TAKEOVER *NOT* CONFIMRED

[Brogue]

[Brogue]

[NathStPaul]

I'd like to say there is no way in hell he'd pass the EFL owners test but Dai did so it kinda negates that argument.

[Snowflake Royal]

This guy is a known bullshit merchant. There's a chance he's just conned the Telegraph.

Not the choice any of us want. But anyone who can stabilise stuff for a while is still an improvement. Briefly at least.

[Brogue]

Reading are set to complete a £50 million sale to William Storey, the British businessman and former Formula One team backer.

The Telegraph understands that terms on the deal were broadly agreed on Wednesday following negotiations between Storey and Dai Yongge, the Chinese owner of the troubled League One club.

Storey, who has recently failed with takeover bids for Sunderland and Coventry City, has pledged to clear club debt in a deal understood to be worth around £50 million and which includes the stadium and the state-of-the-art Bearwood Park training ground.

The 45-year-old is also said to have promised privately to invest in the playing staff once a transfer embargo is lifted.

Storey is understood to have bought the club outright, albeit having sourced some of the funding from wealthy backers. He will now be subject to the Football League’s test for fit and proper owners, which will be vigorous due to new regulations.

It is hoped that this process will take about six weeks, though the new ownership team were planning to begin work this week nonetheless.

Storey is said to have met Ruben Selles, the Reading manager, but otherwise has kept a low profile during negotiations in recent weeks as interested parties circled the club.

The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Yongge had rejected an offer from Genevra Associates, an investment group with offices in Luxembourg and the United States.

In 2019, Storey was the title sponsor of the Haas F1 team through his drink brand Rich Energy, though the relationship proved acrimonious and short-lived, with Storey leaving the sport before the following season.

From Richmond, south-west London, he has also worked in boxing and has been looking to invest in a Football League club for some time.

He has agreed to purchase at a low point in the club’s recent history, with Reading third from bottom in League One having been relegated last season following a troubled campaign on and off the pitch.

They went down from the Championship as the result of a six-point penalty for breaching the EFL’s profitability and sustainability rules.

The HMRC then served them with a winding-up petition in June over unpaid taxes and the club remains under a transfer embargo imposed as a result of their financial problems.

Fans who had been campaigning for Yongge to sell up will now hope that Storey can restore the fortunes of a club who were in the Premier League as recently as 2013.

[72 bus]

This has to be a wind up, the fan base has more money down the back of the sofa than this chancer.

[blythspartan]

I don’t want this Mother Fcuk Cnut Head Moron anywhere near our club. He failed with Coventry and Sunderland so there’s no way this will happen, unless he’s fronting a consortium.

[NathStPaul]

I don’t want this Mother Fcuk Cnut Head Moron anywhere near our club. He failed with Coventry and Sunderland so there’s no way this will happen, unless he’s fronting a consortium.

If he is heading the consortium then you could only imagine what the other fcukers in it would be like.

[genome]

oh fcuking hell

[Brogue]

All rumours are that this is a consortium and he is just the face of it. People suggesting it American wealthy owners behind the scenes. Aka red bird

[Orion1871]

Shock horror as crooked chancer Storey is the only one willing to do business with crooked chancer Dai.

[Royal_jimmy]

This is a rumour, hopefully it's not true. After what's gone on with us under Dai you'd hope the EFL would monitor whoever buys us carefully as it's not a good look for them if another owner shafts us

[NathStPaul]

This is a rumour, hopefully it's not true. After what's gone on with us under Dai you'd hope the EFL would monitor whoever buys us carefully as it's not a good look for them if another owner shafts us

You've been begging for new ownership for weeks and now you don't want it? Beggars can't be choosers.

[Royal_jimmy]

I'd rather have an owner who doesn't have a shady past with businesses and who actually has a bit more money. I don't see the EFL approving this anyway if true.

[From Despair To Where?]

If the money exists for a takeover to take place, that is all the EFL can "test" for.

[Snowflake Royal]

Shock horror as crooked chancer Storey is the only one willing to do business with crooked chancer Dai.

Apart from the fact multiple parties are reportedly interested.

[Winston Biscuit]

I for one welcome our new homeless looking overlord

[NathStPaul]

I'd rather have an owner who doesn't have a shady past with businesses and who actually has a bit more money. I don't see the EFL approving this anyway if true.

I'd rather be sticking my dick in a supermodel every night than my Mrs but sometimes we just have to take what we can get.

[Crowbar6753]

If reports are true that administration is just around the corner which would mean an automatic 12 point deduction and almost certain relegation to Div2 then i guess if this is the only option then it is what it is.
The past three owners haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine have they!! I guess you should never judge a book by its cover and maybe, just maybe if he is backed by a consortium and he's just fronting the whole thing then it might not all be that bad lol.
What i'm trying to say is that we don't really have much choice do we?

[NathStPaul]

If reports are true that administration is just around the corner which would mean an automatic 12 point deduction and almost certain relegation to Div2 then i guess if this is the only option then it is what it is.
The past three owners haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine have they!! I guess you should never judge a book by its cover and maybe, just maybe if he is backed by a consortium and he's just fronting the whole thing then it might not all be that bad lol.
What i'm trying to say is that we don't really have much choice do we?

There are always choices.