There's a real market for all three EFL divisions in US

New owner Rob Couhig has ambitious plans for Reading after finally wresting control from controversial Dai Yongge

- Matt Hughes

Rob Couhig talks of having been "jilted at the altar" when he describes the end of his previous Reading takeover bid, but eight months on he has finally consummated his on-off relationship with the troubled club.

The divorce from the previous owner, Dai Yongge, was a long and painful one which had passed the 600-day mark by the time Couhig's £25m purchase was completed last Wednesday.

From his home in New Orleans, Couhig talks at length about the extraordinary process, including the revelation that he did not speak to Dai and had only occasional contact with the former Reading chief executive Nigel Howe.

The image of the 75-year-old lawyer being stood up at a popular Reading nightspot, the Purple Turtle, when he went to exchange contracts last September also boggles the mind, although much about the saga made little sense.

Couhig was one of five bidders to enter exclusive negotiations with Dai and had drifted from the picture until a judgment from London's commercial court last month upheld his claim to have security over the stadium and training ground resulting from last year's aborted deal.