Reading can tap into £760m fund after what Rob Couhig has just done, ‘more scope to spend’

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EFL Analysis have gained an insight into Reading’s financial situation following the club’s takeover.

Reading had a torrid 2024/25 campaign, that saw them just miss out on the League One play-off places.

They lost key striker Sam Smith to Wrexham, who have now been promoted to the Championship in the winter window.

But it was off the field where the Royals really found themselves in trouble for much of the campaign.

Reading were in turmoil earlier in 2024/25 with their previous owner, Dai Yongge, thought to owe £850m in winding up orders.

It then emerged the club could face expulsion from the EFL with Yongge not deemed to be a suitable owner for the club.

Thankfully, Reading confirmed the club had been sold to former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig and Todd Trosclair at the beginning of May.

Reading can tap into £760m fund

Now, in an EFL Analysis exclusive, we have gained an insight into the Reading takeover via finance expert Adam Williams.

Williams shared with us that the new owners are now receiving investment from Aliya Capital Partners, who manage more than $1bn (£760m) in assets, as per the BBC.

He said: “From speaking to people in football finance, I know there was a lot of interest in the Reading takeover. The club’s relative proximity to London and the IP it has with the ‘Royals’ branding and so on was seen as a major selling point.

“As well as Rob Couhig, they’re getting investment from Aliya Capital Partners. We don’t know how much equity they have bought but I think it speaks to the potential of Reading as an investment when you’re getting blue-chip firms like them in the capital base.

“Aliya are also buying Maccabi Netanya in Israel and the firm’s CEO has said he could use his network in Brazil to bring players from there to the UK.

“It was a complex takeover and they will obviously be disappointed to have missed out on the play-offs, but I think there’s a lot of potential there.”

How much money can Reading spend?

When it comes to potential spending power in the coming years, Williams pointed out that losses and the wage bill have both gone down in recent years.

He continued: “In terms of their ability to spend, they reduced their losses to £12m in 2023-24. They’ve got the wage bill a little more under control in League One and got a few decent transfer fees in too.

“There are new rules in place for 2025-26 that stipulate that you can’t spend over 60 per cent of turnover and equity investment on player wages and transfer fees. In 2023-24, their wage bill was £14m compared to turnover of £10m. As I say, that will have come down a bit with the squad churn in the season just gone, but there might still be some adjustments to make.

“If they eventually make it back to the Championship, where it’s a profit-and-loss PSR system rather than a revenue-based one, I think they will have more scope to spend.

“Couhig was a safe pair of hands at Wycombe but they didn’t exactly spend lavishly. It was more about resource efficiency. I suspect that’s why Aliya Capital have come in, to give him that extra liquidity he didn’t have at Wycombe.”