🗣️ "What we can NOT have is another Bury, we should've learnt our lessons from that."
Jobi McAnuff shares his perspective on the ongoing situation at Reading FC.
So the EFL are going to potentially kick us out of the league for having a shit owner that they approved in the first place. Make it make sense! #FuckTheEFL#readingfc
Aug 2016; Dai Yongge fails the Premier League’s owners tests for Hull
May 2017: Dai Yongge passes the EFL’s owners tests to buy Reading
Mar 2025: The EFL disqualify Dai Yongge as an owner - Reading could be days away from disqualification from the EFL
Betrayed by the @EFL 🖕
Putting football tribalism aside, all genuine football fans can agree that a 154 year-old club / community asset CANNOT be killed-off by owners who have already murdered 2 other clubs in Belgium & China.
Without political pressure we’re done.
🙏🏼 share & sign ASAP💙
#ReadingFC
"Just had a text message from my big Reading supporter friend."
"...WORLDIE."
Watch Lewis Wing's superb strike against Crawley and Soccer Saturday's reaction to the goal 👀🔥
Dispiriting events at Reading should concern everyone in English football. Fans are lied to, players and an impressive manager are let down, and so are staff. A thoughtless, heartless owner damages a historic club. It’s another warning to all in football. If we tolerate this, then your club could be next.
Fans at some other clubs fear similar pain or just feel relief to have escaped danger. Many will simply focus on their own form and fortunes. Football’s tribal. Most headlines revolve around the big names, the big games like Manchester City versus Arsenal. But Reading embody the pyramid, a local beacon and hub for nurturing talent. Neil Webb started there. The windfall from the Michael Olise deal helps sustain the club currently. Ted Drake learned his managerial trade at Reading before guiding Chelsea to their first title.
Football clubs are community assets and have to be protected from individuals like Dai Yongge wreaking such misery at Reading. He has his motives and his methods but none seem aligned to the club’s future wellbeing. He doesn’t communicate with fans. Reading FC Women withdrew from the Championship because of financial difficulties. Sustained mismanagement of the club has seen a failure to pay men’s players and HMRC lead to points deductions.
A proposed takeover by Rob Couhig, an American businessman welcomed by the fanbase, collapsed, leaving Yongge still in charge and supporters still in torment and again asking questions. Does Yongge really want to sell? If the club goes under is it then all about valuable real estate? Would administration and another points deduction actually be better than this shambles?
And so Reading fans rally again, fighting for their club’s life. But Yongge doesn’t listen. He doesn’t appear to care about the negativity his ownership brings to the door of the dressing-room. Ruben Selles and his whole-hearted squad give everything they can on the field, and sit a defiant 12th in League One, but they aren’t detached from the mess. It must be dismaying and distracting.
Losing Selles would be a disaster. He’s doing a good job in trying circumstances. If he left, Selles would be picked up swiftly by a better run club. Reading fans post messages of support to Selles and his squad. They will back them loudly at Bolton Wanderers today. It’s about finding the balance between demonstrating support for the team while demonstrating against the owner.
Much is right about Reading: committed fanbase, stadium, training ground, the attitude of manager, squad and club staff. It’s just the owner. It’s a nightmare that Reading are living through. And it’s a cautionary tale all football needs to heed. #ReadingFC #EFL
Todd, Todd, jr, Amy, Missy, and I are excited to watch @ReadingFC @LaticsOfficial Saturday. Weather and football should be great. We hope it’s the start of a great relationship with the town, fc, and supporters. Up The Ding! @ToddTrosclair
🚨No rest for the wicked- not even on holiday. I am told the deal is agreed and the 'final stage' is expected to be completed by Friday. Announcement due early next week. Couhig currently working at B'wood and will be at the game on Saturday https://t.co/mlFE95eskq #readingfc