Skip to main content

Premier League told EFL about Yongge

The Reading owner Dai Yongge was told at the time of his takeover that he would not be allowed to own the club in the Premier League, it can be revealed, although apparently Reading fans have known this for years.

Questions have emerged over how Yongge was allowed to buy the club for £24.5million in 2017 after he was blocked from buying Hull City, who were then in the Premier League. The Chinese businessman was disqualified by the EFL in February and has been given until May 5 to sell League One side Reading, who are in serious financial difficulty.

A consortium led by Yongge first tried to buy Hull, but was rejected by the Premier League and he formed a different group, which was allowed by the EFL to take over Reading in May 2017, when they were in the Championship.

It is understood that the Premier League advised the EFL against the move on the basis that Yongge had not shown good faith in his application to buy Hull. But the EFL’s legal advice was that it would not disqualify him from buying Reading under its rules at the time, and that he had proof of source and sufficiency of funding.

Yongge and his sister, Dai Xi Liu, took over the club on the eve of Reading’s Championship play-off final against Huddersfield Town in 2017, which they lost on penalties and helps explain the Premier League’s warning regarding his ownership.

The Premier League has input into takeovers of clubs in the EFL who could go on to compete in the top flight and it is understood to have made clear to Yongge that should Reading win promotion then he would need to divest himself of any controlling interest.

Reading could be suspended by the EFL if a sale is not agreed soon — the club are in with a chance of making the League One play-offs. They are said to be in advanced talks with the former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig, an American who last year loaned £5million to Yongge’s holding company.

In a statement last week, the EFL insisted Yongge had not been disqualified by any sports body at the time it approved the Reading takeover, and that the Premier League decision on Hull was due to another individual.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site.  He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned.  He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long.  What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do
Post a Comment
Read more