The owners - what went wrong for them

[Brogue]

My own prejudices aside, something has clearly gone wrong for the new owners of Reading Football Club.

I’m currently running a poll on Twitter. It still has another eight hours or so to run, but the results so far are quite astonishing.

Before getting into them, let’s address the inevitable response:

“Yeah, but it’s Twitter. Everyone on there is a frothing-at-the-mouth weirdo.”

There is some truth in that. There are certainly some very vocal negative nellies on there, and I’ll happily admit that I can fall into that category myself at times. However, they are generally a minority who simply shout louder than everyone else. There are also plenty of perfectly reasonable Reading fans on Twitter.

I’d also argue that the Reading FC community on Twitter contains a significant proportion of the supporters who regularly attend matches. The poll is not a scientific survey, obviously, but with more than 800 votes, it should still give us a reasonable indication of the current mood among the fanbase.

Very few Reading-related polls receive that level of engagement, so the subject has clearly struck a nerve.

The question itself was deliberately simple:

“Do you trust the owners?”

The only options were yes or no. There was no additional context or leading commentary that might influence the result.

As of midday, 837 votes had been cast, and 40% of respondents said they did not trust the owners... 40%?

I find that astonishing. When I posted the poll, I didn’t think for a second that the number voting no would be anywhere near that high.

So what has gone wrong?

You would imagine that almost anyone replacing Dai Yongge would receive an extended honeymoon period. The bar could hardly have been lower. Yet, despite that, after just over a year in charge, four out of every ten people responding to the poll already say they do not trust the new owners.

Regardless of whether the final figure moves slightly before the poll closes, that should concern them. To have lost the trust of such a sizeable section of the fanbase this quickly suggests that something has gone badly wrong.

[windermereROYAL]

I don`t do twitter anymore, so if 40% don`t trust them then 60% do.
For me, nothing has gone wrong apart from appointing a clueless manager who I don`t think will be here at Christmas if things don`t go swimmingly.
Are the 40% upset we`re not throwing millions at signings that we`re not allowed to?
They took over last May, the club was in a terrible state, what do they want in 14 months?

[Linden Jones' Tash]

I left twitter ages ago because of what it has become, so I cannot comment on the representativity of the Reading FC fan base on there, I could speculate, but won't....

I think the nature of fandom has changed a lot in recent times and no Club is immune to the impatience of the social media age...

You just have to look at Liverpool fans and Slot....

As for the current RFC ownership, they have been fairly clear about their objectives (make a profit, leave the club in a better state than they found it) and liquidity (limited)...

So if people project different goals or means on them, thats down to them...

As I've repeated many many times on here, if L1 owners cannot afford to lose at least £10M a year, then the future isn't bright...


Just enjoy the ride while it lasts, thats my moto.

[Uke]

Not that valid a poll unless you compare them to previous owners, we can't change owners so how much they are "trusted" makes Sweet FA difference.

Maybe do a poll listing all previous owners (since SJM to not skew the result) asking which do you trust most?

Should give a more meaningful (if obvious) result...

1. Anton Zingarevich (2012–2014)
2. The Thai Consortium (2014–2017)
3. The Dai Family Era (2017–2025)
4. Redwood Holdings / Rob Couhig & Todd Trosclair (2025–Present)


But it's not the result that allows you to gripe about the owners...

[Brogue]

Not that valid a poll unless you compare them to previous owners, we can't change owners so how much they are "trusted" makes Sweet FA difference.

Maybe do a poll listing all previous owners (since SJM to not skew the result) asking which do you trust most?

Should give a more meaningful (if obvious) result...

1. Anton Zingarevich (2012–2014)
2. The Thai Consortium (2014–2017)
3. The Dai Family Era (2017–2025)
4. Redwood Holdings / Rob Couhig & Todd Trosclair (2025–Present)


But it's not the result that allows you to gripe about the owners...

That's like saying who would i most like to be molested by

1. Jimmy Saville
2. Rolf Harris
3. Gary Glitter
4. Stuart Hall

Of course, this is a valid poll; you don't need to compare to other owners to gauge whether the fans trust the current owners. in fact it would be mad to do so, as they have no bearing on what the incumbent lot are doing

[Uke]

Not that valid a poll unless you compare them to previous owners, we can't change owners so how much they are "trusted" makes Sweet FA difference.

Maybe do a poll listing all previous owners (since SJM to not skew the result) asking which do you trust most?

Should give a more meaningful (if obvious) result...

1. Anton Zingarevich (2012–2014)
2. The Thai Consortium (2014–2017)
3. The Dai Family Era (2017–2025)
4. Redwood Holdings / Rob Couhig & Todd Trosclair (2025–Present)


But it's not the result that allows you to gripe about the owners...

