BRACKNELL MP James Sunderland will be meeting the Secretary of State on July 11 to discuss concerns about Reading Football Club.
It’s been a summer of turmoil at the club with the fans left in the dark amid financial issues, a lack of a managerial appointment and a shortage of first-team players.
The leader of Reading Borough Council Jason Brock recently sent a letter to the Secretary of State to address his concerns about the club.
Speaking to Reading Today, Sunderland said: “Reading is my local club. I take my boys to watch Reading so we are fans in our own right. When you see what’s happening and read what’s happening in the media, you can feel the despair among the fans.
“I was contacted by the ‘Sell Before We Dai’ group.
“Reading Football Club should be in the Premier League. It has a fantastic academy. It’s really important that Reading gets back very quickly to where it belongs.
“It needs good governance. A well run club is much more likely to be successful than one that has been asset stripped. We owe it to Berkshire.”
The Royals have been dealt with several sanctions from the EFL across the previous two seasons, including two separate six point penalties for breaching profit and sustainability rules.
The club are currently on the EFL Embargo Service for failing to pay players on time on three separate occasions last season.
A new charge of a missed payment to HMRC was added two weeks back and the club had until Thursday, June 29 to respond. There has been no official statement made on the outcome. The winding up petition was issued on June 20.
Sunderland continued: “This isn’t just about being relegated, this is about bills that aren’t being paid, players that aren’t being paid and promises that aren’t being kept.
“I will sit down next week with the culture secretary and we will look at Reading Football Club and have a look at whether the white paper of the emerging government of football governance could have an impact. It may be too early.
“The whole point of the football white paper is to give fans a say, that’s why we’ve done it. It gives fans a degree of assurance that the club they support is being run in the right way. It’s about making sure the people that buy football clubs are fit and appropriate to do it and holding people to account so they are not ripping off clubs.
“It may well be that we can’t influence it because as of today the rules don’t necessary allow government or politicians to intervene. It’s a privately owned club and was bought in good faith and there is a shared ownership. There may well be something we can do but I won’t know what we can do until I meet the Secretary of State.
“I’ll speak with Tracy Crouch and her work about football governance.
“The precedence has been set now where fan pressure can almost force the owners to do the right thing. In Reading’s case it may well be that the current owner is encouraged to sell and move on. What we need quite clearly is the right people at the helm of Reading Football Club and get people back in the stadium.
“It has to be the plan to get Reading promoted back into the Championship.
“Please be assured there are good politicians working on this and we’re doing the best we can. We can’t promise miracles but if there is a way to apply pressure, we will do that.”
