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Reading takeover: Lady Sasima Srivikorn says deal to sell stake is 'getting there'

Reading's minority owner has admitted the club has become "too expensive for them to run" as a Chinese consortium moves closer to a potential takeover.

"We just couldn't afford it comfortably anymore," Lady Sasima Srivikorn, who heads the Championship club's Thai owners, told BBC Radio Berkshire.

Chinese brother and sister Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li are in talks to buy a 75% stake in the Royals.

The EFL has conditionally approved a "change of control" from the pair.

"We're doing this to save the club and pass it on to better hands," Lady Sasima said. "If you don't have very, very deep pockets, it's a struggle and I have to say the truth.

"I know if the club doesn't have the funds or the backing on the monetary side, it's not going to be easy."

Reading, fourth in the Championship and bidding for promotion through the play-offs, have been owned by the Thai consortium of Lady Sasima, Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth and Narin Niruttinanon since September 2014.

Talks with Yongge and Xiu Li began in November but, despite the EFL's approval, the Premier League are understood to have reservations.

Brother and sister Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li are in talks to buy 75% of Reading

Yongge, 46, failed in an attempt to buy Hull City in September and reportedly failed to meet the Football Association's fit and proper persons test.

Should the deal not go ahead, Lady Sasima, who holds a 25% stake at present, assured supporters the Thai consortium will not walk away from the club.

"We'll find a way and put our heads together," she said. "We can find the money, but it's not a comfortable feeling putting more and more in every month to get the club up to where we want to be."

Any deal would see the Thai consortium retain ownership of the Madejski Stadium's adjacent hotel as well as land around it, earmarked for redevelopment.

"We know property, we're familiar with that business and we can handle the profit and loss," Lady Sasima added. "But in football, we can't."