Explained: Potential New Reading Owner Rob Couhig

From Reading reportedly being set to sell Bearwood to Wycombe Wanderers in mid-March... to the Chairboys’ then-owner Rob Couhig being linked with buying Reading in mid-June. What a wild three months it’s been.

Not for the first time have I said there is never a dull moment supporting this club, and I suspect that it will not be the last time, but there really is never a dull moment, is there? It is genuinely amazing that Sunderland, with the greatest of respect, have had a Netflix documentary made about them, but somehow none of the major streaming networks have picked up on the walking circus that is Reading FC.

Anyway, on June 5, Reading released a statement saying that discussions for the sale of the club remain ongoing, despite the exclusivity period granted to the leading bidders lapsing. Basically, they didn’t really say much at all in the statement. I would have liked it if they had at the very least given us a date for when they would next provide an update, giving us a clear caveat that the next update would not necessarily pertain to any progress made on the sale, but acknowledging us as a fan base – and also I’d imagine those employed by the club would be seeking reassurances – that we are thirsty to know what on earth is going on.

Now my rant about that is over, let’s look at where we are. Though never officially announced or confirmed by the club, we were led to believe that the Chiron Sports Group were the leading bidders for the club. We didn’t know much about them, but some poor soul was able to find some information out about them and publish said information on this site. That article aged well.

However, it seems that, if that group were ever leading the pack, they have now fallen by the wayside. For whatever reason this was, I am not going to speculate, because I’m bad enough at predicting future transfers, let alone providing speculative feedback on something that could have some kind of legal slap on the wrists. So then, what now?

Well, now a new name has come to the front, though it is also a name that Royals fans may be familiar with: Rob Couhig. It’s important to mention that, in all honesty, I certainly have no idea if he really is leading a consortium or a bid to take over the club. However, assuming that he is, let’s take some time to have a quick look at what he’s all about, shall we?

Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images

Who is Rob Couhig?

Rob Couhig is a 75-year-old American lawyer who has also had a successful foray into the world of business, through acquisitions and sales of businesses related to such things as pest control, oil and gas. Alongside his law partners, he has also invested in businesses across a variety of fields such as real estate, film, disaster recovery, logistics and pharmaceuticals.

Couhig has also been involved in politics, being a Republican campaign manager for former State representatives Garey Forster and Sam LeBlanc, and served as a campaign co-ordinator for US Representative Bob Livingston.

Lastly, and where his name might be most familiar to those of a Reading persuasion, he has sporting links. He was the president of US baseball team Triple A Zephyrs between 1993 and 2000, and their owner between 1995 until 2000. He’s owned two football teams in his time: US side New Orleans Storm and Wycombe Wanderers.

Is there anyone else involved?

To say that details are quite sketchy right now would probably be something of an understatement. There is talk of a consortium, but it’s really only just talk. It seems likely that there will be others in the frame to provide financial support, but it’s not clear who exactly these people could be, how many of them there could be and what their backgrounds are. In short: it’s a mystery.

Does he have the funds?

I suspect he is probably not short of cash, but there are no reliable sources available that forecast his current wealth portfolio. It doesn’t seem likely that he would be the only person providing capital to make the purchase of the club, and indeed, the only person providing funding for running a football club, which is a notoriously expensive thing to do. It´s very likely there is a consortium involved, whereby he is fronting a team of people who will all provide investment as a group to acquire the club.

I can only speculate at this stage what his financial viability would/could be, but history at least indicates that he’s at least financially savvy and has form for acquisitions of this nature. It’s only a small sign of encouragement, but it’s at least something. And frankly, I think most of us will take any good/encouraging news that we can get because, as a club, we really don’t need any more ‘Sideshow Bob stepping on endless rakes’ moments.

Does he know how to run a football club?

Now we’re talking – yes. Yes, he does. He has mostly notably been the owner of Wycombe Wanderers since 2019, until May 2024 when the club was purchased by another group. Between that time and June 7 he held the position of chairman, but stepped down to allow the new group to do their thing.

