Dai's final f*** you

[WestYorksRoyal]

Let's be honest, a lot of us on here have made seriously unfunny jokes about the "L1 reset" being just what we needed, whe actually it very nearly delivered that. We had a good team and good manager. What happened today, our slow start to the league season...it can mostly be tied back to one diabolical decision.

In August 2024 we had Smith Knibbs, Azeez and obviously Selles. With a bit more stability and finance last season we were bare minimal top 6, and beating an average Wrexham side is not outlandish. We just needed the deal to go through, and for inexplicable reasons, it didn't. I'm concerned we're right among the top 6 mix if the deal happens last summer, and if we miss out on promotion, we've planned properly so we're still a force in 25/26.

I think Hunt's sacking was deserved. I think the new owners have done a bad job with recruitment compared to the expectations they set. But primary blame sits with Dai. He chose not to sell the set up with an obvious route to promotion. I can only hope he's hurt himself with earn out clauses.

Instead, that cnut thought he'd ruin us one more time. And that 6 months lost time put us back on short term survival mode

[Lower West]

Let's be honest, a lot of us on here have made seriously unfunny jokes about the "L1 reset" being just what we needed, whe actually it very nearly delivered that. We had a good team and good manager. What happened today, our slow start to the league season...it can mostly be tied back to one diabolical decision.

In August 2024 we had Smith Knibbs, Azeez and obviously Selles. With a bit more stability and finance last season we were bare minimal top 6, and beating an average Wrexham side is not outlandish. We just needed the deal to go through, and for inexplicable reasons, it didn't. I'm concerned we're right among the top 6 mix if the deal happens last summer, and if we miss out on promotion, we've planned properly so we're still a force in 25/26.

I think Hunt's sacking was deserved. I think the new owners have done a bad job with recruitment compared to the expectations they set. But primary blame sits with Dai. He chose not to sell the set up with an obvious route to promotion. I can only hope he's hurt himself with earn out clauses.

Instead, that cnut thought he'd ruin us one more time. And that 6 months lost time put us back on short term survival mode

Reading FC are a mere footnote to the far bigger fraud that resulted in the collapse of Dai's business Empire. Dai lost control of events a long long time ago. Odds on he is now serving a long prison term.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

You saying dai is to blame?

Surely not!

[tmesis]

Reading were sold in the middle on May. As much as I hate Dai, the poor recruitment over the summer was not down to him.

[Snowflake Royal]

Reading were sold in the middle on May. As much as I hate Dai, the poor recruitment over the summer was not down to him.

Planning for recruitment will be ongoing from January.

We couldn't even try to renew contracts of existing players until about June thanks to Dai's efforts. Had he sold 6 months earlier, do you think we'd have sold Smith in January then done nothing to replace him?

[Lower West]

Reading were sold in the middle on May. As much as I hate Dai, the poor recruitment over the summer was not down to him.

Probably not Noel Hunt either. Players themselves have to want to to move to a club. Sometimes the options available are limited.

[Vision]

Reading were sold in the middle on May. As much as I hate Dai, the poor recruitment over the summer was not down to him.

Planning for recruitment will be ongoing from January.

We couldn't even try to renew contracts of existing players until about June thanks to Dai's efforts. Had he sold 6 months earlier, do you think we'd have sold Smith in January then done nothing to replace him?

Honestly Yes to the first question about Smith and depends on who we might get to replace him. Marriott is an upgrade on the incumbent Wareham but as things stand O’Mahoney isn’t.

For all Dai’s faults pretty much anything that is positive for us at present is from the Academy he financed via Bearwood or the last transfer window (Smith,Knibbs,Pereira,Wing etc) he was allowed to sanction.

[Millsy]

I'm beginning to think Dai wasn't very good for Reading FC.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

I'm beginning to think Dai wasn't very good for Reading FC.

Me too, someone should expose him!

[West F]

Dai Yongge gambled on success and continually chased his losses until he simply wasn’t able to. Treated his clubs like they were just bad bets that didn’t come off. He took over a club that was a penalty kick away from the Premier league and thought that financially pushing it would bring success. Reaching the Premier league would have been the win the bets was made for.
In retrospect, I think that as long as the team was threatening the play offs and potential promotion, he was holding out on any deal going through. The last gamble of a man addicted to gambling. Selling a Championship team rather than a league one side would have yielded a higher return. I imagine that Couhig made a lot of ground in negotiations until the fortunes of the side started to change. The sales of Azeez and Smith provided the financial ability to sustain the club as a bet. He most likely found it harder to relinquish the bet, more than the club.
We have gone from one extreme to the other. A man with more money than sense, to a man seemingly with more sense than money. The weird reality is, that if they were joint owners, that would probably be successful. I would put money on that.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I've been thinking for quite a while now, that if you have a good season in League 1 and don't get promoted, Championship clubs will come hunting for your stronger players, especially if they're contracts are up. Most decent League 1 players can at least be comfortable in the Championship at a mid-table team.

