366 days ago, hundreds of Reading supporters travelled to South London to get a first glimpse of new Spanish manager Ruben Selles, his hotch-potch League One side and a new addition to the stands at Reading matches, a banner reading ‘Sell Before We Dai.’

Armed with flyers, banners and new chants, this was to mark the beginning of a 12-month (and counting) crusade to rid the Royals of their callous chief, Dai Yongge.

But it was certainly far from plain sailing on that warm July afternoon at Gander Green Lane, which Reading lost 2-0 and perhaps was a sign of things to come in the immediate future.

‘Sock it to 'em’ was the beginning of a long slog of in-game protests planned by the group in its infancy, and it did not go down well with supporters.

Taking inspiration from Royals legend Jimmy Kebe and his famous sock adjustment against West Ham in 2011, supporters were asked to launch pairs of socks onto the field during the game to raise awareness of the club's plight.

Laughed out of town and ultimately shelved prior to kick-off, it was back to the drawing board for the committee.

“I think first and foremost it was a preseason game, so I think you're never going to get as much media coverage and attention when you're doing protests at games that don't really mean anything,” Caroline Parker, a spokesperson for Sell Before We Dai, told the Reading Chronicle. “Sell Before We Dai was a baby at that point, it was the first attempt to do something, and I think everyone in the campaign learned a lot from that.

“We probably didn't have enough fan engagement. I think a lot of people weren't really on the Dai Out train, I think at the time there wasn't there was a section of social media saying, ‘I will give him a chance’.

“I think we've learned a lot from that, we've learned one of the key things to a successful protest is media engagement and I think we've got a lot cuter about making sure the media are informed about what protests we're doing and getting the word out there. It's grown in coverage each time and I think unless protests get media coverage, sadly they often will fall on deaf ears because you need the national football world to pick up on the story.”

Well, over the course of the last 12 months, they have certainly done that. From a sit-in attended by barely one hundred on matchday one, an estimated 2,000 supporters marched through the streets of the town in November and another one thousand plus stormed the pitch in January after players were sold behind Selles' back.

“You have to give credit to the fans for backing it,” Mrs Parker said when quizzed on the success of the campaign. “I think the only reason Sell Before We Dai has had that success is because the fans have trusted them to speak on their behalf and organise some of these protests. Don't forget, the pitch invasion was actually an organic thing- we said to get to the centre circle for full-time. It's a testament to how badly Dai has run the club and the senior management’s terrible job in communicating with fans, I think.

“When you're angry and upset and you're not getting your answers from the club, you're going to look elsewhere, and I think it was a massive coming together in a common goal: To get Dai out of the club. You'd be hard-pressed to find any fans now that think ‘Oh yeah Dai Yongge should remain the owner’ whereas we weren't in that place this time last year, not by any stretch.”

Sat writing this in July 2024, the bottom line is that Yongge still holds the power to the future of the club, although signs are that this could be coming to an end.

“I would say we're definitely a voice for fans and I think all of us, collectively, are horrified that we are still here as an organisation a year later,” Mrs Parker explained.

Fingers crossed that come the second anniversary of what proved a catalyst for fan movement, the club is in a much more secure pair of hands.