Fears over Reading FC’s future after Rob Couhig takeover collapses

18-Sep-2024 14:00:34 | The Guardian

Former Wycombe owner hoped to buy League One club
Reading owner Dai Yongge failed to complete deal

Rob Couhig’s prospective deal to buy Reading has collapsed, raising fears over the future of the troubled League One club. Couhig, the former Wycombe owner, satisfied the English Football League’s owners’ and directors’ test but Reading’s owner, Dai Yongge, failed to complete a deal to sell the club.

Reading’s immediate future will be funded by the money generated from the sell-on clause in the deal that took Michael Olise to Bayern Munich from Crystal Palace, who paid Reading £8m for the midfielder in 2021. Yongge, who acquired the club with his sister in 2017, has failed to make several payments in recent years, leading to a series of points deductions.