In the Championship this is less of an issue, because the gap between Championship and Premiership is so great, most Premiership clubs will likely be more interested in lower cost players from abroad.

So part of our issue was not tying our stronger players into longer contracts far earlier, before they started attracting interest from higher up the leagues.

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

I've been thinking for quite a while now, that if you have a good season in League 1 and don't get promoted, Championship clubs will come hunting for your stronger players, especially if they're contracts are up. Most decent League 1 players can at least be comfortable in the Championship at a mid-table team.

In the Championship this is less of an issue, because the gap between Championship and Premiership is so great, most Premiership clubs will likely be more interested in lower cost players from abroad.

So part of our issue was not tying our stronger players into longer contracts far earlier, before they started attracting interest from higher up the leagues.

I agree

[West F]

I've been thinking for quite a while now, that if you have a good season in League 1 and don't get promoted, Championship clubs will come hunting for your stronger players, especially if they're contracts are up. Most decent League 1 players can at least be comfortable in the Championship at a mid-table team.

In the Championship this is less of an issue, because the gap between Championship and Premiership is so great, most Premiership clubs will likely be more interested in lower cost players from abroad.

So part of our issue was not tying our stronger players into longer contracts far earlier, before they started attracting interest from higher up the leagues.

Yes. It is the nature of the pyramid. The play offs losers are often harvested for their better players and managers.

[The Royal Forester]

I've been thinking for quite a while now, that if you have a good season in League 1 and don't get promoted, Championship clubs will come hunting for your stronger players, especially if they're contracts are up. Most decent League 1 players can at least be comfortable in the Championship at a mid-table team.

In the Championship this is less of an issue, because the gap between Championship and Premiership is so great, most Premiership clubs will likely be more interested in lower cost players from abroad.

So part of our issue was not tying our stronger players into longer contracts far earlier, before they started attracting interest from higher up the leagues.

Could we tie the players with longer contract, though? I seem to remember the EFL only letting us sign players on one year contracts. Mind you, I am not sure if this applied to the academy players.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I've been thinking for quite a while now, that if you have a good season in League 1 and don't get promoted, Championship clubs will come hunting for your stronger players, especially if they're contracts are up. Most decent League 1 players can at least be comfortable in the Championship at a mid-table team.

In the Championship this is less of an issue, because the gap between Championship and Premiership is so great, most Premiership clubs will likely be more interested in lower cost players from abroad.

So part of our issue was not tying our stronger players into longer contracts far earlier, before they started attracting interest from higher up the leagues.

Could we tie the players with longer contract, though? I seem to remember the EFL only letting us sign players on one year contracts. Mind you, I am not sure if this applied to the academy players.

I think I remember talk along the same lines. If my memory serves me right, there was a time when the league had a final approve/reject on any player contracts given? Any of our players who were good in that team would probably have expected a pay rise, in order to stay. I doubt the football league would have allowed that.

[Forbury Lion]

Reading were sold in the middle on May. As much as I hate Dai, the poor recruitment over the summer was not down to him.

Probably not Noel Hunt either. Players themselves have to want to to move to a club. Sometimes the options available are limited.

It's difficult to sell the club when player wages went unpaid more than once in the recent past, this is possibly a contributing factor in players leaving. Sure you can tell them it's all good now, we have new owners but why would they take that risk?

[Clyde1998]

Reading were sold in the middle on May. As much as I hate Dai, the poor recruitment over the summer was not down to him.

Probably not Noel Hunt either. Players themselves have to want to to move to a club. Sometimes the options available are limited.

It's difficult to sell the club when player wages went unpaid more than once in the recent past, this is possibly a contributing factor in players leaving. Sure you can tell them it's all good now, we have new owners but why would they take that risk?

Especially when they're moving up a division or being promised more game time. Mbengue and Knibbs both moved up a division; Wareham and Craig probably went for more game time.

We can't really criticise the players who were here during the worst of it for wanting to go somewhere they perceived as more stable.