At Long Last, Reading’s Takeover Fight Is Over

Ian muses about the wonderfully welcome news that Reading have finally reached the end of the Dai Yongge era.

And... relax. The fight is over, we’ve saved our beloved club from the brink.

I make no apologies to anyone on the train from London Waterloo this afternoon who heard a rather loud cheer! For the first time in a long while we’ll be able to wake up tomorrow and be able to think like regular football fans again.

Things like: what players we’re going to sign and where we’ll finish next season. It’s weird when it’s put like that, but the reality is that, for many of us, our worry from week to week has been if we’d even play the next game.

Recently I was asked what I would have done if we ceased to exist beyond this season and, to be honest, I didn’t have an answer.

Thankfully now, it’s not something any of us need to worry about. You can choose many things in life - your partner, your career - but I firmly believe your club chooses you. Whether that’s by birth or another reason, the relationship you have with your club is as unique as any of those traditional ones.

For me, Reading is more than just a club, it’s an incredible community of people from all walks of life.

Over the next few days and weeks, we have a lot to sort out, with the priority being ensuring those out of contract are offered new deals, with any gaps filled. This is going to be a cracking project for any player coming in and I’m sure the project will sell itself.

For us fans though, it’s important that we all take some kind of break. We’ve been through a lot over the past two years. Speaking from personal experience, I lost count of the number of sleepless nights and times I cried worrying about the club.

I know I’m not the only one. This has been a rough ride for everyone connected with the club. We can now relax, knowing that the club will definitely see tomorrow.

I look forward to talking football again and the changes that I would make to the starting XI in the pub after the game. I look forward to not having to work out the potential impact of points deductions. I look forward to not worrying if we’ll need to sell players in order to keep the lights on next month. I’m even looking forward to not having a heart attack every time the EFL tweets.

Most importantly I’m simply looking forward to watching us play again without worrying it’ll be the last time.

Rob and Todd, thank you for never giving up on us. We all know it’s not been easy to get the deal over the line, but you believed in us and you’ve got our full support. I hope that your tenure is successful as, ultimately, we all win from that.

Finally though, thank you to all those who made this happen: Sell Before We Dai, STAR, MPs, journalists. You’ve persevered when many would’ve given up. Your spirit and determination encapsulate what this club is about. Each and every one of you will be remembered forever.

We will never die.

URZ.