Member of Parliament for Reading East, Matt Rodda, has urged Reading owner Dai Yongge to 'get on with selling the club.'

The Chinese businessman has owned the club for seven years but seen hundreds of millions of pounds wasted as the club floundered in the bottom half of the Championship.

For the past three years, the club have been hit with points deductions, fines and transfer embargoes, as well as winding-up petitions, with bills and wages going unpaid.

Since last autumn, the club has been up for sale amid a backdrop of fan protests, but following news of Rob Couhig's takeover collapsing at the 11th hour, the community again fear for the very existence of the club.

(Image: ©Jason Dawson)

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Rodda was with The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Stephanie Peacock MP.

His speech read: "I turn briefly to Reading Football Club. Let me tell the story of what has happened, and call for action from the owner, Mr Dai Yongge, who has delayed selling the club, which has caused huge problems for fans, players and the club. Reading is one of the oldest clubs in the football league, yet it is in real difficulty. We have had a successful career and an illustrious history over many years, including two spells in the Premiership, the highest-ever point tally achieved in the championship and numerous other successes. Sadly, we have never got to an FA Cup final, but we have had some amazing cup runs, yet unfortunately, our club has fallen into a difficult period because of irresponsible ownership.

"Reading’s case is similar to that of a number of other clubs, as I know from working with colleagues. I am glad to see that the previous Government’s Football Governance Bill has been brought back by our Front-Bench team, and I hope that soon becomes law and deals with the problem of irresponsible ownership, which has been experienced across the country by a number of clubs, many of them in medium-sized towns and cities. I know other colleagues have strong feelings about that.

"Before I call for action from Mr Yongge, I point out how difficult this situation has been. The reason why the club has been so badly affected by his ownership is repeated financial mismanagement: he failed to pay His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs on time and, as a result, points were deducted, meaning that Reading were relegated from the Championship to league one. That was not because of anything that happened on the pitch. That is grossly unfair on the club, the players and local fans—it is completely and utterly unacceptable. The same thing could happen to other clubs in the football league in exactly the same way, due to the same issues of irresponsible ownership, and of owners failing to live up to the standards that they should be adhering to.

"Sadly, the powers available to the English Football League are not as great as they might be, and I hope that the Bill, which will hopefully come to Parliament shortly, will tackle this and set a high bar for ownership. It is interesting that Mr Yongge was not allowed to buy Hull City; the Premier League was able to intervene to avoid that. The EFL did not have the power at the time to stop him buying Reading, and that is an absolute tragedy for our fans, the players and the club. I hope something can be done about it.

(Image: ©Jason Dawson)

"We have been hoping for a sale since last October. The former Member for Bracknell and I attended a march in Reading town centre with several thousand fans last October, and we managed accidentally to stop all traffic on a local A road. The fans sent a strong message to Mr Yongge that he needed to get on with selling the club, finding a preferred bidder and working with them to move things on, so that a new owner could invest in the club. In the last year, the situation has not been properly addressed. He has been in discussion with Rob Couhig, the former owner of Wycombe Wanderers, but sadly that fell through a few days ago. It has been announced that a new preferred bidder has come forward.

"I urge Mr Yongge to take all reasonable steps to engage with the new preferred bidder quickly, and to conclude a sale, so that we can move on, take our wonderful club forward, and get it back up to the Premiership, ideally, though the Championship will do for the moment. I urge him to get on with selling the club and to take action on behalf of the people of Reading."

Reading have confirmed that they have finances in place until November and the potential new buyer, who remains anonymous, will fund the club during the process of the acquisition.