CONFIMRED - The final countdown

[Reading4eva]

It feels to me that the EFL are pushing Dai into a corner now to sell but he doesn't have to sell necessarily to Couhig. Couhig wants the club and as ruled has a claim mainly due to the negligence of Dai. I'm hoping the ticking time bomb thats been set off will push Dai to sell to Platek and then the arguments and legal challenge that will ensue will be not with the club but with each other.

It sounds like Platek is ready and waiting. I am sure he is aware of this situation and will be working hard and relentlessly to get this part sorted.

The thought of the club being expelled is sickening. The EFL don't use this word so I don't think they'd make that drastic an action straight off.

I'm trying to get more info from an expert at the moment.

[windermereROYAL]

I give up, that is all.

[tmesis]

It does seem though that the outcome of the court case is that Reading can be sold.

And that should mean, if this new potential buyer is serious, getting sold is a step nearer, with an extra nudge by the EFL which should make Dai less likely to dither.

If it falls through though, we are almost certainly screwed.

[Reading4eva]

It does seem though that the outcome of the court case is that Reading can be sold.

And that should mean, if this new potential buyer is serious, getting sold is a step nearer, with an extra nudge by the EFL which should make Dai less likely to dither.

If it falls through though, we are almost certainly screwed.

I think there are enough buyers out there. The only man who will kill this club is Dai Yongge. With the assets of Reading FC being superior to most clubs out there, todays action has also probably alerted many more.

[genome]

Does this not also hinge on Dai not being a petulant child and throwing his toys out of the pram

[PistolPete]

Reading will not be expelled from the EFL. They will be allowed to continue under a special licence. There would be uproar and fury if the EFL presided over the death of a club the size of Reading for such reasons

[RoyalBlue]

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.

Dai is blocking the sale because there is a way forwards - as highlighted by the judge. He simply has to agree to pay £12M from the sale proceeds into an escrow account where it will remain safe (away from Dai's/China's /banks' sticky little fingers) until a ruling is handed down from the courts on Couhig's claim for losses suffered as a consequence of Dai & co pulling the sale to him at the last minute. If Couhig wins he gets whatever he is awarded from the escrow and Dai gets the balance. If Dai wins he gets the lot.

I imagine Dai would also have to issue an indemnity to the buyer but this would be covered off by the funds held in the escrow.

[RoyalBlue]

It feels to me that the EFL are pushing Dai into a corner now to sell but he doesn't have to sell necessarily to Couhig. Couhig wants the club and as ruled has a claim mainly due to the negligence of Dai. I'm hoping the ticking time bomb thats been set off will push Dai to sell to Platek and then the arguments and legal challenge that will ensue will be not with the club but with each other.

It sounds like Platek is ready and waiting. I am sure he is aware of this situation and will be working hard and relentlessly to get this part sorted.

The thought of the club being expelled is sickening. The EFL don't use this word so I don't think they'd make that drastic an action straight off.

Unless and until they realise that their own rules leave them with no other alternative!

[Snowflake Royal]

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.

No. Dai has destroyed the club. The EFL have been remarkably patient. This has been going on 2 years. With him getting personal misconduct charges and refusing to pay fines.

[Snowflake Royal]

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.

How many times. He passed their test. He had the money. It's only 8 years later he's failed it.

[Snowflake Royal]

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?

Because they didn't want to take the nuclear option and destroy the club.

And even then they were hamstrung from applying harsher sanctions by the independent panel.

[Sutekh]

It feels to me that the EFL are pushing Dai into a corner now to sell but he doesn't have to sell necessarily to Couhig. Couhig wants the club and as ruled has a claim mainly due to the negligence of Dai. I'm hoping the ticking time bomb thats been set off will push Dai to sell to Platek and then the arguments and legal challenge that will ensue will be not with the club but with each other.

It sounds like Platek is ready and waiting. I am sure he is aware of this situation and will be working hard and relentlessly to get this part sorted.

The thought of the club being expelled is sickening. The EFL don't use this word so I don't think they'd make that drastic an action straight off.

I'm trying to get more info from an expert at the moment.

So not much has changed, seems both arguments from the two sides were given short shrift by the judge and suggested that they stop messing about and have a quiet conversation to get it sorted.

The only real thing that’s changed is there’s a clock ticking in the background now that the FL have said Dai will be disqualified w.e.f. April 4. Therefore, unless Dai wants to fold yet another football club and totally screw the chance of getting any cash that he desperately needs, the two need to start talking quickly and, presumably, agree to put security in escrow. The FL should allow Reading to see out the end of the season if real headway is made in this, though if Dai is still owner on May 3 the club will be unable to partake in any play offs should they qualify (yet another different way to fail in the PO’s).

So all back to waiting for the next exciting installment of this utter farce.

[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.

How many times. He passed their test. He had the money. It's only 8 years later he's failed it.

He passed their test but their test was so porous, the premier league saw the risks. Surely that's enough of a flag.

[Snowflake Royal]

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.

How many times. He passed their test. He had the money. It's only 8 years later he's failed it.

He passed their test but their test was so porous, the premier league saw the risks. Surely that's enough of a flag.

Not in any legal, meaningful or regulatory manner.

[Orion1871]

Time to change the thread title to "one way or another this is finally it"

[Scutterbucketz]

Dai. The EFL don't have jurisdiction over property law, all they can do is expel clubs that don't conform to their regulations.

Does anyone know where this EFL Owners Test has suddenly come from and has every club in the league been subject to it? Or is it the same test he passed but now they’ve rescinded it? If so, that’s hardly fair.

Hope against hope it pushes him into action but sure this fukker thrives when he’s backed into a corner.

[Sutekh]

Dai. The EFL don't have jurisdiction over property law, all they can do is expel clubs that don't conform to their regulations.

Does anyone know where this EFL Owners Test has suddenly come from and has every club in the league been subject to it? Or is it the same test he passed but now they’ve rescinded it? If so, that’s hardly fair.

Hope against hope it pushes him into action but sure this fukker thrives when he’s backed into a corner.

It’s a seasonal test apparently, every owner faces it and this season his trail of debts in China have finally caught up with him.

[Greatwesternline]

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.

I can't see any shitstorm for the EFL for kicking us out. From who?

Fans of a club no longer in the league?

No one outside RG would care.

[The Cube]

So at some unspecified recent date, the EFL disqualified Yongge. Why exactly was this kept a secret?

[Greatwesternline]

The judge seemed to think 6m wasn't unreasonable money for Couhig.

This is really weird. How to make 6m in profit extremely quickly?

Lend a bit of money to RFC, get it paid back couple of months later, sue for an extra 6m in "lost profits"?

I've only done a bit of law, but I do know you can only seek compensation for actual losses incurred, not hypothetical opportunity costs. Couhig did not incur any actual losses, he got his money back plus costs.


I think most likely outcome is Dai sells to Platek, proceeds go into escrow as stated by judge, RFC moves on, and Dai and Couhig free to have it out in June as to whether Couhig gets some compensation for RFC breaching exclusivity.

Today's case was Dai trying it on, it failed. So now has to pursue sale anyway.