The latest bombshell is the Dai Yongge era at Reading in a nutshell, I'd like to say I'm surprised that he "forgot" he'd secured a [edit] £50m loan on the Madejski Stadium while trying to flog it but really it's par for his truly execrable course.
Any episode where a club is up a creek due to the owner playing silly buggers with their ground shows why the Trust must absolutely hold the line on retaining ownership of Adams Park.
@ReadingMarginalista that is true, but not every silly bugger will have been thwarted at a previous club in aiming for the chief asset only to find that his next deal would lay bare the very reason why that was so. The irony is palpable.
Why do Oxford need a new stadium when it is Reading that is now desperately in need and we definitely feel more sorry for them? That triangle thing should be built at Didcot on the site of the old Power Station. It would be handy for Swindon for both clubs and they could have two sides each, which shouldn't be a problem for Oxford. Plus if they ever decided to merge they could be the Thames Valley Power Rangers.
I tried to be kind with this post, but the mischief just bubbled up.
Their forum doesn’t seem to be in meltdown as you would expect , a few talking about new grounds elsewhere. I’m sorry but sometimes you get what you deserve . Cohig has some time to reflect on trying to bite off more than you can chew., no sympathy from myself.
To be fair after all they've gone through, it's hardly a surprise Yongge has scuppered himself selling the club through greed and/or incompetence. They've had countless meltdowns (not least the training ground episode), it wouldn't be a surprise if meltdown fatigue has kicked in.
It wouldn't come as a great shock to discover that Yongge is skint (or back down to seven figures which is the same thing at this level) and needs to sell the club to a complete mug.
Grief comes in waves and it can feel like nothing will ever be right again. But gradually most people find that the pain eases, and it is possible to accept what has happened. We may never ‘get over’ Dai Yongge, but we can learn to live again, while keeping the memories of the money we have lost close to us.
Perhaps they could find a buyer for that state of the art training complex and use it to clear the stadium mortgage, it would give them somewhere to play and a decent match day revenue to rebuild. No, wait ..
Given the new govt announced it was calling the Marlow studio planning decision in (and briefings suggested were mindful of approving it, overruling Bucks council) I wonder if this puts a longer term solution - building a purpose-built training centre in Marlow - back on the table in the medium term, with West London tiding us over till then.
Bearwood has been a millstone around Reading’s neck. To be honest I’m more comfortable with us leasing somewhere for the foreseeable to avoid being lumbered with a costly asset if and when our current owners lose interest / move on.
Rather depends on how much rent is, I wouldn't imagine it's cheap.
While it Is interesting to have these discussions it is also a real shame that so many fans feel the need to discuss this sort of thing based on so many owners having turned out to be utter shits recently.
Thought you would like to know what has been posted on Hobnob.
It gets murkier and murkier each time something is published, Also it gets us closer to my club fading into oblivion. I cannot help but wonder if the "new buyers" do really exist.
Rob Couhig has advised clients in thousands of legal disputes, argued cases in hundreds of courtrooms, bought and sold businesses, run a successful baseball team and taken former non-Leaguers Wycombe Wanderers to the second-tier Championship but he has never experienced anything like his attempt to buy Reading.
After months of difficult negotiations, the 75-year-old American’s takeover of the club in League One, the third division of English football, collapsed at the final hurdle in September, without any explanation from Reading or their Chinese owner Dai Yongge.
Since then, Couhig has not said anything publicly, politely declining requests for comment. Until now, that is.
“I have deliberately not said anything because I would still like to do the deal we agreed,” he told The Athletic.
“To this date, I have not been told why the deal wasn’t done. All the documents had been drafted and circulated by the sellers’ lawyers and they had been signed by every party, including the minority owners in Thailand, apart from Dai Yongge.
“I got up that Monday morning thinking it was finally the day when we would get the keys — I told my wife I would be off to England again. But I then saw an email from our lawyers saying the money we had loaned the club had been returned. No explanation, no thanks.”
The New Orleans-based lawyer suggested he and Reading should put out a joint statement but the club from London’s western commuter belt ignored him and issued their own, not that it told us much.
