Highest Ever Score For Owners In Approval Rating

Reading owners Dai Yongge and Xiu Li Hawken will be happy - you’ve given them the highest approval rating we’ve ever seen since we started running this poll. The previous highest score we’d seen in this poll was 3.76/5 - for the Thais when the Royals were riding high under Steve Clarke in October 2015 - but June 2019’s ranking has come in at 3.83/5.

Just over half of you gave the Dais 4/5 (52.2%), with the bulk of the rest of the votes being either 5/5 (21.3%) or 3/5 (17.8%). As for the rest, 5.7% went for 2/5 and 3% for 1/5.

That’s not bad going considering how bad Reading’s two full seasons under the Dais have been, with the Royals having their two lowest league finishes since promotion to the second tier in 2002. Nonetheless, the improved score for the owners (they got 3.3/5 in February) reflects how much healthier and more positive the club has felt in recent months.

Although Jose Gomes and Nigel Howe have been given the most credit for that upturn, the owners have played their part. After all, they’re the ones who made those two appointments in late 2018 and made their jobs easier with financial backing in January.

Nonetheless, there’s still room for improvement. Although we’ve had some communication from the owners in recent times, such as Xiu Li Hawken’s address to the fans in November 2018 shortly after Ron Gourlay’s departure, getting more would still be great. We’re at a crucial period in our history right now, and hearing the owners’ intentions and plans from them - not just Nigel Howe - would go down really well.

We’ll run this poll again at the end of the summer transfer window to see how popular the owners are at that point. Their score then will of course depend on how good Reading’s recruitment has been and whether or not the club has been able to tie down key players to new contracts - such as Danny Loader.

Historical owner approval ratings