Rishi Sunak rules out buying Reading Football Club

In a tongue-in-cheek interview with the BBC this morning, the politician who is worth in the region of £730million, said he needed to focus on his own club - Southampton - that is currently struggling. 

As previously reported, the Royals are facing an unprecedented threat after repeated fines for late payments to staff.

Fans are fearful the club could face extinction unless the current owner Dai Yongge sells up and a new buyer is found.

Appearing on the Andrew Peach show on BBC Radio Berkshire today (September 28), the Prime Minister spoke about Reading Football Club. 

READ MORE: Reading FC icon on the 'awful' ownership and its future  

Rishi Sunak is a Southampton supporter

Asked about regulation, Mr Peach said: “An overwhelming number of listeners what us to ask y Relegated to League One, points docked by the Football League - not because of our teams performance but because of the behaviour of our owner, we love our club. Do you think there need to be tighter rules on football ownership and an independent regulator whose first case could be ours?”

The MP for Richmond (Yorkshire) said he had “enormous sympathy” for Reading fans after Southampton – the team he reportedly supports – was relegated.

READ MORE: Reading FC set to be hit with ANOTHER points deduction 

He said: “We have published plans to tighten up [football regulation]. There needs to be more focus on these issues. We need to have owners that are appropriate for their clubs. They are a part of our heritage and it’s right we look after them properly.”

The radio presenter then went onto ask: “You said once you’d love to run a football club if you weren’t prime minster, we think you’ve got the money, would you like to buy ours?”

Mr Sunak, worth an estimated £730million, said: “No look, I’m a die-hard life-long Saints fan. We are having a disappointing start to season ourselves so I’m focusing on that at this moment.”

READ MORE: Why we must protect Reading FC club, says Chronicle reporter 

Didn’t manage to persuade you to buy Reading Football Club but thank you for coming on the show,” the seasoned journalist quipped.

Mr Sunak chuckled as he thanks Mr Peach for appearing on the show, “Thank you for having me, take care.”

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Mr Sunak was born in Southampton in 1980. His father was a GP and his mother ran her own pharmacy.

After being educated at a private boarding school, Winchester College, he readpolitics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University before gaining an MBA at Stanford University in California, where he met his future wife Akshata Murty.

Mr Sunak worked for investment bank, Goldman Sachs before being made partner at two hedge funds. He was elected as Conservative MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 2015 and served as a junior minister in former Prime Minister Theresa May's government.