There have been so many twists and turns in the past year, but we finally have some positive news.
A takeover isn't done yet and we can't afford to get carried away, but this optimism is needed and hopefully, we are just a matter of days or weeks away from a takeover now.
With pre-season now underway, a takeover is needed as quickly as possible, so let's just hope Rob Couhig is in the building as quickly as possible to kickstart our summer.
Who thought we'd be saying that four months ago?!
It’s been more than a week since the last blog - but no major news has been released regarding a potential takeover.
However, it’s very difficult to know exactly what to do, with so little information coming out of the club. We have pushed for more communication from the club in recent times and we will continue to do so, but whether that will make a difference remains to be seen.
Fans appreciate the fact there are non-disclosure agreements in place, but this seems to have been used as a weapon to keep everything behind closed doors. Entering into another period of exclusivity with a party, if a deal is close, would at least give some form of indication that there’s been some progress on a sale.
With pre-season now starting and fans still worried about the club’s future, the current situation is unacceptable and there are big questions that need to be answered by top officials at the club.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that these questions will be answered.
Dai Yongge hasn’t properly communicated since he arrived in 2017 and Dayong Pang is nowhere to be seen after his short talkSPORT appearance earlier this year.
It’s been a while since the last update, but it would have been good to wait until we had some positive news to talk about before posting again.
Unfortunately, things seem to have gone south for Chiron and the takeover deal, which is a massive blow ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
We need a new owner in place as soon as possible if we are to avoid a relegation battle next season, but it doesn’t seem a sale is imminent at this point.
Sell Before We Dai are on alert and won’t be afraid to act if we feel action needs to be taken.
This is an anxiety-inducing time for supporters, but anything we do must have a clear reason and a clear goal. If there’s something to be done for the right reasons, we should do it.
In terms of potential action, pre-season protests didn’t really take off last year and Euros fever won’t help any momentum we may want to build up, but there are still things we can do to keep up the pressure for a sale.
Keeping the club’s plight in the media spotlight could be crucial.
In recent weeks, the campaign has been working on three things.
Firstly, we have prepared a plan in case a takeover falls through. At the moment, nothing suggests that a sale won’t materialise, but being prepared for all outcomes is important.
We have also discussed a potential handover to STAR and whether one is required. Strengthening STAR and ensuring it’s one of the best supporters’ trusts in the country will be important, not just because it will benefit Reading fans, but also because they deserve that title for their contributions to the campaign. Without them, the campaign wouldn’t be where it is now.
The final thing we have done is send feedback to politicians about the Football Governance Bill.
A few people in the campaign read the entire bill and were able to pass on feedback on various topics because of this. Although we have mainly been the victims of poor ownership, the campaign has also been keen to suggest potential improvements in all areas to strengthen the bill as much as possible.
This bill and the regulator could be so important for our club and other clubs in the future.
We all love football, but constant points deductions are a stain on our game and will become an even bigger problem unless action is taken to reduce how frequently they are handed out.
You just need to look at how much damage they have caused to realise why change is required.
Derby County were given little chance of being competitive during the 2021/22 campaign when a further nine points were deducted from their points total for a breach of financial rules, on top of the 12 they were docked for going into administration.
Sheffield Wednesday also found themselves in a very difficult situation before the 2020/21 season. Being docked 12 points before the campaign even started, that sort of mountain to climb would have a major psychological effect on the most mentally robust team.
Eventually, their deduction was reduced to six points, but even that punishment effectively relegated the Owls to League One at the end of that term.
Similarly, a six-point deduction for Reading last season contributed heavily to their drop to the third tier - and they have had 18 points taken off their league tally across three seasons.
Both the Royals and Wigan Athletic continued to be deducted points regularly when they were in trouble, with the former not out of the woods yet.
Morecambe, another club facing ownership problems, have also been docked three points recently due to their ownership’s negligence and further trouble could be on the horizon unless Jason Whittingham shapes up or sells up.
Dishing out points deductions regularly is not a sustainable way of sanctioning clubs - and it will end up ruining English football.
Everton and Nottingham Forest are two other clubs that have been sanctioned this season - and Sheffield United will start next season on -2 points if they are relegated.
We don’t want to see Leicester City deducted points too, but the fact the EFL are unable to implement a sanction handed out by a Premier League disciplinary commission is ludicrous.
It just reinforces the fact that change is needed. We must let on-field results determine league standings, not constant points deductions.
Footballing bodies like the EFL need to have the power to combat potential future financial mismanagement and implement alternative solutions that can help to safeguard football clubs in the 92.
