Major Reading FC takeover update emerges as prospective buyer revealed | OneFootball

It has been revealed that Paul Taylor has been in secret negotiations to buy Reading FC for months

Reading FC are reportedly in exclusive talks about selling the club to London-based financier Paul Taylor.

The Sun have reported that Taylor has been in secret talks to buy the Royals for months, with the sale of the club seemingly being left in doubt ever since Rob Couhig's takeover attempt fell through in September.

However, it's been reported that Taylor, who once tried to buy Chelsea, is the mystery buyer who agreed a period of exclusivity with the club in early October and is looking to takeover at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Paul Taylor in talks to buy Reading FC

The Sun have reported that Taylor, who was a bricklayer turned banker and financier, sees Reading as an attractive investment.

This is because his wife is a Reading supporter and the land owned by the club, such as the hotel at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, along with 120 acres of land at the club’s Bearwood Park training ground, offers development potential.

These links with Reading aren't Taylor's first attempt to buy a football club, with it being reported that he led talks on behalf of the Tchenguiz brothers about buying Chelsea before the sale to Roman Abramovich.

Taylor had previously launched a joint investment venture with the Qatari government called Three Delta, which was worth several billion pounds at its peak, and in 2007 he led a £10.5bn takeover bid for Sainsbury's on behalf of the Qatar Investment Authority, which collapsed.

It's been a tumultuous time for Reading supporters with plenty of false dawns, but they'll hope that Taylor is finally able to get the takeover completed and that they can move on from some miserable years under the stewardship of Dai Yongge.

Despite the unrest at the club thanks to Yongge's mismanagement in recent seasons, Noel Hunt's side are performing admirably on the pitch against all the odds.

They currently sit in 5th place in the League One table, however that may well change after the January transfer window with a number of key players linked with moves away from Berkshire.

Whilst Reading are performing well now, it's not sustainable unless there's a change of ownership as the club are set to lose key players but will be unable to replace them due to the financial problems they face.