Reading’s poor finances have led to staff adjusting training plans to avoid paying for underfloor heating as the crisis club tries to rein in costs. The League One side, owned by Chinese businessman Dai Yongge, has implemented a number of drastic cost-cutting measures, including 19 redundancies, and owes around £4m to suppliers.
Staff and former employees talk daily about ‘firefighting’ as the club battles a range of off-field problems. The English Football League has called on Yongge to fund or sell the club after he showed a “clear disregard” for his duties.
Related: Reading owner Dai Yongge told by Football League: pay or sell
Reading trained on the only training pitch with underfloor heating on Thursday and an under-21 match was played on the ground on Monday, but the first-team staff were encouraged to minimize its use. In recent weeks there have been cases where the manager, Rubén Sellés, has been asked to adjust training schedules or use the gym to save on the costs of underfloor heating, which is turned on before sessions and turned off immediately afterwards. The first team can train on other fields, but due to the freezing temperatures of late, they have started training later, after they have thawed.
The reading revealed that payments for the underfloor heating were automatically debited upon use and that it had been common practice for some time to only activate it when necessary. They recognized that the club’s financial difficulties meant it was imperative that they were clear about how much they were using it.
Despite the cold conditions, staff at the club’s impressive £50million Bearwood training base, opened by Yongge in 2019, occasionally wore coats and jackets in the main first-team building as the upstairs heating did not work. The club said a maintenance issue was unresolved, but some staff believe the lack of heating should keep costs down. The club has made 19 redundancies, including assistant manager Andrew Sparkes and head of player development Eddie Niedzwiecki in the new year. Most positions have disappeared in the academy, which is at risk of losing category one status, and more first-team jobs are believed to be at risk. The club insisted no further roles had been identified as being at risk.
A number of suppliers have lost patience. The data company StatsPerform, which provides data from Opta, has frozen its account with the club and another, the catering company Levy, has withdrawn from the training ground but remains at the stadium. As a result, medical staff are providing meals for players. Yongge, along with his sister Dai Xiu Li, gained control of the club in 2017, when they achieved a final victory in the Championship play-offs from promotion to the Premier League, and are believed to have earned more than £250 million have invested in an attempt to reach the top. Now the club is taking desperate measures to “save pennies”, as one insider puts it.
Post-match feeding during the Reading Women’s FA Cup match at home to Wolves last Sunday, played in Aldershot, has led to illnesses among both groups of players and forced Wolves to postpone a match against West Brom as a high percentage of their squad was affected.
In November, the EFL insisted that Yongge be disqualified as owner following a financial breach, but an independent panel felt such action would not solve Reading’s problems. The commission instead fined Yongge £20,000 for failing to comply with the EFL’s financial requirements to pay 125% of monthly wages into a credit account. A suspended fine of £50,000 was imposed last Friday after he again failed to comply with these requirements. Yongge is not believed to have paid any of the charges. Since November 2021, 16 points have been deducted for financial violations, including late payment of wages. The club has been under transfer embargoes for much of the last two years after failing to pay HMRC on time.
Under-fire CEO Dayong Pang has approved the sale of defenders Tom Holmes and Nelson Abbey, both to Luton – although it remains to be seen whether the latter will join – and to other players such as Tyler Bindon and Charlie Savage. , could follow. Savage is stuck with 14 league starts as making another start will trigger a £2,000-a-month pay rise. Before Christmas, the club terminated the contract of Ovie Ejaria, who signed a lucrative four-year contract after joining from Liverpool in 2020, saving the club around £200,000.
It is believed there are three or four parties interested in purchasing Reading who have a non-disclosure agreement, but there are concerns within the club that potential buyers could “run a mile” due to the bleak financial picture. Reading, who visit Wigan on Saturday, are 21st in League One and are at risk of successive relegations. Overnight stays have largely been cancelled, but Reading will get one on Friday. “We cannot continue as a club if we do not get new owners,” said an employee.
This weekend, the Football Supporters’ Association is encouraging clubs to show solidarity with Reading supporters by clapping for a minute in the 16th minute, the point at which Reading fans stormed the pitch against Port Vale last Saturday, prompting the abandonment of the match. Exeter City, Reading’s direct rivals, are among those who have pledged to do so. Reading could face a suspended points deduction as a sanction for the invasion, as Blackpool did in 2015 in protest against their then owners.
The EFL, having essentially conceded that Yongge is unfit to manage the club, is relatively powerless to topple him. On Wednesday, the EFL board debated whether the league should have a gold stake in all its 72 clubs, but the chairman, Rick Parry, acknowledged this would create “a real hornet’s nest”. “We cannot actually enforce the sale, we cannot confiscate the shares. [because] it is company law,” Parry said. “Besides seizing the club, the [EFL’s] powers are unfortunately limited.”
Reading released a statement on Wednesday saying: “Mr Dai has agreed that he will sell the club as soon as possible.” The club’s former chief executive Nigel Howe is leading the trial and said Yongge had enlisted the help of “lawyers to assist with the sale” of the club.