Reading FC Takeover Saga Rumbles On

We're all pretty fed up of this takeover malarkey right?

In case you've been away for a while (and in which case lucky you) you're no doubt aware that Reading FC have been the subject of a takeover bid for the club from a Chinese group of investors, led by Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Lu. This interest was reported way back at the end of November, where talks were already at an 'advanced stage'.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the two prospective owners were sitting down to meet with the Football League amid hopes that the sale could be wrapped up before Christmas.

Then, things hit a snag.

In a nutshell, the pair's involvement in a failed bid to takeover Premier League Hull City seemed to have rung some alarm bells, either within the EFL, or the Premier League depending on who you want to believe.

This seemed to create a bit of a stand off, with neither party wanting to discuss either what the hold up was, or what the solution might be.

So things dragged on, until late last night when the Daily Mail published a story claiming that the deal was on the verge of collapse due to the league not being happy with our prospective new owners.

Step forward Anthony Smith, the Reading Chronicle's man for all things Reading FC, who spoke to both the league and the club.

The response?

You guessed it. No comment.... Well kind of.

Reading certainly aren't saying anything, but the EFL did tell Smith “The EFL are unable to comment on this matter. This is a club issue now and only they can comment.” Smith also cleared up a rumour about a Barnsley Director being involved in the whole process, saying those reports were false.

The bottom line here folks is that we still don't know what's going on. What we do know is that the finances don't look very pretty right now, but yet at the same time, we've just spent what could be a club record fee on a defender. Where's that money coming from? Again, we don't know and when asked by the BBC even Jaap Stam wasn't sure where it's coming from.

We'll of course keep you up to date with any developments as and when we get them here at TTE.