Reading Fans Are, Again, Left With More Questions Than Answers

Alex processes a week in which Reading’s takeover fell through, before the club released a statement and Nigel Howe spoke to the media - neither of which did much to quiet fans’ concerns.

It’s not been the best, has it? The vacuous nature of the performance and the result against Leyton Orient at the weekend left a little bit of a cloud hanging over the mood of many supporters, as did the report released by the local media on Wednesday morning saying that exclusivity has expired for Rob Couhig’s purchase of the club.

Our saviour turned out to be… not that. At least it seems for now.

I want to be careful to try and not cover old ground because both The Blue & White Jester and Harry have written some excellent words related to this, which I do wholeheartedly agree with. My initial reaction to the news on Wednesday was disappointment, tinged with almost a level of apathy, if I’m honest. I am just so used to these kind of shenanigans happening with Reading that it’s becoming difficult to really process it at all.

The club released a statement, which told us… not much. However, that’s essentially what I expected anyway because NDAs and blah, blah blah, all that stuff and again... well, it’s a bit tiring to get upset over the same things. However, Nigel Howe’s comments to the press were released yesterday (or Thursday, depending on when you are reading this), which was... something. To receive two such bits of communication in a short space of time is quite unusual for this club, and at the very least, it’s something.

As an aside to these statements – I do really feel sorry for the communications team that have to put them out. They have so little to work with in order to try and give the fans something new to hear, and then invariably the toxic nature of social media will mean missiles get sent at that particular team, who are both stretched and consistently being let down by those above them. Let’s please just try and be cognisant of who our constructive ire really ought to be directed at: Dai Yongge.

You can read the statement for yourselves – I note it’s quite interesting that the page has been edited since it was originally released and has less content than before. I’m not sure what the driver behind that edit was.

For me, the statement raises some questions which, despite there being an NDA in place, can still most likely be answered. I understand that breaking an NDA can result in legal ramifications and that’s Not A Good Thing, so I do sympathise the need to stand on the side of caution here. Once more, the tumbleweed of nothingness coming from the owner just puts others in a very uncomfortable spotlight.

Starting with Howe, the statement says “the club will pursue alternative options” and that “Mr Dai remains committed to the sale of Reading Football Club”. Right, so here’s the thing: how, exactly?

In case anyone has forgotten, Howe has a three-month ban about to spring into action which prevents him having an involvement in anything to do with football, for his part in the Michael Olise 2019 contract, which is rather ironic, because had he not done that, then we wouldn’t have any funds to tide us over from the sell-on clause that was inserted. Howe had to break the rules to act in the best interests of the club and this is the thanks he gets. More on this later.

With question marks still hanging over Mark Bowen’s involvement in the club – has he been given the boot? Is he on gardening leave? Is he still there in some capacity and the reports have been incorrect?

It seems unlikely he is at the club, despite the non-announcement of his departure, which means we have no senior figure behind the scenes doing anything, it seems? No Howe. No Bowen. Does this mean Dayong Pang is going to actually start getting involved again? If so, does this actually give us supporters – and indeed the staff at Reading – any confidence?

Let’s rewind the clock and remind ourselves that it wasn’t until Howe was brought back in that anything – not just something significant but anything at all – was done to try and get the club sold. Who will lead the sale now? Give us some names and someone with the accountability to be present and counted for so we can have some actual confidence that Dai is trying to sell the club, rather than empty words.

Let’s talk money. It is mystifying how the funding that Couhig has been fronting the club has been paid back so quickly, and apparently with interest. This part about interest was mentioned in the original statement, but isn’t there in the edited one. Draw your own conclusions there.

My bigger concern is that, according to the statement, money has been put into the club by Dai to keep us running for the next few months while they or someone tries to find a new owner.

Allow me to be blunt here. How can we be sure? Seriously, how? I mean, we can’t exactly ask for a copy of a bank statement or payment slip to demonstrate this, but how many times have we heard “Dai remains committed to…” and then money just isn’t there when it needs to be there?

We all know there’s the Femi Azeez transfer money floating around somewhere, as well as the Olise sell-on money (frankly, how fortunate are we that he moved this summer? Somehow it would be even more bleak without knowing that cash injection was there).

