League One

DAI YONGGE is dangerous and must be run out of English football before it’s too late for Reading.The Chinese owner carries an Armageddon threat to the future of this proud and historic 152-year-old club.
Reading owner Dai Yongge has been a complete disaster in football
Almost everything he and his sister Dai Xiu Li have touched in football has been catastrophic.
You only need to look at what happened at the other two clubs these siblings owned to get a terrifying snapshot into what the future could hold for the Royals.
Former top-flight Belgian side KSV Roeselare were relegated to their third tier and the 99-year-old club went bankrupt three years ago.
While Beijing Chengfeng tumbled from the Chinese Super League to their third tier before they were dissolved two years ago.
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And, true to this pair’s form, Reading are now in the third tier after crashing out of the Championship — because of their complete incompetence.
Their latest three-point sanction for Yongge’s financial mismanagement means they have now racked up 16 docked points in less than two years.
It grates on me when the EFL dock points in situations like this because it always punishes the wrong people. Let’s not forget it was the League themselves who waved through Yongge’s takeover six years ago in the first place.
The four points taken from Reading already this season means, despite Saturday’s brilliant 2-1 comeback win over Bolton, they are fourth bottom and in the relegation zone.
It grates on me when the EFL dock points in situations like this because it always punishes the wrong people.
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Let’s not forget it was the League themselves who waved through Yongge’s takeover six years ago in the first place.
They then sanction the Royals because the Chinese owner they welcomed into English football with open arms isn’t what he cracked up to be. He hoodwinked them as much as he fooled the good people of Reading.
These points sanctions are barely landing blows on Yongge personally — but they’re hurting everyone else connected with the Royals.
The ones that are suffering are manager Ruben Selles, his players, the staff who diligently run the club and, most importantly, the fans.
Of course, the EFL are simply applying the current rules that all 72 of its clubs are signed up to … but the law is an ass.
But how can the EFL punish these rogue owners without hurting the clubs and communities they represent?
There needs to be a huge change to this country’s whole football ownership model.
At present, an owner can takeover an historic club and run it into the ground. We have seen what has happened in recent years.
Bury were expelled from the EFL in 2019, Southend relegated from the League after 101 years in 2021, Macclesfield were sent into oblivion after a points deduction three years ago and Scunthorpe have tumbled from League One play-offs to National League North football in five years.
And, let’s not forget, Premier League founder members Oldham crashing into non-league.
Reading boss Ruben Selles is working under difficult circumstances
Bury FC were expelled from the EFL IN 2019
There are plenty of other examples.
In every one it has been down to the owners wrecking these teams.
Football clubs are community assets so my idea is we should protect them by introducing an “ownership under license” policy.
This would mean that owners have to be granted a license to run an English club, subject to fit-and-proper criteria being met.
But, here is the caveat: if certain criteria isn’t met, the license can be revoked at any moment.
And in those instances the assets will be frozen and the club will be taken over temporarily by FA-appointed administrators before the license is put back up for tender.
The real threat of having the asset taken away like this might just focus the mind of an owner to run the ship more sensibly — and also deter bad apples from entering English football in the first place.
Included in all this clubs could be given an annual financial health check to head off any potential problems. Why is it usually the case that teams are allowed to get into serious peril before anything is done?
Also, as I have previously mentioned, we should also follow a 51 per cent fan-owned model like they do in Germany.
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All this would require government legislation with the finer details worked out by politicians and the football authorities.
But a licensing system would surely bring more stability to the game — especially outside the golden bowl that is the Premier League. More

