More than 1,500 football fans united to stage a protest march in a bid to save their football club from going out of existence.

Reading FC fans took the streets of the town centre and walked in unison the two and a half miles to their football stadium, ahead a league match against Portsmouth FC. Attendees included former Reading striker Dave Kitson, alongside local MPs Matt Rodda MP and James Sunderland MP, as well as Council Leader Jason Brock and Councillor John Ennis.

The event marks the 40th anniversary since Reading FC fans last staged a major protest march, when Robert Maxwell tried to merge the club with Oxford United.

The march featured a number of fans that attended the 1983 protest, including Steve Double.

Steve, 63, said: “The march 40 years ago feels like yesterday. We thought it was the end of the club, but it was the dark before the light… the best quarter of a century in the club’s history followed.  That march might have been the starting gun. Today, we can only hope for the same again.”

Jess Luscombe, 56, who was 16 years old at the time of the 1983 march, said: “I went on the 1983 march with my brother. We were angry, the odds were stacked against us, but there was an undercurrent of belief that we could do this. We had a lot of support and we had fun too. I was so relieved when that ball was kicked into the long grass.”

The protest was organised by Sell Before We Dai, a campaign to force a change of ownership at the club. Spokesperson Nick Houlton said: “We fought for Reading in 1983 and we saved our football club. We need to do it all over again in 2023.”

The football club also featured in a parliamentary debate this month, called by local MP Matt Rodda, followed the announcement of a Football Governance Bill in the King’s Speech. The Reading East MP called for on the government to make Reading FC a pilot for the proposed Independent Regulator for English Football.

The campaign group Sell Before We Dai welcomed the proposed football regulation announcement in the King’s Speech, saying it was ‘a huge moment’ for all football fans.

Reading fans have become increasingly concerned about the future of their football club after six years under current owner Dai Yongge. Most recently they disrupted the home games against Bolton Wanderers and Burton Albion by throwing tennis balls on to the pitch.