Why what’s currently going on at Reading FC should agitate all...

You’re here for a purpose, and it’s most definitely not the consistent humour of the world’s most popular tea-time

email. Instead, you are a very sick person who is desperate for another hit to feed your innate, preternatural, and

incurable football addiction, which is likely what led you to this crippling desert of ludicrous smuggery. Because even

in Reading, people love football more than they love virtually anything else, regardless of their race, class,

nationality, sex, sexual orientation, or gender. That’s why we should all be upset about what’s happening with

Reading right now.

The competition was first stopped for three minutes during their League One encounter against Port Vale on

Saturday after supporters hurled tennis balls onto the ground. Yes, it sounds very Berkshire, but it works. After

sixteen minutes, the match was abandoned after supporters occupied the pitch and would not leave. It’s reasonable

to believe that most of them choose not to do this and instead spend the week anticipating the game. Instead, many

behaved in a desperate rage, like the Manchester United supporters whose demonstrations caused the cancellation of

a match against Liverpool in May 2021—as well as those of many other clubs—because they were tired of seeing a

significant portion of their identity and legacy be vandalised with the apparent consent of the authorities responsible

for safeguarding it.

Which leads us to Dai Yongge, Reading’s “owner”. His sister, Dai Xiu Li, who was once among the wealthiest women

in the world, gave Yongge even more of his fortune, as all the finest boys do. The fact that the family owns a number

of shopping centres and he is currently in charge of them speaks volumes about how important a football team is to

him. After initially purchasing Shaanxi Chanba, a Chinese club, the Yongges moved it to Guizhou and then Beijing

before it disbanded. After their unsuccessful attempt to purchase Hull, they went on to purchase 75% of Reading

without the Football League or the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport noticing any problems.

And once more, both bodies failed in their duty of care; Yongge’s long list of accomplishments demonstrates their

extraordinary capacity to make the same ruthless mistake repeatedly without fear of retaliation. Reading has lost

three straight seasons, been demoted from the Championship, been placed under a transfer embargo, handed a

winding-up order, and failed to pay players, staff, and taxes on time and in full.

In other words, Reading is being blindly punished by the EFL for its actions after failing to safeguard them from

Yongge. What comes next, then? Well, probably the next thing that almost always occurs. In the end, Yongge will

depart and carry on with his wealthy life as if nothing had occurred, the EFL will repeat the same actions as if

nothing had occurred, and the DCMS will permit them to do so, allowing the supporters to rebuild. Which they will,

because football is more popular than practically anything else, even in Reading, regardless of a person’s colour,

class, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, or gender.

Why what’s currently going on at Reading FC should agitate all of us