Wonder if he'll ever get that money back. Must be a decent chunk of what Lomtadze bought Wycombe for. I guess Rob Couhig's propensity for bluster and high-falutin' promises has come up against a force less malleable than the Wycombe Trust and fanbase, and Rob may have realised his skillset will only get him so far.
It secured. Against what I don’t know. Training ground?
The Athletic was the first source of the training ground purchase. Maybe Rob has an in there so he can secure stories that motivate or stimulate actions.
That’a exactly what he did with us. He is, perhaps, out of his depth dealing with Reading’s owners. He should have banked the Lomtadze cash and ridden off to the Bayou.
Entirely predictable but pretty awful news for football in general. There is a chance Couhig's consortium will be the last chopper out of Saigon for Reading FC unless another wannabe snake handler wants to try and deal with Yongge.
The loans will be secured against shares, property or the club and put him in the driving seat should the club fall in to administration.
I suspect if it falls through he will try and buy the club through the administrators but that has it's own issues as they will probably be deducted so many points that they will be in Lge2 next season with other constraints in season 25/26.
Rob (and his friends) will own Reading in the next year, he's sunk too much money in to the project to walk away.
The Reading supporters could have a lot more pain to go through before they come out the other side and many of them are asking for administration, just to rid themselves of Dai and be able to start afresh with a club in the Football League.
I've said for ages that when you are reportedly £100m in debt and losing a million a month regardless of who that debt is to you either need a sucker or a philanthropist to pull you around. The latter is not likely and even suckers are not going to get past the current owners.
They need a reset in terms of finance and ego. A Cat 1 academy is lovely but at £2.5m a year minimum I would suggest that has to go at day 1.
Luton proved that a financial reset can work. Not easy. But it can work.
As always my thoughts will always be with the small creditors that will get absolutely shafted if they go down the CVA route.
Could easily be a move to focus the mind or gain leverage for whatever happens next but he may want to remember his conversation with the guy who owned Bury before he bought us and why he didn't chose get involved there.
Lending large amounts of money to a club with huge multi year losses and unmanageable debts and an unstable absent owner Is some gamble if it is his own money, which it may well not be.
This all places them in a very interesting position with the EFL too, they won't see it that way but they've used up every bit of goodwill going and must be touch and go to be able to fulfill fixtures medium and longer term.
Probably a mix. Lot's of clubs have been stuck like this where any minute level of common sense would have told the owner to cut losses long ago.
Buyers regret? Gambler's chasing something that isn't there? Insanity? Maybe a realisation he won't see anything significant from any sale anyway? Lack of real accountability for anything he's done to date? Hoping to stay relevant in some way? Maybe not entirely control himself with his own debts or commitments?
I've always thought that to become a multi millionaire / billionaire you have to have a certain amount of arrogance and self believe beyond the norm, as well as other skills.
Those same qualities could lead you to believe you can make money at a football club when any same person knows it's almost impossible.
I don't wish any ill towards Rob, but he's made his bed and now has to lay in it - whatever state the sheets are in.
He quite likely does think he can get all his money back, deluded fool that he is. If the talks have failed the club will almost certainly go into administration. Dai will get nothing, Rob will claim his loan (or club shares and/or Bearwood) which the loan seems to be against if past reports are correct. It would mean the Stadium is still in Dai's hand, so would Rob still be intreated in buying the club for £1? Nothing seems to have changed ever since before Dai Yongge said he will sell up. These are very dark days for my club, and I fear for the existence of Reading FC, even more than I did during the Maxwell merger days.
It's in a very perilous position but not one of us would want to see any club fold (apart from one) and for me especially I would not want to see Reading fold, so many of my friends in and around where I live support Reading and it is a part of everyday life and to some their whole life.
If Rob can get it over the line or take it on after administration then you have a good custodian.
They got quite a bit of cash from Michael Olise going to Bayern Munich so they will probably be ok for this season. Just kicks the can down the road for more issues next year.
Comments
If Bobby C doesn't retreat and call it a day there he must be mad.
Go home Rob.... enjoy your retirement with your family
The Athletic reporting tonight that talks between Couhig and Yongge have broken down.
Well, there’s a surprise.
I hope Rob kept his receipts for his Ding jacket, and his annual match pass sub.
Wow!
'Somebody dropped this in one of our toilets' says owner of the Purple Turtle.
Rob is a tenacious son of a gun remember how he wouldn’t let Derby get away with it , but maybe it’s time to let the ding go.
Yep, another deadline passed on Friday and the talks have been going on for over three months now.
Due to the huge monthly losses and needing to be a going concern Rob has already lent the club over £5M. Yes, 5M in three months!
Administration looms, more points deductions and Selles looks like he might go to Stoke.
Sports Direct in Reading reporting record sales of tennis balls yesterday.
