Did Somebody Say Protest?

Given last week’s events; fans are understandably discussing when protests should start again. Here’s Blue & White Jester’s view.

What a week last week was eh? Only Reading FC would leave it 20 hours before kick-off at table-topping Wycombe Wanderers to tell us Ruben Selles had left for Hull City. In a world of 24-hour news, how does it take so long to address a story, which to the rest of the world was days in motion?

But that wasn’t the only story from last week. Has anyone forgotten that former Reading owner Roger Smee came out and told us he’d been “rejected” in his approaches to reacquire the club?

To say the fanbase is on edge now is an understatement, thus rather than “play-offs” it’s “protests” that’s on everyone’s minds.

I absolutely get it and I’m going to stick my neck out here and say: enough with the threats of retributions from the EFL etc. As it stands, their position is akin to rubberneckers at a car crash. Doing nothing, saying nothing and seemingly uncaring as to how it plays out.

It’s unbelievable that this has been said a few times in recent months without any hyperbole, but the next weeks really are huge in Reading FC’s future. Thus, it’s only right in my view we as fans act.

But when is the right moment?

Obviously, we’re all backing Noel Hunt to do us proud, and the idea of protests vanished upon him being named Selles’ successor. But I’d argue the club have taken advantage of us here. I made a similar point over 18 months ago when I suggested Graeme Murty becoming Reading manager would be the owner’s way of selling us a turd wrapped in nostalgia.

In my opinion there’s a huge chance our loyalty to Hunt will be pitted against our angst at losing players in a few weeks, so perhaps already we can say the earliest any protests should happen is January?

While Hunt told the press it was Brian Carey who offered him the job, he assumed either Dai Yongge or Dayong Pang had approved of it. That does bring me to a wider point here in wondering whether the likes of Dai and Pang have checked out of the SCL already.

That question will be answered in January. We all know players can be sold very quickly when certain people in the club want it to happen. My advice to either Hunt or Carey here is to remember last year and don’t allow yourselves to be used or made to look silly like Mark Bowen was.

But as for potential fan action, rather than protest, let’s go back to a surprising intervention earlier last week from the recently elected MP for Earley and Woodley, Yuan Yang, who directly called out the club on Twitter.

In my view she absolutely hit the nail on the head, asking where the communication was regarding the takeover and rumours around Selles. When a member of Parliament calls you out, regardless of political party, you should respond. Clearly the club are pretending it hasn’t happened, which is extraordinary.

It might only have been one tweet whereby an MP attempted to engage with a local issue to show they’re present. But either way she was spot on regarding the wider point. When will there be an update on the takeover again?

We know all too well how the club communicates, or should I say doesn’t. But Yang, Olivia Bailey, Clive Jones and of course Matt Rodda shouldn’t only engage on this issue when it’s convenient.

Given their status as MPs, they should be able to command an audience with Reading board members and give reassurance with an understanding that sensitivity won’t be compromised and shared with the media.

The club’s takeover saga is about to see its second Christmas! I cannot think of another business that’s apparently been on the open market for so long. We all know its potential and I think it’s time our elected MPs asked the club to engage with them on where they are in the process and why this is still happening.

If they can’t get this, then it’s back on us and I’d expect them to say as much.

I would like to think the threat of a pending football regulator and an EFL who have previously attempted to ban Dai might encourage the club to engage - especially as the EFL may feel emboldened to try for a ban again, knowing MPs could back them.

Before we know it, January and the transfer window will have arrived. If by some chance we’re still looking like play-off contenders, then it’s obvious we carry on doing what we’re now so good at: waiting, hoping and piling pressure on the board where we can while backing the team.

At this point, even predicting what could happen at Reading FC in a month feels like a huge gamble. If last week was anything to go by, I fully expect more revelations in the Reading soap opera come to light and I feel the weight of those should determine how soon protests return.

History has shown Dai and Pang don’t like the threat of fan action and thus serve up crumbs of news to stop us. If members of the UK Parliament can’t wake them the slightest bit, then I’d argue they’re gifting us cart blanche in how we sort them out.

They’ve had over 400 days to sell Reading FC. Imagine the coverage two big protests a year apart about the same issue could generate.