Prospective Reading FC buyer Rob Couhig is set to take a claim to the High Court to try and force owner Dai Yongge into a previously agreed sale, having been left “baffled” by how the deal has not gone through.
US investor Couhig, who previously owned Wycombe Wanderers, had been scheduled to complete what is understood to have been a £30m takeover last month.
The sale, according to sources, was “90 per cent completed” with everything tied up bar Yongge’s signature. Despite all of the necessary paperwork being drafted and circulated by the seller’s lawyers, including to the seller’s minority partners, Couhig was abruptly notified by email that loans he had supplied the club on the basis of buying the club had been repaid.
“I was amazed and taken aback,” Couhig told The Independent. “I am baffled.”
Yongge has been under huge pressure to sell by infuriated supporters, after what has been a generally disastrous period at the club. There is a strong belief within the game that the club will almost certainly go into administration.
Sources state Couhig is nevertheless pressing ahead with a claim in the High Court, to attempt to force through the sale at the previously agreed terms. The buyer's side have only encountered repeated frustration since the collapse of the initial deal, only to receive no response from the club.
Reading FC declined to comment on the matter when approached by The Independent.
If Couhig can’t force through the sale, he will seek to be paid for lost profits, but that is only an alternative option way down his list of priorities.
Trying to get some business done. The good news is I have found a quiet spot. pic.twitter.com/E5VyIm3DTO
— Rob Couhig (@RCouhig) September 5, 2024
The ambition is to buy the club, given the conviction that Reading has huge potential. Couhig has already had himself pictured in club clothing around the town.
The frustration is all the more acute since the initial attempt saw him put through a plan for the club going forward, that Reading were participants in.
