EXCLUSIVERevealed: The Chinese billionaire brother and sister at the centre of football regulator chaos that sees historic 153-year-old club on the brink of a painful death while Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to save England being banned from the Euros
A Chinese billionaire brother and sister have been slammed after leaving one of Britains oldest clubs on the brink of a painful death - as fans begged Keir Starmer to face down UEFA over a regulation row that threatens to see England banned from its own Euros.
A Chinese billionaire brother and sister have been slammed after leaving one of Britains oldest clubs on the brink of a painful death - as fans begged Keir Starmer to face down UEFA over a regulation row that threatens to see England banned from its own Euros.
The European soccer governing bodys general secretary Theodore Theodoridis warned the government that the Three Lions could be banned from the tournament they are co-hosting, saying that there should be no government interference in the running of football.
Proposed plans would give a new regulator the power to oversee clubs in Englands top five leagues - which Starmer says is compatible with what Uefa say is a fundamental requirement to maintain the games independence.
Fans of stricken Reading Football Club say the proposed oversight is essential to stopping other clubs falling victim to deeply unpopular owners like their own, who are accused of running the 153-year-old club into the ground.
Dai Yongge, 56, and his sister Xiu Li, 61, bought Britains fifth oldest club in 2017 with the goal of returning it to the Premier League. But since they took over, the club has been landed with transfer embargoes and points deductions through poor financial management.
Now the desperate town - who have seen their team plummet down to League One for the first time since 1992 - are begging for a football regulator to be set up to save other clubs in similar situations.
Dai Yongge, 56, (pictured) and his sister Xiu Li, 61, bought Britains fifth oldest club in 2017 with the goal of returning it to the Premier League
Since the siblings took over, the club has been landed with transfer embargoes and points deductions through poor financial management. Pictured: Xiu Li
Proposed plans would give a new regulator the power to oversee clubs in Englands top five leagues - which Keir Starmer says is compatible with what Uefa say is a fundamental requirement to maintain the games independence. Pictured: The Prime Minister celebrates an Arsenal goal
Fans of stricken Reading Football Club say the proposed oversight is essential to stopping other clubs falling victim to deeply unpopular owners like their own. Pictured: A march against the owners
Uefas general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said it was a fundamental requirement that the game remains free of governmental interference
Caroline Parker, 43, from campaign group Sell Before We Dai, has grown up in Reading supporting the team but says she feels helpless as she watches her club in decline.
The mother-of-one told MailOnline: Were so powerless. We are so helpless. Weve tried everything we can to get him to sell the club but were all out of ideas.
I know people are slightly wary about having regulation on private industry but football is not a normal private industry. It is a part of peoples soul. Its part of their family, its part of their community - its the town they grew up in, its the thing they watch every Saturday with their parents.
Were stuck in this purgatory where you dont want to fund the club and pay the bills, but you dont want to sell. Its just a devastating situation. It feels like a long, drawn out, painful death.
I think if UEFA is trying to strong arm English football into backing away from a regulator, theyre making the wrong move, because we need one.
The previous Conservative government had announced plans to appoint a regulator last year, saying it was necessary to protect clubs from financial mismanagement and to stop wealthy teams from joining breakaway leagues.
Starmers Labour government committed to the regulator in its legislative agenda after being elected in July, saying it would protect clubs, ensure financial sustainability and give fans more of a voice in running the clubs they support.
The Prime Minister suggested the proposals did not need changing to comply with the rules, and that Uefa had fewer objections to the plans than they had previously.
Reading fans have seen their team plummet down to League One for the first time since 1992. Pictured: Former manager Jaap Stam with Dai Yongge
Devoted fans say they feel helpless as they watch their team fall through the leagues
The Chinese billionaire has cost the club more points than any of the clubs opponents have won in matches against them
And Ms Parker says the new system would be essential to keeping clubs out of the hands of rogue billionaires.
She continued: Its a tale as old as time that you get someone who gets a football club as a toy, they chuck the house at it and when it doesnt pay off they get bored of the toy and stop playing with it. And then youre left to pick up the pieces, which is whats happened with Reading.
What they need to do is have some powers to remove owners that have no interest in actually funding the football clubs anymore.
Weve got to be able to get rogue owners out of football clubs. They cant just be allowed to stay there indefinitely if theyre not prepared to fund the club, and theyve got to make sure they can protect football clubs.
We would like reading to be a test case for the shadow regulator thats being set up at the moment to work through that model and see if Reading would pass the checks of the regulator.
