Rob Couhig’s attempt to take over Reading may not be over yet as it has emerged that he is set to take a claim to the High Court to force a sale.
The American investor had been a previous interested party in buying The Royals but his bid, which was believed to be in the region of £30 million but the deal ultimately fizzled out.
Legal Proceedings Looming
According to The Independent, Couhig is now submitting a claim to the High Court in order to force Dai Yongge to relinquish control of Reading. It has been revealed that the deal for Couhig to take charge was “nearly 90 per cent complete” but loans he had given the club in order to facilitate the deal had been repaid before Yongge put his signature to the paperwork.
Speaking to the newspaper, the former Wycombe Wanderers owner said he was “amazed and taken aback” at the development. It was also added that they had tried to regain contact with the club following the first offer collapsing but received no response from officials in Berkshire. Should his bid to force a sale in the courts fail, he would seek to reclaim lost profits from the deal.
Couhig was not the first to gain exclusivity talks to buy Reading, with previous attempts from Genevra Associates and Chiron Sports Group all falling at the same hurdle. It was reported last month that a new, as yet unidentified group had entered a period of exclusivity but no news has emerged since that development on October 7th.
The 75-year-old spoke to The Athletic about Reading’s dealings with this latest group, adding:
“I’m absolutely sure they breached my exclusivity by talking to others. We have a claim but we’ve turned it over to our solicitors. I’ll leave it at that.
“I’m trying not to be controversial here but I’ve been doing deals for 40 years and I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
Writer’s View
The situation at Reading continues to get messier and now with legal proceedings on the horizon, this is likely to ramp up even further. Rob Couhig is surely furious with how the rug was pulled from underneath him at the final stages and now cannot reach any form of contact with the club or the group currently engaged in talks with them. This is likely to prolong the situation further which is a hammer blow with the threat of administration lurking over the club.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.