But what security or assurance do we have that Dai hasn’t used that money to pay off the Couhig loans and, when the end of October – or even this month – arrives, people don’t get paid and we get another customary points deduction? It all feels a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

I had kind of gotten used to the future owner paying the bills and it was a nice feeling. A feeling like a warm blanket, keeping us safe. Now the blanket has been pulled away from us, the cold feels stark. Now I’m kicking myself for thinking that things could be ok, knowing what I know about the commitment our club seems to have to being a basket case.

The other point around money is – why only for a few months? What happens after? Is it because another potential new candidate is already lined up and ready to go? Is it because the incoming transfer money will only last until then? Is that just how long Dai can stay interested for?

Seriously, what happens if, after this sort-of-non-specific-timeline, we still have no new owner? Frankly, given everything, it seems the most likely thing to happen. Do the lights get turned off?

It is worth noting that the “newer” statement says “provisions are in place to fund the club until a transaction is completed”. But… that could be any amount of indeterminable time. I imagine this is what the communications team have been told to write and you do have to wonder how sincere that statement from whatever leadership we have left actually is.

I am genuinely terrified of January for us – I am especially concerned that our loveable duo of Mbengdon will be shipped out for pennies. With so many players who have deals that run out in the summer, we are ripe for the plucking. Again.

The next concern that I have is that it is still no clearer as to why the deal fell apart. “The parties have been unable to find an agreement” doesn’t really do much other than state the pretty obvious, given that the exclusivity has expired.

Again, we know the NDA restrictions really limit what can be discussed but I really wish someone from senior leadership level at the club would offer something just a little bit more for us.

Some have cited the “complexities” of the deal, namely the fact that different parts of the club are owned by different entities. OK, I get this. But this won´t be news to anyone buying the club. It’s all laid out there as part of the NDA agreement, that gives them full view and disclosure of that situation. What on earth is so difficult about it? I am struggling to understand.

If “Item X” is owned by one person, “Item Y” owned by another and only “Item X” is for sale, then just focus on purchasing Item X, surely? Item X in this scenario could be the stadium and Item Y could be the hotel. If the car park is for sale, great, they name the price and you pay it.

If it’s not, does it really matter? Does it really stop someone running a football club? Or is this where the complexities are currently – the inability for the different parties to come to an agreement on how to co-operatively use the land? It seems difficult to believe given that, you know, it’s kind of already happening, but it’s possible?

The penultimate thing that I have floating around in between the tumbleweed within my head is regarding Couhig. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the PR opportunities – visiting The Purple Turtle in club merchandise, being present at games, talking to fans and Sir John Madejski, changing your social media picture to include the club badge (it’s still not yet been changed for Rob Couhig, at the time of writing) – it’s all nice stuff, and yeah I get why he is doing it because he senses a fanbase that crave present ownership that cares. And that´s nice. But now the deal has seemingly fallen through, it now looks ill-advised because it has served to only get our hopes up, only to be crushed.

Couhig, from what I gather, has been quite open in talking about the takeover. Surely, surely he could release something? It’s no secret he was the protagonist – NDA or not – so just some kind of statement to tell us something, anything new would serve to help appease us as a fanbase just ever so slightly. We really will take whatever we can get right now.

Lastly… Dai. Is he the complexity here? Is he the one causing so many hold-ups, delays and problems?

As has been mentioned on these pages before, Couhig was all ready to go, EFL-approved. What has Dai’s role been in all of this? Perhaps he does want rid of the club and to escape the headache of football club ownership, which I can imagine is incredibly challenging at the best of times.

However, his reputation goes against him here and you can only worry about what his real intentions might be. The statement says one thing, but thus far, his actions (or indeed, inactions) say another. Something isn’t right here.

Now, we enter a long winter. The fanbase is at a low again, the players, coaches and staff probably don’t feel any better. It’s probably fair to say it’s even worse for them. All we can do at this stage is just try to put that aside for 90-100 minutes or so on Saturday, and the next few Saturdays and occasional Tuesdays, to show the team we are 100% there for them. It’s all we can do, because we’re all in this mess together.

Who knows, perhaps it truly is darkest before the dawn? I still remember the training ground sale proposal, which fuelled a really low feeling within the club. Then, shortly after, the deal fell through and a new owner was identified.

Things can change quickly, so as dangerous as it is to hope, let’s not forget that it’s not over until it’s over. We’re still alive, the team are still fighting and we’re still here to make ourselves heard. Whatever comes next, let’s embrace it together, support each other and be the fanbase, the team and the community that gives us the strength we have had to survive so far and to continue surviving.