That's like saying who would i most like to be molested by

1. Jimmy Saville
2. Rolf Harris
3. Gary Glitter
4. Stuart Hall

Of course, this is a valid poll; you don't need to compare to other owners to gauge whether the fans trust the current owners. in fact it would be mad to do so, as they have no bearing on what the incumbent lot are doing

The same as our distrust of Dai had no bearing on what he did either.

Also this is the start of the season, are you running this poll again in December and May?

Running it on Twitter allows all the Pompey, Oxford, Swindon and random shit stirrers to vote too, like Tories who paid a pound to vote for Corbyn in 2015

Put your poll on this thread? See how the results are with a "Reading" sample group.

At least post a link to your own bloody poll!!! https://x.com/HuangKad/status/2085080475912065257?s=20

[Orion1871]

So Brogue's source did get fired then.

[Brogue]

Not that valid a poll unless you compare them to previous owners, we can't change owners so how much they are "trusted" makes Sweet FA difference.

Maybe do a poll listing all previous owners (since SJM to not skew the result) asking which do you trust most?

Should give a more meaningful (if obvious) result...

1. Anton Zingarevich (2012–2014)
2. The Thai Consortium (2014–2017)
3. The Dai Family Era (2017–2025)
4. Redwood Holdings / Rob Couhig & Todd Trosclair (2025–Present)


But it's not the result that allows you to gripe about the owners...

That's like saying who would i most like to be molested by

1. Jimmy Saville
2. Rolf Harris
3. Gary Glitter
4. Stuart Hall

Of course, this is a valid poll; you don't need to compare to other owners to gauge whether the fans trust the current owners. in fact it would be mad to do so, as they have no bearing on what the incumbent lot are doing

The same as our distrust of Dai had no bearing on what he did either.

Also this is the start of the season, are you running this poll again in December and May?

Running it on Twitter allows all the Pompey, Oxford, Swindon and random shit stirrers to vote too, like Tories who paid a pound to vote for Corbyn in 2015

Put your poll on this thread? See how the results are with a "Reading" sample group.

I find it very strange you are questioning the validity of the poll the ‘ Pompey, Oxford, Swindon and random shit stirrers’ might have voted (extremely unlikely) but they are going to be in the very small minority when we are talking nearly 1000 people voting.

There is little point in putting a poll on here and the reason I didn’t is because the numbers who vote are so small it doesn’t give a proper representation. Most polls only get about 30 - 40 votes in total.

[stealthpapes]

TLDR Whatever goodwill we built up in the struggle years appears to have completely vanished.
Already.

Three things I’ve noticed:

There was zero honeymoon

Yes, we had a terrible start, but there was an almost immediate mood of “change something”. Hunt lost that EFL cup vs Swindon and he was done for.

Relevant facts include that Dai held on for months too long and we had seven pros come the start of pre-season. I don’t think the finances are in any way a good or even clear state but can’t prove that.

That we were even vaguely competitive is astounding.

Normal things became evidence of abnormal

No signings in May … becomes … we’re not signing anyone.
Squad is threadbare and injury prone … becomes … we’re only sign crocks. Who’ve played at Bradford.

Add in stuff like “The relegation spots are decided by Christmas” when (a) they’re not and (b) the best counter example is *us* is another slice of the where we are right now. We know they’re not decided. We all know they’re not decided.
Yet.

There was at least one post this summer blaming Leam for the poor loans we acquired last Summer. He wasn’t even here!

There was zero honeymoon II:electric bugaloo

The first Leam Out comment came before he’d signed, iirc.
We went on a markedly improved run of form but the first loss, maybe first televised loss, saw the whole “we’re doomed” shtick. Rinse and repeat.

January saw some attempts to remediate issues but normal footballing stuff, signing players you know, playing it safe when things are still wobbling, were seen as “it’s going to be like this now”.

Nonsense.

On the other side of the equation

The owners being quieter this summer reflects a few wilder comments last. It wasn’t Yankee Doodle Dickhead stuff all summer, but one or two quotes kept doing the rounds.

On the pitch, a bit more mettle, a bit more nous, we were competing for play offs (iirc we were 6th at 90 minutes vs Huddersfield). But we also know it’s not a team he signed and that once we’d changed managers, it would take time for a new vision to come into place. We know this. We all know this. Yet.

With Leam, I got to the point where I’d hope a club would come in for him. Save us the boring threads when we drop points every third game. Oh no, we’re only on playoff form. We’re doomed. Save us the personal comments. Save us the repeated garbage.