CHARLIE WYKE became so depressed he almost quit the game six months ago.The Wigan striker had survived two cardiac arrests and six heart operations as well as having a defibrillator inserted in his chest.
Charlie Wyke has had a brilliant start to the seasonCredit: Getty
The striker was named in League One Player of the Month
Like Christian Eriksen before him — who suffered the same life-threatening attack — he made a miracle comeback.
But the sacking of boss Leam Richardson last November and a knee injury suffered two days later took him to a lower point than ever before.
Wyke is happy again having been named League One player of the month for August after scoring five goals in four games.
But while the Latics were dropping out of the Championship last term, he believed he was already down and out.
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The 30-year-old admitted: “I got to the stage late last season where I wasn’t sure that I wanted to play any more.
“I had been through all the problems with my heart. Leam, who I had become so close to for helping save my life, got sacked and then I had the knee injury.
“I had lost my mojo, my whole desire to play football — and I began to think that it would never come back.
“I was all over the place. I spoke to my missus and to my family all the time, about just packing it in.
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Wyke, 30, had a defibrillator fitted last year after suffering two heart attacksCredit: Sky Sports
“Even my agent said: ‘What’s the point? You’ve had a good career, why not just call it a day?’.
“It was horrendous. I was in my first year in the Championship, I’d come back from cardiac arrest.
“But losing Leam and then doing my knee — it felt like it just wasn’t meant to be. My body couldn’t handle it any more. I was overweight — up to 90 kilos — my knee wasn’t right, my head wasn’t right and I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this any more’.”
Wyke was given his life back after collapsing on the training pitch in November 2021.
Richardson performed CPR before handing over to club doctor Jonathan Tobin — who had saved Fabrice Muamba’s life after he “died” for 78 minutes following his collapse on the pitch during Bolton’s 2012 FA Cup clash at Tottenham.
Former Sunderland frontman Wyke suffered another attack in April 2022 — also during training.
I had lost my mojo, my whole desire to play football — and I began to think that it would never come back.Charlie Wyke
But with the  help of a new Beta-blocker, he is now banging them in as Wigan fight back from an EFL eight-point deduction for failing to pay players’ wages on time.
The tears and sorrow of the past two years have been replaced by joy, with Wyke stressing: “The difference in me from a few months ago is crazy.
“Things were so bad at the end of last season that I just went back home to the North East.
“I had made only four sub appearances after the knee injury and was telling the lads in the dressing room that this was me done at the end of the season.
“But our physio, Jimmy Barrow, told me I was taking out my anger on the wrong people — to start focusing on myself and get my head and body straight.
“He was right, too, so I decided to give it one last go and came back 6kg lighter.
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“I can’t explain the relief I felt when we kicked off with a 2-1 win at Derby and I scored both goals.
“Except to say that, for what felt like the first time in forever, I finally felt normal again.” More

READING have been hit with their second points deduction of the season by the EFL.The Royals went into the campaign with a one point deficit after being found to have breached league financial regulations.
Reading have been deducted a further three points in League OneCredit: Getty
Reading’s previous penalty saw them ordered to deposit 125 per cent of their monthly wage bill into an account by September 12.
Failure to do so has seen Reading trigger a further three-point penalty – meaning they have now been docked four in total this term.
The Royals were relegated from the Championship last season after having had six points deducted.
They have won two and lost four of their League One matches so far this season.
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This means that, with the deduction applied, Reading now sit 21st on two points.
An official EFL statement read: “Reading FC have been deducted three points from the 2023/24 League One table after the Club failed to comply with the order of an Independent Disciplinary Commission (IDC) which required them to deposit an amount equal to 125% of the Club’s forecast monthly wage bill in a designated account by 12 September 2023.
“On 15 August 2023, the IDC had determined the Club had breached EFL Regulations related to the Club having failed to pay its players’ wages on time and in full on or around 31 October 2022, 30 November 2022, and 28 April 2023.
“The Club received a one-point deduction, with a further three points suspended.
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“As a result of this latest instance of non-compliance by the Club’s ownership, the suspended sanction has been activated and, as per the Commission’s instructions, applied by the EFL to the League One table with immediate effect.
“The EFL continues to acknowledge the negative impact sporting sanctions are having on the Football Club and remain extremely disappointed and frustrated at the Club’s ownership to meet its ongoing obligations under EFL Regulations.
“The League will continue to apply its rules in all circumstances deemed appropriate.”
Reading appointed former Southampton boss Selles over the summer.
They had their transfer embargo lifted in July, which had been in place since 2021.
Following today’s further points deduction, a Reading club statement read: “Reading Football Club can confirm that a suspended three-point penalty has been activated as a result of owner Mr Dai failing to deposit an amount equating to 125% of the club’s monthly wage bill into a designated account by the deadline of Tuesday 12 September 2023, as ordered by the Independent Disciplinary Commission in its decision of 15 August 2023.
“Last month, the club received a one-point penalty in relation to breaches of Regulation 64.7 of the EFL Regulations (relating to three instances of late payment of player wages), with a further three-point suspended penalty to be applied should the club fail to pay players’ wages on time on any further occasion before 30 June 2024, or should the deposit payment fail to be paid.
“The points deduction will now be applied to our League One total with immediate effect.
“As communicated to our supporters previously, Mr Dai is currently undertaking an ongoing process of seeking sources of stable external investment for the football club, with the aim of mitigating the risk of cashflow complications arising in future.” More