Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has attempted to alleviate any concerns Reading supporters may have over the recent news that exclusivity has expired by labelling it 'not unusual.'

The Royals had been in a period of exclusive negotiations with an unnamed party since March and many had hoped it would signal the end of Dai Yongge's disastrous seven-year reign.

However, the club released a statement on Wednesday confirming that this exclusive period had now expired with the club yet to agree on a deal, meaning it was opening itself back up to other interested parties.

This caused great frustration and fear amongst supporters as it signals a lack of progress as preparations need to be made for next season.

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But Maguire, senior lecturer in football finance at Liverpool University, explained that hope is not all lost.

"It’s not that unusual," he told BBC Berkshire. "If we take a look at what is just happening with Everton, they had an eight-month period of exclusivity with an organisation called 777 Partners and that lapsed on May 31. When Derby County were in administration, they were trying to sell the club to a guy called Chris Kirchner and that deal failed.

"Unfortunately, the industry attracts fantasists and tyre-kickers at times that aren’t necessarily good for football as a whole and quite often you find out that they don’t have the money that they claim to have or there could be issues on the sale side in terms of the price or conditions."

Balancing the viewpoints, Maguire did also state that it could be a sign of something more serious.

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"Telling people what they want to hear and not what they need to hear is one of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to selling, politics or anything if you’re trying to persuade people to get onside with you," Maguire explained to former captain Ady Williams. "For all we know, the owner could have been asking for a crazy price, the bidder thought they could get them down but if there’s no budging then it is not good for all parties."