Reading fans to ‘put pressure’ on EFL amid fears for club’s future

Reading fans invaded the pitch during Saturday’s match against Port Vale in protest at the ownership of the club (Luke Adams/PA)

Concerned Reading fans plan to focus future protests towards the English Football League amid genuine fears the club could go out of business under owner Dai Yongge.

Saturday’s Sky Bet League One match between the Royals and Port Vale was abandoned after approximately 1,000 home supporters invaded the pitch at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Sell Before We Dai, a fan-led group urging Chinese businessman Yongge – Reading’s majority shareholder since May 2017 – to sell up, said the incident was “just the start”.

Reading fans ran on to the pitch in the 16th minute (Luke Adams/PA)

Group member Eleanor Flood, a season-ticket holder who has been watching Reading since 1994, called for support from the EFL to help stave off the possibility of liquidation.

“I think the people who can put the pressure on is the EFL, so I think we will turn our attentions to something there,” she told the PA news agency.

“They’ve got their head office in Preston and the London office, so I think we’ll look to do something that focuses more on them and their ability to really intervene in this.

“We don’t want them to let us go under when they could actually step up and help.

“I think that’s where the focus will be – PR stunts to keep it in everybody’s mind, but ultimately the next stage will be to put pressure on people who can actually help us.

We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.

“We were in the Premier League (most recently in the 2012-13 season) and now