CONFIMRED - The final countdown

[East Grinstead Royal]

Exactly what I thought. And why was it kept secret? If it hadn’t been mentioned in court today, would we have known before the shutters came down?

[WestYorksRoyal]

If this does somehow end up with Couhig as owner, I'm not sure how it would go down. The overwhelming emotion would still be relief; our situation would be secure when it currently looks dire.

But celebration and joy? Not so much. I always assumed a new owner would be a party to match promotion, but it would be a very muted response.

Would still absolutely snap your hand off for that outcome if you offer it though.

[Royal Ginger]

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.

I reckon the most likely outcome is that everything grinds to a halt and the potential buyer goes away. Price tag just shot up by £6m.

Second hand car you’re buying turns out might be on finance and owned by the bank. Probably not, but you’ll still give it a miss and buy one of the other 91 cars instead.

[blueroyals]

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

Apparently the letter from the EFL was dated 22nd February. So initially he was supposed to be disqualified around about now. But he got an extension on the original 28 day deadline to the 4th April. So the club/EFL have been sitting on this news for about a month already.

[rabidbee]

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.

I reckon the most likely outcome is that everything grinds to a halt and the potential buyer goes away. Price tag just shot up by £6m.

Second hand car you’re buying turns out might be on finance and owned by the bank. Probably not, but you’ll still give it a miss and buy one of the other 91 cars instead.

To stretch your analogy (!), the guy you're buying from says he has a court hearing pending because another guy reckons he's owed money, so your guy says he wants to up the asking price to cover the settlement he might have to make - you'd tell him to do one, nothing to do with you, or the value of the car.

That's the significance of the EFL disqualification - Dai only has two months to find the best price he can get, or risk losing the whole value of the club.* He can't keep stringing it along indefinitely, waiting for a gullible twat to pay over the odds.

* Assuming the value of the real estate is limited by the restrictions to it use for other purposes.

[rabidbee]

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

Apparently the letter from the EFL was dated 22nd February. So initially he was supposed to be disqualified around about now. But he got an extension on the original 28 day deadline to the 4th April. So the club/EFL have been sitting on this news for about a month already.

I think that's fair enough. The EFL are trying to put pressure on Dai to sell up or risk losing everything, but at the moment it's a matter for Dai and the club. Had the EFL made it public, that would have given Platek (or any other bidders) an immediate reason to drop their offer, knowing Dai is backed into a corner. That hardly helps progress the sale, which is the outcome the EFL ultimately want, so it was right for them to keep it confidential.

[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.

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.

Lol no. This was Dai’s case against Couhig, about how Couhig’s claim for compensation was blocking the sale. Dai lost the case, because it’s clearly oxf*rd bullshit. The only one holding up the sale is the same pcunt it’s always been. Couhig is just another victim who got stung by our crook of an owner and happened to call foul.

The claim doesn’t block a sale, it can be resolved with a mere guarantee the potential award won’t vanish with our owner the minute the scumbag sells to someone else. And there is no impending sale being stalled by the claim. That was exposed as bloody fantasy.

It’s yet more of the same crap we’ve been fed for 500 days. He has zero interest in selling. The closest we came was with a guy who paid our bills under the illusion it was a done deal. And we now know that ‘done deal’ was pulled last minute for no other reason than the intent to sell was bullshit all along.

I hope Couhig wins his impending case and takes Dai’s last oxf*rd penny. What difference does it make to us? Nothing. We are dead and have been for a long time. Because Dai doesn’t want to sell.

If you think being expelled from the league means anything to our man you are living in cloud cuckoo land. The threat was made a month ago and yet we are still not sold. If you want to dribble out Dai’s propaganda that this is because of some mean potential buyer feeling bitter that his bid failed, dribble away. But when we cease to exist I will be blaming one guy. The guy who tricked people into fronting up cash to keep us going before spending money made from player sales to pay that money back and back out of a deal that was never credible in the first place.

oxf*rd him, and oxf*rd having our anger deflected towards other victims of his criminality.

[Sutekh]

Like many, really don’t get what Couhig is claiming for. How the **** can you justify and claim for loss of profits on a football club you don’t even own? Some comment seems to be that his claim was simply based on the fact “I did it at Wycombe and I’ll do it again”! So hardly the sort of well balanced, water-tight argument a court would support. Raises the question of what exactly is he planning to sell off?

[Esteban]

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.

Lol no. This was Dai’s case against Couhig, about how Couhig’s claim for compensation was blocking the sale. Dai lost the case, because it’s clearly oxf*rd bullshit. The only one holding up the sale is the same pcunt it’s always been. Couhig is just another victim who got stung by our crook of an owner and happened to call foul.

The claim doesn’t block a sale, it can be resolved with a mere guarantee the potential award won’t vanish with our owner the minute the scumbag sells to someone else. And there is no impending sale being stalled by the claim. That was exposed as bloody fantasy.

