"Easy to penalise the little club" - Kevin Doyle reacts to dire Reading FC situation | OneFootball

Former Reading striker Kevin Doyle has revealed how sad he is about his old club's situation, with the club now in danger of being relegated to League Two and even going out of business.

The Irishman joined the Royals back in the summer of 2005, when the club were in a stable position in the Championship and had the potential to secure promotion to the Premier League.

During his first season in Berkshire, that's exactly what they did, and they did it in style by accumulating a record 106 points during the 2005/06 season.

Doyle scored the goal against Leicester City that allowed the current League One side to seal promotion to the top flight for the first time.

Spending two years in the top tier, they were then relegated back to the second tier before securing a top-flight return in 2012.

Unfortunately, things haven't been great for them since they won that last promotion, being relegated twice since, nearly going out of business under Anton Zingarevich and now at risk of liquidation under current owner Dai Yongge.

Since Dai took control of the third-tier outfit back in 2017, the Royals have had 18 points deducted, with all of these deductions coming in the past few years.

Six of these points have come this season for missed wage payments and continuous late payments to HMRC, with these sanctions ensuring the club remains in relegation danger at this stage.

Doyle on Reading FC's ownership situation: "It’s sad to see because it’s a fabulous club"

Sir John Madejski was the last owner that the Royals' fanbase adored, with the businessman giving up his control of the club back in 2014.

He ran the club extremely well, playing a key part in the club's two promotions to the top tier.

Doyle was speaking to BoyleSports, who offer the latest Cheltenham Betting: "It’s funny, Reading seems to get deducted points at the drop of a hat. Then you see other teams who are big clubs, and I won’t name names, getting charged with over 100 different financial breaches getting deducted no points at all.

"It’s easy to penalise the little club isn’t it. He passed an ownership test and it’s the fans and players who get punished for the EFL giving him a licence to buy the club - there’s no comeback on the league.

"Reading get punished, but they’re the ones who granted the owner the licence and said he passed all tests required. I don’t know how he passed all the tests, if this is what’s happened, based on his ownership of previous clubs as well.

"It’s not the owner who gets punished, it’s the players and the fans of the club itself. When I saw the takeover, you could tell it wasn’t going to be great long-term.

"He got past the not-so-rigorous tests of the EFL, and they should have some accountability instead of it all being pushed onto the club.

"Going back, John Madejski got a lot of stick for not spending enough money. But I tell you what, he cared so much about that club.

"He didn’t particularly love football, he just loved Reading and he would be in before every single home game wishing us the best. Every away game, he would be on the bus walking around and shaking hands with every player.

"That’s a proper owner - he didn’t have to do any of that, but he did. It’s the way it should be done, and to see the state of Reading now being treated with such neglect, it’s sad to see because it’s a fabulous club."

Sir John would probably struggle to compete with the finances involved in football these days.

However, he ran the Royals extremely well during his time at the club and richly deserved to have a stand named after him.

Not only did he run the club well, but he also loved the Royals and that's what made his time at the helm so special.

Not everything was perfect during his time there, with the Berkshire outfit experiencing ups and downs, but he clearly cared and guided the Royals to success.

Current owner Dai, on the other hand, has been a disaster.