Reading sell training ground to rivals

Reading owner Dai Yongge has agreed to sell the club’s Bearwood Park training ground to local rivals Wycombe Wanderers, less than five years after the state-of-the-art facility was opened.

The former Premier League side were in the Championship then and only two years into the Chinese businessman’s tenure as owner. The 2019 move to the £50million site, set in 120 acres of picturesque woodlands only five miles from the club’s stadium, was meant to signal Reading’s ambition to return to the top flight.

Having already sold their stadium to a company controlled by Dai in 2019, Reading now face the prospect of renting their own training ground, too, with their landlords being near-neighbours Wycombe.

This will come as a bitter blow to the club’s fans, as the only sale they want is Dai handing over the club, with all its assets, as soon as possible.

However, that prospect looks as remote as Reading’s chances of returning to the Premier League, as a group led by former Charlton Athletic director Leo Rifkind has now walked away from takeover talks in dismay at the decision to sell Bearwood Park.

Based in London and Switzerland, Chiron Sports Group owns a stake in Italian side Venezia and has teamed up with Didier Drogba to launch a team in electric speedboat series E1.

But with Dai seemingly set on selling the club’s last remaining assets, Chiron’s interest in Reading is over.

Wycombe have been trying to upgrade their training facility for years, as they are currently based at a fairly basic site in Marlow, three miles south of the club’s Adams Park stadium.

Until now, the club have not had sufficient room for their academy, which is why Couhig has been considering building a new facility in nearby Little Marlow.

Bearwood Park is a slightly longer commute, as it is a 30-minute drive south of Wycombe, but the opportunity to move into one of the best training grounds and academy bases outside the Premier League was clearly too good to turn down.

The EFL come out badly of this whole saga and one has to hope that the propiosed regulator will be able to intervene in situations like this, but it will be too late for Reading fans.