"Don't trust him" - Dai Yongge claim made amid concerning Reading FC takeover developments | OneFootball

FLW's Reading fan pundit has given his reaction to the news that former chairman Roger Smee's bid to buy the club has been rejected.

This article is part of Football League World’s 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Reading supporters suffered further disappointment in their ongoing takeover saga on Tuesday after it was revealed that former chairman Roger Smee's bid to buy the club had been rejected.

It seemed as though former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig was set to complete a deal to buy Reading after spending much of the summer in a period of exclusivity with current owner Dai Yongge, but his deal collapsed at the last minute in September.

After Couhig's takeover attempt failed, Royals supporters had hoped that Smee would be the man to save the club, but the 76-year-old released a statement to confirm that what he described as "a structured and connected bid in alliance with many of the town's key local stakeholders" had been turned down by Yongge.

There is still at least one other party in the frame to buy Reading, and the club confirmed last month that negotiations are ongoing with an unnamed potential buyer, who is currently in a period of exclusivity with Yongge, but they admitted it was a "complicated and lengthy process".

It remains to be seen how those discussions will progress, but the long-suffering Royals fan base will be desperate to see an end to Yongge's disastrous seven-year tenure, during which time the club have had a total of 18 points deducted and been relegated to League One.

Reading fan pundit reacts to Roger Smee takeover news

When asked if he believed Smee would have been the right man to buy the club, FLW's Reading fan pundit Johnny Hunt said that he would have been the perfect owner due to his connection with the local area, and he admitted that he does not trust Yongge to reach a deal with a suitable buyer.

"Roger Smee would have been a great choice to be involved in the club," Johnny said.

"It was the same with Rob Couhig, they have been involved in running football clubs properly and that's all we want - a properly run football club.

"We're not expecting millions of pounds to be pumped into it because that didn't work.

"Smee has got the local connection of being involved with Reading at the time of Robert Maxwell and he still cares about the club, which is huge, whereas I don't think Dai Yongge gives two monkeys about the club, the fans, the players or the community.

"I just don't trust him, and this person he's currently he's in exclusive talks with, they must have been talking for a long time because this is dragging on and on.

"We're coming up to the January transfer window and we're still no closer to having him gone from our club, and that impacts on what business we can do.

"It's a big worry about whether it's actually going to happen with all these false dawns, but we can only hope that there is good news at some stage."

Given that Reading reached Wembley for the first time and achieved promotions from the Fourth and Third Division in Smee's spell as chairman, it is difficult to disagree with Johnny that he would have been an excellent owner for the club.

Like Couhig, Smee is an experienced football operator who would have been a safe pair of hands to take the Royals forward, so supporters are understandably alarmed by the news that his bid to buy the club has been rejected.

While Yongge remains in exclusivity talks with the mystery party, the fact that so little is known about the bidder makes it incredibly hard for the Reading fan base to be optimistic about the situation, and fears for the future of the club are increasing as the saga drags on.