Sport Ban Looms : The EFL to permanently ban the owner Reeding from …

The English Football League (EFL) has been encouraged by football supporters to intensify their efforts in removing careless owners from the game.

The demand is being made in advance of tomorrow’s (Tuesday, January 16) Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee questioning of EFL Chair Rick Parry over football governance.

Sell Before We Dai, a pressure organization founded to demand a change of ownership at Reading FC in the wake of the fans’ pitch invasion and the League One match abandonment against Port Vale on Saturday, January 13, is spearheading the push.

Fearing that the club’s owner, Dai Yongge, is refusing to work with the team and putting Reading into liquidation, Reading supporters are in a desperate search for a solution.

“We really need the EFL to take decisive action now, not just for us but for all football fans whose clubs are under threat due to negligent owners,” stated Nick Houlton, a spokesperson for Sell Before We Dai. Owner approval is a power held by the EFL. It’s incredible that they can’t get rid of them.

“Fans’ pitch invasion on Saturday was motivated by fear and desperation alone. Since the club’s owner appears to be deliberately dragging things out, we desperately need assistance from individuals in positions of authority to take immediate action.

Prior to Us Selling Dai does not want to see a recurrence of the match abandonment on Saturday, but until concrete ownership changes are made, nothing is off the table.

“We implore the government to reevaluate using Reading as a test case for the independent regulator,” Houlton continued. For the sake of our team, our supporters, and the larger football community, this is essential.

According to a story in The Athletic last week, players must now bring in microwave lunches after the catering company withdrew its services from the training facility due to unpaid debt, and Reading office personnel is being compelled to wear coats at their desks as the club tries to make savings.

This comes after the club’s sponsor paid for recent player payrolls in order to prevent the team from losing any more points, and after redundancy letters were given to employees the week before Christmas.