Over the past nine weeks, rumours have been aired on forums and podcasts that it was Couhig’s fault. The theory goes that he either annoyed Dai by acting like he was already in charge or he tried to knock money off the agreed price at the last minute, like a house-buyer who finds damp in the basement.
Couhig remains reluctant to get into the details, as he wants to honour the non-disclosure agreement he signed with the club and Dai, but he did not push back when The Athletic suggested he had agreed to pay £30million ($38m) for the club, with more than half of that sum being forwarded to Dai upon completion.
However, we have learned he also wanted to withhold some of the total payment as a form of insurance against any financial gremlins that might emerge later on. Couhig did not want to get into specifics but acknowledged “there was a reserve element to the price agreed because of potential undisclosed liabilities”.
Asked for his best guess as to why his deal did not go through, Couhig thinks his plans for the club spooked the current regime.
“Some people on the inside (of the club) could see there would be substantial change,” he said. “It’s a great club, with lots of good people, and we like the team and (head coach) Ruben (Selles), but it needs a managerial overhaul.”
Reading declined to comment.
And on the subject of his social media posts at the training ground and in a local bar somehow upsetting Dai, Couhig is very clear.
“It’s nonsense,” he said. “I came to Reading four times and in every instance we were encouraged by the club to give the fans some hope that things were happening with the sale. Frankly, we were told it would be good for me to post some pictures.”
In their statement on September 18, Reading said he and Dai had been “unable to find an agreement” and Couhig’s period of exclusivity had now expired. It added that the club would “pursue alternative options” and it soon emerged that they were in exclusivity with a new bidder, whose identity has been aggressively protected.
Couhig says he does not know who that is and there has been no attempt by the newcomer(s) to make contact with him. This surprises him as nobody has done more work on Reading’s complicated ownership structure than he has and he still holds the liens — a form of security over property assets — he attached to his pre-takeover loans of almost £5million.
Reading chief executive Dayong Pang has written to him about the liens, however, asking Couhig to release them. A request he rejected.
“I haven’t released the liens because the loans I made were integral to the sales process — I would not have loaned Reading if I didn’t think I was buying the club,” he explained.
“I also spent over £1million on this deal. We hired lawyers and accountants to do the due diligence. We even went to the trouble of setting up new companies in the British Virgin Islands to help them out with their (secured debt) problem with (Chinese bank) Haitong.
“Is it fair that I should be out of pocket? I don’t want to sound like I’m whining — what I really want is to do the deal — but I cannot release the liens even if I wanted to, because their lawyers drafted the documents and they are now in dispute with the club over their fees.”
British law firm Walker Morris has filed a winding-up petition against Dai’s holding company for his Reading shares over unpaid fees. It is the fourth such petition the club and Dai have faced since 2020, as well as several points deductions from the EFL for late payments.
And their problems are growing, as Couhig has started legal action of his own.
“I’m absolutely sure they breached my exclusivity by talking to others,” he said. “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.”
Chinese businessman Dai bought Reading in May 2017, the same month they narrowly failed to achieve a return to the Premier League via the play-offs. Since then, however, the club have been hit with points deductions for missing payments, sold most of their best players, downgraded their women’s team, lost staff and been relegated to League One. It has been grim.
Comments
"Good job the Trust own Adams Park - perhaps Mr Couhig now has a better appreciation of why that might be important"
Confucius.
The latest bombshell is the Dai Yongge era at Reading in a nutshell, I'd like to say I'm surprised that he "forgot" he'd secured a [edit] £50m loan on the Madejski Stadium while trying to flog it but really it's par for his truly execrable course.
Any episode where a club is up a creek due to the owner playing silly buggers with their ground shows why the Trust must absolutely hold the line on retaining ownership of Adams Park.
'Reading are so fucked'
Confucius's mate, Dave.
Reading fans last season: "Death to RC! Silly man trying to get the training ground off us - that has killed us"
Reading fans at the start of this season: "Maybe he can save us!"
Reading fans last week: "Death to RC! Silly man trying to get the sale price lowered, that has killed us."
Reading fans today: "Maybe he tried to save us!"
£55 mil loan easy to lose track of…
perhaps he moved and the statement was sent to an old address…
Is he too late for a PPI claim?
