English Football League CEO, Trevor Birch, admitted that the governing body are in 'unchartered territory' with Reading owner Dai Yongge.

The Royals are in crisis mode and supporters got Saturday's match with Port Vale abandoned in protest against the Chinese owner.

In trouble with the EFL, Yongge has failed to pay his £80,000 fine he was hit with after paying staff late on too many times, with a charge still hanging over the club for paying HMRC late on too many occasions.

Pushing for Yongge to be 'disqualified', an independent panel felt that this was too harsh and a fine- which remains unpaid- was more adequate.

The EFL have been in regular contact with supporter groups at the club and sat down with the local media to answer any questions posed.

Quizzed on the feasibility of this, and the real-life impact, Mr Birch's answer would not have left supporters in a comfortable position.

"Under the regulations, he would be disqualified and would have 28 days to divest himself of his ownership," he said. "Which begs the question, what would happen after those 28 days if he hadn’t done?  Then we’re in unchartered territory really. One would hope that it would galvanise the owner into achieving a sale of the club."

The EFL did confirm that, to their knowledge, interested parties are still in talks over a potential purchase.

“We understand the significant frustrations of staff, supporters and local community at the challenges Reading FC is facing with regard to its ownership," Mr Birch added.

“We have encouraged Mr Dai to either fund the Club adequately or make the appropriate arrangements to sell his shareholding if he is no longer in a position to support Reading. It is understood there are interested parties in acquiring the Club and it would clearly be in everyone’s interest to see the club back on a solid footing. 

“That said it is important to stress that we can only ever work within the parameters of firstly, corporate law, and secondly the framework of EFL Regulations. This, on the face of it, can appear that the EFL doesn't care but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.  The EFL wants a strong and vibrant Reading in its competition, and we will do whatever is within our powers to make that a reality. 

“Those powers do, of course, include taking action under the Regulations where required and as in the case of Mr Dai, we will seek to impose sanctions where Regulations have been breached.  We pursue regulation breaches on behalf of the full membership of the League and unfortunately this will never be universally popular.  In the case of last weekend, we are currently discussing the abandonment with both Clubs before the Board discuss later in the week.

“On Tuesday we met with the Reading Supporters Trust and local MPs where we communicated our position alongside providing some recent history into ongoing ownership matters. The League acknowledges the strength of feeling as well as the impact the situation is having on fans and whilst there is no silver bullet, we are committed to working alongside the Club and its supporters to try and find solutions needed to end this difficult period.”