CONFIMRED - The final countdown

[RoyalBlue]

Chronicle reports loss of court case but injunction to prevent sale of club denied

What that doesn't say is RFC council offered 6m to put into escrow given Couhigs claim (12m) is totally unsubstantiated

Just to clarify please. Counsel (legal officer) or Reading Council (Borough Council)? I assume it's the former.

Yes 'council' did have me wondering WTF?!!

[Hound]

So it seems like it will be Couhig's group who will be our owners at the end as there is no other agreed sale.

All along it's been pointing at Couhig

Of the 3 options, Couhig is by far the least likely. Surely Dai will burn the club to the ground before losing to Couhig

Dunno - it’s all speculation isn’t it?

Nobody ever knows Dai’s intentions or thoughts

[Uke]

So it seems like it will be Couhig's group who will be our owners at the end as there is no other agreed sale.

All along it's been pointing at Couhig

Of the 3 options, Couhig is by far the least likely. Surely Dai will burn the club to the ground before losing to Couhig

Dunno - it’s all speculation isn’t it?

Nobody ever knows Dai’s intentions or thoughts

Given the conciliatory wording of the club’s statement (https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2025/march/21/club-statement-march-25/), the need to sell by April 4th and the fact that the Couhig bid is “oven ready” and only needed Dai’s signature last time…

I think Couhig is the most likely

All the “Couhig is blocking the sale” stuff has been shown to be bullshit in court today. They could have easily gone the ESCROW route months ago.

[tmesis]

El Diablo’s last update suggests selling to RC is still an option (“ Redwood still want to buy “).

As I see it the basic situation now is the ball is with Dai. He has 3 options

1. complete the Platek deal and hopes he wins in June to get the £6m security back
2. sell to Couhig (presumably for less) and the June case goes away
3. fold the club and lose everything

Think 3 is definitely out, personally I’d hope for 1.

3 looks the most likely to me.

It's interesting that the date mentioned that the EFL will disqualify him from is April 4th. Isn't 30 day he has then to sell the club?

30 days takes us to the 4th May.

Our last game of the season, 3rd May.

You don't need to be a genius to see the path the EFL are going down.

Enjoy the next 9 games.

Should we be alarmed by the fact that the EFL have said they have now disqualified Dai, so that 30 day clock is already ticking?
https://www.efl.com/news/2025/march/21/ ... ai-yongge/

[WestYorksRoyal]

Guardian reporting the deadline is 5 April as he was disqualified weeks ago.

Nobody knows what they're doing. Would the EFL be brave enough to take the nuclear option while we're still paying bills and fulfilling fixtures? Don't think so personally. Bury had failed to play several times when they were kicked out.

[Hound]

3 looks the most likely to me.

It's interesting that the date mentioned that the EFL will disqualify him from is April 4th. Isn't 30 day he has then to sell the club?

30 days takes us to the 4th May.

Our last game of the season, 3rd May.

You don't need to be a genius to see the path the EFL are going down.

Enjoy the next 9 games.

Should we be alarmed by the fact that the EFL have said they have now disqualified Dai, so that 30 day clock is already ticking?
https://www.efl.com/news/2025/march/21/ ... ai-yongge/

Not sure alarmed is the right word. It will force it to a conclusion and I’m all for that

[El Diablo]

What that doesn't say is RFC council offered 6m to put into escrow given Couhigs claim (12m) is totally unsubstantiated

Just to clarify please. Counsel (legal officer) or Reading Council (Borough Council)? I assume it's the former.

Yes 'council' did have me wondering WTF?!!

LOL, bloody posting from phone ...but yeah, Counsel..

Can you imagine if RBC got involved?!

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Somehow reading in the proper press the words "kicked out of the league" and the date being next month made me physically sick.

The EFL risk destroying a football club that has existed uninterrupted since 1871 over non-Reading FC activities of a guy they cleared to buy the club. They can't even say what the reason is.

This would be the greatest disgrace in the history of League football in the UK. Giving franchise football a try would seem like a cracking little idea in comparison.

Couhig is at least as complicit as Dai in this final stage, if not more so. If he dropped his stupid court case Platek could be in on time.

[Royal_jimmy]

If Dai doesn't sell before 4th April and is then disqualified as our owner, who would technically own the club after this point?

The most vexing thing is the EFL let him buy us in the first place and now threaten to potentially kick us out of their leagues. Punishing a club for their own error of judgement when the premier league didn't like Dai's background as a fit owner.

[El Diablo]

Somehow reading in the proper press the words "kicked out of the league" and the date being next month made me physically sick.

The EFL risk destroying a football club that has existed uninterrupted since 1871 over non-Reading FC activities of a guy they cleared to buy the club. They can't even say what the reason is.

This would be the greatest disgrace in the history of League football in the UK. Giving franchise football a try would seem like a cracking little idea in comparison.

Couhig is at least as complicit as Dai in this final stage, if not more so. If he dropped his stupid court case Platek could be in on time.

