On Tuesday, Reading supporters were disappointed to learn that former chairman Roger Smee’s offer to acquire the club had been rejected.
Former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig appeared to be close to completing a deal to buy Reading after spending much of the summer in exclusive talks with current owner Dai Yongge, but the agreement fell through at the last minute in September.
After Couhig’s takeover attempt failed, Royals fans hoped that Smee would be the man to save the club, but the 76-year-old issued a statement confirming that Yongge had turned down what he described as “a structured and connected bid in alliance with many of the town’s key local stakeholders”.
There is still at least one other party in the running to buy Reading, and the club acknowledged last month that negotiations are ongoing with an anonymous possible buyer, who is currently in a period of exclusivity with Yongge, although they confessed it was a “complicated and lengthy process”.
It remains to be seen how those conversations will progress, but the Royals’ long-suffering fan base will be eager to put an end to Yongge’s catastrophic seven-year reign, during which the team has lost 18 points and been relegated to League One.
| Reading league finishes under Dai Yongge’s ownership | ||
| Season | Division | Position |
| 2017-18 | Championship | 20th |
| 2018-19 | Championship | 20th |
| 2019-20 | Championship | 14th |
| 2020-21 | Championship | 7th |
| 2021-22 | Championship | 21st |
| 2022-23 | Championship | 23rd (relegated) |
| 2023-24 | League One | 16th |
Reading fan pundit reacts to Roger Smee takeover news
When asked if he thought Smee would have been the proper man to buy the club, FLW’s Reading fan analyst Johnny Hunt said he would have been the ideal owner because of his connections in the area, but he admits he does not trust Yongge to strike an agreement with a qualified buyer.
“Roger Smee would have been a great choice to be involved in the club,” Johnny told me.
“It was the same with Rob Couhig; they have experience running football teams properly, which is all we want.
“We do not expect millions of pounds to be poured into it because that did not work. “Smee has a local connection because he was involved with Reading during Robert Maxwell’s tenure, and he still cares about the club, which is huge, whereas I don’t think Dai Yongge cares about the club, the fans, the players, or the community.”
“I just don’t trust him, and the person with whom he is currently in exclusive negotiations, they must have been talking for a long time because this is dragging on.
“We are approaching the January transfer window, and we are still no closer to having him leave our club, which has an impact on what business we can conduct.
“It’s a big worry about whether it’s actually going to happen with all these false dawns, but we can only hope that there is good news at some stage.”
Reading supporters will be increasingly concerned about Dai Yongge.
Given that Reading won Wembley for the first time and advanced from the Fourth and Third Divisions during Smee’s tenure as chairman, it is impossible to disagree with Johnny that he would have made a good owner for the club.
Smee, like Couhig, is an experienced football operator who would have been a reliable figure to lead the Royals forward, therefore supporters are understandably concerned that his offer to buy the club has been rejected.
While Yongge is still in exclusive conversations with the mystery party, the fact that so little is known about the bidder makes it extremely difficult for Reading fans to be hopeful about the situation, and anxieties for the club’s future grow as the tale continues.
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