Youve got a live basket base club right in front of your eyes to test. We tick all the boxes we can. Weve got all the numbers on the bingo card. Theyre looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Elusive tycoons Dai and Xiu Li first made their money turning old air raid shelters in China into shopping malls.
Xiu Li was catapulted into the world of the super-rich following the lucrative schemes - which earned her an estimated £1.1billion by 2011 and placed her on The Sunday Times Rich List.
Elusive tycoons Dai and Xiu Li first made their money turning old air raid shelters in China into shopping malls. Pictured: Dai watching a game between Hull City and Leicester City
Readings fortunes have spiralled since they bought the club in 2017, and with the billionaire searching for a new owner, bills have been left unpaid, landing the Royals with even more points deductions
Hardworking and loyal fans who spend thousands every year following their team have been left heartbroken - and many place the blame on Dai
She and her then-husband Tony Hawken, a former maths teacher, traded up their semi-detached home in South Norwood, London, and bought a £1.5million house in Surrey - but split after he struggled with their sudden wealth.
Readings fortunes have spiralled since Xiu Li and her brother Dai Yongge bought the club in 2017.
Dai has announced he is searching for a new owner but bills left unpaid have landing the Royals with even more points deductions.
Hardworking and loyal fans who spend thousands every year following their team have been left heartbroken - and many place the blame on Dai Yongge and his associates.
Attempts to get Reading into the Premier League left the club spending far more than the leagues current regulator, the EFL, allowed.
Even though Dai passed the EFLs test for owners, the EFL has deducted Reading 168 points during Dais reign.
Figures last year found the club was losing around £600,000 every week.
The accounts for the football club are currently overdue, according to Companies House, with the last accounts made up to June 2022.
It means the Chinese billionaire has cost the club more points than any of the clubs opponents have won in matches against them.
Sources close to the EFL previously told MailOnline that football ownership has a gamble culture in which some owners spend large sums of money to try to win promotion. Speaking about the crisis at Reading, they said the situation wasnt good for anyone.
They added that while it might not be a perfect world, the EFL had to take some kind of action.
She and her former-Maths-teacher husband Tony Hawken (pictured) traded up their semi-detached home in South Norwood, London, and bought a £1.5million house in Surrey - but split after he struggled with their sudden wealth
Dais attempts to get Reading into the Premier League left the club spending far more than the leagues current regulator, the EFL, allowed
The Chinese shopping mall tycoon is King Charles IIIs neighbour. Pictured: Dai Yongges front hallway
Back in May 2017, Dai was welcomed to Reading as simply the latest Chinese businessman to buy a European football club.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told MailOnline that key figures in the Chinese government had suggested hosting the FIFA World Cup as a way to flex Chinas muscles on the world stage.
Their plan was for Chinese billionaires to buy European clubs and cosy up to the idea of China being involved in the footballing community.
Yet when Chinese President Xi Jinping took a dislike to the vast sums players were paid, the attraction of owning a European club withered.
Maguire said: There was a view taken by the Chinese government that they wanted to expand influence.
When President Xi had a rethink... the desire to encourage buying European clubs diminished.
[Dai has] been successful domestically in China. But the Chinese government effectively [decides if large sums can go out of the country.]
This marbled bathroom, which has a bath on a plinth and two separate sinks, is one of nine in his mansion
Dai Yongge has been accused of killing the club he owns and is rarely seen in Reading. However, after a long day he can enjoy the ten-metre swimming pool on the bottom floor of his London mansion
If China doesnt approve the money going out, then the money is stuck, Maguire said.
These days Yongge is rarely seen at Readings home of the Select Car Leasing Stadium, formerly called the Madejski.
In Reading, which is a little more than 40 miles away from Dais luxury London mansion, the football club is facing administration.
The billionaire lives in a flash pad worth nearly £100million in the centre of the capital, which includes eight bedrooms, a spa with a ten-metre swimming pool, sauna, gym, bar and treatment room, a private garage and even a six-person lift to each of the mansions seven floors.
The Chinese multi-billionaire is said to frequent Les Ambassadeurs casino in Mayfair, one of Londons most exclusive and distinguished clubs. There, he gambles with his wealth, which he made through a variety of mysterious deals.
Football finance expert Maguire said: If it gets put into administration, [the new owner] wouldnt have to deal with debts but theres a 12-point deduction and a potential 15-point deduction [when the club comes out of it].
[Dai has] put a lot of money in [the club]. Hes been advised by people focusing on self-interest rather than the interests of the club.
Super agents cosy up to [owners] and assist in recruitment, benefiting them rather than the club.
MailOnline has contacted Reading FC and Dai Yongge for comment.
