Couhig targets sustainable Reading and promotion

Reading owner Rob Couhig says his goals for the upcoming season are to make the club self sustainable and to push for promotion.

The Royals chairman spent an hour of Tuesday morning on BBC Radio Berkshire, taking questions from supporters, with the start of the League One season now just days away.

The club kick-off their campaign with a home match against Luton Town at the SCL on Saturday, having been hard at work over the summer making improvements to the ground.

Some sections of the Reading support have grown frustrated with Couhig over the summer and some previous transfer windows after a slow start in the market.

Questions have also been raised about his future and whether his stay at the club might be for the short-term.

But the ex-Wycombe owner, from Louisiana in the US, insisted he wants to tick off a number of goals with the club before even considering a potential sale.

"I'm 77-years old and I'm in great shape," he told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"I don't enjoy the flight which is a 16 hour door-to-door thing for me but I come over once a month for a week.

"I will not be satisfied until I make this club self sustainable and we are well on our way to getting promoted.

"I'm at an age where I don't predict the future but I hope it's a long one, right now we're having the time of our lives and I want us to succeed."

Last season was Couhig's first full campaign as owner, with Noel Hunt in charge of the team at the start before being sacked in October with the club 19th in the table.

Reading recovered thereafter and finished 12th in the League One standings, 12 points off of the top six.

Couhig reiterated that making it into the play-off places at the very least is their target for the upcoming campaign.

"I've been unequivocal since the day that I took over that our goal is promotion," he said.

"We expect to be promoted this year and we certainly hope that we are, we're going to push for the play-offs if that's our fall-back position.

"At a minimum we will expect to be better than we were for the entirety of last season."

Couhig purchased Reading when they were at their lowest point under previous owner Dai Yongge, and had to deal with transfer embargoes, points deductions and an uncertain future.

He is now hoping that through extra revenue streams, the club will be able to look after itself financially by the end of the season.

"Being self sustainable is another goal by the end of this season," Couhig added.

"We want to no longer have to rely on owner funding and we want the club to be able to stand on its own two feet.

"We'll do that around sponsorship and the OneRoyal programme which has been a huge success in producing revenue for us."

The summer transfer window remains open until 1 September.

Reading have signed Udoka Godwin-Malife, Josh Stokes, Kyreece Lisbie and Jacob Brown so far, and Couhig said that he and co-CEO Joe Jacobson will be busy in the market for the remaining weeks.

"We will sign as many players as we need this season," he added.

"I think this club is already better than it was last year and we're getting better with our new players.

"I'd rather we sign everyone earlier in the window but this final stage of the window we are getting to a stage where more players are becoming available."