CONFRIMED: Latest rumours Confrimed as Unconfrimed

[WestYorksRoyal]

If the holding company goes into liquidation, doesn't that make the club an asset flogged off so creditors recover their money? So ensures the club gets sold at a realistic price?

[Sutekh]

:lol: So Dai’s own lawyer is suing him??

Sadly you really can’t make it up can you?

[Snowflake Royal]

:lol: So Dai’s own lawyer is suing him??

Sadly you really can’t make it up can you?

The Tiwtterati regularly do.

[tidus_mi2]

When I first saw that story I was worried it might affect the club, while it is relieving that it is just Dai's lawyers suing him for non-payment, a small part of me did think if something were to come out against Dai that impacted the club, it might have at least expediated the club sale.

[Forbury Lion]

Are the AWE Reading fans?

Scorpions

Let's hope the wind of change isn't something blowing radioactive isotopes our way

[Sutekh]

Are the AWE Reading fans?

Scorpions

Let's hope the wind of change isn't something blowing radioactive isotopes our way

Just wish the sale could finally all be made real and not fantasy

[Ascotexgunner]

Are the AWE Reading fans?

Scorpions

Let's hope the wind of change isn't something blowing radioactive isotopes our way

What, you mean like a hurricane.

[Uke]

Scorpions

Let's hope the wind of change isn't something blowing radioactive isotopes our way

What, you mean like a hurricane.

It's rare to see a song pun that's so young...

[Forbury Lion]

Let's hope the wind of change isn't something blowing radioactive isotopes our way

What, you mean like a hurricane.

It's rare to see a song pun that's so young...

Song puns.... no wonder No One Like You

[Royals and Racers]

Kieran Maguire not holding back on what Dai is doing in his latest podcast.
Article in the Reading Chronicle.

[blythspartan]

Someone on x has noticed that a new application has been made to the HM Land Registry today against the SCL, but unsure if it’s related to a potential takeover.

Property address: Madejski Stadium, Reading (RG2 0FL)
Title number: BK528572
Set out below are details of applications or searches which are pending against the property at this time.
Application lodged by BIRKETTS LLP
On 24.Oct.2024 At: 10:44:07
Applicant reference: SC/367442.39

[Pepe the Horseman]

Kieran Maguire not holding back on what Dai is doing in his latest podcast.
Article in the Reading Chronicle.

Pls can you summarize?

[Royals and Racers]

Kieran Maguire not holding back on what Dai is doing in his latest podcast.
Article in the Reading Chronicle.

Pls can you summarize?

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/spor ... tion-news/

[From Despair To Where?]

Kieran Maguire not holding back on what Dai is doing in his latest podcast.
Article in the Reading Chronicle.

Pls can you summarize?

Says Dai is sticking 2 fingers up at football.

[Sutekh]

So he fails to pay his legal advisors then decides to switch to new legal advisors, you'd think the new legal advisors would ask questions of his ability to pay before accepting him given his track record. No doubt he'll be adding their legal costs onto what he wants for the club.

[Orion1871]

So he fails to pay his legal advisors then decides to switch to new legal advisors, you'd think the new legal advisors would ask questions of his ability to pay before accepting him given his track record.

Reminds me of a certain US Presidential candidate.

[andrew1957]

So he fails to pay his legal advisors then decides to switch to new legal advisors, you'd think the new legal advisors would ask questions of his ability to pay before accepting him given his track record.

Reminds me of a certain US Presidential candidate.

Now now don't be rude about Kamala Harris.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Update today from Matt Slater in the Athletic. Looks like Couhig hasn't cut ties entirely. I'll be honest that there is too much going on for me to keep up and understand, and I come across this sort of stuff in my day job.

After two straight wins, Reading are up to seventh in League One, their highest position in English football’s pyramid for 18 months and only five points behind Wrexham, America’s team, with a game in hand.

It would be a stretch to say these are heady days for a club that finished eighth in the Premier League in 2007 — and lost the Championship play-off final only seven years ago — but things are looking up after a miserable three-year run of points deductions, transfer embargoes and a relegation to English football’s third tier.

