As a life-long Reading fan it was very sad to witness the scenes at my home town club last Saturday. The League One match between Reading and visiting Port Vale was abandoned after 16 minutes when an estimated 1,000 fans ran onto the pitch to protest against Royals' owner Dai Yongge, a Chinese businessman.
The 16th minute was symbolic as it reflected the 16 points that the Royals have been deducted owing to financial mismanagement by the owner since he took over in 2017.
The English Football League accept the situation is untenable and have told Dai "to either fund the club adequately" or "make immediate arrangements to sell". They also fined Dai £50,000 for failing to meet recent financial deadlines.
A spokesman for the owner said "Mr Dai is 100 percent willing to sell the club," and asked fans to be "patient". But their patience is being stretched to the limits.
I do not like pitch invasions especially when it involves my home club, but the fact that it happened suggests how desperate the Reading supporters have become and they want the Football League to be spurred into taking action.
The Reading fans have won support amongst former top players including England stars Gary Neville and Alan Shearer.
Neville said "my heart and thoughts go out to Reading fans." Alan Shearer commented: "They've had enough…they've seen their club relegated, they've seen their club docked points… What else can they do?"
Former owner Sir John Madejski, a popular figure amongst Reading supporters, said he was "absolutely heartbroken" at the present situation. "It is a kind of tyranny being unleashed upon the club and is not fair or right."
Reading, who were in the Premier League as recently as 2013 are currently in 21st place in the third-tier and are in danger of relegation to League Two. Their form, under manager Ruben Selles has actually improved recently which is quite remarkable considering what has been going on behind the scenes including a four points deduction.
In the past month Reading have lost two established assistant coaches because they couldn't afford to pay them and two promising players were sold behind the manager's back. Many backroom staff were given redundancy notices the week before Christmas. At the training ground there is no food for the players as the caterers have quit after not being paid. Players have reportedly been bringing their own microwave meals to the training sessions.
As a schoolboy in the 1960s I used to watch Reading at the old Elm Park ground when they were in the old Third Division. For an astonishing 40 years, from 1931-71 they never moved out of the third tier. Reading eventually reached the second tier in 1985-86 for the first time in 50 years, earning promotion after a remarkable run of 13 successive wins.
By the early 1990s they had established themselves in the second tier and in 1995 finished runners-up but were denied promotion owing to a change in the league structure to accommodate the Premier League. In 1998 they moved from Elm Park to the 24,200 capacity Madejski Stadium.
In the 2004-5 season the second tier was rebranded as the Championship and Reading finished seventh. In the following season under astute manager Steve Coppell they ran away with the Championship title, amassing a record 106 points, 99 goals and losing only twice. I had never dreamed that one day Reading would make it to the top flight, but after 135 years they had finally succeeded.
It's hard to believe that now after 152 years the club is fighting for its very existence.