During Couhig’s time in control of Wycombe, they reached two playoff finals, completed a season in the Championship and achieved a first EFL Trophy final appearance. Commenting on his time at the club, Couhig has said:

“My commitment when I first became associated with Wycombe was to upgrade the infrastructure, enhance the game-day experience, diversify and solidify revenue, operate efficiently and in a financially sustainable manner, and create an environment that would allow the club to compete in the Championship.”

And, in fairness, he’s achieved this on meagre resources with a club that has not historically competed at a high level of football. All said, he’s been a solid and safe pair of hands during his time at Wycombe Wanderers and that really should be music to the ears for Royals. Despite Wycombe being a team on the up when he purchased them, he really has left Wycombe in a much better state of affairs than when he took them over.

It’s probably worth mentioning that he did upset the Reading fanbase back in March by leading an attempted acquisition of Reading’s Bearwood Park training ground, which ultimately didn’t go through. As well as this, he has probably not further endeared himself to the Royals by making comments claiming that Reading’s fanbase “caused issues” over the attempted sale.

As such, he’s probably not seen entirely favourably by many Reading fans, but if he really is going to be the person to take over the club then we will need to forgive and forget. Certainly, based on his history with Wycombe, he has the credentials to give us the stability that we have craved for so long. I certainly can’t fault him for trying to do his best to further improve Wycombe’s longer-term prospects, and it would be nice to see a Reading owner do something to help us grow.

Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images

He was also the owner of a US football (soccer) team, purchasing New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers in November 1997. Couhig renamed the team the New Orleans Storm and changed the team colours to purple, grey and black to match the colours of the Zephyrs baseball team, whom he owned at the time. It’s worth noting that it seems incredibly unlikely he would seek to either move the SCL Stadium or change the team colours, but you never know.

However, by February 2000, Couhig announced New Orleans Storm was suspending operations. Since then, they have not been active.

Why would he want to buy Reading?

Well, we know he likes the training ground. But joking aside, the reasons are probably fairly similar to the previous leading bidder’s reasons. As quick recap of those, but with a little bit of a copy-and-paste job including some hasty editing:

1. First and foremost, we’re a great venture capital opportunity as, if run correctly in a similar model to teams such as Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford or the Reading of Sir John Madejski’s days, we could be profitable once again and eventually be sold on at a gain. And, ultimately, however we want to look at it or however we might feel about it, football is a business, and this guy is a seemingly prominent businessman. Though it must be said, if we’re sold for a profit, it means any new owner must have done something right in the first place to make that possible.
2. The bones of the club are there for success to be achieved. Clearly, Couhig sees value in the facilities on offer at the club.
3. Simply put, location. He has an affinity with Wycombe Wanderers who are not too far down the road from RG2 and, if he is settled/comfortable with the area, it could be a great appeal to him, and perhaps anyone else who he is collaborating with to achieve the possible purchase.

Summary of key points

What do we know now? Well… ermmmm… not much, really, truth be told. I mean, we know more about Couhig but nothing really about the possible bid, intentions, viability and/or possibility of the sale being successful or what really to expect.

Also, as an aside, previous bidders Chiron, who had exclusivity, were the ones funding the wages for the club via loans to Reading. Now, if their purchase was not successful, I’m not sure when they are going to be expecting their money back and who from.

Frankly, I’d rather not think about it because it makes my head hurt, but it is worth keeping on the radar because I’m pretty sure that business people aren’t successful by giving away money. This may be a discussion point during the sale, among other things bubbling away under the surface at the club.

We have a name - Couhig - and from this name, we have a little bit of an idea of what the leadership could be like, but this depends on who he would be collaborating with to purchase the club. We have no idea of timelines, notably whether or not we are going to see a sale done in the near-enough future to allow the club to do… something, anything, to prepare for the seasons ahead for both the men’s and women’s teams.

Many questions remain, but all we can do as a fanbase is just try to be patient, try to remain positive and keep our ears to the ground for more news, as and when it is released. There’s only another two(ish) months until the season starts again, and a lot can change in that space of time.