Or they should be looking up if common sense can be applied before the money runs out again.

Tuesday’s victory at Exeter City came on the same day it was confirmed that Reading’s holding company, Renhe Sports Management Co Ltd, had been served with a winding-up petition by Walker Morris, the law firm the club used for several years until its top sports lawyer, David Hinchliffe, left last month to join a new firm, Wiggins, taking the Reading account with him.

With Hinchliffe no longer on the payroll, Walker Morris took the not-unreasonable decision that it might be time to call in Reading’s sizeable debt to the firm. Reading — who have now been hit by four winding-up petitions since 2020 — declined to comment.

For those new to the boxset that is Reading’s takeover, Chinese businessman Dai Yongge bought the club in May 2017, shortly after that play-off final defeat. His reign in Royal Berkshire has been disastrous — for him and the club — with Reading’s fans in open revolt for over a year.

Dai has been trying to sell the club ever since they were relegated to League One in 2023 but received no concrete offer from a credible buyer until this summer, when New Orleans-based lawyer Rob Couhig appeared on the scene with a £30million bid for the club, stadium and training ground.

If you are wondering why a New Orleans-based lawyer would be interested in buying an English football team, you have obviously not been reading much of my output over the last five years. But Couhig is not just the latest wealthy American to fancy a spin on the promotion/relegation roulette wheel, he has already done it, having owned Reading’s neighbour, Wycombe Wanderers, for five years until May, when he sold the League One side to Kazakh billionaire Mikhail Lomtadze.

So, the 75-year-old litigator is coming into this with his eyes wide open. In fact, he even tried to buy Reading’s training ground earlier this year — when Dai seemed to be pursuing a yard-sale approach to getting his money back — only to quickly withdraw the offer after criticism from fans.

But, with his Wycombe sale proceeds burning a hole in his pocket and a gap in his weekend where the buzz of owning a football club used to be, Couhig and fellow Louisianian Todd Trosclair agreed a deal with Dai in August and fully expected to close it last month only for… well, they are still not sure.

Contrary to some reports, Couhig did not pull out of the deal. He had every right to, as the club inexplicably failed to disclose the fact that one of Dai’s British Virgin Island-registered companies had borrowed £55million from a Chinese state bank secured on the stadium until Couhig’s advisors stumbled on it during the late stages of due diligence, but he did not. Dai did.

This meant, Reading had to repay the almost £5million Couhig had lent them at the start of the season, which the club did very promptly, thanks to a sell-on clause in former star Michael Olise’s transfer to Crystal Palace that turned into a timely windfall when the France winger moved to Bayern Munich this summer.

Couhig, however, did not the cancel the liens, a form of security, he has on the training ground and stadium.

Why? Well, he declined to comment when The Athletic asked him but our educated guess is that he is a bit miffed nobody has taken the trouble to explain why his takeover, which was only Dai’s signature short of completion, collapsed, and he would still like to buy the club for what would appear to be a fair price of £30million, with just over half of that upfront.

If that is not possible because Dai has, as has been repeatedly suggested, another buyer, we suspect Couhig will release those liens as soon as Dai reimburses him for the £350,000 he has spent on legal fees and due diligence.

Our hunch, for what it is worth, is Dai will eventually realise he is not going to get a better offer than Couhig’s and Reading can return to being a club focused on wins and losses, not docked points, embargoes and winding-up petitions.

[blythspartan]

Update today from Matt Slater in the Athletic. Looks like Couhig hasn't cut ties entirely. I'll be honest that there is too much going on for me to keep up and understand, and I come across this sort of stuff in my day job.

After two straight wins, Reading are up to seventh in League One, their highest position in English football’s pyramid for 18 months and only five points behind Wrexham, America’s team, with a game in hand.

It would be a stretch to say these are heady days for a club that finished eighth in the Premier League in 2007 — and lost the Championship play-off final only seven years ago — but things are looking up after a miserable three-year run of points deductions, transfer embargoes and a relegation to English football’s third tier.

Or they should be looking up if common sense can be applied before the money runs out again.

