How Rob Couhig feels about Reading FC facing potential EFL suspension | OneFootball

Reading have been given until April 22nd to find a new owner after initial April 4th deadline passes

Rob Couhig believes that Reading are not at risk of being suspended by the EFL as their ownership issues drag on.

The Berkshire outfit were handed an extension to sell the club, with current owner Dai Yongge having been disqualified under the owners’ and directors’ test.

Couhig and businessman Robert Platek are involved in the discussions over finding a solution, with an April 22nd deadline now set.

The Royals are at risk of being suspended if a deal cannot be found, with Noel Hunt’s side chasing a play-off place in League One this season.

Rob Couhig makes Reading suspension claim

Couhig believes that Reading are into extra-time to find a solution to their ownership issue following the extension on the original April 4th deadline.

However, he is confident that a suspension is not at risk at the moment, suggesting there are too many knock-on effects that would be implicated by such a move.

“You’ve used the right analogy that it’s extra time,” said Couhig, via the GHR Berkshire & North Hampshire News on X.

“They’re trying to play with the ball, they think they’re winning and I think they may be.

“I think it’s going to be hard to say ‘oh, we’re going to suspend Reading and we’re going to not let them play out the season’.

“I think that’s in the background.

“If you do that it doesn’t just implicate Reading, it implicates every other club in the 24 club League One.

“And in some ways it adds a spillover effect down into League Two because who gets relegated, who doesn’t? So there’s a lot of things going on.

“I was never as nervous as the rest of the world was that they would do something.

“I do think this, whether it’s April 22nd or May 6th, which — well, we hope the season’s not complete then — but by the end of the play-offs, as long as Reading is alive I don’t think anything’s really going to happen.”

Reading are currently seventh in the League One table, one point behind sixth place Bolton Wanderers.

The sooner a deal is done the better for Reading

Reading have managed to survive this first deadline, but they won’t want to be playing with any further dates, as the sooner this is done the better.

While Couhig is confident the club won’t be suspended, any risk of that at all is one they will want to avoid as much as possible.

Hunt’s team have been doing incredibly while all of this is going on, but the supporters deserve full transparency on what’s happening as their survival is at stake.

If they can manage a top six finish then it would be a great achievement, even if promotion doesn’t follow, and it shows the potential the club have if under the right ownership.