And in terms of managers, I still find it unbelievable that we’d react badly on a relative unknown. Us, the club that had McGhee, Gooding/Quinn, Pardew, McDermott, Selles.
Each of the promotion managers in there also took at least a season to get to where they wanted to be. This sort of thing should be in our blood. We know this. We all know this.
Yet.

It does feel like a lot of fans think Dai going would simply flick a switch. I don’t think the new owners have done a perfect job. Given the circumstances, it’s certainly not bad yet has had clear flaws. The one big positive of this summer seems to be a sense of the new regime learning and building.

In terms of the poll, a single number means nothing, really. There’s no baseline, nothing to compare it to.

Again, we know this.
We all know this.
Yet.

[Stranded]

My own prejudices aside, something has clearly gone wrong for the new owners of Reading Football Club.

I’m currently running a poll on Twitter. It still has another eight hours or so to run, but the results so far are quite astonishing.

Before getting into them, let’s address the inevitable response:

“Yeah, but it’s Twitter. Everyone on there is a frothing-at-the-mouth weirdo.”

There is some truth in that. There are certainly some very vocal negative nellies on there, and I’ll happily admit that I can fall into that category myself at times. However, they are generally a minority who simply shout louder than everyone else. There are also plenty of perfectly reasonable Reading fans on Twitter.

I’d also argue that the Reading FC community on Twitter contains a significant proportion of the supporters who regularly attend matches. The poll is not a scientific survey, obviously, but with more than 800 votes, it should still give us a reasonable indication of the current mood among the fanbase.

Very few Reading-related polls receive that level of engagement, so the subject has clearly struck a nerve.

The question itself was deliberately simple:

“Do you trust the owners?”

The only options were yes or no. There was no additional context or leading commentary that might influence the result.

As of midday, 837 votes had been cast, and 40% of respondents said they did not trust the owners... 40%?

I find that astonishing. When I posted the poll, I didn’t think for a second that the number voting no would be anywhere near that high.

So what has gone wrong?

You would imagine that almost anyone replacing Dai Yongge would receive an extended honeymoon period. The bar could hardly have been lower. Yet, despite that, after just over a year in charge, four out of every ten people responding to the poll already say they do not trust the new owners.

Regardless of whether the final figure moves slightly before the poll closes, that should concern them. To have lost the trust of such a sizeable section of the fanbase this quickly suggests that something has gone badly wrong.

Whilst there will be a decent number on there who answer that they do not trust the owners, I would argue that as you took the unusual step of putting "No" as the first option may skew the results as a result of Primacy Effect. People also would expect Yes to be the first answer, so some will have clicked the first response without really paying attention.

[stealthpapes]

With polls, and I was loath to bring polling or politics into it, there’s two or three common rules.

If you look at most PM doing well or best PM polls, they’re typically disliked (except right at the start) and “none of the above” is often viewed as best PM. I think something similar might apply here, what % of fans of any club would not trust their owners.

Don’t know and/or don’t care are important options to include. They’re often higher than you think. I guess with a twitter poll you’re getting more engaged people. Maybe, if you’ve got time, get your clipboard and ask the man on the street.

There’s a core percentage of the country that believe absolutely insane things. No, not the obvious, you simpering dullard, but “lizard people from Mars” level insane. It’s about 10%

Yeah.

To be fair about 20% of UK adults are illiterate and innumerate.

That said, it’s a number and it’s a fair question. Nowt any of us can do about it, though.

[Brogue]

My own prejudices aside, something has clearly gone wrong for the new owners of Reading Football Club.

I’m currently running a poll on Twitter. It still has another eight hours or so to run, but the results so far are quite astonishing.

Before getting into them, let’s address the inevitable response:

“Yeah, but it’s Twitter. Everyone on there is a frothing-at-the-mouth weirdo.”

There is some truth in that. There are certainly some very vocal negative nellies on there, and I’ll happily admit that I can fall into that category myself at times. However, they are generally a minority who simply shout louder than everyone else. There are also plenty of perfectly reasonable Reading fans on Twitter.

I’d also argue that the Reading FC community on Twitter contains a significant proportion of the supporters who regularly attend matches. The poll is not a scientific survey, obviously, but with more than 800 votes, it should still give us a reasonable indication of the current mood among the fanbase.

Very few Reading-related polls receive that level of engagement, so the subject has clearly struck a nerve.

The question itself was deliberately simple:

“Do you trust the owners?”

The only options were yes or no. There was no additional context or leading commentary that might influence the result.

As of midday, 837 votes had been cast, and 40% of respondents said they did not trust the owners... 40%?

I find that astonishing. When I posted the poll, I didn’t think for a second that the number voting no would be anywhere near that high.

