Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has labelled Dai Yongge 'insidious' after last week's decision to pay the non-playing staff late.

News broke last Thursday that there was not the funding to pay all staff on time, so the decision was made to pay the playing staff in full to avoid a new points deduction, while non-playing staff received a portion on time and the rest on Monday.

Maguire, a lecturer at Liverpool University and a co-host of the award-winning Price of Football podcast, labelled the Chinese businessman 'insidious' and praised Royals fans for their peaceful protest during Sunday's FA Cup defeat at Eastleigh.

In the latest episode of the podcast, Maguire said: "I can only describe the behaviour of Dai Yongge, the owner, as insidious. To pay the players in order to ensure that you don’t trigger another points deduction, but not to pay other members of staff. It’s sneaky. Dick Dastardly himself would even think that it’s going a bit far. The other members of staff, they’ve got direct debits, like we all do, that go out on the first of the month. The staff will have had their credit rating negatively impacted by Dai Yongge’s decision to only part-pay their wages. The wages now have been paid, which is a good thing.

"The approach taken by Reading fans should be applauded. Non-violent direct action which gets attention."

Negotiations between Yongge and Genevra Associates remain ongoing over a potential takeover.