Reading legend Mark McGhee has confirmed that he was part of an investment group interested in purchasing the football club.

The Scotland star made nearly 50 appearances for the Royals in the early 1990s but is more famous for his stint as manager, leading the club up to the second tier as champions in 1994 and controversially ditching to join Leicester city midway through 1994/95.

Jimmy Quinn and Mick Gooding took over as player-managers and led the club into the play-off final, losing heartbreakingly to Bolton Wanderers.

Disliked by Reading fans for years subsequently, the former Hamburg striker was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame last year.

Reading Chronicle:

Speaking to former captain Ady Williams on BBC Berkshire, the 67-year-old revealed that he and a group of German investors spoke to the club about buying Dai Yongge out, but any acquisition proved too expensive.

"Funnily enough, I was involved in an enquiry in January about the state of the football club with some colleagues from Germany who were exploring the possibility of acquiring the club," McGhee told Williams.

"I did meet with some people at the club and what I found was very sincere people who have the club at heart and who want to try and get the best for the club. As it was, our situation didn’t allow us to go any further- it was too rich for us- but I certainly got a good vibe out of the people working there and trying to put it right.

"That’s why I took the idea to my German colleagues, they were looking for a club to possibly get involved in and there was lots of talk at the time that the owner wanted to sell, and our situation was that there was some fan involvement required in the proposition that I took to them. I thought it looked absolutely the right time to get the fans involved and therefore I said that I thought it was an absolutely fantastic opportunity for someone.

"It’s got everything it needs; it just needs to be priced right. The whole thing with the training ground and club itself and what you’re getting needs to be right for everybody, there’s nobody coming in and throwing money away. For people at that level want the due diligence to show that they are getting value, but for somebody, there is real value there."

Reading Chronicle:

Three months on from announcing exclusivity with an unnamed party, question marks remain over the progress of any takeover ahead of pre-season at the end of the month.