Reading fans launch Westminster protest on behalf of West Brom, ‘ticking time bomb’
Reading supporters have staged a protest outside the Houses of Parliament on behalf of themselves, West Brom and other clubs regarding poor ownership.
The League One side’s supporters have called for an independent football regulator to be introduced after facing a number of sanctions under the watch of Dai Yongge.
Nick Houlton, a spokesperson for the Sell Before We Dai movement, said the idea behind this latest protest was to also raise awareness of the situations at Everton, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and others.
“This action wasn’t just for Reading FC, but the countless other clubs facing financial difficulties because of poor ownership and outside vested interests,” Houlton said, as per BBC [12 December].
“We hope this action continues the conversation about football’s ownership problems and highlights further the need for an Independent Football Regulator.”
Sell Before We Dai posted footage of the protest on Twitter [12 December], captioned with: “These clubs have faced administration, liquidation or worrying ownership uncertainty – either in the past or present.
“An Independent Football Regulator is needed now. The English football pyramid is a ticking time bomb.”
Sad to see
Reading’s situation is well known after their travails last season which ended in them being relegated from the Championship as a result of being docked points.
In many ways, West Brom’s overachievement on the field this season has papered over the cracks of some similarly worrying issues behind the scenes.
Majority shareholder Guochuan Lai is not willing to put any further money into Albion, meaning the club are relying on loans to keep up with day-to-day running costs.
If Albion were in the bottom half of the table, and not challenging for promotion to the Premier League, there would arguably be a lot more concern than there already is.
It is not nice to see so many great clubs effectively being ripped apart by disinterested owners, Reading being a prime example, while others now no longer exist.
That will hopefully not be the case for the Baggies, but the sooner new owners are on board, the better.
In other West Brom news, Adrian Goldberg has suggested £6million could be enough to prise away any Albion player in January.