitors willing to buy, whereas Dai does not have that liberty due to the clubs huge debt and lack of adherence to FFP. Overall, if you get Chinese investors in UK for football clubs, they're likely unable to financially support them, not due to a lack of wealth but rather because they have no means to inject the wealth into the club due to the strained relationship between China and the UK.
8:49 Whoa Greg Halford from Hashtag!
My club has been ripped apart and its heartbreaking to be honest. When you see the contrast of the way we rose to prominence in the late 90s through the naughties, it's crazy that we've ended up here. He's turning down offers for the club and deliberately making things difficult for suitors to buy. The latest thing coming out within the last day or so is his little crony dayong pang has essentially put the whole team or the best assests young players i.e Nelson Abbey & Tom Holmes up for sale behind Ruben selles and mark bowen (D.o.f)'s back. Its fucked. My club is dead and I'm honestly gutted about it. Thank you Zealand for bringing abit more attention to this cause the english press have been nothing but radio silent, and it's embarrassing. Keep up the content my man.
These are your best videos
Its not about spending, it's about finding quality players for your level
W Zealand for spreading awareness
That scotland top looks gorgeous on you senor Zealand
The way Zealand pronounces it, it sounds like the name of the owner is Die Young