Tuesday’s victory at Exeter City came on the same day it was confirmed that Reading’s holding company, Renhe Sports Management Co Ltd, had been served with a winding-up petition by Walker Morris, the law firm the club used for several years until its top sports lawyer, David Hinchliffe, left last month to join a new firm, Wiggins, taking the Reading account with him.

With Hinchliffe no longer on the payroll, Walker Morris took the not-unreasonable decision that it might be time to call in Reading’s sizeable debt to the firm. Reading — who have now been hit by four winding-up petitions since 2020 — declined to comment.

For those new to the boxset that is Reading’s takeover, Chinese businessman Dai Yongge bought the club in May 2017, shortly after that play-off final defeat. His reign in Royal Berkshire has been disastrous — for him and the club — with Reading’s fans in open revolt for over a year.

Dai has been trying to sell the club ever since they were relegated to League One in 2023 but received no concrete offer from a credible buyer until this summer, when New Orleans-based lawyer Rob Couhig appeared on the scene with a £30million bid for the club, stadium and training ground.

If you are wondering why a New Orleans-based lawyer would be interested in buying an English football team, you have obviously not been reading much of my output over the last five years. But Couhig is not just the latest wealthy American to fancy a spin on the promotion/relegation roulette wheel, he has already done it, having owned Reading’s neighbour, Wycombe Wanderers, for five years until May, when he sold the League One side to Kazakh billionaire Mikhail Lomtadze.

So, the 75-year-old litigator is coming into this with his eyes wide open. In fact, he even tried to buy Reading’s training ground earlier this year — when Dai seemed to be pursuing a yard-sale approach to getting his money back — only to quickly withdraw the offer after criticism from fans.

But, with his Wycombe sale proceeds burning a hole in his pocket and a gap in his weekend where the buzz of owning a football club used to be, Couhig and fellow Louisianian Todd Trosclair agreed a deal with Dai in August and fully expected to close it last month only for… well, they are still not sure.

Contrary to some reports, Couhig did not pull out of the deal. He had every right to, as the club inexplicably failed to disclose the fact that one of Dai’s British Virgin Island-registered companies had borrowed £55million from a Chinese state bank secured on the stadium until Couhig’s advisors stumbled on it during the late stages of due diligence, but he did not. Dai did.

This meant, Reading had to repay the almost £5million Couhig had lent them at the start of the season, which the club did very promptly, thanks to a sell-on clause in former star Michael Olise’s transfer to Crystal Palace that turned into a timely windfall when the France winger moved to Bayern Munich this summer.

Couhig, however, did not the cancel the liens, a form of security, he has on the training ground and stadium.

Why? Well, he declined to comment when The Athletic asked him but our educated guess is that he is a bit miffed nobody has taken the trouble to explain why his takeover, which was only Dai’s signature short of completion, collapsed, and he would still like to buy the club for what would appear to be a fair price of £30million, with just over half of that upfront.

If that is not possible because Dai has, as has been repeatedly suggested, another buyer, we suspect Couhig will release those liens as soon as Dai reimburses him for the £350,000 he has spent on legal fees and due diligence.

Our hunch, for what it is worth, is Dai will eventually realise he is not going to get a better offer than Couhig’s and Reading can return to being a club focused on wins and losses, not docked points, embargoes and winding-up petitions.

Yeah, there was also a new application made to the HM Land Registry yesterday against the SCL, but that could be something or not. I am trying to ignore all the noise now and just hope we get some good news soon.

[Uke]

Update today from Matt Slater in the Athletic. Looks like Couhig hasn't cut ties entirely. I'll be honest that there is too much going on for me to keep up and understand, and I come across this sort of stuff in my day job.

After two straight wins, Reading are up to seventh in League One, their highest position in English football’s pyramid for 18 months and only five points behind Wrexham, America’s team, with a game in hand.

It would be a stretch to say these are heady days for a club that finished eighth in the Premier League in 2007 — and lost the Championship play-off final only seven years ago — but things are looking up after a miserable three-year run of points deductions, transfer embargoes and a relegation to English football’s third tier.