Yongge is probably wishing I was his account manager at Haitong International Securities with my grasp of figures.
Or someone from the Post Office..
What's very worrying is that the debt increased from £45M to £55M in a year due to unpaid interest.
There's not a lot of hope for Reading with that backdrop.
It also probably explains exactly why RC was trying to negotiate a price of closer to £8M for Reading FC, since they wouldn't own the stadium.
@ReadingMarginalista that is true, but not every silly bugger will have been thwarted at a previous club in aiming for the chief asset only to find that his next deal would lay bare the very reason why that was so. The irony is palpable.
Absolutely. A jumped up pike pretending to be the biggest fish in the lake meeting the catfish of karma in record time.
Sheer poetry.
I have it on good authority that Confucius's mate is actually named Rodney.
Mange tout @LordMandeville, mange tout
That's up there with the best sentences ever expressed on the Gasroom
Why do Oxford need a new stadium when it is Reading that is now desperately in need and we definitely feel more sorry for them? That triangle thing should be built at Didcot on the site of the old Power Station. It would be handy for Swindon for both clubs and they could have two sides each, which shouldn't be a problem for Oxford. Plus if they ever decided to merge they could be the Thames Valley Power Rangers.
I tried to be kind with this post, but the mischief just bubbled up.
Their forum doesn’t seem to be in meltdown as you would expect , a few talking about new grounds elsewhere. I’m sorry but sometimes you get what you deserve . Cohig has some time to reflect on trying to bite off more than you can chew., no sympathy from myself.
That Cohig guy, eh ?
Wots he ever done for a football club.
A glass raised to the Trust, for digging their heels in.
To be fair after all they've gone through, it's hardly a surprise Yongge has scuppered himself selling the club through greed and/or incompetence. They've had countless meltdowns (not least the training ground episode), it wouldn't be a surprise if meltdown fatigue has kicked in.
It wouldn't come as a great shock to discover that Yongge is skint (or back down to seven figures which is the same thing at this level) and needs to sell the club to a complete mug.
What are the five stages of grief?
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
Grief comes in waves and it can feel like nothing will ever be right again. But gradually most people find that the pain eases, and it is possible to accept what has happened. We may never ‘get over’ Dai Yongge, but we can learn to live again, while keeping the memories of the money we have lost close to us.
Perhaps they could find a buyer for that state of the art training complex and use it to clear the stadium mortgage, it would give them somewhere to play and a decent match day revenue to rebuild. No, wait ..
Given the new govt announced it was calling the Marlow studio planning decision in (and briefings suggested were mindful of approving it, overruling Bucks council) I wonder if this puts a longer term solution - building a purpose-built training centre in Marlow - back on the table in the medium term, with West London tiding us over till then.
Bearwood has been a millstone around Reading’s neck. To be honest I’m more comfortable with us leasing somewhere for the foreseeable to avoid being lumbered with a costly asset if and when our current owners lose interest / move on.
Rather depends on how much rent is, I wouldn't imagine it's cheap.
While it Is interesting to have these discussions it is also a real shame that so many fans feel the need to discuss this sort of thing based on so many owners having turned out to be utter shits recently.
Are we also using this topic to talk about Harlington?
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wycombe-wanderers-football-club_the-squad-trained-for-the-first-time-on-activity-7253118528759721984-nncE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_iosq
That surface looks incredible for a training pitch.
Thought you would like to know what has been posted on Hobnob.
It gets murkier and murkier each time something is published, Also it gets us closer to my club fading into oblivion. I cannot help but wonder if the "new buyers" do really exist.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/592770 ... directed=1
Rob Couhig has advised clients in thousands of legal disputes, argued cases in hundreds of courtrooms, bought and sold businesses, run a successful baseball team and taken former non-Leaguers Wycombe Wanderers to the second-tier Championship but he has never experienced anything like his attempt to buy Reading.
After months of difficult negotiations, the 75-year-old American’s takeover of the club in League One, the third division of English football, collapsed at the final hurdle in September, without any explanation from Reading or their Chinese owner Dai Yongge.