So what has gone wrong?

You would imagine that almost anyone replacing Dai Yongge would receive an extended honeymoon period. The bar could hardly have been lower. Yet, despite that, after just over a year in charge, four out of every ten people responding to the poll already say they do not trust the new owners.

Regardless of whether the final figure moves slightly before the poll closes, that should concern them. To have lost the trust of such a sizeable section of the fanbase this quickly suggests that something has gone badly wrong.

Whilst there will be a decent number on there who answer that they do not trust the owners, I would argue that as you took the unusual step of putting "No" as the first option may skew the results as a result of Primacy Effect. People also would expect Yes to be the first answer, so some will have clicked the first response without really paying attention.

eh what are on about i put yes first.

[Stranded]

My own prejudices aside, something has clearly gone wrong for the new owners of Reading Football Club.

I’m currently running a poll on Twitter. It still has another eight hours or so to run, but the results so far are quite astonishing.

Before getting into them, let’s address the inevitable response:

“Yeah, but it’s Twitter. Everyone on there is a frothing-at-the-mouth weirdo.”

There is some truth in that. There are certainly some very vocal negative nellies on there, and I’ll happily admit that I can fall into that category myself at times. However, they are generally a minority who simply shout louder than everyone else. There are also plenty of perfectly reasonable Reading fans on Twitter.

I’d also argue that the Reading FC community on Twitter contains a significant proportion of the supporters who regularly attend matches. The poll is not a scientific survey, obviously, but with more than 800 votes, it should still give us a reasonable indication of the current mood among the fanbase.

Very few Reading-related polls receive that level of engagement, so the subject has clearly struck a nerve.

The question itself was deliberately simple:

“Do you trust the owners?”

The only options were yes or no. There was no additional context or leading commentary that might influence the result.

As of midday, 837 votes had been cast, and 40% of respondents said they did not trust the owners... 40%?

I find that astonishing. When I posted the poll, I didn’t think for a second that the number voting no would be anywhere near that high.

So what has gone wrong?

You would imagine that almost anyone replacing Dai Yongge would receive an extended honeymoon period. The bar could hardly have been lower. Yet, despite that, after just over a year in charge, four out of every ten people responding to the poll already say they do not trust the new owners.

Regardless of whether the final figure moves slightly before the poll closes, that should concern them. To have lost the trust of such a sizeable section of the fanbase this quickly suggests that something has gone badly wrong.

Whilst there will be a decent number on there who answer that they do not trust the owners, I would argue that as you took the unusual step of putting "No" as the first option may skew the results as a result of Primacy Effect. People also would expect Yes to be the first answer, so some will have clicked the first response without really paying attention.

eh what are on about i put yes first.

Hmm, weird, apologies then but it was showing No to me for some reason - will assume that was just my brain playing tricks.

[Uke]

TLDR Whatever goodwill we built up in the struggle years appears to have completely vanished.
Already.

Three things I’ve noticed:

There was zero honeymoon

Yes, we had a terrible start, but there was an almost immediate mood of “change something”. Hunt lost that EFL cup vs Swindon and he was done for.

Relevant facts include that Dai held on for months too long and we had seven pros come the start of pre-season. I don’t think the finances are in any way a good or even clear state but can’t prove that.

That we were even vaguely competitive is astounding.

Normal things became evidence of abnormal

No signings in May … becomes … we’re not signing anyone.
Squad is threadbare and injury prone … becomes … we’re only sign crocks. Who’ve played at Bradford.

Add in stuff like “The relegation spots are decided by Christmas” when (a) they’re not and (b) the best counter example is *us* is another slice of the where we are right now. We know they’re not decided. We all know they’re not decided.
Yet.

There was at least one post this summer blaming Leam for the poor loans we acquired last Summer. He wasn’t even here!

There was zero honeymoon II:electric bugaloo

The first Leam Out comment came before he’d signed, iirc.
We went on a markedly improved run of form but the first loss, maybe first televised loss, saw the whole “we’re doomed” shtick. Rinse and repeat.

January saw some attempts to remediate issues but normal footballing stuff, signing players you know, playing it safe when things are still wobbling, were seen as “it’s going to be like this now”.

Nonsense.

On the other side of the equation

The owners being quieter this summer reflects a few wilder comments last. It wasn’t Yankee Doodle Dickhead stuff all summer, but one or two quotes kept doing the rounds.

On the pitch, a bit more mettle, a bit more nous, we were competing for play offs (iirc we were 6th at 90 minutes vs Huddersfield). But we also know it’s not a team he signed and that once we’d changed managers, it would take time for a new vision to come into place. We know this. We all know this. Yet.

