Cartwheels and Couhig flags – the day Reading were saved from ‘oblivion’ ...Middle East

How are the heads, Reading fans?

The same could be asked of Bradford’s supporters following an enthralling final day across the EFL, but at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Saturday it wasn’t promotion or even a play-off place Reading fans were celebrating.

It was the end of Dai Yongge’s reign. It was the prospect not only of a brighter future, but simply an actual future for this 154-year-old club.

“Reading Football Club is pleased to announce the sale in principle of the club to Redwood Holdings Limited,” the club’s statement began on Saturday morning, news fans had waited for with bated breath but were not exactly holding out for.

square FOOTBALL

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The threat of expulsion lingered after Dai was disqualified as an owner by the EFL in March, but now the takeover is “fully expected to be completed shortly”, subject to final legal technicalities.

This agreement with Redwood Holdings Limited, who are owned by Rob Couhig – the former Wycombe Wanderers majority shareholder – and Todd Trosclair, has afforded Reading more time to complete the sale.

The EFL agreed to extend its deadline for the divestment of Dai’s shareholding until Reading’s next board meeting on 8 May, meaning official confirmation could be around the corner.

In the meantime, though, and with those formalities out the way, back to the people who matter: the fans, who were doing cartwheels at the prospect of this takeover and cared little for the 4-2 defeat to Barnsley that played out, given Leyton Orient had won themselves to earn the final play-off place in League One.

This was a sell-out, the first of the season at Reading, 21,481 marking their biggest attendance for two years. Cue the balloons flying around the concourses, a party atmosphere, a fan already donning a colourful Couhig flag, and actual queues for buses back to town and to get into the Purple Turtle.

“It’s nice. We can think about football without having to worry about what’s going to happen off the pitch,” Reading fan Craig Richard tells The i Paper.

“Are we going to get points deducted? Relegated? Are we going to fold? It’s nice to worry about the football going forward.

“Before it was so loud, people were very happy. It’s a sense of relief. No matter what happens now we’re on a normal footing, we’re not looking over our shoulder.

“My nephew is 18 months old, so now in a couple years my brother can take his son here. That wasn’t necessarily a given a couple months ago. That’s really cool. The little things like that. We’re stable now, which we weren’t before.”

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Then there are those fans who campaigned relentlessly and admirably, who deserve high praise, who threw tennis balls and protested far beyond their own pitch in a bid to get rid of Dai, their owner who had overseen years of financial mismanagement which led to points deductions for the men’s team and the withdrawal of the women’s team from the Championship.

“It’s a day which we thought, at times, may never happen,” campaign group Sell Before We Dai wrote on Saturday, now the end of this eight-year ownership is in sight.

“Today is a day for celebration and that starts by welcoming Rob Couhig. Thank you for not giving up on us, thank you for saving our 153-year-old club from oblivion.”

Couhig had previously failed to make in-roads with Dai, with takeover talks falling flat, and he was even involved in a court hearing with the Reading owner earlier this year. Dai claimed Couhig was blocking his attempt to sell the Royals, while a request for a mandatory injunction was not granted by the judge.

Sell Before We Dai therefore added that they were grateful for Couhig remaining “determined, dogged and incredibly savvy” during what the American businessman had called himself an “exhausting” process.

“Reading fans are now excited to hear in an open forum from Couhig about his plans. Our gratitude is immeasurable but cannot be unconditional,” the protest group added.

“We are under no illusions that steps will need to be taken to undo the damage Dai has done to this football club, but we hope Couhig runs Reading transparently, prudently, in collaboration with Reading fans and with regard for the club’s identity.”

Sell Before We Dai also acknowledged “we are done”, insisting “the whole point of being in a protest group is to get to a point where you’re no longer needed”, and that is where they have arrived.

Thank heavens for bank holiday Monday, then (for some at least), with supporters able to toast this takeover news a little longer.

They might not be going up, but that is besides the point. Never has finishing the season in seventh with a 4-2 defeat ever tasted so sweet.

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