It’s yet more of the same crap we’ve been fed for 500 days. He has zero interest in selling. The closest we came was with a guy who paid our bills under the illusion it was a done deal. And we now know that ‘done deal’ was pulled last minute for no other reason than the intent to sell was bullshit all along.

I hope Couhig wins his impending case and takes Dai’s last oxf*rd penny. What difference does it make to us? Nothing. We are dead and have been for a long time. Because Dai doesn’t want to sell.

If you think being expelled from the league means anything to our man you are living in cloud cuckoo land. The threat was made a month ago and yet we are still not sold. If you want to dribble out Dai’s propaganda that this is because of some mean potential buyer feeling bitter that his bid failed, dribble away. But when we cease to exist I will be blaming one guy. The guy who tricked people into fronting up cash to keep us going before spending money made from player sales to pay that money back and back out of a deal that was never credible in the first place.

oxf*rd him, and oxf*rd having our anger deflected towards other victims of his criminality.

That's not quite the full story. Couhig made a spurious claim that he was owed £12m for loss of profits for something he never owned. Even the judge called him out on it, before ultimately settling on a £6m sum to be put in ESCROW. Dai just used it as a convenient excuse for still not selling the club. The judge was pretty scathing of the pair of them.

Dai is absolutely the route cause of our problems and he could have sold the club in spite of Couhig's claim, but neither one of them have the club's best interests at heart and I am now very wary of Couhig's intentions for us, should he ultimately complete the deal.

[Scutterbucketz]

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.

Lol no. This was Dai’s case against Couhig, about how Couhig’s claim for compensation was blocking the sale. Dai lost the case, because it’s clearly oxf*rd bullshit. The only one holding up the sale is the same pcunt it’s always been. Couhig is just another victim who got stung by our crook of an owner and happened to call foul.

The claim doesn’t block a sale, it can be resolved with a mere guarantee the potential award won’t vanish with our owner the minute the scumbag sells to someone else. And there is no impending sale being stalled by the claim. That was exposed as bloody fantasy.

It’s yet more of the same crap we’ve been fed for 500 days. He has zero interest in selling. The closest we came was with a guy who paid our bills under the illusion it was a done deal. And we now know that ‘done deal’ was pulled last minute for no other reason than the intent to sell was bullshit all along.

I hope Couhig wins his impending case and takes Dai’s last oxf*rd penny. What difference does it make to us? Nothing. We are dead and have been for a long time. Because Dai doesn’t want to sell.

If you think being expelled from the league means anything to our man you are living in cloud cuckoo land. The threat was made a month ago and yet we are still not sold. If you want to dribble out Dai’s propaganda that this is because of some mean potential buyer feeling bitter that his bid failed, dribble away. But when we cease to exist I will be blaming one guy. The guy who tricked people into fronting up cash to keep us going before spending money made from player sales to pay that money back and back out of a deal that was never credible in the first place.

oxf*rd him, and oxf*rd having our anger deflected towards other victims of his criminality.

Yeah big +1

At best, this fukker doesn’t give a shit about us and is just really crap at running footballs teams.

At worst, he’s some serial club killer who gets a massive kick out of all the ire and notoriety destroying football clubs and their fanbases brings. People are fukking weird and do things for reasons we couldn’t even fathom. People murder just to raise their profile. Or to feel powerful.

What is clear is that Couhig isn’t to blame for this utter clusterfukk. If had to bet on the outcome of this; he’s not going to sell. Being pushed into this will be a dent to his pride and he’d rather see us fukked.

[blythspartan]

FFS, will this sorry saga ever end.

I can see Dai transferring his shares to his sister. I note that the club’s limited statement yesterday didn’t refute what Couhig’s lawyer said about the Platek takeover being at day 5 of 60, rather than 59.

I think realistically the EFL will let us finish the season and then give Dai the summer to find a buyer. I don’t agree with Couhig being the bad guy. What he has shown is he is far more intelligent than RFC’s hierarchy.

[Orion1871]

Agreed that Cohig isn't THE bad guy in this saga, he's just A bad guy in this saga.

[Lower West]

The claim doesn’t block a sale, it can be resolved with a mere guarantee the potential award won’t vanish with our owner the minute the scumbag sells to someone else. And there is no impending sale being stalled by the claim. That was exposed as bloody fantasy.

Coutig has charges over physical assets. The assets cannot be transfered to a new owner without the charges being removed. Money being deposited into escrow parks this legal dispute. With the next hearing not scheduled until June.

[WestYorksRoyal]

The claim doesn’t block a sale, it can be resolved with a mere guarantee the potential award won’t vanish with our owner the minute the scumbag sells to someone else. And there is no impending sale being stalled by the claim. That was exposed as bloody fantasy.