Fairness in the game is required, but preventative measures need to be at the forefront of better football governance, not retrospective sanctions that fail to address issues that should have been dealt with years ago.
Thankfully, the Independent Regulator for Football (IRF) should help to address many of football’s issues and deal with them in real time, but clubs and fans may not feel its full benefits if deductions continue to be handed out regularly. Regular points sanctions can’t become the norm, we can’t go on like this.
Reading were placed under a soft embargo during the summer of 2019 for overspending, a fairly sensible preventative measure, but that was lifted and the owner went on to break the club’s transfer record by spending a reported £8m on a player later on in the window. How can that make sense?
Let’s learn from that, get ahead of the game and ensure all clubs are treated the same. The future of English football depends on better governance.
Things have gone quiet on the takeover front - and that has given us a bit of time to have a break.
But we are now working on various fronts. Firstly, we are set to meet to discuss what actions SBWD can take if a sale collapses. However, we’re also looking at things optimistically and seeing what can be handed over to STAR once the campaign has ended.
We have also continued working with other teams - and we are set to send our feedback to local MPs about the Independent Regulator (IRF) bill.
Hopefully, this feedback is useful and can be used to make the bill as strong as possible ahead of its official launch.
In the last update, few of us believed we’d actually have exclusivity by now. But we do - and we hope we can start looking forward with some optimism now.
In the short term, it looks as though all of our bills will be paid for the remainder of the season and that is a big boost.
In terms of where the campaign goes from here, all fans need some downtime following months of relentless campaigning and fighting, but we still have a few things on our agenda.
Politically, we can still get involved in the Independent Regulator process and we are very keen to do this.
Because of recent events, it’s unsurprising that there has been plenty of media coverage of our situation, and some of these stories can be found on the ‘media coverage’ tab.
A lot can change in a few days - and it has in this case!
We’re keeping close tabs on further developments and at this point, we can’t do too much else until the situation becomes clearer.
Once it does become clearer, we will plan out our next steps because regardless of whether a party is given exclusivity or not in the coming days, there’s still work to be done.
Our focus now will be on general ownership problems in football whilst takeover talks are happening, but things could change again in the coming days. You just don’t know what’s going to come around the corner!
Not being too high or too low is key. Events in recent days have reinforced this.
The likely sale of Bearwood Park is a massive blow and this news has thrown yet another curveball at the campaign.
We had been focusing on fundraising before this development emerged, but our focus has changed once more and we need to adapt to what happens next, whilst being proactive at the same time.
We’re still working on a number of strands that we’ve been working on for some time. Protest ideas are still being floated, the political work is continuing (although it’s winding down now) and we will redouble our efforts to engage with the wider football community.
At a time when Reading are in real trouble and Torquay United have gone into administration, solidarity is so important.
As mentioned in the last update though, we need to focus on ourselves too. We will do everything we can to keep our situation in the media and try our best to make the right decisions. Everything we do needs to be for a clear reason and have a clear goal.
Please god, let the next update be a more positive one!
Thank you to everyone for their support for the campaign so far. Without this buy-in, the campaign can’t be effective, so every Reading fan has played their part in our attempts to get Dai Yongge to sell the club.
In terms of what’s next for the campaign, it’s about being proactive, whilst also adapting when circumstances change. Every action we execute needs to be proportionate, justified and with a clear end goal.
We are taking a clear two-pronged approach from now on.
Dai-specific action is still being considered - and we are weighing up what the best way forward is. As we have already said, we wouldn’t want to do anything to disrupt a potential sale, but we cannot afford to stand still either and levers will be pulled to try and keep the pressure on.
Our second segment focuses more broadly on football’s ownership problem. Our political work to try and ensure the IREF has the power to be effective will continue - and we have continued to engage with political figures across numerous parties. Engaging with fans of other clubs is also a vital part of our strategy, with solidarity proving to be very powerful during the campaign.
However, as all football fans will appreciate, we need to be focusing on helping to get a sale over the line. Both segments will be worked on, but the first one needs special attention at a crucial time for us.
We will now make two promises. Firstly, we’ll try and keep the website updated more often for those not on social media!
And secondly, we will do everything we can to continue spreading the word about our situation.
Media coverage of the situation has been magnificent and that’s thanks to the Reading supporters.
During the early stages of 2024, we have:
Since the last update, we have:
Latest actions:
Latest actions:
One week in, we wanted to give a rundown of what we've been doing so far:
Thank you to everyone so far who has supported, and got behind the campaign. We are in it for the long haul. Don't forget to use the hashtag
#SellBeforeWeDai