My uneducated view is this is a play by the EFL to drive a sale, rather than fold the club. But its a risky one.

Could Dai transfer the shares to his Sis? - she's a registered Director @ Rehne..

[tmesis]

Somehow reading in the proper press the words "kicked out of the league" and the date being next month made me physically sick.

The EFL risk destroying a football club that has existed uninterrupted since 1871 over non-Reading FC activities of a guy they cleared to buy the club. They can't even say what the reason is.

I would guess letting the club carry on as normal with a banned owner kind of makes banning the owner pointless.

Couhig is at least as complicit as Dai in this final stage, if not more so. If he dropped his stupid court case Platek could be in on time.

My only hope with him is that this could be a ruse to drive the price down, as Dai gets more desperate as the final deadline approaches.

[Extended-Phenotype]

lol @ the continued “Couhig is as complicit as Dai” nonsense even after a judge has literally just ruled against Dai’s case that Couhig’s claim blocks the sale.

Dai could have settled this months ago.

[JedMaxwell]

Echoing what others have said here, I believe Couhig would be just as bad as Dai for slightly different reasons. It seems to me that his intention is to effectively asset strip the club and turn us over for as much profit as he can get within a couple of years. Fail to achieve that, and we'll be even worse off than now. Not to forget, he'd be almost as unpopular with the majority of fans.

I am sticking to the belief that Platek will be the new owner, and perhaps this court case will serve to be a kick up the arse for Dai as it will show him that time is running out on him actually getting any money back.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but if I let the worst case scenario thoughts linger for too long then it becomes unbearable, so I will look for the positives.

[morganb]

Why couldn't/didn't the EFL ban Dai when we were in the Championship and he wasn't paying players/we were getting points deductions/he was being fined (and ignoring them). What has he done recently to merit disqualification?

[Armadillo Roadkill]

lol @ the continued “Couhig is as complicit as Dai” nonsense even after a judge has literally just ruled against Dai’s case that Couhig’s claim blocks the sale.

Dai could have settled this months ago.

Perhaps I've misunderstood. I thought Couhig had just gone through the courts to retain his block on the sale. Didn't the judge rule the securities couldn't be related until the case where Couhig reckons he's lost all that money goes ahead. Which will be after the deadline for Dai to sell.

If that is the case, it's Couhig blocking the sale, not Dai.

[Elm Park Kid]

Look, the EFL are fully aware of the absolute shitstorm that would fall upon them if Reading did go under. Especially if their actions were seen as directly contributing to it. The current leadership would definitely go, and the entire body might get swept away by the fury that would be unleashed. At a minimum the new independent regulator would suddenly be given vastly more powers over them.

So, we need to take a few breaths and recognise that fact before everyone gets too manic.

Though . . . ultimately the EFL is between a rock and a hard place if a rogue owner decides to just ignore their demands. If they back down it gives a green light for every other dickhead owner to ignore them in the future. If they don't then the only meaningful step they can take are ones that hurt the club, and will eventually see it expelled from the league.

[Pepe the Horseman]

https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2025/march/21/club-statement-march-25/

Phew. That clear that up then!

[Elm Park Kid]

lol @ the continued “Couhig is as complicit as Dai” nonsense even after a judge has literally just ruled against Dai’s case that Couhig’s claim blocks the sale.

Dai could have settled this months ago.

Perhaps I've misunderstood. I thought Couhig had just gone through the courts to retain his block on the sale. Didn't the judge rule the securities couldn't be related until the case where Couhig reckons he's lost all that money goes ahead. Which will be after the deadline for Dai to sell.

If that is the case, it's Couhig blocking the sale, not Dai.

Couhig was claiming that his securities against the club meant that it couldn't be sold.

The club sought an injunction to remove the securities, citing Dai's ban as evidence that it would be put at risk if it wasn't sold.

The judge suggested that it wasn't necessary to remove the securities as Dai could simply agree to an arrangement where some of the sale amount was put into 'escrow', where the money would be held until the court case was agree. Both sides argued that the language of their current agreement isn't clear. The judge told them to go away and sort something out together.

Either party can hold this process up if they want to.

[Orion1871]

The oldest club in the south could be about to become extinct and Meridian news are blethering on about Athletic Bilbao and some non league team having the same shirt colour as their lead sports story.

[Uke]

Somehow reading in the proper press the words "kicked out of the league" and the date being next month made me physically sick.

The EFL risk destroying a football club that has existed uninterrupted since 1871 over non-Reading FC activities of a guy they cleared to buy the club. They can't even say what the reason is.

This would be the greatest disgrace in the history of League football in the UK. Giving franchise football a try would seem like a cracking little idea in comparison.

Couhig is at least as complicit as Dai in this final stage, if not more so. If he dropped his stupid court case Platek could be in on time.

This is not the EFL’s fault - they are just enforcing the rules. If they don’t we would be sued by every relegated club that could have stayed up if we disappeared from the league overnight.

It rests with one person and one person only - Dai