14 March 2024 , 11:20
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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you'll know that an improved funding deal for EFL clubs wasn't even put to a vote during the latest Premier League shareholder meeting.
That's despite the fact that talks have been ongoing for months and the apparent threat (cough) of an independent regulator is looming large over those 20 hard-up institutions who find themselves pinching for every penny. They did, however, find time to thrash out the framework for new Profit and Sustainability rules in said meeting, though. Quelle surprise.
While the top-flight's bigwigs have been holding court in the capital, another club with a rich heritage has moved a step closer to the grave in the form of Reading.
Not that it should matter, but the Berkshire outfit were a part of the Premier League just over a decade ago and were within one game of returning as recently as 2017.
These days, Reading are living month to month as a result of their diabolical owner, Dai Yongge. The Chinese businessman has sat idly by as the club slides towards the abyss after seemingly losing interest. Funding has all but stopped. And, of course, little has been done to stop him from those who govern the game, bar a couple of fines which he probably won't pay.
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It's now emerged, via The Athletic, that Yongge has agreed to sell the club's state-of-the-art training facility, Bearwood Park, to neighbours Wycombe Wanderers for less than half of the £50million it cost to erect just five years ago.
While Yongge is not short on previous misdemeanours, this could prove to be his most dastardly act of all. The loss of Bearwood Park is hardly likely to entice any of Reading's potential suitors; in fact, it's probably the last significant asset that the club actually owns given Yongge sold their stadium back in 2019. So let's call this deal - if you can even class it as that - out for what it is: asset stripping. Plain and simple. The fact it could happen at all is beggars belief.
Reading fans have been staging protests against Yongge in a bid to get him to sell upPerhaps the scariest thing about this situation is that seemingly nobody can - or will - step in to stop it from happening. There has to be a point where enough is enough and interventions are made by football's governing bodies.
The cold hard truth is that Reading's plight needs to sharpen minds. Everywhere. Severe mismanagement means there is no doubt over the architect of their demise, but until the implementation of an independent regulator takes place, other clubs will follow suit - even those without a charlatan like Yongge pulling the strings.
The Premier League's inability to agree a fair financial package to keep the pyramid alive only epitomises why government intervention is needed in the game.
Football clubs are so much more than just bricks and mortar. They are about so much more than just what goes on on a Saturday afternoon. They desperately need protecting with stricter regulations to ensure they remain in tact for future generations.
Sadly, Reading's case underlines that this now goes far beyond just finance. A regulator has always been, and remains, the only answer.
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