Or they should be looking up if common sense can be applied before the money runs out again.

Tuesday’s victory at Exeter City came on the same day it was confirmed that Reading’s holding company, Renhe Sports Management Co Ltd, had been served with a winding-up petition by Walker Morris, the law firm the club used for several years until its top sports lawyer, David Hinchliffe, left last month to join a new firm, Wiggins, taking the Reading account with him.

With Hinchliffe no longer on the payroll, Walker Morris took the not-unreasonable decision that it might be time to call in Reading’s sizeable debt to the firm. Reading — who have now been hit by four winding-up petitions since 2020 — declined to comment.

For those new to the boxset that is Reading’s takeover, Chinese businessman Dai Yongge bought the club in May 2017, shortly after that play-off final defeat. His reign in Royal Berkshire has been disastrous — for him and the club — with Reading’s fans in open revolt for over a year.

Dai has been trying to sell the club ever since they were relegated to League One in 2023 but received no concrete offer from a credible buyer until this summer, when New Orleans-based lawyer Rob Couhig appeared on the scene with a £30million bid for the club, stadium and training ground.

If you are wondering why a New Orleans-based lawyer would be interested in buying an English football team, you have obviously not been reading much of my output over the last five years. But Couhig is not just the latest wealthy American to fancy a spin on the promotion/relegation roulette wheel, he has already done it, having owned Reading’s neighbour, Wycombe Wanderers, for five years until May, when he sold the League One side to Kazakh billionaire Mikhail Lomtadze.

So, the 75-year-old litigator is coming into this with his eyes wide open. In fact, he even tried to buy Reading’s training ground earlier this year — when Dai seemed to be pursuing a yard-sale approach to getting his money back — only to quickly withdraw the offer after criticism from fans.

But, with his Wycombe sale proceeds burning a hole in his pocket and a gap in his weekend where the buzz of owning a football club used to be, Couhig and fellow Louisianian Todd Trosclair agreed a deal with Dai in August and fully expected to close it last month only for… well, they are still not sure.

Contrary to some reports, Couhig did not pull out of the deal. He had every right to, as the club inexplicably failed to disclose the fact that one of Dai’s British Virgin Island-registered companies had borrowed £55million from a Chinese state bank secured on the stadium until Couhig’s advisors stumbled on it during the late stages of due diligence, but he did not. Dai did.

This meant, Reading had to repay the almost £5million Couhig had lent them at the start of the season, which the club did very promptly, thanks to a sell-on clause in former star Michael Olise’s transfer to Crystal Palace that turned into a timely windfall when the France winger moved to Bayern Munich this summer.

Couhig, however, did not the cancel the liens, a form of security, he has on the training ground and stadium.

Why? Well, he declined to comment when The Athletic asked him but our educated guess is that he is a bit miffed nobody has taken the trouble to explain why his takeover, which was only Dai’s signature short of completion, collapsed, and he would still like to buy the club for what would appear to be a fair price of £30million, with just over half of that upfront.

If that is not possible because Dai has, as has been repeatedly suggested, another buyer, we suspect Couhig will release those liens as soon as Dai reimburses him for the £350,000 he has spent on legal fees and due diligence.

Our hunch, for what it is worth, is Dai will eventually realise he is not going to get a better offer than Couhig’s and Reading can return to being a club focused on wins and losses, not docked points, embargoes and winding-up petitions.

Still reckon that the most likely final purchaser remains Couhig...

Dellor reporting on radio that Dai is considering 4 bids in next 48 hours, 3 pre Couhig and one new.

The not so good news is that the money runs out mid November.

Very mixed news. Presumably he didn't have anything to comment on this Blue River company, so could be bollocks or they could be the 4th bidder.

The optimist in me sees no reason why it can't be done by mid November when the funding runs out, given all the due diligence is done. EFL checks will be the biggest hurdle.

So three bids already binned off plus his mate?

Still reckon we'll eventually be seeing the return of Couhig with the bid "miraculously" getting accepted after an additional full stop is added to the contract.

This is just posturing by Dai

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