English Football League (EFL) chief executive Trevor Birch has admitted that they only have ‘limited power’ over trying to get Dai Yongge out of Reading FC.
The Royals are currently in crisis with fans having to take desperate action to try and force owner Dai Yongge out of the club.
Under his ownership, Yongge has financially mismanaged the club who have suffered a total of 16 points being deducted, while he has also been punished for not being able to pay staff on time on numerous occasions.
Speaking in a press conference to the media, Birch said: “We share the fans’ frustrations in trying to bring this to a conclusion.
“There is only so much we can intervene given UK corporate law and our regulations. All we can do is try to encourage the owner to sell and divest his ownership if he hasn’t got the desire to fund the club.
“We tried in November to take the owner to a hearing in order to make sure players and staff were to be paid on a regular basis and required the owner to deposit 125% of the monthly amounts in a deposit account.
“Unfortunately he reneged on that and we tried to seek a disqualification. Unfortunately the hearing would rather enforce a fine rather than disqualification.”
The EFL also stated that they believe there are currently parties who are interested in pursuing a takeover of the club.
Birch continued: “The dialogue with the club is with parties who are attempting to assist in selling the club.
“He (Mr Dai) doesn’t speak English so there is no direct dialogue but there are parties who do have regular contact with him or his associates.
“We know that there are some interested parties so hopefully it will happen in due course.”