Since then, Couhig has not said anything publicly, politely declining requests for comment. Until now, that is.
“I have deliberately not said anything because I would still like to do the deal we agreed,” he told The Athletic.
“To this date, I have not been told why the deal wasn’t done. All the documents had been drafted and circulated by the sellers’ lawyers and they had been signed by every party, including the minority owners in Thailand, apart from Dai Yongge.
“I got up that Monday morning thinking it was finally the day when we would get the keys — I told my wife I would be off to England again. But I then saw an email from our lawyers saying the money we had loaned the club had been returned. No explanation, no thanks.”
The New Orleans-based lawyer suggested he and Reading should put out a joint statement but the club from London’s western commuter belt ignored him and issued their own, not that it told us much.
Over the past nine weeks, rumours have been aired on forums and podcasts that it was Couhig’s fault. The theory goes that he either annoyed Dai by acting like he was already in charge or he tried to knock money off the agreed price at the last minute, like a house-buyer who finds damp in the basement.
Couhig remains reluctant to get into the details, as he wants to honour the non-disclosure agreement he signed with the club and Dai, but he did not push back when The Athletic suggested he had agreed to pay £30million ($38m) for the club, with more than half of that sum being forwarded to Dai upon completion.
However, we have learned he also wanted to withhold some of the total payment as a form of insurance against any financial gremlins that might emerge later on. Couhig did not want to get into specifics but acknowledged “there was a reserve element to the price agreed because of potential undisclosed liabilities”.
Asked for his best guess as to why his deal did not go through, Couhig thinks his plans for the club spooked the current regime.
“Some people on the inside (of the club) could see there would be substantial change,” he said. “It’s a great club, with lots of good people, and we like the team and (head coach) Ruben (Selles), but it needs a managerial overhaul.”
Reading declined to comment.
And on the subject of his social media posts at the training ground and in a local bar somehow upsetting Dai, Couhig is very clear.
“It’s nonsense,” he said. “I came to Reading four times and in every instance we were encouraged by the club to give the fans some hope that things were happening with the sale. Frankly, we were told it would be good for me to post some pictures.”
In their statement on September 18, Reading said he and Dai had been “unable to find an agreement” and Couhig’s period of exclusivity had now expired. It added that the club would “pursue alternative options” and it soon emerged that they were in exclusivity with a new bidder, whose identity has been aggressively protected.
Couhig says he does not know who that is and there has been no attempt by the newcomer(s) to make contact with him. This surprises him as nobody has done more work on Reading’s complicated ownership structure than he has and he still holds the liens — a form of security over property assets — he attached to his pre-takeover loans of almost £5million.
Reading chief executive Dayong Pang has written to him about the liens, however, asking Couhig to release them. A request he rejected.
“I haven’t released the liens because the loans I made were integral to the sales process — I would not have loaned Reading if I didn’t think I was buying the club,” he explained.
“I also spent over £1million on this deal. We hired lawyers and accountants to do the due diligence. We even went to the trouble of setting up new companies in the British Virgin Islands to help them out with their (secured debt) problem with (Chinese bank) Haitong.
“Is it fair that I should be out of pocket? I don’t want to sound like I’m whining — what I really want is to do the deal — but I cannot release the liens even if I wanted to, because their lawyers drafted the documents and they are now in dispute with the club over their fees.”
British law firm Walker Morris has filed a winding-up petition against Dai’s holding company for his Reading shares over unpaid fees. It is the fourth such petition the club and Dai have faced since 2020, as well as several points deductions from the EFL for late payments.
And their problems are growing, as Couhig has started legal action of his own.
“I’m absolutely sure they breached my exclusivity by talking to others,” he said. “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.”
Chinese businessman Dai bought Reading in May 2017, the same month they narrowly failed to achieve a return to the Premier League via the play-offs. Since then, however, the club have been hit with points deductions for missing payments, sold most of their best players, downgraded their women’s team, lost staff and been relegated to League One. It has been grim.
he has and he still holds the liens — a form of security over property assets — he attached to his pre-takeover loans of almost £5million.
Reading chief executive Dayong Pang has written to him about the liens, however, asking Couhig to release them. A request he rejected.
lol