Reading FC chairman Rob Couhig gave his thoughts on Dai Yongge, the Reading fans, Noel Hunt and more in a recent podcast appearance on The Tilehurst End.
Speaking on the Tilehurst End Podcast, Couhig discussed his experience of the first few weeks of owning Reading Football Club since the long takeover saga was finally resolved last month.
Couhig was asked about having to negotiate with former owner Dai Yongge.
He said: “He put literally hundreds of millions of bucks into this thing. I don’t think originally at least he was ill motivated.
“He may have got bad advice and made bad decisions, I don’t think he was ever going to be equipped to communicate (with the fans), he doesn’t speak the language.
“It’s a tough market to understand. For better or for worse, I enjoy listening as much as talking to people.”
When asked whether he was shocked at anything that he has found in his first few weeks at the club, Couhig replied: “I always try to be transparent, but there are some things that we have discovered that were not told to us that we’re trying to figure out the best way to deal with, but I won’t get into it publicly.
“But by and large we’ve enjoyed what we’ve found, the fans have been terrific, Noel (Hunt) has been a really good guy to work with, the relationship Joe Jacobson and I are building with the staff, that’s all coming together.”
Couhig also spoke about his plans to improve the matchday experience for the fans.
He said: “If you want fans to come back, you need to have a clean home. You want people to know it’s their home. Treat it right and they will want to come back.
“There’s a lot we can do. Our supporters are vital to the organisation, they come first so lets treat them with respect.”
To listen to the full podcast, search The Tilehurst End on your podcast provider.