English Football League (EFL) chairman Rick Parry has said that he is 'committed to solving the problem' at Reading Football Club.

The Royals are on the brink of a precipice as owner Dai Yongge continues to run the club into the ground, failing to pay EFL fines and laying off staff to cut costs.

After deducting the club 16 points for previous misdemeanours, the EFL have turned their attention to Yongge personally and have fined him £80,000 for failing to deposit 125 per cent of the wage bill into a dedicated account.

They had previously called for the Chinese businessman to be disqualified from football, but an independent panel felt this too strong.

Speaking to Department for Culture, Media and Sport alongside Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, the topic of Reading was a heavy discussion point.

"We are trying to take action against Dai Yongge the owner. They have fallen foul of our Profit and Sustainability rules and have suffered the punishments. To be fair to Reading, they were transparent and acknowledged the problems- throwing too much money to chase the Holy Grail. Just before Christmas we took action against the owner, not the club, in an attempt to get him disqualified. The panel found, on that occasion, that it was no warranted. Fining Dai Yongge is of no use at all- if he’s not going to put money into the club he’s not going to pay the fines. We are meeting fan groups this afternoon. We want a new owner and a resolution to the problem just as much as Reading. Don’t believe the EFL don’t care, we do care and we don’t want to lose clubs. We’re not in a position to easily force him to divest of the club.

"It is complex. We have the powers to disqualify the owner, but what we don’t have the power to do is force a sale. If you have a disqualified owner, the natural consequence or the logical consequence is to divest. If Dai Yongge is going to do anything logical, remains to be seen. We are trying to explore every possible avenue. That is the most logical one, rather than punishing the club or fans, we punish the owner in an attempt to find a resolution. We can’t promise that that resolution will work.

"We are committed to solving the problem, what we don’t have is an instant solution."