Although Yongge’s arrival in 2017—shortly before the Royals were scheduled to play Huddersfield Town in the Championship play-off final at Wembley—might have signalled the beginning of something special, there have been a string of issues in recent years.
The Chinese businessman’s excessive spending during his early years at the Berkshire club has finally caught up with him. The club lost too many points over the course of three years, and in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 Championship seasons, they were docked points for violating the EFL’s rules regarding profit and sustainability.
Since then, Reading has been relegated to League One and is currently struggling in the third division under new head coach Ruben Selles. However, this hasn’t helped—they have additional points deducted and another mountain to climb as a result of unpaid and late wages and unpaid tax bills to HMRC.
There may be some movement in the coming weeks, as the Sell Before We Dai movement, which has been advocating for a takeover for some time, has staged several protests during games this season.
Yongge will return to England to decide which, if any, of the four offers for the club are acceptable, according to a report published by James Earnshaw of the Reading Chronicle last week.
Exclusivity was supposed to be announced at the beginning of this week, but that did not happen. Takeovers can be difficult to resolve, but as Derby County and Birmingham City have recently shown, you can survive difficult situations and emerge stronger on the other side.
The circumstances in Derby County and Birmingham City that can give Reading
Naturally, local businessman Mel Morris funded Derby for a number of years. However, when his spending exceeded Financial Fair Play, the club suffered unheard-of financial losses, and in September 2021 administrators were appointed.
Following nine months in administration, David Clowes, a local businessman and devoted Derby supporter, eventually became the club’s buyer. A week after purchasing Pride Park, he went on to save Derby.
The Rams were still subject to a transfer embargo for an additional year, but Clowes was able to get the team out of it, and now they are back to business as usual—an incredible turnaround for such a large organisation.
In the meantime, American hedge fund manager Tom Wagner acquired Birmingham this past summer. Wagner has made all the right noises, made investments in the team, and is renovating St. Andrew’s.
Given that Wagner’s group is already in charge of the football department, it will not be long before Birmingham Sports Holdings, the club’s Far Eastern owners, relinquishes its majority stake in the business.
Given that Wagner’s group is already in charge of the football department, it will not be long before Birmingham Sports Holdings, the club’s Far Eastern owners, relinquishes its majority stake in the business.
However, there had been complaints for years about how the club was managed by BSH, which resulted in point deductions for violations of sustainability and profit.
Wagner and Clowes merely demonstrate that the ideal party is possible for Reading as well, but who might that be?
When it comes to interest in the Royals, very few names are in the public domain. Ken Anderson, the former chairman of the Bolton Wanderers, and Talal Al-Hammad, the former chairman of Wigan Athletic and a partner in Genevra Associates, a Luxembourg-based hedge fund, are two of the more dubious ones.
Though Newcastle United supporters may laugh at that assessment, Mike Ashley is undoubtedly the most credible businessman who is interested. He is undoubtedly a cunning operator, even though he is still unpopular at the Magpies.
Perhaps during his tenure at Newcastle, there wasn’t as much investment made in the team, but Reading needs a man who can make ends meet, turn the team into a business for a while, and then, hopefully, lead them back to the Championship.
Although he may not be to everyone’s taste, Ashley seems to be Reading’s best chance at staging a revival at the moment.
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