Reading Property Projects Manager, Nigel Howe, has revealed that he hopes to have an agreement in place to sell the club 'by late spring.'

The former CEO, who has been associated with the club for nearly 30 years, was asked by owner Dai Yongge to facilitate the sale of the club.

Howe, who worked closely under Sir John Madejski and was a key individual during the successful era of the early 2000s, appeared on a property podcast 'Battle and Bunce Talking Property' to discuss progress with the Royals.

"We’ve got one buyer who is particularly ahead of anybody else, and then we’ve got three or four people behind them," Howe revealed. "You can’t do a one-horse race in this game because the chances are, at any time, they could fall at any fence for any reason with the amount of hoops they have to go through. Also, you worry about the level of due diligence they’ve always done.

"Even now you get silly questions people ask. After they have sent you an offer, they ask how the stadium works, how the training ground works, and all of a sudden at the last minute, having seen the data room, they’ll say ‘So we don’t own the hotel?’ It is very clear, if you look at all the documents, that you won’t own the hotel. That person might have to go back to the person who is buying. It is a tortuous way of doing a deal and it is full of twists and turns."

Pressed further on any dates and timeframes, the 66-year-old gave a rough scale for supporters.

"We set a target to do it by late spring, so March or April. I’m an optimist so I like to think we could deliver something by then. We are working as hard as we can to deliver the new owner."

Howe has regular meetings with Supporters Trust at Reading to update supporters on ownership progress.