READING are in exclusive negotiations with a new unnamed buyer.
Current Chinese owner Dai Yongge has had the club up for sale the past 18 months.
Reading have faced years of off the pitch turmoil[/caption]
And were on the brink of being taken over by ex-Wycombe owner Rob Couhig in the summer.
Dai Yongge pulled out and there is currently a legal battle between the two parties.
Reading fans are in fear of what will happen this summer with only five first-team players currently contracted for next season – despite the Royals sitting just three points behind the League One play-off spots.
A club statement said this period is “to complete final due diligence and legally complete the transaction. Whilst timelines cannot be guaranteed, the structure of the deal should allow for a quick completion, which would be for the benefit of all concerned.”
It includes “the transfer of Mr Dai’s shareholding in The Reading Football Club Limited, as well as the Select Car Leasing Stadium and Bearwood Park training ground.”
The Royals were relegated from the Championship in 2023 after 10 years in the second tier, with a six-point deduction for breaching profitability and sustainability rules proving the difference between staying up and going down.
They were docked a further two points at the beginning of the following season for failing to pay their players.
Reading fans invade the pitch during the League One match with Port Vale[/caption]
The Port Vale match was abandoned in the 16th minute following the pitch invasion[/caption]
Fans soon launched a ‘Sell Before We Dai‘ campaign, urging Mr Yongge to sell his stake in the club and labelled their decline under his ownership an “unmitigated disaster”.
More points deductions followed, and Reading’s home game against Port Vale was abandoned in January 2024 after fans invaded the pitch in protest at the ongoing ownership woes.
Just last week a petition was launched calling for MPs to scrutinise Reading’s woes, and called on a DCMS committee to launch an investigation.
The petition, hosted on local MP Yuan Wang’s website, takes aim at Mr Yongee and his sister Dai Xiu Li, who co-owns the club.
According to the BBC, more than 8,400 people had signed the petition as of Monday evening.