Wonder if he'll ever get that money back. Must be a decent chunk of what Lomtadze bought Wycombe for. I guess Rob Couhig's propensity for bluster and high-falutin' promises has come up against a force less malleable than the Wycombe Trust and fanbase, and Rob may have realised his skillset will only get him so far.
It's JJ I feel sorry for.
Could be a lucky escape for JJ. The whole club seems an absolute basket case
Why the hell would you loan a club 5 million... when you don't even own them !! Nevermind when they have an owner with the reputation he has !
It looks like he tried the same gambit he did at Wycombe, not realising the gulf in circumstance between us.
I really can’t see Rob doing that, he is a bit cute with his cash.
Probably secured the loan on Bearwood.
That Ding bomber jacket is looking pretty expensive now!
It secured. Against what I don’t know. Training ground?
The Athletic was the first source of the training ground purchase. Maybe Rob has an in there so he can secure stories that motivate or stimulate actions.
T
That’a exactly what he did with us. He is, perhaps, out of his depth dealing with Reading’s owners. He should have banked the Lomtadze cash and ridden off to the Bayou.
Entirely predictable but pretty awful news for football in general. There is a chance Couhig's consortium will be the last chopper out of Saigon for Reading FC unless another wannabe snake handler wants to try and deal with Yongge.
The loans will be secured against shares, property or the club and put him in the driving seat should the club fall in to administration.
I suspect if it falls through he will try and buy the club through the administrators but that has it's own issues as they will probably be deducted so many points that they will be in Lge2 next season with other constraints in season 25/26.
Rob (and his friends) will own Reading in the next year, he's sunk too much money in to the project to walk away.
The Reading supporters could have a lot more pain to go through before they come out the other side and many of them are asking for administration, just to rid themselves of Dai and be able to start afresh with a club in the Football League.
I've said for ages that when you are reportedly £100m in debt and losing a million a month regardless of who that debt is to you either need a sucker or a philanthropist to pull you around. The latter is not likely and even suckers are not going to get past the current owners.
They need a reset in terms of finance and ego. A Cat 1 academy is lovely but at £2.5m a year minimum I would suggest that has to go at day 1.
Luton proved that a financial reset can work. Not easy. But it can work.
As always my thoughts will always be with the small creditors that will get absolutely shafted if they go down the CVA route.
Could easily be a move to focus the mind or gain leverage for whatever happens next but he may want to remember his conversation with the guy who owned Bury before he bought us and why he didn't chose get involved there.
Lending large amounts of money to a club with huge multi year losses and unmanageable debts and an unstable absent owner Is some gamble if it is his own money, which it may well not be.
This all places them in a very interesting position with the EFL too, they won't see it that way but they've used up every bit of goodwill going and must be touch and go to be able to fulfill fixtures medium and longer term.
Is there a reason why Yongge is so reluctant to sell? Surely he doesn’t think he can get all his money back?
Probably a mix. Lot's of clubs have been stuck like this where any minute level of common sense would have told the owner to cut losses long ago.
Buyers regret? Gambler's chasing something that isn't there? Insanity? Maybe a realisation he won't see anything significant from any sale anyway? Lack of real accountability for anything he's done to date? Hoping to stay relevant in some way? Maybe not entirely control himself with his own debts or commitments?
I don't think he's said much publicly recently.
I've always thought that to become a multi millionaire / billionaire you have to have a certain amount of arrogance and self believe beyond the norm, as well as other skills.
Those same qualities could lead you to believe you can make money at a football club when any same person knows it's almost impossible.
I don't wish any ill towards Rob, but he's made his bed and now has to lay in it - whatever state the sheets are in.
He's laying in it and as he turns round he sees Dai Yongge next to him.
He quite likely does think he can get all his money back, deluded fool that he is. If the talks have failed the club will almost certainly go into administration. Dai will get nothing, Rob will claim his loan (or club shares and/or Bearwood) which the loan seems to be against if past reports are correct. It would mean the Stadium is still in Dai's hand, so would Rob still be intreated in buying the club for £1? Nothing seems to have changed ever since before Dai Yongge said he will sell up. These are very dark days for my club, and I fear for the existence of Reading FC, even more than I did during the Maxwell merger days.
They continue to air their “dirty laundry” in public, with the fans lashing out at everyone.
So as per the Eagles song of that name - kick them when they’re up, kick them when they’re down.
It's in a very perilous position but not one of us would want to see any club fold (apart from one) and for me especially I would not want to see Reading fold, so many of my friends in and around where I live support Reading and it is a part of everyday life and to some their whole life.
If Rob can get it over the line or take it on after administration then you have a good custodian.
They got quite a bit of cash from Michael Olise going to Bayern Munich so they will probably be ok for this season. Just kicks the can down the road for more issues next year.