'Never been involved in anything like this' - Couhig

Rob Couhig says he still wants to buy Reading Football Club

American businessman and lawyer Rob Couhig has described his attempts to take over Reading as "exhausting".

The ex-Wycombe Wanderers owner previously tried to buy the League One club and said that he would still like to do so.

"I have never seen or been involved in anything like this ever," Couhig told BBC South Today.

Last week he was involved in a court proceeding where current owner Dai Yongge attempted to get an injunction against Couhig, claiming that he was blocking his attempt to sell the Royals.

Couhig said that he was not blocking any transaction from being completed.

The request for a mandatory injunction by Yongge was not granted by the judge.

"Everyone has been consistently mislead in the kindest possible way to say it, by the club," Couhig said.

"I was never told why my deal never went forward, someone started bad-mouthing me, that happens, but most recently there has been a pressure exerted saying that somehow I am an impediment to a sale.

"The idea that the situation is close to closure but for Couhig is, as far as I can tell, the furthest thing from the truth.

"My reputation means a lot to me, people don't always love me but they always know they get the truth from me, that's what bothered me a little bit."

In a statement on Thursday, the club said that "regarding the ongoing litigation case with Mr Couhig" it was offering a proposal to him that it hoped would resolve the impasse between the parties, and help facilitate the sale of the club.

Back in March 2024 Yongge committed to a letter of intent and since then a number of parties have entered into exclusivity as potential purchasers.

In recent years the club has been subject to relegation, points deductions and transfer embargos while Reading's women's side withdrew from the Championship to the fifth tier.

Reading have also been forced to sell some of their biggest assets in order to keep the club running.

Couhig said that if he was able to complete the purchase of the club, it would enable him to embark on a rebuild project.

"I love a challenge," he said. "Reading is a challenge of much bigger proportions than most people realise, when you start to turn the rocks over there are lots of snakes there.

"You need to get in there and really work hard and that's what I love doing, the idea of taking a troubled asset, making it better, and then walking away leaving it in better condition, that's what I live for.

"It has all the assets necessary to be a club that is customarily in mid-table of the Championship, with the potential of being in the Premier League, that certainly is not out of the realms in a three-to-five-year deal, it would be hard but it can be done."

Couhig has previously owned minor league baseball side the New Orleans Zephyrs and League One club Wycombe Wanderers.

He left Wycombe in the summer of 2024 after playing a key role in getting the club promoted to the Championship for the first time.

To do the same with Reading "is going to be hard work and will require imagination if we do it", added Couhig.

"What we did with Wycombe, where we created Wanderers TV, which became a huge success that created a revenue stream that didn't exist," he said.

"Reading has that potential - it gets exhausting though. I have had other opportunities, my family might tell me to move on, if it's me then great, I'm ready to do it."

Current owner Yongge has been officially disqualified under the EFL's Owners' and Directors' Test, meaning that he has to divest his interests in the club or show significant progress towards a sale being completed.

Should he fail to do so then the EFL have the power to stop Reading from playing games.

"My intentions were always to restore Reading to its prominence as a football club," Couhig said.

"I'm not going to let the club be abandoned as there is history left, I'm not going to let the club liquidate."

Reading declined to comment after being approached by BBC Sport.

Couhig (right) visited Reading's Select Car Leasing Stadium in August