Reading’s poor financial situation led to staff rejecting training plans to avoid paying for ground heating as the crisis saw the club try to cut costs. The League One side, owned by Chinese businessman Dai Yongge, has implemented a series of drastic cost-cutting measures, including the sacking of 19 people, and owes suppliers nearly £4 million.
Staff and former employees talk about “fighting fires” every day as the club struggles with a series of off-field issues. The English Football League called for Dai to fund or sell the club after he showed a “blatant disregard” of his duties.
Relating to: Football League read to owner Dai Yongge: Pay off or sell
Reading training took place on a heated underfloor training pitch on Thursday and an under-21 match was played at the ground on Monday, although first-team staff were encouraged to minimize use. There have been occasions in recent weeks where manager Rubén Sellés has been asked to adjust training schedules or use the gym to save on the cost of underfloor heating, which is turned on before sessions and turned off immediately after. The A team can also train on other fields, but recent freezing temperatures have caused them to train later after these fields melted.
It was stated that payments for ground heating are automatically received at the time of use and it has been general practice for some time to activate this system only when necessary. They accepted that the club’s financial difficulties meant it was imperative that they were savvy about how much to use it.
Despite the frigid conditions, staff at the club’s impressive £50m Bearwood training base, opened by Dai in 2019, were at times wearing coats and jackets inside the main team building as the heating upstairs was not working. The club said the maintenance issue had not been resolved but some staff believe the lack of heating was done to keep costs down. The club made 19 redundancies in the new year, including assistant manager Andrew Sparkes and head of player development Eddie Niedzwiecki. At risk of losing its first-team status, most academy roles have been lost and the jobs of more first-team squad members appear to be at risk. The club insisted no other roles were at risk.
Some suppliers have run out of patience. StatsPerform, the data company that provided the Opta data, froze its account at the club and another caterer, Levy, also withdrew from the training ground but remained at the stadium. As a result, medical staff is providing meals for the players. Dai took control of the club alongside his sister Dai Xiu Li in 2017 during the Championship play-off final victory before promotion to the Premier League, and is thought to have invested more than £250 million to reach the top flight. Now the club is taking desperate measures to “save a penny”, as one insider put it.
Post-match food provided during last Sunday’s Reading Women’s FA Cup tie with Wolves at Aldershot led to illnesses among players from both teams, forcing Wolves to postpone their match against West Brom as part of their squad was affected.
In November the EFL pushed for Dai to be disqualified as owner following a financial breach but an independent panel felt such action would not solve Reading’s problems. Instead the commission fined him £20,000 for failing to comply with the EFL’s financial demands for 125% of his monthly wage bill to be deposited into a holding account. After he once again failed to meet these demands, a suspended £50,000 fine was imposed last Friday. Dai is not thought to have paid any of the charges. 16 points have been deducted from the readings since November 2021 due to financial violations, including late payment of salaries. The club has spent most of the last two years under a transfer embargo due to failure to pay HMRC on time.
Under-fire chief executive Dayong Pang has confirmed the sale of defenders Tom Holmes and Nelson Abbey both to Luton (it is not yet known whether the latter will join) and other players such as Tyler Bindon and Charlie Savage. , can follow. Savage is stuck with 14 league starts because if he makes one more it will trigger a £2,000-a-month pay rise. Before Christmas, the club terminated the contract of Ovie Ejaria, who signed a lucrative four-year contract after arriving from Liverpool in 2020, saving the club around £200,000.
There are understood to be three or four parties with non-disclosure agreements interested in buying Reading, but there are concerns within the club that prospective buyers could “run a mile” due to the bleak financial picture. Reading, who visit Wigan on Saturday, sit 21st in League One and are at risk of consecutive relegations. Overnight stays have been largely canceled but Reading will have one on Friday. “We can’t move forward as a club unless we get new owners,” one staff member said.
This weekend the Football Supporters’ Association is encouraging clubs to show solidarity with Reading fans by taking out a minute’s applause in the 16th minute when Reading fans invaded the pitch against Port Vale last Saturday, causing the match to be abandoned. Reading’s direct rivals Exeter City are also among those who have committed. Reading could face a suspended points deduction as a sanction for the invasion, as Blackpool did in 2015 in protest against their then owners.
In fact, having accepted that Dai is unfit to manage the club, the EFL is relatively powerless to oust him. On Wednesday the EFL board debated whether the league should have a golden share of all 72 clubs but chief executive Rick Parry admitted it would create a “right hornet’s nest”. “Actually, we can’t force the sale, we can’t seize the shares, [because] It’s corporate law,” said Parry. “We’re close to taking over the club.” [EFL’s] Unfortunately, the powers are limited.”
Reading released a statement on Wednesday saying “Mr Dai has agreed to sell the club at the earliest opportunity.” The club’s former chief executive, Nigel Howe, is overseeing the process and said Dai had sought help from lawyers to help liquidate the club.