Former Premier League club’s future thrown into serious doubt as takeover collapses and no bidders waiting in wings

READING’S club takeover attempt by Rob Couhig has collapsed with owner Dai Yongge looking for other parties to return to the table.

The 75-year-old was inches away from being named the new owner of the former Premier League now League One side after funding the club over the summer and meeting supporters on multiple occasions.

Former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig is no longer in the running to become Reading’s new owner

Current owner Dai Yongge is looking for other parties to purchase the club

Reading fans protested to get rid of Yongge last term after the clubs financial struggles

The future of the club is now in serious doubt, according to BBC Radio Berkshire’s Tim Dellor, who has heard from a source that current owner Dai Yongge is still “keen to sell the club.”

Despite the collapse of this sale, Yongge is still open to selling with other interested parties expected to be invited back to the negotiating table but currently, no bidders are waiting in the wings.

The radio show revealed that Couhig has been fully repaid for his loans and the club will be kept afloat in the short term by a sell-on fee received for Michael Olise to Bayern Munich.

Redwood Holdings led by Couhig, reportedly loaned the club around £4 million.

Couhig was spotted at games earlier this term, including the Wigan Athletic clash giving fans hope that the takeover would be completed soon.

However, in recent days this hope has faded and it now appears that the Berkshire side is back to square one as they seek to remove Yongge.

Protests against the owner occurred last term including a match abandonment due to a pitch invasion against Port Vale with fans in despair in January earlier this year.

Fans’ hopes were raised in March when it was revealed that Dai had entered a period of exclusivity with an interested buyer.

The period of exclusivity ended in June and at that point, the club revealed that talks were ongoing with the same party and other interested buyers.

It was expected that the former Wycombe Wanderers chief would end seven years of hardship under the Chinese billionaire Yongge.

However, the final contract could not be signed and Couhig has exited the process.

The Royals currently sit in midtable in the third tier but they could slide down the division with the club’s future now uncertain again.

The club has yet to comment.