Latest news with #DaiYongge
Bloomberg
23-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Musk Backer to Join New Ownership at Reading Football Club
Aliya Capital Partners, a Miami-based investment firm, is joining the ownership group that bought out 154-year-old Reading Football Club from Chinese businessman Dai Yongge. Aliya will become a significant investor in Reading Football Club, subject to the league's approval, Ross Kestin, chief executive officer and founding partner of Aliya, said in an interview on Friday. Kestin will join the board of the club, which is competing in the UK's third-tier EFL League One.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Reading Women open applications for 'expressions of interest' in joining club
Women and girls across Reading have been invited to apply to play for the club next season. A club steeped in history, regulars in the Women's Super League for over a decade under the management of Kelly Cousins, the side are now in the fifth tier (Southern Region Women's Football League Premier Division.) This is under the control of the Community Trust, who stepped up after Dai Yongge refused to fund the women's side. No longer playing out of Reading, the Women play at Slough Town's Arbour Park. Last season Pedro Bruno's side finished eighth out of 10, winning four of their 18 matches. Lucy Bolitho won Player of the Season and received her award on the pitch at the SCL Stadium on the final day of the League One season. If you wish to express an interest in playing, fill in this form attached where you must disclose your current club, previous playing experience and injury history. The future could be exciting though with news of Rob Couhig's takeover. Speaking of his plans, the former Wycombe Wanderers chief said: "We're going to want to establish a relationship with the women's team to see what we can do within the economic confines of our overall remit to help them. I want to work with the Trust to see what I can do to assist them." Wycombe Wanderers Ladies finished second in the same division as Reading last season.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
New Reading owner Rob Couhig: ‘There is a real market for the EFL in the US'
Rob Couhig talks of having been 'jilted at the altar' when he describes the unceremonious end of his previous Reading takeover bid but eight months on he has finally consummated his on-off relationship with the troubled club. The divorce from the previous owner, Dai Yongge, was a long and painful one which had passed the 600-day mark by the time Couhig's £25m purchase was completed last Wednesday. From his home in New Orleans, Couhig talks at length about the extraordinary process, including the revelation that he did not speak to Dai and had only occasional contact with the former Reading chief executive Nigel Howe. The image of the 75-year-old lawyer being stood up at a popular Reading nightspot, The Purple Turtle, when he went to exchange contracts last September also boggles the mind, although much about the saga made little sense. Couhig was one of five bidders to enter exclusive negotiations with Dai and had drifted from the picture until a judgment from London's commercial court last month upheld his claim to have security over the stadium and training ground resulting from last year's aborted deal. 'I always thought it was going to happen because we're not idiots,' Couhig says. 'When we did the deal [last summer] we did what we thought was right, and our lawyers did a terrific job for us. I was just at home when it happened after my experience last year. 'I went to The Purple Turtle club in Reading of all places. I thought it'd be a great place for us to go and be able to sort of softly make the announcement. I realised while I was there that it wasn't happening and I had to go home. We were jilted at the altar. Nobody said a word, did a thing, anything. 'I never spoke to Mr Dai. I spoke to Nigel twice in a year, maybe three times. I spoke to several sets of lawyers representing Mr Dai at various times. And that's as close as I came to having any real discussions with anybody. We worked almost around the clock for two weeks to get it done. So it wasn't a feeling of: 'Let's go pop the champagne!' Instead we've just plunged straight into it.' The uncertainty surrounding Dai's ownership means Couhig bought a club with only six first-team players under contract for next season, although new deals were offered to 11 other players last week in an attempt to retain the bulk of the squad which finished seventh in League One, three points off the playoffs. The manager, Noel Hunt, will be staying after doing a hugely impressive job in difficult circumstances since replacing Rubén Sellés in December. Couhig's focus, as during his ownership of Wycombe, who were promoted to the Championship for the first time on his watch, will be on obtaining value via the best free transfers. 'I'm a big believer that at this level of football there's a lot of people who are coming out of other clubs, Championship clubs, Premier League clubs, even League One clubs, who are going to be looking for a new home in a place where they can succeed,' Couhig says. 'I think we're going to be much more oriented towards frees. Transfer fees will be not excluded from our consideration, but will be an anomaly. 