Sports secretary Lisa Nandy has said a departmental minister will meet with Reading FC fans to address the ownership crisis at the club.
Responding to an urgent question from Earley and Woodley MP Yuan Yang in parliament, the Wigan MP said "the sports minister will be absolutely delighted" to have the chance to meet fans.
Reading FC has faced a series of point deductions due financial mismanagement at the club - including late payments to staff - over the last two years.
Ms Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, addressed the House of Commons this morning and said that football club mismanagement was an "incredibly important issue."
Addressing the MP for Earley and Woodley, she said: "Can I thank her for raising this incredibly important issue. Football is one of our greatest exports and a source of joy to people across the country.
"For too long the robust protections haven’t been in place to ensure every town, village, and city can enjoy that success."
The sports secretary also paid tribute to the efforts to Ms Yang and the "three Reading MPs" for their work "to protect something that is so incredibly important to them and their town."
Matt Rodda, MP for Reading East, Olivia Bailey, MP for Reading West & Mid Berkshire, and Ms Yang have all voiced their support for the government's Football Governance Bill.
The bill aims to create an independent watchdog to oversee clubs in England's top five tiers, including tougher rules around who can own a football club.
Speaking in parliament this morning, Ms Yang said: "Earley and Woodley is the proud home of Reading Football Club, who managed to stay up last season against the odds, but has fallen victim of financial mismanagement of absent owners.
"We desperately need the Government’s Football Governance Bill which will set up a regulator to safeguard clubs like Reading and prevent future abuses."
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Ms Nandy also referenced her experience as Wigan MP representing fans of Wigan FC, which faced a crisis over late staff payments and huge debts from 2022 to last year.
The sport secretary said: "I know from my own experience in Wigan with the work we had to do to save Wigan Athletic, when a football club is under threat from mismanagement or poor ownership it is absolutely devastating for generation of fan for whom this part of their civic inheritance.
"We're looking forward to introducing the football bill without any delays and look forward to working with her and colleagues to make sure we introduced the strongest possible protections to put fans back at the heart of the game where they belong."
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