With Leam, I got to the point where I’d hope a club would come in for him. Save us the boring threads when we drop points every third game. Oh no, we’re only on playoff form. We’re doomed. Save us the personal comments. Save us the repeated garbage.

And in terms of managers, I still find it unbelievable that we’d react badly on a relative unknown. Us, the club that had McGhee, Gooding/Quinn, Pardew, McDermott, Selles.
Each of the promotion managers in there also took at least a season to get to where they wanted to be. This sort of thing should be in our blood. We know this. We all know this.
Yet.

It does feel like a lot of fans think Dai going would simply flick a switch. I don’t think the new owners have done a perfect job. Given the circumstances, it’s certainly not bad yet has had clear flaws. The one big positive of this summer seems to be a sense of the new regime learning and building.

In terms of the poll, a single number means nothing, really. There’s no baseline, nothing to compare it to.

Again, we know this.
We all know this.
Yet.

this.jif

#teampapeshere

[mikey_1871]

I would argue that any lack of trust in the current owners is a hangover from the Dai era. Reading fans are so conditioned to think/expect the worst that every little thing seemingly becomes a huge drama.

Trust also isn't something that is gained on day one, it is built up over time. So whilst we were glad and relieved of the takeover, this was purely because it brought an end to the Dai sh1tstorm and not because of any anticipation that the current owners were going to be amazing. Whilst seemingly trustworthy - they did Wycombe no harm - it was always going to be the case that a portion of the fanbase would be unconvinced and would need winning over. That's just life.

As such, I would have anticipated a simialr result to the poll on day 1 to today. I don't think Couhig has done enough to move the needle for those that were initially sceptical, but equally hasn't done so much wrong that those that were happy with him are now calling for his head.

[Hound]

Trust the owners to do what?

They’ve made it pretty clear what their business plan is. Trust them to make the right decisions to achieve this?

It’s a strange question and is almost a leading one to get a negative response, esp off Twitter

Anyway, it’s a new season. Team looks decent enough. Leam has settled in and has no excuses for some of the terrible performances we put in last year. Pre season has been positive. Signings which make sense, not random whoever is available efforts

Clean slate for me. I’ve enjoyed the preseason games 10* more than our defend deep and hoof towards Marriott and hope the defender/keeper fcuks up efforts of last year

Looking forward to Saturday.

[Esteban]

What's gone wrong, exactly? We didn't get promoted last season, that's a fair criticism I suppose. But they've paid the bills, despite being in the red each month, improved the stadium, brought the women's team back into the fold, tried to get bums on seats.

It's not exactly a disaster, is it. We had a poor start an end to a season.

[leon]

Trust the owners to do what?

They’ve made it pretty clear what their business plan is. Trust them to make the right decisions to achieve this?

It’s a strange question and is almost a leading one to get a negative response, esp off Twitter

Anyway, it’s a new season. Team looks decent enough. Leam has settled in and has no excuses for some of the terrible performances we put in last year. Pre season has been positive. Signings which make sense, not random whoever is available efforts

Clean slate for me. I’ve enjoyed the preseason games 10* more than our defend deep and hoof towards Marriott and hope the defender/keeper fcuks up efforts of last year

Looking forward to Saturday.

Well quite, we've been shafted by successive owners so is it any wonder that a significant proportion don't? That doesn't mean the owners won't gain their trust.

Do I "trust" them? I don't really know yet. Maybe a more interesting question is "do I distrust them?" - no.

[Brogue]

What's gone wrong, exactly? We didn't get promoted last season, that's a fair criticism I suppose. But they've paid the bills, despite being in the red each month, improved the stadium, brought the women's team back into the fold, tried to get bums on seats.

It's not exactly a disaster, is it. We had a poor start an end to a season.

That’s exactly what I’m asking! what has gone wrong? Why are 40% of fans voting ‘no’ when asked the question do you trust them. I would have expected a 75-25 in favour of ‘yes’…minimum. So obviously something is causing distrust. And that’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of.

People can come out with this and that., but I’m not understanding why. it’s weird. If 150 people had voted then meh you take it with a pinch of salt and just say yeah the majority of people voting are just the negative fans anyway.

But as someone who is on twitter regularly it’s pretty much unheard of to get 1000 people voting on a post. I’ve certainly never had a response to a poll like this before. And that’s coming from someone who is regularly getting hundreds of engagements (half a million in the last 4 weeks) on pretty much every post I make.

[RG30]

Running us like Wycombe Wanderers 2.0.
One Royal
Long standing staff being made redundant without any care or compassion which has led to a negative toxic atmosphere behind the scenes.