After 6 years of investment in Reading, the Dai siblings are looking for buyers
"Reading, the fifth oldest football club in the world, a proud 152-year-old team, is coming to an end at the hands of a Chinese owner. ”
The above-mentioned commentary of The Sun newspaper sharply depicts the embarrassing situation faced by the sisters and siblings, Dai Xiuli and Dai Yongge, owners of Reading Football Club. In September, The Telegraph reported that Chinese owner Dai Yongge's Reading team was charged by the EFL for failing to pay taxes on time and failing to pay wages on three occasions, and faced multiple penalties including a transfer ban and a dissolution order. Recently, due to the lack of salary arrears and large losses caused by operational errors, the duo has been preparing to sell the stormy Reading club.
In 2017, the Dai siblings bought Reading, which brought a lot of cash flow to the old club. Over the past six years, the club has invested more than £250 million and has hired well-known retired players such as Stam and Paul Ince.
The Telegraph commented: "For now, these costs are unsmart and irrational, and the deeper reason comes from the difficulty of transferring money from China to the UK to pay salaries, taxes and maintain operating costs. Paula Martin, chair of the Reading Trust, said: "Investing in football is gambling and if the two of them can run the team and buy more suitable players, the gamble may have paid off and we may have been in the Premier League by now. ”
Since their expected return to the Premier League in 2017, Reading's results have been steadily declining until they dropped to League One at the end of last season, while Reading Women were withdrawn from the top flight.
Due to the impact of the epidemic and the team's results, Reading lost nearly £100 million before tax in the three years between 2018 and 2021, significantly exceeding the £39 million stipulated by the Financial Fair Play Guidelines, and Reading was fined six league points for the first time. For the 2018-19 season, Reading reportedly had £40 million in wage bills, equivalent to 194% of their revenue. By the 2020-21 season, Reading's accounts showed that the club's cumulative losses totalled £138 million.
The EFL then restricted Reading from signing players on a permanent or loan transfer. However, Reading were deducted six points in April after the club failed to meet the agreed budget, resulting in their relegation to League One for the first time since 2002. This season, the venerable club is on the verge of "collapse", according to local media in Reading: the Dai siblings have not paid a deposit of 25% of the club's total salary on time, and the club will face penalties again, and so far this season, Reading have been deducted a total of four points and are at the bottom of League One.
And this is not the first time that the Dai siblings have brought a European football club into the abyss, as former Belgian top-flight side KSV Roeselare were relegated three levels under the duo's management, and in 2020, the 99-year-old club went bankrupt. Coincidentally, the results of the Dai siblings' investment in football in China can also be described as dismal, in 2007, Dai Yongge bought Shaanxi Chanba, renamed Shaanxi Renhe, and then traveled to Guizhou and Beijing, and announced its dissolution in 2020.
▲Dai Yongge (left) and Stam (right)
The poor operating conditions have also led to growing opposition from fans, with Reading supporters' organisation Sell Before We Dai saying they have lost trust in the team's hierarchy. Nick Houlton, a spokesman for the group, said, "Despite Mr. Day's best intentions, his stewardship has been a complete disaster. Interestingly, the fan group was created to force the Dai siblings to leave the club.
British football outlet FLW has commented that the Dai siblings have failed to connect with Reading's fans during difficult times. A Reading die-hard fan told the BBC: "If things go well, you don't care how he talks to the fans, and when it gets tough, the owners have to step up and take responsibility." ”
However, the duo did not do so, and according to the Mirror, the duo did not actively listen to the fans and looked "like they were missing". Helen, another Reading die-hard fan, told the BBC: We need Dai Yongge to step up and be transparent. When you own a football club and you do so much for it like he did, the fans have every right to expect him to come out, talk to the media and the fans and be honest about what's going on. The past season was terrible, both the men's and women's teams were relegated and my biggest fear was that the club would go out of business – it would be devastating for the town.
At present, former Premier League team Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and Luxembourg investment group Genevra have expressed interest in the acquisition of Reading, once the deal is reached, in 2016-2017, Chinese capital in Europe after the "buying fever", another Chinese team will change hands.
Although there is no shortage of investment cases such as Fosun and Suning, which are still competing in the top leagues, at present, Chinese capital is rarely present in Europa, and most business owners have recognized the reality and withdrawn from the football world. "Phoenix.com" recently commented: "China's capital mergers and acquisitions often first consider how to enter the market, but for the post-merger resource integration lack of sustainable development awareness, failure to do a good job of feasibility analysis, lack of professional management and resource restructuring skills." Most of the acquisitions of foreign football clubs blindly follow the trend, causing operational and financial risks, and sometimes even getting involved in legal arbitration, losing a large amount of tangible and intangible assets. ”
For the Dai siblings, who have repeatedly messed up the football business, they should seriously think about whether they should continue to make efforts in the football field after cleaning up the mess this time.
Disclaimer: This article was originally written by Lazy Bear Sports and may not be reproduced without authorization.