League Championship side Reading is "in danger of being blocked" from entering the Premier League if it secures promotion this season, according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. A proposed Chinese takeover of the club was "provisionally cleared" by the English Football League last week with businessman Dai Yongge and sister Dai Xiu Li given permission, "subject to certain conditions," to buy the club following an EFL board meeting on Thursday. Yongge failed to acquire Hull City in September "amid serious concerns from the Premier League about the way the proposed takeover had been structured." Although it is understood the deal for Reading has been structured differently -- in a way that "appears to have satisfied the EFL" -- the Premier League "will not disregard the consortium’s failure to satisfy its misgivings about the doomed Hull buyout during any assessment it conducts of the new owners." That could lead to the "unprecedented situation of a club being denied access" to the Premier League if it secures promotion. Reading, which has been in talks with the Chinese-based consortium since November, is "on course to reach the Championship playoffs." The Premier League and EFL both declined to comment on the "prospect of the club being blocked from going up" (TELEGRAPH, 4/9).
