Royals Fined By Football League

The financial goings-on of the last couple of seasons have come back to bite Reading, with the Football League handing the Berkshire club a £30,000 fine for misconduct. The source of the problem is a loan that Reading took from Vibrac, a company whose involvement with the Royals was reportedly the subject of some scrutiny last June. That loan totalled roughly £10m, but counts as a breach of the rules as Vibrac are involved financially with three other teams.

Reading fined £30,000 by @football_league for taking loan from Vibrac, offshore entity with "interests" in three Premier League clubs

— Paul Kelso (@pkelso) March 30, 2015

That said, it's not all bad news - our new Thai owners repaid the entirety of that loan from Vibrac when they arrived last year. Plus, due to Reading's cooperation with the Football League, payment for the fine has been delayed until May 2016. However, that does not apply to legal fees. You can read the full official statement from the Football League here.

All in all, this news is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's very clear just how deep the ramifications of the previous ownership are. On the other, the club does seem to be dealing with problems such as these pretty effectively: the loan from Vibrac has already been repaid, and it's encouraging that our cooperation with the authorities has been noted.

Reading have been fined £30,000 by the Football League for taking a £10m loan from Vibrac. #readingfc

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 30, 2015

The £30k fine is supsended until May 2016 so #readingfc shouldn't have to pay it. They will have to cover the £39k legal costs though.

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 30, 2015

So all in all #readingfc borrowed £16,085,000m from Vibrac and had to pay back £17,884,198m due to interest.

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 30, 2015