Coutig has charges over physical assets. The assets cannot be transfered to a new owner without the charges being removed. Money being deposited into escrow parks this legal dispute. With the next hearing not scheduled until June.

I'm going to go off what Couhig's lawyers said in court if that's okay. They clearly said it doesn't block a sale; they just don't want the funds to disappear to China.

[Sutekh]

FFS, will this sorry saga ever end.

I can see Dai transferring his shares to his sister. I note that the club’s limited statement yesterday didn’t refute what Couhig’s lawyer said about the Platek takeover being at day 5 of 60, rather than 59.

I think realistically the EFL will let us finish the season and then give Dai the summer to find a buyer. I don’t agree with Couhig being the bad guy. What he has shown is he is far more intelligent than RFC’s hierarchy.

Not sure that’s what we’d want, from what I’ve heard once the FL’s grace period is up on May 3, the club will then be banned from ALL football activity and revenue for as long as he remains the owner. That means no signings permitted, no entry into cups or leagues etc. Therefore the last thing we want is this **** ostensibly still being the owner at the end of the season and into the summer. If it gets that far the club might as well be wound up and we can all get on with Reading Phoenix.

He can try the “my sister owns the club” routine but she’d need to pass the FL’s O&DT and he’d need to prove he has no involvement or influence over any decisions going forward. Somehow I don’t think the even the FL would fall for that.

[Sutekh]

The claim doesn’t block a sale, it can be resolved with a mere guarantee the potential award won’t vanish with our owner the minute the scumbag sells to someone else. And there is no impending sale being stalled by the claim. That was exposed as bloody fantasy.

Coutig has charges over physical assets. The assets cannot be transfered to a new owner without the charges being removed. Money being deposited into escrow parks this legal dispute. With the next hearing not scheduled until June.

I'm going to go off what Couhig's lawyers said in court if that's okay. They clearly said it doesn't block a sale; they just don't want the funds to disappear to China.

Yes didn’t the judge say he saw no reason why a sale couldn’t be completed with things as they currently are?

[andrew1957]

Having read through the last few pages I am not sure I am any clearer as to who is more at fault and outcomes. However it is clear the end game is now being played and the EFL have had enough of this mad saga. I have thought for some time that Dai might be a club serial killer who gets some kicks out of destroying people’s likelihoods and dreams. I hope I am wrong but it is now clear he could have sold already if he wanted to.

It seems to me that Dai, Coutig et al are like vultures picking over the dead carcass of what was once a fantastic family club. As I think back to the heights we achieved in the 2006 and 2012 years it is very sad.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Like many, really don’t get what Couhig is claiming for. How the **** can you justify and claim for loss of profits on a football club you don’t even own? Some comment seems to be that his claim was simply based on the fact “I did it at Wycombe and I’ll do it again”! So hardly the sort of well balanced, water-tight argument a court would support. Raises the question of what exactly is he planning to sell off?

Trying to piece together sense from the chaos here, there seems to be inconsistent wordings source to source; “profits” and “earnings” seem to be being used interchangeably, where the latter makes much more sense. The sum is also supposed to include compensation for “breaches of exclusivity”, which seems to get left out of a lot of Twitter summaries. Therefore it makes much more sense to see the 12m (which still seems silly high) as compensation for the time he and his team invested in the project believing it to be a done deal, probably some sort of argument for how his money could have been better spent elsewhere, and then a few mil slapped on top as a fine/damages for Dai’s misconduct.

I could be wrong but I haven’t seen anything that suggests Couhig had some sort of asset-stripping action plan that would have flipped Reading from a company haemorrhaging money to a profitable enterprise in one month. That take is just daft.

[blueroyals]

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

Apparently the letter from the EFL was dated 22nd February. So initially he was supposed to be disqualified around about now. But he got an extension on the original 28 day deadline to the 4th April. So the club/EFL have been sitting on this news for about a month already.

Further to this the club announced exclusivity with Platek 2 days later, on the 24th February, and the disqualification date was subsequently extended

So would that announcement have been made without the disqualification letter? Was it just a ploy to buy more time? Have they overstated the progress when briefing the press?

[Sutekh]

Having read through the last few pages I am not sure I am any clearer as to who is more at fault and outcomes. However it is clear the end game is now being played and the EFL have had enough of this mad saga. I have thought for some time that Dai might be a club serial killer who gets some kicks out of destroying people’s likelihoods and dreams. I hope I am wrong but it is now clear he could have sold already if he wanted to.

It seems to me that Dai, Coutig et al are like vultures picking over the dead carcass of what was once a fantastic family club. As I think back to the heights we achieved in the 2006 and 2012 years it is very sad.

I can quite understand how some fans are numb to it all now and in a way even couldn’t care less what happens to the club after all the cr@p it has been through since JM found the only Russian who, at the time, had no money and who couldn’t even drum up any interest from anyone to buy into a Premier League club. Quite unbelievable!

So, JM is the villain in it all