UPDATE
The last few years have been an emotional rollercoaster for fans of Reading FC, and I’m overjoyed that the club now has new owners. I was in the stadium alongside thousands of fans when we had just heard the news that Reading had finally been sold. It was an amazing moment. After two years of fan protests, points deductions, winding-up petitions, unpaid wages and more, we’re finally here.
The sale must be a new start for Reading. The club’s development must now be led by the community, and it must come with a more sustainable business model – the Reading Way of previous decades. I will work closely with the new owner and the new football regulator to ensure that fans’ voices are heard.
The wider football community must now make sure that fans from other clubs do not suffer in the same way as Reading fans. As your MP, I repeatedly spoke about the club in Parliament, met with a number of government ministers, and led a petition that got 10,000 signatures. It should not have needed this to help ensure the club was sold. Fans need a strong independent football regulator so that Reading FC’s story isn’t repeated.
PETITION: Hold an Inquiry into Reading FC's Absent Owner
10,458 signatures
Football has an ownership problem.
Since 2012, Reading Football Club has been through multiple owners and, in the last five years alone, has slid towards insolvency under the ownership of Mr Dai Yongge and Ms Dai Xiu Li. Staff have been paid late, multiple winding-up petitions have been issued by HMRC and staff have been forced to endure redundancies and late wage payments on multiple occasions.
With no end in sight, Reading FC risks becoming the latest example of a historic, community-centred club destroyed by fickle owners who cannot be held to account. This has to change, now.
Reading FC isn’t the only club that has suffered at the hands of poor, absent owners – dozens of other clubs across England and Wales are currently in trouble. The Government’s Football Governance Bill will help clubs in future, but clubs in peril now need answers.
An inquiry into how Reading deteriorated in this way will not only identify those responsible, but also provide valuable insights into poor governance for the new Independent Football Regulator. Other fans should not have to go through the same turmoil.
We are calling for the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and the Business and Trade Select Committee to launch an inquiry into the ownership and governance affairs of Reading Football Club since 29 May 2012 on grounds of public interest, with a particular focus on the governance of Reading Football Club since May 2017.
UPDATE: On Monday 10th March 2025, I presented our petition in the House of Commons with over 600 paper signatures and 10,000 more online. If you would like to receive updates on this campaign and others, please take a moment to sign up to my email newsletter.