'We're always going to ask: 'Does it make sensible business?' I would rather spend extra money on infrastructure than extra money on a specific player. Because if I go out and I build the infrastructure, I know I'm going to get a return on it. With a player, some of them end up injured or something happens in their life, and all of a sudden you've got a player who's not the same person that you bought.' Having owned Wycombe for more than four years, Couhig is well versed on life in the English Football League and has strong views on how it operates. He advocates tougher spending controls in League One to prevent cash-rich clubs such as Birmingham and Wrexham from running away with promotion as they did this season, and also argues that the EFL should be doing far more to promote the competition in the United States. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 'If I could be the tsar of football for the day I would tell all clubs in League One you can only use twice what you get from the league in payment for your first-team players,' Couhig says. 'Make it a real meritocracy and not so dependent upon how much money a club brings compared to another club. 'The EFL is a hugely undervalued asset, particularly in the United States. It's the biggest market in the world and we're barely tapping into it. Sometimes the assumption is made that people only worry about the Premier League, but I think there is a real market for all three divisions of the EFL. 'Most people over here live in small towns so have a natural affinity with smaller clubs. They like to adopt them as their own. We don't have promotion and relegation over here, so should be marketing the hell out of that. Every game matters in the EFL, which isn't the case in the States.' Couhig's immediate targets for Reading are a playoff place and a period of stability. 'On the pitch I would expect to do better than we did this season,' he says. 'Off the pitch it would be reasonable to expect not to have as many disruptions. 'People can say all the bad things they want about Mr Dai, but he has assembled an impressive collection of assets. The stadium, the training ground, the fact that Reading have a history of success, and a solid fanbase that's proven its mettle. What I want to do is take a troubled business and turn it into a hugely successful one. 'My goal is always to leave a place better than I found it. And I think we will be well on that road by this time next year.'
South China Morning Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Controversial Chinese businessman completes sale of former English Premier League side
Reading have been taken over by former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig's company Redwood Holdings Limited, the English Football League said on Wednesday, bringing an end to Chinese businessman Dai Yongge's controversial era. Yongge was ordered to sell the second-tier Championship club in March having been disqualified under the EFL's owners' and directors' test. He was initially given until April 4 to complete the sale, but the EFL twice granted an extension to the deadline, with Reading agreeing terms with Redwood Holdings Limited over the sale on May 3. 'Over recent weeks the league has worked closely with all parties to facilitate a timely transfer of ownership in order to end the uncertainty surrounding the club's future for its staff, supporters and wider community,' the EFL said. 'We look forward to working closely with the new ownership group and wish the club and its supporters a successful future following a difficult period for all associated with the club.' Yongge, who took over Reading in 2017, has been blamed by fans for the club's problems after they had six points deducted last season for financial mismanagement. They also withdrew from the Women's Championship due to financial issues.
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Reading ownership nightmare finally over after Dai Yongge sells club to Rob Couhig
Dai Yongge has sold Reading to Rob Couhig, ending the Chinese businessman's turbulent reign. Couhig, the 76-year-old former Wycombe owner, has acquired the League One club, their stadium and training ground. The English Football League said they wished Reading and their supporters 'a successful future following a difficult period for all associated with the club'. A deal had been agreed for several weeks and has now been ratified by the EFL. The US-based Couhig has been named chairman and his business partner Todd Trosclair has also joined the board. Couhig tried to buy Reading last year but the deal collapsed in September 2024. Reading have been bought by Redwood Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Dogwood Football LLC, which is owned by Couhig and Trosclair. 'Redwood is ambitious and dedicated towards the club returning to its rightful place within the English football pyramid, while adhering to clear principles of honesty, transparency and financial sustainability,' a club statement said. Reading have been docked 18 points across the past three seasons, a period in which the club have also been under a series of embargos for defaulted payments. Yongge cut funding for Reading Women, resulting in them withdrawing from the second tier last summer, and in March he was disqualified as an owner by the EFL and given a deadline to sell the club, owing to business activity in China. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion A statement from the supporters' campaign group Sell Before We Dai said: 'We are incredibly relieved and happy that Reading Football Club are finally under new ownership. It's a day which we thought, at times, may never happen.'
